Rating: 
Summary: One of the ten best books in sci-fi
Review: This is one of the books that make science fiction worth your time. More than spaceships and ray guns, this book is about humans, war, and change. Many books have crossed this terrain since the Forever War came out in the 70's, and in many ways time has surpassed Haldeman's vision. Still after reading it few can deny it's emotional impact, and it becomes easy to see why it has endured as one of the best selling science fiction novels of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Good Sci Fi with a little Politcal commetary mixed in
Review: I really enjoyed this book, its a good piece of Sci Fi that I think would appeal to just about anyone interested in a good sci fi read. It is not a huge book, so its a good light read, but you can catch some sense of the author using it as a commentary on Vietnam, which does add a little more thought to the read.
I am somewhat picky about what I read, so if I liked it, you probably will as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice idea. Shame about the execution.
Review: One of the ideas behind The Forever War must've been amazing, even brilliant, thirty years ago: a war that lasts for thousands of years because of relativity. The other idea, that war is hell, is not exactly original. But the ideas make an interesting combination, and together they could've made a fantastic book.Except. The author seems to have only a glancing familiarity with things like human nature. One perfect example is the way feminism works in the book. Oh, the women are in the army - they fight on the line and all that. But they're *also* expected to act as camp followers! When they go to a station inhabited mostly by men, they are obliged, by law and military rule, to have sex with those men for as long as the men wish it. That's every lonely 15-year-old boy's dream, maybe, but it wouldn't work in reality. Women don't respond well to rape, and highly trained, heavily armed women will eventually get tired of being unpaid, legally coerced prostitutes; the social order will rebalance. And let's not forget the strange relationship between Marygay and Mandella. It's hard to believe they're in love at all, because the author doesn't seem to have a clue how to write a convincing love affair, so it's hard to get worked up about their future together. Except, again. The author, in his understandable bitterness about the Vietnam war, takes things a bit too far to demonstrate that war is hell. Why would any army rigorously test hundreds of thousands of people, then forcibly conscript the smartest and most educated so that they could *fight as grunts, in the frontline infantry*? Never mind that 150+ IQ people are exactly the sort you don't want in an army, since they aren't going to take orders any too well, but are the sort you want working on technological advances back home. Why go through all that to recruit for a group of people that will sustain 34% casualties every time they encounter the enemy, whether they're smart or not? And why would any army kill so many of its "elite" conscripted grunts in training? Most armies can find a way to train soldiers that doesn't, itself, inflict a 20% casualty rate. Except, a third time. The future societies, which Mandella visits irregularly during his tour of duty, have that sad, silly tone that lots of future-predicting SF from the '70s has. It's hard to take seriously, not just because the predictions are off base; it's the way they're off base. Tobacco is illegal because it takes land needed to grow food, but marijuana is distributed free by many governments? The UN runs the major world fighting force and most of the rest of the world, too? Um. Reading this book left me switching between annoyance, amusement, and regret, but by the end, regret predominated. It was a nice idea, and maybe it could've been a classic. As it stands, though, The Forever War is an old novel, best forgotten. Read something else; don't bother starting this War.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning. What 'science' fiction was meant to be.
Review: It was years ago when I first read the Forever War. At the time I was young and was simply attracted to the book as a fun piece of science fiction. Twenty-years and three wars later I read it again and I was stunned by how different it felt. It was like I was reading a different novel. What on the surface is just a good piece of sci-fi about how war might be in the future is in fact a book about every war there has ever been. At least that is my theory. It certainly feels like every war I have been in. On another level it is a novel about anyone who goes home after many years, only to find it vanished the day you left. There is a reason this classic is still around nearly 30 years later. This is one of the books they will be reading centuries from now when they talk about a new type of fiction from the 20th century called "Science Fiction."
Rating:
Summary: Oh, come on
Review: This was an OK book, but nothing terribly exciting ever happened. The battles were not very interesting, and they were very short. I never got much of a sense at all of the Taurans or what they were fighting for. The most interesting part was the part about Earth in the future, but that was also the worst part. I know this book was written in the 70s, so I can overlook people riding around in blimps, talking on videophones, or sitting down to read the evening fax, but the economic and political situation in Earth was at best silly, and at worst completely ridiculous. Either way, it wasn't at all believable. Also, the love story between William and Marygay seemed a little thrown in. One minute it's a free-for-all with anyone sleeping with anyone else, the next minute, these two are paired up and I guess in love. The author either should have provided some background for why this happened, or just left it out. Finally, the ending seemed abrupt, especially for a book titled The "Forever" War. It could have been considerably longer, with more detailed battles, more information about the enemy, and a more realistic protaganist with some real human emotions, then maybe it would have been an interesting story. As it is, it's just not worth reading. I know a lot of people really like this book and that's fine with me, but personally, I just don't see why it's so highly thought of.
Rating:
Summary: More than sci fi, this is great fiction
Review: The Forever War just may be one of the finest novels ever written about man's experience as a solider, but it is much more than just a good military sci fi book. Its story encompasses questions like "How does love transcend time?" "What justifies killing?" "Is change only noticeable from a distance?" and "Can humans survive our own evolution and still remain human?"
It has action, sex, interesting technology, cool locales and a really interesting premise: If a war was fought in space relativity would place some soldiers far from home in time, as well as place. If you like thoughtful, fast-paced adventure, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic
Review: The Forever War, long a classic of military science fiction, continues to hold great allure despite several decades since its initial release. The story is straight forward enough. Mandela, the protagonist, is drafted to go forth to fight an alien race of which he understands almost nothing and questions why he is there in the first place. Interestingly, as he spends much of his time traveling at near light speed, relativistic effect causes time to pass quicker at home; hundreds of years pass between his missions as he experiences but a few years and each time he returns the entire culture appears made anew. Much of the work responds to the Vietnam War, facets that may be lost on many younger readers. However, as many over the years point out, Halderman?s work works very well as a sort of response to Heinlein?s excellent Starship Trooper, asking many similar questions but arriving at very different answers. Like lots of the genre, Forever War teaches us much also about the time in which the author wrote and the challenges he faced. While often dated, with characters that often seem thin, Halderman?s work will force any thoughtful reader into careful examination.
Rating:
Summary: A great SF book
Review: Really, I think this might just bemy new favorite SF book. It really is written in awesome style. It encompasses so many aspects of the genre. I picked it up, read the whole thing in about 3 hours, and aftwerwards, I felt really touched by the novel. A must read for SF fans, pacifists, anti Nam people, and anyone in general
Rating:
Summary: Haunting Journey
Review: Melancholic is how I felt after finishing The Forever War. For three days I was one of them-- lost, found, but never able to return home.
Rating:
Summary: On my 10 best of all time SI-FI list
Review: I read this book as a kid after checking it out from the
public libray in the early '70s (70-73). It was a new
book when I read it. Years later I remembered the plot
and went searching and searching for it, finally located
and re-read it. It was still terrific.
This was before the book Forever Peace came out.
This book was one of the only books that deals with the
time dialation effects of mounting a war across great distances.
Most SCI-FI today just uses worm holes. Haldeman deals with
the fact that cultures change, and everyone you knew at the
start of a mission on earth may be dead when you return.
This creates a wide open playing field for which to introduce
characters and effects.
I find it very interesting how he deals with homosexuality
in the book. In the 70's this was rather uncomfortable for
me to read, but it seems to pre-date what happend in our
culture. (Of course that is one point to reading good SCI-FI, to consider future realities).
Thanks so much Joe!
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