The Forever War by Joe Haldeman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Forever War
Book Review: 4 1/2! A definite Sci-Fi Classic!
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman
An interstellar war has begun. The mysterious Taurans who appear responsible for the destruction of some of Earth's ships are now in our cross airs. The only problem is that the battlefields can only be reached through Collapars or worm holes. For those who travel through it seems instantaneous however large amounts of time pass on Earth displacing the soilders in time. Although gone for only a few months, a hundred or more years may have passed on Earth. Even if William Mandella survives the first battle of the war he may not survive all the social, cultural and economic changes that have taken place on earth in the meantime. It might even be bad enough that the war is the preferable...
Haldeman presents some interesting ideas about interstellar war. The book isn't just about the war but also about the changes taking place on Earth in the meantime. Depending on how many jumps the soldiers have to take the displacement can be more than 100 years and the depicted evolution of mankind is interesting.
The Good: Great ideas and execution. The book is as much about the main character William Mandella and his dealing with his ever changing race as it is about the war. Haldeman's vision about humanity and how it changes culturally and socially both in and out of the military is what makes this story interesting as well as the interesting changes in the military and how if functions.
The Bad: Nothing memorable.
Overall: A definite sci-fi classic. A must read.
Book Review: 70's sex and drugs and more sex.
Summary: 1 Stars
It was unconceivable to have a few military woman share their beds with 18 soldiers in an orgy room. The book talks about different sexual positions and how the woman were worn out by being used and used again.
Finally the soldiers get to an alien planet and it was about this time , that I think the author started smoking something again , because the military action was very dull and hardly made any sense. I finally gave up on the book after reading almost half it. What a waste of time. I also find it hard to believe there are more positive reviews about this book and hardly any negative ones.
Book Review: A Brilliant Military SF Book
Summary: 5 Stars
The Forever War had languished on my shelf for a couple of years, and I don't know what I was expecting. An author friend of mine cited it as one of the three best SF books ever written.
It's certainly up there, I have to say. It's no Starship Troopers clone; instead, Haldeman really nails the insulation/isolation of a soldier's tour of duty across light-years of space. Over the course of the story, the time dilation he experiences from constantly travelling at near the speed of light means that while he's aged only several years, Earth has advanced many thousands of years. He returns to civilization periodically, but things have changed beyond all recognition. He and Marygay, his fellow trooper and the love his life, develop a lasting bond I found extremely moving.
Haldeman's unfussy prose works so well because there's so much going on between the words. His world-building is rich and the protagonist, Private Mandella, displays deep humanity underneath what Audie Murphy referred to as "a weary indifference" to war. This is a great book.
Book Review: A decent novel marred by some idiotic concepts.
Summary: 3 Stars
This was a decent novel, however, one's suspension of disbelief is constantly broken by some of the novel's premises. From training exercises with expensive equipment that result in death (which kind of defeats the purpose of training, i.e. to be able to fail without consequence), to female service members being required to have sex with any male service member, to heterosexuality being viewed as a perversion. Of course, I have heard from a friend that in another of his novels (or short stories), a cyborg man accidentally kills a woman he's having sex with via his member. It's not a terrible novel, but these sorts of ideas make it hard to take the novel seriously.Book Review: A love story
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a military science-fiction novel but also a damn good love story. It takes the point of view of one soldier, William Mandella. The character is smart, has a sense of humor, and is very likable. He mocks the military but like most of us can't escape his situation. War took over most aspects of the society he lives in. This book has also some deep philosophical ideas. One is that war is not natural. Soldiers need to be conditioned to kill. There are no "right" war. Who are the aliens? Who are the invadors? Is love possible in a society at war? The gruesomeness of the war is compensated by no-guilt sex. William partners with MaryGay casually and she becomes his only link to who he is. There does not seem to be an end to the war until humans are sufficiently evolved to communicate with the Taurans, the aliens here. The love story is that throughout it all, especially time travel, William and MaryGay never forgot each other.