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The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
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Read in May, 2008
recommends it for:
Sci-fi fans, anti-war readers, students of the 1960s and 70s
I am conflicted about this book. I have not known how to write this review.
“The Forever War” is basically the Vietnam War in a science fiction setting and everything exaggerated. The grunts are unwilling draftees, the military system is incompetent, and the general nature of humanity is not given a very pretty portrait.
I should stress that everyone has their own perception of things though, and while I do not agree with some of the author’s political beliefs that are injected into t...more
“The Forever War” is basically the Vietnam War in a science fiction setting and everything exaggerated. The grunts are unwilling draftees, the military system is incompetent, and the general nature of humanity is not given a very pretty portrait.
I should stress that everyone has their own perception of things though, and while I do not agree with some of the author’s political beliefs that are injected into t...more
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bookshelves:
science-speculative-fiction
Read in December, 2007
I am not the biggest fan of military science fiction. I am just not interested in flanking, platoons, chain of command, tactics, military strategy, detailed descriptions of body armor and high tech weaponry, or reading about large scale space wars. Often times, I find that these qualities are written in lieu of strong characterizations and authentic human drama. What I do care about is when an author examines the personal and societal impact of space-age warfare, and Joe Haldeman does exactly t...more
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4 comments
bookshelves:
sciencefiction
Read in December, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone
Let's say you're shipping off to a particular battle in a war. By the time you reach the battle, fight it, and return home, everyone you know has died of old age and the society you protected has evolved (or devolved) into something you don't recognize or particularly like. What would you be fighting for?
That's just one of the issues brought up in "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
The Plot
In this novel of galactic war, the alien menace is the Taurans. The war is ...more
That's just one of the issues brought up in "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
The Plot
In this novel of galactic war, the alien menace is the Taurans. The war is ...more
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Read in June, 2008
The Forever War is a sci-fi novel about a space war that takes place between the people of Earth and an alien race known as the Taurans. The protagonist, William Mandella, is a new college graduate drafted into the war as one of the finest and brightest assigned to fight for earth's military dominance. Ostensibly, the story is about Mandella's journey from a lowly private to a major in the military. But the gimmick of the story is that Mandella ages only a few years while the people he kn...more
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1 comments
recommends it for:
Any sci fi or military book fan
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recommends it for:
science fiction lovers
Part war story, part human story, and partly political, this is one of the best science fiction books I have ever read. I actually began listening to this one on audiocassette years ago, and it got so good I just went out and grabbed it off the shelf to finish it. The story is through the eyes of a soldier, who lives in a future that has the capability to travel great distances through space at speed. It's also a future where Earth is at war with an alien species that has the same capability....more
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science-fiction
Read in April, 2007
So, what happens when you cross Starship Troopers with Vietnam? You get one of the best examples of military SF ever written.
The Forever War follows the life of William Mandella, a solider for Earth fighting a war that rages for over 1000 years (although only a few years pass for him, due to the effects of relativistic space travel). The fighting is brutal. The soldiers become increasingly detached from "The World" as human society continues to evolve. The aliens are...well...a...more
The Forever War follows the life of William Mandella, a solider for Earth fighting a war that rages for over 1000 years (although only a few years pass for him, due to the effects of relativistic space travel). The fighting is brutal. The soldiers become increasingly detached from "The World" as human society continues to evolve. The aliens are...well...a...more
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Read in July, 2006
The main downside, in my experience, to the military SF genre is that it doesn’t really give you much to think about. The novels are fun, but for the most part they tend to focus on the action. That’s not a bad thing if that’s what you’re looking for--indeed, I quite often find myself in the mood for that sort of story. Still, it’s nice to find a member of the genre that isn’t just a less-philosophical rehash of Starship Troopers. (By the way, I do quite like most of the Heinl...more
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Read in November, 2007
I'm really conflicted about this book, and, ultimately, not very satisfied. Haldeman has certainly created an appealing hero/anti-hero and there's lots of fun action. But the overwhelming anti-war message (one with which I don't disagree, mind you) seems to want to take the book out of an SF-action mindset and make it into a more thoughtful mindset with philosophical themes and social commentary. This is where the book fails for me. The anti-war message is so obvious - at least in 2007. Mor...more
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A wonderful metaphor for the inherent irony of war. This book traverses large swaths of time; we're talking millennium, without losing track of the humanity of the central characters. A reluctant hero fighting a nameless enemy for centuries, each time returning to a new world with new rules and laws, which leaves him out of place and no choice but to return back in time to fight the ongoing fight.
Truly a beautiful book made more unbelievable by the complexity of the characters, which bec...more
Truly a beautiful book made more unbelievable by the complexity of the characters, which bec...more
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bookshelves:
read-sci-fi
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Read in June, 1995
This book ranks up there with Starship Troopers for me, because as much as there is a interesting tale of war between alien races, this book is about the military. The main character realizes that he has become part of the army, through and through. He hates it, but he cannot avoid it. It shapes his life, changes the way he thinks, and he finds himself becoming all of the things he abhors about it.
Most innovative concept: In...more
Most innovative concept: In...more
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bookshelves:
sci-fi-and-fantasy
Read in February, 2004
recommends it for:
Anyone who likes books with soul
This award winner deserves every. Some accuse Mr. Haldeman of stealing Heinlein's body armor design from Starship trooper. This may be true, but then every space opera/futuristic military book owes due homage to Heinlein. This is a book about how war can break down someones body and mind, but never their heart and soul. This is a story about how sometimes we fight wars without even knowing why, but because we are told to. This is Haldeman's condemnation of the Vietnam War, but it's message is st...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
people who liked Starship Troopers
This was a pretty quick read -- the coolest premise of the theme I thought was how the author dealt with ideas like time distortion caused by relativistic travel, and cultural implications from a futureshock perspective of coming back hundreds of years later, after only aging a few months.
While in early sci-fi it seemed to be a popular topic, recently authors seem to not want to deal with the cultural/character implications and magic it away with FTL.
Really, this reminded me a lot of Sta...more
While in early sci-fi it seemed to be a popular topic, recently authors seem to not want to deal with the cultural/character implications and magic it away with FTL.
Really, this reminded me a lot of Sta...more
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So i just finished this book last week, and I already miss it. I love it when storys grab you, and this book was one of them. it had me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened. the plot is a great. being classic Sci Fi, it starts out follwoing pvt Mandella, top of his class student hand picked to join the military. but there is a problem, when traveling around the stars. he ages only months, wile earth ages years. how will Mandella survive in a grim world that has changed so much? r...more
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Read in January, 2006
You can tell that Joe Haldeman, the author of this fantastic book, is a Vietnam veteran. He tells a story about war in the near and very far future, and you know he really understands the emotion and nature of war. It has everything you could want in a great work of science fiction -- convincing science, a great story, time travel and in this case, a love story that ultimately is what you remember most. This book won both the Nebula and Hugo awards, and it well deserved them.
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read-2008,
sci-fi
Read in June, 2008
I had not read this sci-fi classic until now. I enjoyed it...a bit more than Starship Troopers. I have not read much military sci-fi but this has been the best of the lot (much better than the cheesy Old Man's War). I did expect it to be more explicit in the details due to what Haldeman experienced in Vietnam, but it was surprisingly tame. However, it still accomplishes its goal of showing the horrors of war, and in no way makes it look attractive (as Starship Troopers did).
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Read in January, 2003
Very good novel. An easy read as is typical of this kind of science fiction. I think it is a criticism of war in general and specifically to the interminable Vietnam War.
This book for some reason is particularly memmorable for me. I enjoyed how the writer incorporated one's experience of time within a culture that has achieved faster than light travel. And so one character's experiences span the entirity of this war which lasts eons, and seemingly loses all meaning.
This book for some reason is particularly memmorable for me. I enjoyed how the writer incorporated one's experience of time within a culture that has achieved faster than light travel. And so one character's experiences span the entirity of this war which lasts eons, and seemingly loses all meaning.
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bookshelves:
classic,
have-reread-more-than-once,
science-fiction
recommends it for:
everyone
In many ways I consider this book a companion novel to Heinlein's STARSHIP TROOPERS(ST). They in many ways trend the same ground, but from two very different points of view. Haldeman had seen combat, witnessed it first hand. So his view of war is devoid of much of the gloss that appears in ST. To Haldeman, war is a terrible and personal thing, not an abstract. Both books have important things to say, but are even more powerful when balanced against each other.
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Sometimes your true love-THE ONE-is waiting for you...just thousands of years in the future. So, should you put on some snow patrol and cry about it??? Nope.
This is what you do. First, become part of an elite military unit that flux capacitates you throughout the galaxy in your bionic suit to go kill a bunch of aliens. Step two, make time and space your bitch and abuse the theory of relativity until you find her. Three, make her open the box.
This is what you do. First, become part of an elite military unit that flux capacitates you throughout the galaxy in your bionic suit to go kill a bunch of aliens. Step two, make time and space your bitch and abuse the theory of relativity until you find her. Three, make her open the box.
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 4.09 (832 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 4.12 (700 ratings) number of reviews: 97popular shelves
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trivia question
In the novel 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman, what ultimately ends the war between the Taurans and humanity?
a. Humanity becomes a race of clones
b. The Taurans become extinct
c. Humanity is so impoverished it loses the ability to travel faster than light
d. Mandella saves the life of the Tauran matriarch.
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a. Humanity becomes a race of clones
b. The Taurans become extinct
c. Humanity is so impoverished it loses the ability to travel faster than light
d. Mandella saves the life of the Tauran matriarch.
more »































