The Forever War

All the good war stories capture the absurd alongside the epic, and what I love about this book is that both themes are core to this story. The soldiers can only find and fight their alien enemies by traveling thousands of light years almost instantly via “collapsars.”

However, the time dilation caused by each jump means dozens or even hundreds of years elapse on Earth between each fight. So, after each battle, they return to a home that’s increasingly alien to them. As much as I cheered for the heroes, in the end, I think I pitied them more than… show more.

The best book recommendation my dad has ever given me was The Forever War. I tend to find the shorter, pocket book sci-fi a bit rushed on details for my liking, but they’re entirely his jam, and The Forever War had such a unique setting I still became immersed.

It tickled all of the motifs I love most about 70’s science fiction: space is dark and cold and unforgiving. And what’s not to love about a dystopian military-industrial complex? Because of the setting, it is a time travel story in which the time traveling happens progressively throughout, which gave… show more.

This book is one of the best military science fiction stories and an excellent anti-war novel. It mixes compelling action and smart science with real frustrations, emotions, and horror as the futility of war is exposed. Haldeman based the story on his own experiences in Vietnam, and the story revolves around a similar soldier who struggles to make sense of the war he is fighting and the home he no longer recognizes.

While it’s a great window into the American psyche in 1975, it is best read immediately after Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, which reflects America's rah-rah militarism in 1959.… show more.

There’s a sadness to this book that captures the sense of futility many soldiers feel when they’re in the thick of combat. Why are we doing this? Is it even okay to ask that question? Not that Forever War is a sad book – the narrative carries a sense of hope that reflects the optimism of youth as our heroes travel to strange planets to fight.

Joe Haldeman’s military experience shines through as he builds the relationships between the men and women who serve together. He also understands how isolated veterans can feel coming home after combat—how their society doesn’t… show more.

Another work spanning thousands of years (with a steady cast of characters!), this series introduced me to the relativistic effects of space travel and the idea that interstellar combat may never feature two peer adversaries.

The first novel creates great military drama and social commentary set in a future universe. Forever Free takes a turn towards religion. I found this book riveting, and Forever Free was less so. I felt kind of obligated to read Forever Free like I must watch one of the newer Star Trek spin-offs even if I hate it (the others are fantastic, by the way).

As a veteran of the Marine Corps, I tend to shy away from military science fiction. But so many people had recommended this book that I couldn’t ignore them forever.

Apparently, Haldeman was a Vietnam veteran and wrote this book as a scathing satire of the military. I don’t remember who said it, but “military intelligence is an oxymoron.” The book perfectly captures the bureaucracy, the nonsense, and the hurry-up-and-wait aspect of military life. Not to mention the difficulty of getting out of the military and trying to reacclimate to civilian life.

On the positive side, he does an excellent… show more.

I read this book in one sitting on a cold, rainy afternoon/evening, a good bottle of red wine by my side. It's a well-known classic that I'd read years before and only remembered a few vague details about, but it grabbed me straight away all over again. 

William Mandela is a reluctant soldier in a future war against an unknown alien enemy. After surviving his first early battles in far-flung space, the nature of relativity means that the world he returns to is not the same as the one he left. 

Inspired by the author's own history with the Vietnam… show more.

When I met Joe Haldeman, I was struck by how such an unassuming, witty person could write such a gritty, visceral novel about war. Haldeman served in Vietnam, and (by his own admission) his combat experience shines through in Forever War. Yes, this novel captures combat in unflinching detail, but I’m a former professor of war, so what I really care about is the intriguing interplay of time, space, and war. As captured so well in the short story version of the novel, “Time Piece,” this novel is less about fighting and dying and more about what… show more.

It’s one thing to go up against aliens, but it’s a whole other ballgame when both you and the aliens are suffering from massive time dilation effects. Haldeman took the confusion and alienation he experienced during the Vietnam War and transposed it into an interstellar conflict.

What’s so amazing about the action in this book is how it constantly changes as the time periods do. With every battle that William Mandella survives and returns from, generations have passed on Earth, meaning huge sea changes in technology and society. Each fight is with unfamiliar technology and tactics on both sides, making… show more.

Written as a reaction to Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, The Forever War is a fantastic depiction of warfare with no end in sight. Thanks to a propulsion system that ensures decades and even centuries pass in real time, we a follow a soldier’s endless struggle to defend his world and navigate the changing cultural developments of humanity, to a point that they become unrecogniseable.

Another must-read for any die-hard SF fans.