Rating: 
Summary: WONDERFUL
Review: A wonderful sci-fi story. The premise of this story is that Earth is fighting an alien race throughout the galaxy. Humans move through collapsers to locations for fighting the aliens. When moving through collapsers, time gets dilated (for the traveler). The main character ages hundreds (and then thousands) of Earth years per one of his years. This is why it is the Forever War. Interesting fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: Average
Review: Sometimes effective social commentary written in the shadow of the Vietnam War plays less well as time goes on. Action scenes virtually nonexistant. Interesting concept of "forever" war.
Don't look for heroism, or even rancor, which may leave some readers unaffected. Why draft "elite" anyway?
Rating:
Summary: Pretty cool book
Review: This was a fun book to read. I mean, what more can you want in a book? The story is intriguing and the main character is definitely someone you can relate to. The book does a good job of letting you relate to life of continuously coming back home to find it changed completely. The predictions of the future, the relationships, the battle and training experiences are all top notch. The book is able to cover so much time and space without feeling that it was moving too fast or jumping around too much. The only thing that I had a problem with was keeping track of all of the characters sometimes (but that's probably my problem more than the book's (-: ).All in all, this book is highly recommended for those looking for a good story, interesting characters and character interaction and an intriguing view of the future.
Rating:
Summary: The epitome of great science fiction
Review: After reading this remarkable book, I have to ask myself why I have never heard of Joe Haldeman before. This book won the Hugo and Nebula awards--and deservedly so--but I was not at all familiar with this author up to now. I have to say that this book is an incredible read. It's not exceedingly long, but it is packed full of all kinds of ideas and strikes me as quite visionary for the time in which it was written, which was the early 1970s. I am not as well-read in the sci-fi genre as I would like to be, but I must say that the future earth Haldeman describes is one quite unlike any I have read about or thought about myself. The very premise strikes me as singular if not unique, and the end result is a thoroughly enjoyable novel that far exceeds the fare of most science fiction offerings. In the late twentieth century, Earth develops the ability to travel to distant parts of the galaxy through portals called collapsars; they soon come into contact with an alien race called the Taurans, and war breaks out between the two worlds. The protagonist, William Mandella, finds himself drafted into the intergalactic service under the provisions of the newly established Elite Conscription Act of 1996. Rather than retain the future scientists and leaders at home, this act works to form an intergalactic army of the world's best and brightest young men and women. The new recruits endure a grueling and sometimes fatal training regimen before shipping out to the planets of disputed galactic areas. The trip itself is dangerous, and the troops must secure themselves in protective chambers while they make the long journey to their destinations. Traveling at speeds close to that of light, a journey of several months equates to centuries back home on earth. The troops themselves are made up of both men and women, and a high degree of "confraternizing" goes on between the two sexes. Mandella bonds with one woman in particular, and a part of the story revolves around their attempts to stay together. Mandella is injured in combat, and he returns to an earth that has changed greatly: it is not safe to go anywhere without a bodyguard, homosexuality has become widespread in the culture of nine billion earthbound souls, jobs are incredibly complicated to secure, and Mandella cannot fit in. He reenlists in the service. After another injury and another disillusioning trip home, he goes back into the service as an instructor; almost immediately, though, he is given command of a new ship and sent to a star system 150,000 light years away. By this time, with hundreds more years having passed on earth, heterosexuality has essentially disappeared, and his young recruits are basically genetically engineered test-tube babies. The story of his final military action makes for a thrilling end of the story. In the end, the author seems to express his own opinions about warfare, which it is certainly his prerogative to do, but the importance of the novel seems to lie mainly in the personality of Mandella and the author's portrayal of a drastically changed future earth society. This work was truly visionary. Hard science fiction elements include time travel (relative, of course) through collapsars (essentially black holes), a means by which humans can survive speeds close to the universal speed limit, and the military hardware of the future. The social context of the evolving story is the most striking part of the book to me, though. Malthusian population crises lead mankind to embrace (and at one point legislate) homosexuality. Mandella's heterosexuality is looked down upon and actually affects the morale of the troops under his command. The author also deals to some degree with cloning, which is certainly a timely topic, and delves into the political, economic, and social structures of his future earth. Mandella himself offers a case study in humanity. A reluctant warrior, he does what he has to do despite some ambivalence about the war itself, and he holds true to his personal beliefs and values in a world (several, actually) turned on its head. There is also a love story of sorts in the book, but it actually serves to heighten the importance of the protagonist's internal struggles with himself and with a world that becomes completely foreign to him. This is science fiction of the highest caliber and stands alongside the master works of authors more widely-recognized than Haldeman.
Rating:
Summary: A better statement than 10,000 Oliver Stone films.
Review: I read this book back in 1987 when I was 14 years old. I read books then solely for the entertainment value, not for the subtexts or message. I just saw William Mandala as another science fiction hero instead of an average military everyman who hates the military but circumstances beyond his control force him to rejoin when his tour is over. I thought of the collapsars as a neat concept instead of a metaphor of drastic social change. I am by no means an expert of the Vietnam War, yet my knowledge of the war was far less impressive back in 1987.
Even though it is an entertaining science fiction war novel with interesting concepts like the collapsars, The Forever War is also an insightful statement about the Vietnam War. For instance, both wars were started over absurd circumstances and too many veterans were forced to adapt to sudden societal changes, one of which was rejection by the society they fought for in the first place. When Mandala returns to Earth after centuries in space only to find heterosexuality shunned and homosexuality the norm, it is an ordeal like the Vietnam soldiers faced when people threw rocks at them and called them "Baby Killers". This is not an anti-war novel (at least as it is an anti-stupid war and anti-stupid society novel). Too many artistic works that paint a less than flattering picture of a war have been given that dubious distinction. It is however a statement about the entire Vietnam War - both there and here.
Rating:
Summary: Just Not That Good
Review: I purchased "The Forever War" on the basis of its Hugo award and the (mostly) glowing reviews I read on Amazon. I found myself with a day with very little to do, and finished it in just over 24 hours. After mulling it over, I've come to an inevitable conclusion: it's just not that good! "The Forever War" is your typical anti-war, Vietnam-based book. The difference is that it's the Earth vs. Aliens. Nice setting, but that doesn't really add anything new to the usual story. Frankly, Haldeman didn't seem to want to use his story to communicate a theme so much as to provide an excuse to publish his theme. Now, I certainly don't mind a little social commentary in my novels, but I much prefer it when the author leads the reader to the theme he or she wishes to bring across. Quite frankly, Haldeman couldn't have pushed his point any harder even if he had printed "War is Bad" at the top of every page. Commentary on a few other issues (homsexuality and communism most notably) was less central to the story but equally as blatant. That being said, "The Forever War" isn't a BAD book. The depth of the main character is impressive given the relative shortness of the novel, the plot is plausible, and there are enough twists to keep you reading. However, deserving of its awards and praise? I think not.
Rating:
Summary: A pleasure to read
Review: I have to admit - when starting this book, I didn't expect much. I assumed it would be yet another boring novel I'd have to struggle though and end up utterly disapointed with. I couldn't have been more wrong. I had planned to read the book over about a week; I ended up sitting down and reading it in just one day. I could not put the darn thing down for a second! It's well written, and keeps you on-your-feet with sudden twists in the storyline. I thought the ending was quite nice as well; it's the type of book that, when you finish it, you feel like you've gotten something out of the experiance rather than simply scanning your eyes through text. Lastly, the fact that this is the only sci-fi novel I've ever read that keeps on top of scientific law ( it keeps it relatively - yes, bad pun - simple ) adds a degree of sci-fact to the story. If you've ever sat and watched star-trek, cursing that the laws of physics do not allow for what is going on in the episode, this book will not disapoint. Basicly, anyone looking for a good read would enjoy this book. If you're a science fiction fan, you'll get even more out of it.
Rating: 
Summary: His only really good book
Review: Haldeman wrote this book partly as an "antidote" to Heinlein's classic, "Starship Troopers" (one of my favorite books). Heinlein's book was (wrongly) thought to be glorifying war, encouraging militarism and calling for a fascist state. Haldeman's work was supposed to show the "true" side of the military life Heinlein glorifies. Although dated, it was written in 1975 and like all sci-fi it tells us almost as much about the author's own times than it does about possible futures, and clearly the result of the author's Vietnam experience and his generation's self-indulgent narcissism, the book still has to rank among my top ten sci-fi reads. Although not exactly a ripping yarn, the book grips you because it has so much 'truth' in it, or at least Haldeman's perception of truth about war's sheer pointlessness. Yet the book is not dark or depressing or trying--overtly--to beat you to death with a 'message:' war is bad! You come to the conclusion the same way Mandala does: slowly realizing the utter futility of the endeavor. You genuinely like Mandala and want to know how it will turn out for him. All in all, a book worth buying and reading more than once. However, beware of the third book in the series, "Forever Free," one of the worst bits of tripe I've had the misfortune to spend good money on. The book uses a "Deux et Machina" that is such a complete ... that I actually threw the book out the window. And then went to pick it up because littering is a crime. As I said, Haldeman had one really great work in him and this is it. The rest of his work ranges from OK-I-guess to barely passable to weird.
Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable short novel
Review: This is a very enjoyable short novel following the 5 year military career of William Mandella, which spans the entire length of the 1000 year war with the enemy aliens we labelled the Taurans. Mandella, a Private in the first battle of the war and a Major in the last really doesn't change much (and who would in just few years). Of course, in a thousand years everything else changes until Mandella's return from his final battle where he finds that humankind has essentially been transformed into something else.
Rating:
Summary: Great Sci-Fi
Review: Plainly speaking, I bought this book because it won the most desired Sci-fi prizes, Hugo and Nebula. But I thought it would just be another story featuring aliens, laser-blasting wars and so on, just like Starship Troopers, which also won those prizes (both Nebula and Hugo, I think); the difference is that I didn't enjoy Starship Troopers the least bit, and found Forever War one of the most interesting reads I've ever had. No wonder this book won a number of science fiction prizes. It's well written, in the first person, telling the story of William Mandella, a physics-graduate drafted by the army to fight against the alien Taurans. The problem is, humans meet aliens passing through "collapsars", going from one point of the galaxy to another in virtually zero time for those experiencing the thing, even though relativistic theory makes people in Earth wait centuries for the return of the warriors. When Mandella comes back from his first battles, he finds a different Earth, the cities, population behavior, way of life: he can't addapt to either of it. So, he enlists again, runing away from his own future, feeling being in battle is better than being a stranger at home. The first person narrative is perfect for a story this big: the reader knows only what Mandella wants him to know, and he's kind of didactic too, explaining some interesting science fiction stuff as it happens during the story. But the best thing in the book isn't the Science, it's the way Earth changes during the thousand-plus years of the war. Though the ending is totally predictable (maybe it wasn't when the book was written), but it's nice for the whole story.
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