Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards: A futuristic masterpiece, “perhaps the most important war novel written since Vietnam” (Junot D#65533;az). In this novel, a landmark of science fiction that began as an MFA thesis for the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and went on to become an award-winning classic–inspiring a play, a graphic novel, and most recently an in-development film–man has taken to the … film–man has taken to the stars, and soldiers fighting the wars of the future return to Earth forever alienated from their home.
Conscripted into service for the United Nations Exploratory Force, a highly trained unit built for revenge, physics student William Mandella fights for his planet light years away against the alien force known as the Taurans. “Mandella’s attempt to survive and remain human in the face of an absurd, almost endless war is harrowing, hilarious, heartbreaking, and true,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Junot D#65533;az–and because of the relative passage of time when one travels at incredibly high speed, the Earth Mandella returns to after his two-year experience has progressed decades and is foreign to him in disturbing ways.
Based in part on the author’s experiences in Vietnam, The Forever War is regarded as one of the greatest military science fiction novels ever written, capturing the alienation that servicemen and women experience even now upon returning home from battle. It shines a light not only on the culture of the 1970s in which it was written, but also on our potential future. “To say that The Forever War is the best science fiction war novel ever written is to damn it with faint praise. It is . . . as fine and woundingly genuine a war story as any I’ve read” (William Gibson).
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Joe Haldeman including rare images from the author’s personal collection.
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If you enjoy a rollicking military science fiction novel, then you’ll love The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.
This is a classic sci-fi novel that won the Nebula Award in 1975, and the Hugo and the Locus awards in 1976.
I just read it for the first time last month and really loved it. I make a point of going back to read the classics from time to time, because I want to know what books hit the cultural zeitgeist in the past and understand why they were so successful.
My favorite part of this novel is how Haldeman treats time—or, rather, time dilation. Each time the soldiers go out on a mission, what they experience as six months or a year is actually decades passing back at home.
When they come back, things have changed. Not just equipment, but the culture, the leadership, the state of the world.
And not always for the better.
What will the future look like? Even if Haldeman’s predictions weren’t necessarily spot on, they are inventive and sometimes surprising.
Hope you enjoy it.
P.S. This is one of those books you can probably get at your local library, if you’re so inclined! I use the Libby app for checking ebooks and audiobooks out of the Austin Public Library. And I don’t even have to leave the house to do it!
Haldeman draws on his own experiences as a Vietnam veteran to imagine a memoir of humanity’s depressingly inevitable war with the first alien race it encounters on venturing into the stars. The time-dilation effects of faster-than-light travel make the experience of war a millennia-spanning nightmare of combat and continuous technological and social change for the narrator. A bleaker ending might have made this the All Quiet on the Western Front of Science Fiction, but still a remarkable achievement.
THE FOREVER WAR taught me that SciFi can be a perfect vehicle for talking about the strains of war. How else can a veteran talk about the challenges of coming home after a year or more abroad to find that everything they have known has kept moving other than through time dilation at relativistic speeds. This novel spoke to my own experiences more than any memoir could.
I really liked The Forever War for the character building and the thought provoking ideas
Great story.
Jake, a mercenary, befriends Arr, the last of the Henu people. Jake and Arr become close friends. Jake introduces Arr to his Dar Dof, a mix of wolf and bear, slightly intelligent. They go through various adventures brought about by Jake’s contracts as a mercenary for hire
This is an oldie, but goodie. I first read it in college (40 years ago!) and it is still a captivating story today.
If you haven’t read Haldeman, you’re definitely not a hardcore SF fan. “The Forever War” is arguably the best – and certainly the best-known – of his several notable offerings. Haldeman served in Vietnam, and his descriptions of war and the military life reflect he experience there, as well as the lessons he learned from it. His great skill was bringing the feeling into a future world that, without unnecessary gimmicks, combines a sort of time travel with well-written military science fiction. A must, along with the two sequels.
Great Science fiction novel. Did not realize that it was based somewhat on experiences in Vietnam. Had read before and just bought on e-book. Enjoyed rereading
This is a must read for any Sci-Fi enthusiast. Wonderfully written, with well crafted scientific insights, as well as thought provoking themes regarding war and its effects,
Haven’t read it? Please, do yourself a favor, and read it.
I am a life-long sci-fi reader and although I read it many years ago, every time I see it I remember how much I liked it. It is definitely in my top ten sci-fi novels, and it caused me to read every other Joe Haldeman book I could get my hands on.
Futility.
If I had to choose one theme for The Forever War, it would be futility. As a reader, I knew the futility the “but I’m no military leader” characters felt as they were recruited to fight an alien race for reasons they didn’t understand, to protect a world and people they returned to find they could neither relate to nor appreciate.
To truly value this novel, one must realize it mirrors the issues faced by those who fought in Vietnam, and likely countless other wars and conflicts. (Haldeman himself is a veteran of the Vietnam War) If you know this going in, you will respect and praise The Forever War for all the nuances of war-related survivor guilt, isolation, fear, alienation and betrayal it exposes. For example, when the main character, Mandella, is left no choice but to leave a now alien Earth to return to the army and the war, his final thought left me mournful:
“But I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were going home.”
If you delve in unaware of the context, and did not actually live through that dismaying part of American history, this may seem to you just another classic sci-fi book. But I urge you — don’t let this novel be just some action book you’ve read, when the author went to such great lengths to help us, the readers, embrace the depth of futility only war can produce in a man.
I read this book many years ago and still return to it occasionally.
One of the best SF novels of all time, hands down. Haldeman at his best, the story is moving, poignant, exciting and tragic. The story follows men going to war on distant stars, returning to Earth hundreds, then thousands, of years later as Earth’s civilization evolves into something more alien to them than the bizarre foe they’re battling. A tale of alienation and absurdity, experienced by wonderful characters and just enough hard science thrown in. Whether you appreciate the allegory to the Vietnam war or not, this novel stands on its own as one of the best examples of science fiction storytelling ever written. Do yourself a favor and read it.
21st century Heinlein….
Well written, with an original twist on a oft used theme.
One of my favorite books; I re-read it every 5 years or so.
Loved it.
The descriptive phrases and the foresight are excellent. The forward by John Scalzi is a heck of a good read in itself. Read this book and imagine Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq or some other stupid war in land halfway around the world. Really good sci-fi does not need to leave the planet.
Deals realistically with the physics of our universe and travel through space. Time runs slower wherever gravity is strongest, and this is because gravity curves space-time.
Even in some future world where the soldiers all (mostly) die, the blind military logic is still believable. It could be happening today. An absolute great commentary on the military-industrial complex and a great look at where it could lead us.