Forever War

Disgusted with myself...

.... for taking this long to read it.

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Permanent Fixture

One of my favorite books. Period. A fast read, an important read.

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

The Forever War is Forever Relevant

The year is 1997, and mankind is locked in a cosmic war with an enemy it's never seen. First, let's set the stage: twelve years before, scientists discovered the collapsar jumps, naturally occurring wormholes that allow instantaneous access to the stars. Fly in one end at just the right angle, at just the right speed, and pop out at some distant corner of space. What roads were to Rome and ships were to the British, so now are collapsars to Earth. Whoever controls them rules the known galaxy-and it seems other intelligent beings besides those on Earth understand this simple fact, as well.

So begins The Forever War, a novel chronicling the story of elite soldier William Mandella through humanity's conflict with an alien race known as the Tauran. The author, Joe Haldeman, accomplishes a feat with his first novel that doesn't seem possible. He's written an epic adventure story in less than three hundred pages. What's more, the world he creates is so believable that after a short while, you don't even question the techno jargon anymore. Instead, you find yourself blindly accepting all the rules and also thinking of new ways to fight with the tools at hand. This complete immersion into a foreign reality is one the book's greatest strengths, and lays a strong foundation that seems to be missing in a lot of modern sci-fi. It's refreshing to see science as the cornerstone for science fiction. The author obviously had schooling in some of these areas to handle them so convincingly. And if he didn't, he sure fakes it damned well.

At its heart, though, The Forever War is a war story. "Tonight," begins the first chapter, "we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man." It soon becomes clear that the 'actors' in the demonstration video are convicted criminals who are actually being executed for the sake of teaching new recruits how to kill a man with a kidney punch. Cute. There's little outrage among the men and women, though, which is a hint at what kind of world you're entering. This is a world where men and women are forcibly conscripted into an organization called the United Nations Exploratory Force, or UNEF, and sent into battle. This is a world were 50% casualty rates simply during training are the norm, not the exception. This is a world where your superiors fire live ordinance at you during drills and execute you for insubordination. This is a brutal world. Accept that going in.

It's this inhumanity, though, that truly gives The Forever War its soul. Haldeman, based on his own real life experience in Vietnam, gives us a front row seat to the savagery of war and the lengths unchecked bureaucracies are willing to go in order to 'win.' His subtle, concise writing style adds to a gripping narrative that conveys the power of his themes without patronizing the reader by banging them over the head with a proverbial shovel. This is a story that truly gives the reader an honest impression of what armed conflict is really like, minus all the glitz and glitter and rhetoric. In these uncertain times, with America engaged in places like Iraq, it reminds you why war is always the option of last resort.

YOU CAN READ MY FULL REVIEW HERE: www.dominicbonavitacola.com

3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Words Cannot Describe...

...How great this book is. Incredibly fascinating.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

One of the best SF books ever

This is quite possibly the best book I have ever read. I say this having read the book back in high school, and then having reread it several time since. Joe Haldeman very effectively tells a story that takes place in the future yet speaks to a modern world where soldiers fight in wars that they don't really care about using skills that are largely alien to their basic personalities. These same soldiers then come home to a world that has seemingly changed (in the book, the world really has changed) and must choose to live in that world, or go back to do what they detest.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Horrors of War now in Space

Originally published before Star Wars, this work is based on science fact. Man is unable to go faster than light speed, time moves forward on Earth but not for those in space. These things lead to soldiers fighting a war lasting thousands of years on Earth and only a few years where they are.
Civilization on Earth evolves beyond what soldiers on the front can grasp. but beyond that are still the horrors that soldiers face in battle.

For me this is the definitive science fiction work. Having written Mr. Joe Haldeman several times he had given me the inspiration to write science fiction and the encouragement to do so. I would place this book alongside Red Badge of Courage.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

"Forever War" is One of The Best Books I've Ever Read

This book is fantastic... in more ways than just it's imaginative (yet realizable) setting. I would consider it "Literature" with the questions it challenges boldly, without bias, and with the themes it presents within a well-developed plot. However, it's written in a very accessible style that anybody can enjoy--science fiction lovers, war-story afficionados, or adventure readers. It brings up debate on battle as well as what direction our species/planet is moving. I will read it again and again.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Absolutely Fascinating - a must read for space travel fans!

To start off, I'm a huge fan of space travel, exploration, time travel and war books. I find the Vietnam war especially fascinating which makes this read even more intriguing. Haldeman uses an onslaught of literary genius by morphing all 4 of these categories together into one unique classic. Based on his experience and emotion during and after the vietnam war, this book will take you with Haldeman into the depths of a soldiers psyche during the longest war in the history of man kind and show you what the future might bring. This excellent book reads like an old war novel, flowing from page to page with action, romance and adventure - The Forever War is a must read for all sci-fi and war fans alike!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent, succinct novel

If you liked the "Old Man's War" by John Scalazi you will like this book. The most recent edition include a forward from John Scalazi noting the extreme similarities between the forever war and his series, noting that even though the forever war came first, two very similar concepts can emerge independent of each other (The Forever War significantly predates the Old Man's War). The highlights include incredibly succinct story telling, building a world without wasting time on trivial discussions or descriptions which has become a hallmark of much modern writing. The book keeps you gripped with a well paced story and communicates the emotional state of the protagonist as well as the stories political message (very relevant for the past 10 years, just as it was 30 years ago). I would recommend this book, a significant departure from the one other Joe Haldeman book I have read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Brilliant

I could not believe no one has left a review for this book, I read it years ago before the advent of the nook, it is one of those books that you read in one night because you cannot put it down. You could just call it Military SF but it is much more , as in Starship Trooper is much more than a book about Soldiers set in the future. If you like Trooper you should like this one.
Enjoy

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very Good. Glad I read it.

The science aspects of the story are better than the military characteristics. That is especially true with respect to the space/time travel relationships. It is an enjoyable comic-book style story.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Excellent! A must read.

A superb novel that is well written. A must have, and a great accompaniment to Starship Troopers

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fantastic Military Sci Fi

"Forever War" follows genius/warrior William Mandella as he chases aliens across the universe and time. Joe Haldeman's novel is held up as one of the earliest and perhaps best military sci fi novel of all time. He delivers an exciting and intriguing story of future war while laying to bear some important societal issues of the post Vietnam-era, although these issues raised could apply to any war-time era.

Whereas Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" only barely masks his treatise on war-time values within a science fiction setting, Haldeman is much more effective at building a foundation of a strong narrative and layering on issues of sex, gender, age, societal evolution and other themes.

I'm not sure I can add more to the pantheon of reviews and descriptions of this book. I really enjoyed it and would rate it stronger than "Starship Troopers" and in a similar vein (but not quite as good, honestly) as John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

1125 year War!

War between humans and aliens from the Andromeda constellation begins in 1997, the fourth year of colonization of the galaxy by mankind. A graduate student is drafted from his postgraduate programs and faces a war that tears him from all he once knew and even his true love. For how can one fight a war for a society that one knows nothing about? A great read, with a war that is fought over vast distances, and over vast time. Einstien's theory of relativity means that space travel will cause a traveler to miss hundreds of years on one trip, and this is central to the war that begins in 1997 and ends in 3438-ish.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

One Time Must Read

This is a great book to read once, but it is a little gruff in the beginning. The story is rich and full of ever changing principles and beliefs. The main characters do not change which is a testament to who they are.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not good, but better than Starship Troopers.

Forever is the key word here. As in 'It will take forever to finish this book.' While not quite as boring as Starship Troopers, The Forever War is very similar in its lure of action under the guise of SF. There seems to be considerably more science added to this tome, and it is educational and enjoyable. I believe Haldeman has a strong background in the sciences and is able to pull off feats of relativity and make them understandable to the layperson. Entertainment value is low however. I was expecting an exciting novel like Ender's Game, but it just didn't turn out that way.

1 out of 11 people found this review helpful.

OUTSTANDING

THIS IS A REMARKABLE NOVEL! IT IS LIKELY THE MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING PIECE OF SF EVER WRITTEN! BUY IT AND LOVE IT!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I enjoyed this novel

I am a sci-fi fan, and enjoyed the Forever War. The ending was not what I expected, as there was one paragraph about halfway through that led me to a mistaken assumption of how Mr Haldeman was going to end the book. On the whole, if you are a fan of sci-fi and war stories, this is entertaining.

emjay

Great story!
Loved it;good plot interesting characters and situations

enjoyed it.

Well written. An interesting twist on time variation in space travel.