Oliver, a bitter revolutionary, feels useless in a war that has been raging for decades between the Insurrection and the Vigil. As a librarian, he spends most of his time tending to forgotten bookshelves and ensuring that a copy of the "Weekly Report" is available for people who wish to read it. When he gets called to war, the walls of his mind begin to fracture. Even when off the battlefield he's at war with himself over what is true and what is propaganda.

Clouded in the fog of war, a new frontier emerges in this battle for dominance: the human mind. As Oliver descends deeper into the conflict he loses all naïve illusions regarding truth and fair play. Doubt and fear creep in as the world in his head and the world he senses clash. How did he let himself get wrapped up in this? Is he the hapless victim or is he one of the villains?

The dystopic vision of Orwell meets the meditative discourse of Dostoyevsky in The Men Who Take Eyes. On an icy future battlefield, Oliver, the lowly librarian will face the horrors of war and find himself.