Technically this is a reread but it's been so long...
I read this years ago, when in hs. It was in the library and the cover caught my eye. I'd mostly forgotten about it though until several years ago while poking around a UBS, I stumbled across a sequel. I debated about it for months before finally getting it (amazingly enough, it was still there), but it was another year or three before I found *this* one. I have yet to see the other two books in the series.
So what's it about? Oh, a tiny nation that not many know about is in a pickle. The population has grown and their one export isn't quite enough to support them anymore. It doesn't help that a vintner in CA has taken it upon themselves to make a counterfeit version of said export, and their protests have been ignored. So... they declare war on the US, which also is ignored...or thought of as a practical joke. And...they invade.
At the time of their arrival, the US is conducting a coast wide air raid drill so they're met with little resistance. Of course, their being armed and outfitted as 15th century soldiers combined with the tendency for humans to be dumb, panicky animals when under pressure leads to rumors of a Mars invasion.
The long and the short of it is they end up with this new bomb a top scientist for the US has cobbled together in a university lab...well, they end up with the scientist too...and they force the Big 3 to disarm.
I have to say, when I read it the first time, I wasn't really ready I guess. I got the satire and the humor, but not really the moral lessons if you will. Then too, the Cold War ended around that time so... And I'm not so sure about the "little guys" so to speak. A few of them don't get along that well, certainly not well enough that they wouldn't be tempted to fill the power void. Anyway, off to the Moon. Hahah! We'll see if I ever find the other two.
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