Product Description

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

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10958 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 254 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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
Mandella starts out as a foot soldier in man's thousand-year war against the Taurans and ends as a reluctant major. Spanning the stars at faster than light speeds, Mandella and his comrades age only months as the centuries zip by on an earth that becomes increasingly foreign. But few soldiers will return to the altered home planet; in battles fought with powered suits and other stranger weapons, the odds for survival approach zero. This war is the opposite of the one Heinlein glorified in Starship Troopers (1959) - bloody, cruel and meaningless. This is a splendid, thoughtful adventure. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
SALES POINTS * #1 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written * Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula Award as best sf novel of the year * 'Faultless advanced military technology, fascinating aliens, and a dangerously believable future Earth ... a book that's damn near perfect' -- Peter F. Hamilton * 'If there was a Fort Knox for science fiction writers who really matter, we'd have to lock Haldeman up there' -- Stephen King

Customer Reviews

Finally, this book is to be a film...Wow
Finally after all these years,one of the best Sci-fi film directors is about to make this book into a film.

Please, please, please, let's not have this film spoiled by too-well-known actors. The Forever War is a story bursting with sublime inspiration. Forged from Joe Haldeman's experience's in the Vietnam war, the Author of this work has fashioned a most precious and deeply humane tale. The essence of this material must be treated with care. Ridley Scott has my blessing with knobs-on, but I'm worried that the budget people will want a big name - what's wrong with that? The characters of this story need no preconceived boost from familiar faces. Joe's narrative gives us the opportunity to bring on 'new' people, a bit like Star Wars, people who haven't had their break yet.
I am completely excited that this is happening in my lifetime. All I wish for is that Ridley Scott has the insight to want Joe Haldeman on the team. Joe has written many things since which all have his unique stamp. His skill in bringing those wonderful and often shocking human traits into futuristic and utterly believable realms, has inspired countless people - me included.

Grant Wyness

Interesting concepts, but story line could be stronger
This book won both Hugo and Nebula awards and is considered a Sci-Fi classic. There are interesting ideas, particularly the impact of relativity and time compression upon a traveller returning following a space journey, and how society can change in the meantime. The political message concerning war in the aftermath of Vietnam is very obvious. Written in a plain, undemanding, straightforward narrative style, although this is OK for Sci-Fi. The plot is a bit limited, but there is enough of conceptual interest to carry it through. Well worth a look at for Sci-Fi enthusiasts, but probably won't appeal to those who don't like the genre. Some of the social developments described over the 1000 years embraced by the book seem a little far-fetched to be credible.

Homo Millenium
Many consider this to be one of the finest science-fiction novels ever written, and I can see why. Haldeman, a Vietnam war veteram, originally intended the novel to be an allegory for Vietnam; but years have gone by and the novel now works as an allegory for all of America's foreign incursions, in particular the disastrous war in Iraq. However, this novel is more than just about war: it's about life between and after war for soldiers - their sense of loss and displacement when they return to their homes and find no support; it's about the lives of women and men in the army, the relationships they form (and so quickly lose), and the politics attached to them.

I could write a whole essay on homosexuality as it appears in The Forever War. In the future, with the planet enduring a massive population explosion, the government imposes a "homosocial" law. Homosexuality is at first highly encouraged, then enforced. Finally, men and women are hatched to be the best soldiers they can be, as well as 100% queer. It's Sparta all over again, but with space ships. The narrator, one of the only heterosexuals left in humanity, experiences ostracism, prejudice, funny looks, etc, because he's an eccentric, with unusual tastes. It's not as black & white as it sounds; Haldeman delivers a lot of his ideas through humor, or as the fabric in the more general plot about Earth's war against an alien civilization. Coupled with some gorgeous writing, it makes for a very entertaining read.