Obioma's third novel tackles the subject of the Biafran conflict, which erupted in 1967 and was fought between the Nigerian government and the secessionist state of Biafra. The war was ignited by a declaration of independence by the Igbo-dominated Biafran region in the southern part of Nigeria, and the Nigerian government forces in the north. The northern government troops were supported by the British government. Starvation  was used as a weapon of war, sparking international outrage, and the war eventually ended with the defeat of Biafra and the death by starvation, disease and violence of up to 3 million people - mostly Biafrans.

The novel opens with the protagonist, a young student, Kunle, who holds himself responsible for an accident which crippled his younger brother, Tunde. Kunle buries himself in his studies and has failed to hear about the start of the war until he returns home to visit his family only to discover that Tunde has disappeared, and it is feared that he has gone to Biafra. Kunle is determined to go and bring his brother back, but is soon captured by Biafran soldiers and is drafted into the Biafran army after it is discovered that his mother is Igbo.

At first Kunle is only thinking of ways to escape, find his brother and return to their parents, but as he befriends his fellow soldiers, he gives himself over to the Biafran cause and the loyalty he feels to his comrades. He is shot at, almost dies and falls in love. There are graphic descriptions of battles and shocking violence, and the large-scale action scenes are not always successfully conveyed on the page. But what Obioma does capture perfectly is the unrelentless and gruesome nature of war.

I found the writing dull and uneven and slightly rushed at times. Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres, and Nigerian literature is another, so I was a little disappointed with The Road To The Country as I loved Obioma's novel The Fishermen, which I read in 2021. In comparison to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's masterpiece Half Of A Yellow Sun, this novel really didn't grab my interest in the same way, and even comparing it to David Diop's World War I novel, At Night All Blood Is Black, which managed to capture the horrifying realities of trench warfare, this book falls short. But that's the beauty of books - you can't like everything.