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The Forever War

The Forever War

List Price: $13.95
Your Price: $11.16
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fine taste for the absurd
Review: This is one of science fiction's finest, best books. It took a Vietnam vet with a degree in the sciences to get it on paper, but Joe Haldeman takes you down twin tracks in Forever War. The main character slogs through a set of adventures that rank as great writing mixing Hemingway in equal parts with Oscar Wilde. AND there is that little extra added complication of those campaigns taking place at the end of a relativistic 'crack-the-whip' that brings him back to a society that is less and less his own.

Buy this book, like I do, every couple of years. Re-read it and then give it to someone you know who likes to use their brain. You'll enjoy it all over again, and you'll end up with a large circle of friends.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rare Sci Fi
Review: This is science fiction the way I like it, gritty, real, and clever.

The graphic novel is also superb if your a fan of that medium!

Dont miss it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Powerful and timely anti-war message
Review: Drafted into a United Nations space army after humanity is attacked by mysterious aliens, William Mandella participates in an early victory and returns to earth a hero. But (thanks to relativity) the earth he returns to is strange and dangerous--and jobless. Mandella reenlists--only to be sent back into combat. With each mission, more earth-time passes and Mandella grows more distant from the civilization that sends him into conflict. But each mission also brings him closer to death because the enemy is advancing quickly in their martial abilities.

Author Joe Haldeman made some misguesses in terms of 21st century technology (he dramatically underestimated progress in computers and display technology and overestimated progress in lasers) and guessed that Viet Nam would be the last U.S. war action for a generation, but he tells a powerful story of soldiers fighting a war that they don't understand.

The anti-war message of THE FOREVER WAR is clear and powerful. With the U.S. at war now (in Iraq at this writing), an anti-war message will be unpopular to some. But our current war makes THE FOREVER WAR an essential work. Haldeman ends his story with a nasty twist, and with a heartwarming surprise.

THE FOREVER WAR is an important book, freshly edited to restore Haldeman's original message and impact (the 1970s version was really FOREVER lite. A few editorial errors remain--especially the abrupt transitions between calorie and dollar denominations, but these shouldn't detract from reader enjoyment. I read FOREVER when it came out in the 70s and was struck by its power. The new edition adds to the impact.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A masterpiece blend of military satire and future history.
Review: War is hell, and this book is yet another proclamation of this self-evident truth. What makes this book interesting are the strange societies in which poor Mandella returns to, after the time-slowing passages in the collapsar holes. Some hypotheses may be a bit quaint or dated, but they make, on the whole, a very convincing nightmare. At the end, I'd be going to "Middle Finger",too!
I loved, though, that society where heterosexuality was considered an "emotional dysfunction" that could nonetheless be "cured". Ironic, if that would ever come to pass somewhere or somewhen, don't you think?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Sci-Fi channel is making FW a mini-series!
Review: I've been waiting years for this: the Sci-Fi channel is making a mini-series out of The Forever War. I just hope they don't screw it up.

And since this is supposed to be a review, let me just say this book is awesome.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A book you must read
Review: When I first read this book, I knew I had found something I would read many more times. This was science fiction with a heart and mind. I think what I love most about this novel is that while it is brutal, it is about how a person can be swept along by terrible events far beyond their control and still remain a human being. There is so much I want to say about this book, but I don't want to give anything away to those who haven't read it yet. Let me just say that though the book is brutal at times, Haldeman is not a cruel man, and he does give us more than just death. In fact I was so intrigued by the book I read everything I could about the author's experience in Vietnam and I think I can safely say he toned the war in the book down for William Mandella (the protagonist). This is great fiction, and the fact that it is science fiction is a nice plus for fans of the genre. However I really believe this a book most anyone would enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Grand classic
Review: This is a friggin' classic. If you haven't read it you don't know what science fiction can be. They will be reading Haldeman, Asimov, Brin, and Heinlein long after we are in the grave.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Dated and Demented
Review: The first several chapters read like a high school short story writing project. Filled with adolescent fantasies of orgies, drug use, and no character development. After the first "section" the story does start to mesh some. The main problem is the logic presented for human changes over the centuries just doesn't seem realistic. In the end I felt very much like I had read a 60s pulp sci-fi story. No character development, very dry, and I'm sorry to say very boring. When it won a Hugo it must have been a very bad year if no competition could beat it. Read Vernor Vinge instead.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: dated but good
Review: Although we have a intergalatic war set in the 90's this book has it's good points. Haldeman creates an unlikely hero with depth and emotion that draws the reader into the story despite the somewhat slow begining. The time dialation and future shock that our main character suffers upon his return to earth gives a since of lonliness and displacement that can be felt. The ending was surprising and well recieved by this reader. I would have given this book higher marks but I felt it needed more action and some attention to giving the enemy aliens more depth.Still a good read though.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Good, but. . .
Review: This is a well written book, don't get me wrong. It has well written battle scenes, good descriptions of characters, and it gives a good analysis of society; but i am sick of reading books written by people in Veitnam or shows about Veitnam that constantly portray soldiers as self questioning bufoons. After reading many books written by World War 1&2 veterans and then reading many more books written by Veitnam veterans, weather they be Sci-Fi or memoirs or other types of books, i noticed a distinct diffrence between the two; Books written by world War 1&2 veterans are haunted by the same scenes of graphic violence and the chaos of war as books by Veitnam authors, but books written by Veitnam veterans are often full of complaining and the talk of the futility of war. Why is it that one generation of soldiers could see the use of their battles weather they liked them or not, while the other genertion can not see the use of any of it and would instead lay around and smoke marijuana instead of trying to stop the spread of global communism? I understand that Veitnam was a much more moraly ambigous war but they only fought as hard as soldiers in World War 1&2. I am sickend by an entire generation of soldiers that was brainwashed into second guessing every decision they made. Forever War is a perfect example of this, on the second page it already has the main character smoking pot and complaining before he has ever seen combat. I beleive that from the mid 60's to the late 70's lived a generation of weak people who had no idea of what we were fighting for, who we were fighting for, and what we were attempting to acheive; they would have ratherd complained and whined about things than actually get them done.


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