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Product Description
Product Description
WAR William Mandela is a reluctant hero, drafter to fight in a distant interstellar war against unknowable and unconquerable aliens. But his greatest test will be returning to Earth. A few months of his tour of duty equate to centuries on his homeworld, during which he becomes increasingly isolated from the world he has been fighting to protect FREE Mandela returns home for the last time - to find humanity has evolved into a group conciousness which excludes him. Alone, alieneated and missing the certainties of combat, he and his fellow verterans search for an escape - and finally look towards space. PEACE A war is raging, fought by indestructible machines operated remotely by soldiers miles away - and for soldiers like Julian Class, war is truly hell. So when he anc his companion, Dr Amelia Harding, uncover something which could take the universe back to square one, the prospect isn't so much terrifying, as terrifyingly tempting . . .
About the Author
Joe Haldeman was born in Oklahoma in 1943 and studied physics and astronomy before serving as a combat engineer in Vietnam, where he was severely wounded and won a Purple Heart. The Forever War was his first SF novel and it won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, a feat which The Forever Peace repeated. He is also the author of, among others, Mindbridge, All My Sins Remembered, Worlds, Worlds Apart and Worlds Enough and Time.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was the first Haldeman I have read and it got off to a cracking start. The first Story Forever War is brilliant. It's well written and the relativity idea works well. The snapshots of future earth are great.
The second Story, Forever Free is a direct sequel and is not as good. The characters are as good and strong as before and the build up of the story is excellent. However, the ending; will be a love-hate decider amongst readers. It took me a while to gather my thoughts on it and I came away disappointed.
The third story Forever Peace, is not related directly to the first two. Have to admit I found this hard going. I (unlike a lot of other readers) didn't mind the switching between 1st and 3rd person narrative. However, I did mind that a lot of interesting ideas were only skimmed or poorly realised. The ending, to me at least, seemed rushed.
If I were reviewing Forever War alone it would be 4 or 5 stars, but as a whole it pulls the average down.
The second Story, Forever Free is a direct sequel and is not as good. The characters are as good and strong as before and the build up of the story is excellent. However, the ending; will be a love-hate decider amongst readers. It took me a while to gather my thoughts on it and I came away disappointed.
The third story Forever Peace, is not related directly to the first two. Have to admit I found this hard going. I (unlike a lot of other readers) didn't mind the switching between 1st and 3rd person narrative. However, I did mind that a lot of interesting ideas were only skimmed or poorly realised. The ending, to me at least, seemed rushed.
If I were reviewing Forever War alone it would be 4 or 5 stars, but as a whole it pulls the average down.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are those who would say that Haldeman's seminal novel, The Forever War, and the subsequent follow-ups are derivative, that Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers is being ripped off. I for one disagree. Haldeman's voice is unprecedented and much emulated in the years after it was published. The characters, the situations, the emotional turmoil that Mandella suffers as a soldier who becomes obsolete after his first time-spanning tour of duty, returning to an Earth that has left him behind, and that is no longer a world where he feels he can live as himself, is achingly well depicted and deserves a much wider audience than the geeks and freaks stereotypically derided as the main consumers of the genre. If there is one book that might turn you on to science fiction, then this is it. I urge you to try it, or failing that, pick up a copy of The Forever War. You won't regret it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a collection of three novels bound into a single volume. Unfortunately, whatever imbecile wrote the back cover "blurb" gave away virtually the entire ending to the first novel. And yes, even more besides. I really hope whoever was responsible lost their job over this.
So if you do wind up with this edition, STAY AWAY FROM THE BACK COVER!!!
Please understand that this is truly the only reason why I gave this collection a 1 star review: I just wanted my warning to leap out at people so that others could avoid my fate; the fate of a man who knew too much. Some things in this life you don't WANT to know. Like the ending of a novel BEFORE you read it.
Man, I really do hope that person lost their job...
As you can probably tell, I still get steamed just thinking about it. And all this is really quite a pity: the front-cover artwork is unusually powerful and evocative of the story itself. But that's just life I guess.
Incidentally, because I have seen some of my reviews crop up for editions other than the one I originally wrote them for, let me stress that I am saying all this about Peace And War: Forever Peace, Forever Free, Forever War: " Forever Peace " , " Forever Free " , " Forever War " (Gollancz S.F.).
Other than that, this is nice collected epic that includes three separate novels in a single volume. The style can perhaps best be described as intelligent space opera. Much of the technology to be found in this book is grounded in real science; particularly the use of sub-light space flight. This means that the time dilating effects of relativity come into play, which in turn becomes the basis for the most fundamental challenges faced by the characters on a psychological level. One never forgets that the first novel in the series - The Forever War - is a book that followed closely on the heels of the "new wave" of science fiction pioneered in the 1960's by authors such as J.C. Ballard.
The Forever War is also a novel that can very easily be interpreted as an allegory for the experience of many Viet Nam war soldiers; for the war they fought, and the experience of returning to to a society very different from the one they left. And indeed, in the author's note Haldeman provides, he himself accepts that this is part of the basis for the novel. However, The Forever War is also sufficiently grounded in universal human concerns that it works on a more timeless level as well.
If I wasn't judging the book by its cover, I'd give it 4 stars.
So yes; this is something that I would recommend reading. Just do yourself a favor and buy another edition.
Theo.
So if you do wind up with this edition, STAY AWAY FROM THE BACK COVER!!!
Please understand that this is truly the only reason why I gave this collection a 1 star review: I just wanted my warning to leap out at people so that others could avoid my fate; the fate of a man who knew too much. Some things in this life you don't WANT to know. Like the ending of a novel BEFORE you read it.
Man, I really do hope that person lost their job...
As you can probably tell, I still get steamed just thinking about it. And all this is really quite a pity: the front-cover artwork is unusually powerful and evocative of the story itself. But that's just life I guess.
Incidentally, because I have seen some of my reviews crop up for editions other than the one I originally wrote them for, let me stress that I am saying all this about Peace And War: Forever Peace, Forever Free, Forever War: " Forever Peace " , " Forever Free " , " Forever War " (Gollancz S.F.).
Other than that, this is nice collected epic that includes three separate novels in a single volume. The style can perhaps best be described as intelligent space opera. Much of the technology to be found in this book is grounded in real science; particularly the use of sub-light space flight. This means that the time dilating effects of relativity come into play, which in turn becomes the basis for the most fundamental challenges faced by the characters on a psychological level. One never forgets that the first novel in the series - The Forever War - is a book that followed closely on the heels of the "new wave" of science fiction pioneered in the 1960's by authors such as J.C. Ballard.
The Forever War is also a novel that can very easily be interpreted as an allegory for the experience of many Viet Nam war soldiers; for the war they fought, and the experience of returning to to a society very different from the one they left. And indeed, in the author's note Haldeman provides, he himself accepts that this is part of the basis for the novel. However, The Forever War is also sufficiently grounded in universal human concerns that it works on a more timeless level as well.
If I wasn't judging the book by its cover, I'd give it 4 stars.
So yes; this is something that I would recommend reading. Just do yourself a favor and buy another edition.
Theo.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
not a trilogy
I made a presumption that 3 stories bound together looked like a trilogy (a bit of research would have told me this but...). Read more
Published 2 months ago by sean cutter
Brilliant nothing more nothing less. Forever magnificent.....
A brilliant book, could not put it down; Absolutely magnificently well written, well researched. Joe! you are the king of Sci-fi. BRILLIANT. A must read.
Published 2 months ago by awollin
good old fashioned science fiction
Good old fashioned science fiction. The first book, "Forever War" had lots of interesting thoughts about how relativity would influence a war where "time travel" is involved. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Aberter
Bit of a mixed bag
I bought this because I'd read The Forever War many years ago, and I'd always had a hankering to read the sequel, Forever Free. Read more
Published 7 months ago by james of the north
Desn't get better than this
First Book: The Forever War is perfection. I was blown away. I've read it more than a few times. Haldeman really conveys the horror of war, the isolation the soldier feels both on... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Cheesepiece
An amazing work of science fiction...
... is what you get with this book (or rather, collection of three books). The writing is amazing. I personally find that the Forever War is my favourite. Read more
Published 13 months ago by bills6693
Hard Sci-Fi done ri
If you enjoyed "Starship Troopers" (either the movie or the book, actually) but you've had the chance to read "The Forever War" or "Forever Peace", you're in for a treat with this... Read more
Published 19 months ago by rrobe
Not bad but a little peculiar towards the end
Took this book on holiday with me and for the most part really enjoyed it. There was not much war involved but then again much of war is waiting around for the actual fighting so... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Dystopian Reader
An interesting read, soon to be a 'blockbuster' film
I picked this book up after seeing it on the shelf in a bookshop and just fancying reading something different - Science Fiction isn't a genre I read much. Read more
Published 23 months ago by M. Saxby
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