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The Forever War [Paperback]

Joe Haldeman
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (226 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Aug 21 2003

Private William Mandella is a hero in spite of himself -- a reluctant conscript drafted into an elite military unit, and propelled through space and time to fight in a distant thousand-year conflict. He never wanted to go to war, but the leaders on Earth have drawn a line in the interstellar sand -- despite the fact that their fierce alien enemy is unknowable, unconquerable, and very far away. So Mandella will perform his duties without rancor and even rise up through the military's ranks . . . if he survives. But the true test of his mettle will come when he returns to Earth. Because of the time dilation caused by space travel the loyal soldier is aging months, while his home planet is aging centuries -- and the difference will prove the saying: you never can go home. . .


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From Amazon

In the 1970s Joe Haldeman approached more than a dozen different publishers before he finally found one interested in The Forever War. The book went on to win both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, although a large chunk of the story had been cut out before it saw publication. Now Haldeman and Avon Books have released the definitive version of The Forever War, published for the first time as Haldeman originally intended. The book tells the timeless story of war, in this case a conflict between humanity and the alien Taurans. Humans first bumped heads with the Taurans when we began using collapsars to travel the stars. Although the collapsars provide nearly instantaneous travel across vast distances, the relativistic speeds associated with the process means that time passes slower for those aboard ship. For William Mandella, a physics student drafted as a soldier, that means more than 27 years will have passed between his first encounter with the Taurans and his homecoming, though he himself will have aged only a year. When Mandella finds that he can't adjust to Earth after being gone so long from home, he reenlists, only to find himself shuttled endlessly from battle to battle as the centuries pass. --Craig E. Engler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"To say that The Forever War is the best science fiction war novel ever written is to damn it with faint praise. It is, for all its techno-extrapolative brilliance, as fine and woundingly genuine a war story as any I've read."
--William Gibson, author of Neuromancer, Spook Country

"There are a handful of moments when an American science fiction novel abruptly and seemingly effortlessly satisfied every possible expectation conveyed not only by the genre's ambitions, but of those of the whole literary landscape with which it was contemporary: Sturgeon's More Than Human, Dick's The Man In The High Castle, LeGuin's Dispossessed, Gibson's Neuromancer. The Forever War is one such book, and like those others still carries with it that air of recognition and possibility."
--Jonathan Lethem, author of Gun With Occcasional Music, Fortress of Solitude

"Perhaps the most important war novel written since Vietnam . .  . Haldeman, a veteran, is a flat-out visionary . . . and protagonist William Mandella's attempt to survive and remain human in the face of an absurd almost endless war is harrowing hilarious heartbreaking and true  . . . like all the best works of literature THE FOREVER WAR takes you apart and then, before you can turn that last page, puts you back together: better, wiser, more human.  Simply extraordinary."
--Junot Diaz, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

"If there was a Fort Knox for Science Fiction writers, we'd have to lock Joe Haldeman up."
--Stephen King, author of The Shining, The Dead Zone, The Stand

"The Forever War is not just a great Science Fiction novel, it's a great Vietnam war novel - and a great war novel, without qualification- that is also Science Fiction.  A classic to grace either genre."
--Iain M. Banks, author of Use of Weapons, The Player of Games, Matter

"FOREVER WAR is brilliant--one of the most influential war novels of our time. That it happens to be set in the future only broadens and enhances its message."
--Greg Bear, author of Moving Mars, Eon, The Forge of God

“A parable whose lessons are needful learning once more.”
--John Scalzi, author of Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, Zoe’s Tale

"I first read this twenty years ago and have never forgotten the wonder and fury it kindled at the time.  Anyone who talks about the glory of war has obviously never read it.  A beautifully detailed and intensely personal account of a conflict which lasts for over a thousand years, as told by one grunt who lives through it all.  Only a writer as skillfull and knowledgeable as Haldeman could use war's dark glamour to lure the reader in and then deplou the sam fascination to show just what kind of effect this orchestrated barbarism can have on the human soul."
--Peter F. Hamilton, author of Pandora’s Star, Judas Unchained, The Dreaming Void

“In a literature of ideas, The Forever War is a titan: a book filled with mind-bending ideas about relatavistic time-distortion and world-shaking ideas about the futility of war. In today's world, where we think declaring war on abstract nouns like TERROR is a winning strategy, we need THE FOREVER WAR."
--Cory Doctorow, author of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, Little Brother X

“It is to the Vietnam War what Catch-22 was to World War II, the definitive, bleakly comic satire.”
--Thomas M. Disch, author of Camp Concentration, 334

"The Forever War does what the very best science fiction does. It deals with extremes both societal and teleological; it places a frame around humankind's place in the universe to show us what is outside the frame; and it functions simultaneously at the literal and metaphorical level.  Inarguably one of the genre's great novels, it is also among the finest novels ever written about war."
--James Sallis, author of The Long Legged Fly, Drive, Cripple Creek

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man." Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars WOW July 15 2004
Format:Paperback
This book was originally published in 1977 as an allegory to the Vietnam War. A reluctant soldier comes home from a never ending war without winning to a changed world he no longer recognizes. For this alone, this book is worth reading. However, the story stands on its own feet and he does a remarkable job. This book is part "Starship Troopers" and part "Armor". The reader actually feels for the soldiers who survive an unsurvivorable war only to find their world they left has changed and not for the better in their eyes. Much of the change has to do with worm holes and time dialation. Haldeman does a good job explaining the concept without getting to lost in the science which is not needed here. The enemy is not expanded upon and left shadowy except to explain that they are tough fighters and their tactics make no sense. This helps heighten the frustration of the soldiers and is a nice touch. The end of the story is rather abrupt, although ingenious and it certainly left itself open to a sequel. Highly Recommended
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5.0 out of 5 stars Truly deserving of being called a classic May 13 2013
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I finally came around to reading this book after having heard it touted as a classic in various sci-fi circles, and truly was not disappointed. A poignant book using physical laws as the device for original and thought-provoking storytelling.
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic April 14 2013
By Keinnon
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
A timeless SF novel because, to date, humanity is still engaging in wars that serve only to advertise what a stupid, devolved species we are.
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Most recent customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars So this is the book everyone else stole from...
Classic old school SF. Presages a whole bunch of modern books movies and games. Would they would make this a movie.
Published 2 months ago by Spencer Capier
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story
Not sure why I had never read this before now, but his is a great story. very evocative of the late 70's early 80's when all that Vietnam angst was going around even up here in... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Larry
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
4.0 out of 5 stars Good science fiction that stands the test of time.
I was led to this book by reading about another author and book. The author of this book was bitching about "Starship Troopers" and it's author Robert A. Read more
Published 8 months ago by jollyjacktar
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent science-fiction novel
This, along with Starship Troopers and Armor, represents the "holy trinity" or armored-infantry science fiction. Read more
Published 23 months ago by A. Volk
5.0 out of 5 stars Great buy!
This was a great buy, This book was in great condition. I am reading this book right now and it is very good. I have bought several books from them and I will buy again!
Published on Mar 14 2011 by etully
5.0 out of 5 stars Would make a great movie
Fast moving and very well written. No disappointments. Story is entirely conceivable with our advance in bionics and the author does not dwell on the technical aspect to move the... Read more
Published on Jan 27 2011 by peterj
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read.
Not much to add to all the other reviews. The only negative is a lot of technobabble but that is pretty normal for hard Sci Fi books. Read more
Published on Dec 22 2010 by Doc Madsen
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for science fictions lovers
An enjoyable easy read from cover to cover. The story covers centuries of human "evolution" through the eyes of the main character 'Mandella'. Read more
Published on Dec 12 2009 by Timothy Watt
5.0 out of 5 stars If You Think Burt Reynolds and Bill Murray Were Robbed at the Academy...
The Forever War isn't really about war. It's about how the past is gone, and the future is only what you make of it. Read more
Published on Mar 11 2009 by Robert Pattison
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