Play Book Tag discussion

The Forever War is the first Joe Haldeman book I’ve ever read and I can’t wait to pick up the next one. This book was simply hard to put down. I can see why this space opera has so many awards and was beloved by Heinlein. I’ve already put the sequel on hold at my local library. This book has all the elements you want in a space opera – a soldier swept up in the terrors of interplanetary war, a romance challenged by the realities of said war, futuristic technology that’s both exciting and disconcerting and even a heavy dose of relativity.

The draft is picking out the best and brightest to deal with a new alien threat. To effectively combat the enemy, the soldiers are sent flying through “collapsars” that allow the ships to cover lightyears in seconds. The downside to this method is that the soldiers experience months, while back on Earth, years pass. Cultures and currencies continually change and though few make it back, those soldiers who do, find the changes impossible to adjust to. Many of them reenlist as a result – better the devil you know, after all.

In this future, Haldeman plays with some fun concepts. Men and women are equally drafted. Promiscuous sexual liaisons are encouraged and include unisex bunking, sometimes assigned. Drug laws have become lax within the military and of course, more so amongst the civilian population. People quickly pair up and cling to each other to get through the horrors of war and the loneliness of being out of sync with everyone else. Social norms continue to change back home. The equipment that’s designed to keep them alive, could just as easily kill them. Even training has a high mortality rate. The enemy is mostly a mystery and they can never be sure which side will have the technological and tactical advantage when they meet.

Sure, I can see why some have criticized it for having a few slow parts, but I felt that they were important to communicate the psychological effect it can have on people when you spend months cooling your heels and waiting for enemy contact. Being very familiar with the genres of sci-fi / space opera, I expected the ending way before I got there, but it was an enjoyable ride nonetheless. The main character was likable, often aware of his own failings and that of the military machine. My only complaint is that I would have liked to explore some of the cultural differences more, but I nearly always say that, even in books that do almost nothing BUT explore cultural differences. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys classic military science fiction with parallels to the author's time in Vietnam.

This one slipped past me back in the 70's. Thanks for the review; it's going on my TBR.

Lovely review. A gteat anti-war book for me. He had such success with this as a young man returned from Vietnam. But it's sad his further achievements didn't reach the quality of his first. Forever Peace was good for a dystopia and impact of advances in military tech. But quite a few authors have done better with drone robotic units in warfare. The characters from the first book don't show up in that one, but do in Forever Peace, 100 years after Forever War when they are in retirement. Pretty good but it suffered from an outrageous plot element out of the blue.

Michael wrote: "Lovely review. A gteat anti-war book for me. He had such success with this as a young man returned from Vietnam. But it's sad his further achievements didn't reach the quality of his first. Forever..."

Thank you. :) You know, I originally thought Forever Peace was the sequel to Forever War, but it seems they may have been trying to cash in on the success of the previous book. According to the author, it is not an actual sequel, wasn't supposed to be considered part of the series and at most, could be called a "spiritual sequel". I actually did borrow Forever Peace from a friend, but I'm waiting until I've finished the actual sequel, Forever Free, which is often mislabeled as the third book. Is that the one you're referring to, with the outrageous plot element? You seem to be referencing two books, but used Forever Peace for both of them. I'm assuming Forever Free must be the one that features the main characters after retirement?

I'm sad to hear that his other works aren't as good. Forever Peace didn't look like it was going to be revolutionary, after reading the first twenty pages (before I double checked and realized it wasn't the sequel) I was struggling to picture those suits from the provided description, but when I restart it, maybe I'll gain some clarity.