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The Forever War (S.F. MASTERWORKS) [Paperback]

Joe Haldeman
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)

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Book Description

21 Jan 1999 S.F. MASTERWORKS
Private William Mandella is a reluctant hero, drafted into an elite military unit to fight in a distant interstellar war against an unknowable and unconquerable alien enemy. Mandella will perform his duties and, as he survives, rise through the ranks, but his greatest test will come when he returns to Earth. Because of the effects of relativity, every time he comes home after a few months¿ tour of duty, centuries have gone by on Earth, making him and his fellows ever more isolated from the world for whose future they are fighting.


Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; Re-issue edition (21 Jan 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1857988086
  • ISBN-13: 978-1857988086
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (114 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 192,231 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon Review

"Today we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man." The first line of this 1974 sf war story still grabs hard: The Forever War, winner of both Hugo and Nebula awards, is a fine choice to launch Millennium's "SF Masterworks" series of classic reissues. Future soldier William Mandella's service in the interstellar "Forever War" chillingly echoes Vietnam, where Joe Haldeman was severely wounded and won the Purple Heart. Afterwards, many real-life veterans found themselves distanced and alienated from US society: thanks to starflight's time dislocations, Mandella returns from weeks or months of combat duty to an Earth which after centuries of change is no longer his home. Though armed with increasingly futuristic weaponry--laser fingers, nova bombs, stasis fields--the infantry still suffers the long agonising waits, the sudden flurry and horror of battle, the shock of loss in a futile war without glory or glamour. But there's still room for tenderness, and for a satisfying ending as the cruel equations of relativistic time finally work in Mandella's favour. Incidentally, this is the first full British edition. When The Forever War was serialised, the magazine editor vetoed one section; it was omitted from the 1974 novel and is now restored. Highly recommended. --David Langford

Review

"Reissued by Gollancz as one of 10 key SF texts, 'The Forever War' remains as hard-hitting as when it was first published in 1974. The anger of soldiers forced to fight an unwinnable war is as relevant as it ever was." (Jon Courtenay Grimwood THE GUARDIAN ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A journey through time and space.... 18 Nov 2006
Format:Paperback
I really, really enjoyed this story. This is intelligent sci-fi at its best. You'll certainly need to get your head around the concept of "time dilation"; but I'm sure most of you sci-fi fans will have no problem with this.
The book portrays the politics of war as we know it today, showing that little changes in the distant future, regardless of technological and social advances.
The main character - William Mandella - is thrown into a war with a distant enemy who he knows little about. However, traveling through "wormholes" in space to the next battlefield and then back to HQ posses many difficulties, with decades and centuries passing
in the time that a 6 months mission is completed. Technology on both sides advance, but one never knows who is furthest advanced at any given time in the far reaches of space....
Soldiers are expendable and the enemy must be destroyed at all costs, no questions asked... sounds familiar??.
Each tour of duty takes Mandella further into an increasingly dizzily future and further up the career ladder until the war's final conclusion.

All in all, a book worthy of the SF Masterworks series. A thought provoking and worthwhile sci-fi experience.
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48 of 51 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The epitome of great science fiction 30 Nov 2002
By Daniel Jolley HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
After reading this remarkable book, I have to ask myself why I have never heard of Joe Haldeman before. This book won the Hugo and Nebula awards--and deservedly so--but I was not at all familiar with this author up to now. I have to say that this book is an incredible read. It's not exceedingly long, but it is packed full of all kinds of ideas and strikes me as quite visionary for the time in which it was written, which was the early 1970s. I am not as well-read in the sci-fi genre as I would like to be, but I must say that the future earth Haldeman describes is one quite unlike any I have read about or thought about myself. The very premise strikes me as singular if not unique, and the end result is a thoroughly enjoyable novel that far exceeds the fare of most science fiction offerings.

In the late twentieth century, Earth develops the ability to travel to distant parts of the galaxy through portals called collapsars; they soon come into contact with an alien race called the Taurans, and war breaks out between the two worlds. The protagonist, William Mandella, finds himself drafted into the intergalactic service under the provisions of the newly established Elite Conscription Act of 1996. Rather than retain the future scientists and leaders at home, this act works to form an intergalactic army of the world's best and brightest young men and women. The new recruits endure a grueling and sometimes fatal training regimen before shipping out to the planets of disputed galactic areas. The trip itself is dangerous, and the troops must secure themselves in protective chambers while they make the long journey to their destinations. Traveling at speeds close to that of light, a journey of several months equates to centuries back home on earth. The troops themselves are made up of both men and women, and a high degree of "confraternizing" goes on between the two sexes. Mandella bonds with one woman in particular, and a part of the story revolves around their attempts to stay together. Mandella is injured in combat, and he returns to an earth that has changed greatly: it is not safe to go anywhere without a bodyguard, homosexuality has become widespread in the culture of nine billion earthbound souls, jobs are incredibly complicated to secure, and Mandella cannot fit in. He reenlists in the service. After another injury and another disillusioning trip home, he goes back into the service as an instructor; almost immediately, though, he is given command of a new ship and sent to a star system 150,000 light years away. By this time, with hundreds more years having passed on earth, heterosexuality has essentially disappeared, and his young recruits are basically genetically engineered test-tube babies. The story of his final military action makes for a thrilling end of the story.

In the end, the author seems to express his own opinions about warfare, which it is certainly his prerogative to do, but the importance of the novel seems to lie mainly in the personality of Mandella and the author's portrayal of a drastically changed future earth society. This work was truly visionary. Hard science fiction elements include time travel (relative, of course) through collapsars (essentially black holes), a means by which humans can survive speeds close to the universal speed limit, and the military hardware of the future. The social context of the evolving story is the most striking part of the book to me, though. Malthusian population crises lead mankind to embrace (and at one point legislate) homosexuality. Mandella's heterosexuality is looked down upon and actually affects the morale of the troops under his command. The author also deals to some degree with cloning, which is certainly a timely topic, and delves into the political, economic, and social structures of his future earth. Mandella himself offers a case study in humanity. A reluctant warrior, he does what he has to do despite some ambivalence about the war itself, and he holds true to his personal beliefs and values in a world (several, actually) turned on its head. There is also a love story of sorts in the book, but it actually serves to heighten the importance of the protagonist's internal struggles with himself and with a world that becomes completely foreign to him. This is science fiction of the highest caliber and stands alongside the master works of authors more widely-recognized than Haldeman.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars The Forever War 30 Jun 2003
Format:Paperback
Private William Mandella finds himself fighting to defend an earth which has become more alien than the extra-terrestrial foe he fights.
Deep space flight, wormholes and relativity, mean that for every tour of duty he survives, although only months long to him, centuries pass on earth. Forced by circumstances to continue fighting, Mandella becomes detached from humanity in every way; emotionally, culturally and even sexually, until, the oldest man alive, he is transformed into a figure of ridicule and discust by the new generation of soldiers joining the conflict - soldiers which he now must lead!
Joe Haldeman has taken his own experiences of combat and the aftermath of the Vietnam War and turned them on their head. While the veterans of that conflict returned; profoundly changed, to a homelife that had barely moved on, the combatants of the Forever War come back to an earth which has altered in every way, while they have stood still.
Nicely paced and defly executed, Haldeman's unfussy prose leads the reader effortlessly through the story to a most satisfying conclusion.
Millennium's SF Masterworks series is a fantastic collection of books, and the Forever War is paramount among them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars Feel like a crappy 1970 B movie
This book is dated and feels it. Some of the writing on space travel and time dilation has been copied, so from that point of view it was ground breaking book and can i assume is... Read more
Published 1 month ago by SlosshyDolphin
5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining thought provoking book
A great read, it transcends "Sci-Fi" (but it's also great Sci-Fi) , with multiple threads in the story unravelling in a space opera of alien warfare, space-time distortion,... Read more
Published 2 months ago by John Madelin
5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly, No Jimi Hendrix in a Space Suit
Joe Haldeman's classic novel explores the future at the same time it reminisces about the Vietnam War and the 1960's. It does both well. Read more
Published 2 months ago by John M. Ford
5.0 out of 5 stars Fab
I really enjoyed this book. It has some really interesting ideas and concepts ! If you like Starship Troopers & time travelly programmes & space marines, this is for you. Read more
Published 2 months ago by kim
5.0 out of 5 stars A rare 5 stars from me
As a very fussy sci fi reader I have to say it's rare for me to give 5 stars, but I think Forever War deservse it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Andrew J Chamberlain
5.0 out of 5 stars a superb read
up there with the best amazing tale of time, war, loss and love.interesting storyline great characters.if your just getting into sci fi give it a read,if you hav,nt read it do so
Published 3 months ago by m. dosa
5.0 out of 5 stars Review: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
I read this as part of a reading list for a science fiction and fantasy class. That it has been selected as a writing model for the class is a prestigious acolade in itself (but... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Liberty Gilmore
5.0 out of 5 stars great service
brillant book have always enjoyed reading this book, now have as a kindle to complete my collection, will use again
Published 3 months ago by Stuart Maund
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book
I loved this book. Its portrayal of war and society was intriguing. The time dilation aspects are a good way to explain how real life veterans may perceive society when they... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr Nibble
4.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Very good book to read over the weekend. I'm relatively new to sci-fi literature so perhaps know no better seeing some of the other reviews but would definitely recommend it to... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Martyn
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