book data
58 ratings, 3.84 average rating, 6 reviews
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published
October 16th 2003
(first published 1977)
by Gollancz
binding
Paperback, 192 pages
isbn
0575072814
(isbn13: 9780575072817)
description
Otto McGavin is peaceful and idealistic by nature, an Anglo-Buddhist, who seeks employment with the Confederacion because he believes in it and its mi...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 70)
I'm a real Haldeman fan so this was a bit disappointing for me. The premise is that an idealistic young man is inducted into a top secret espionage agency in the future and then sent on 30+ missions using the ultimate disguises - "personality overlays" - by which he literally assumes the identity of someone on the scene to accomplish his mission. As his career goes on it takes a savage toll on the agent.
There were bits about this book that I did enjoy, but it lacked the character...more
There were bits about this book that I did enjoy, but it lacked the character...more
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What happens when the government machine decides a man would make a good assassin, even if he is a self-professed pacifist? Haldeman's experience in the Vietnam War colors this novel with his anti-government attitude as much as it does "The Forever War". Set in the far future, man has spread out to diverse worlds & colonized them, no matter what the natives may think. It's a great action story as well as a condemnation of our foreign policy.
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Read in January, 1994
recommends it for:
Mature adolescents and adults
A powerful book from the author of The Forever War, and a haunting examination of the effect on a good and thoughtful person of fighting and killing even in an apparently worthy cause. Haldeman served in Vietnam and what he took away from that war comes through in this book as well as in The Forever War.
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Read this in high school when I was reading a lot of SciFi and it still sticks in my head as one of my favorite reads.
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action (on 2 people's shelves)
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