Artem Smirnov has had days at St. Thomas More Secondary School that have resonated with him. A Different Kind of War is a two-part novel that details Artem’s life at this school as he overcomes specific issues that arise during his adolescent years from the ages of 14 to 17, such as issues related to friendship, romance, sexuality, his spirituality, his ego, his existence and purpose, and the existence of God. Throughout these years, Artem learns to suffer in a wider world, and chooses whether to either cope, evade, or confront these wider issues to become the man that he hopes to be, and learns what it means to live in the real world.