Rating: 
Summary: Must have been a short list of HUGO nominees
Review: Despite the reviews, this book is not nearly as deep as the author would like us to believe. It is a nice story, with some not-so-innovative sci-fi, and a hard to believe ending. As has been previously mentioned, he takes a good, but quick read, and overly complicates the ending. Don't ask me why. If you're looking for an easy book for a rainy day, this might be a good choice. If you are in the mood to be challenged, you might want to look elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: I am, He is...I think?
Review: Pick up this book and be prepared for an agonizing game of mental ping-pong as you're jerked back and forth from first person to third person narrative. The effect isn't thought provoking or stimulating, just fatiguing. This puzzling narrative style adds insult to injury as the premise starts off promisingly, but halfway through, when the protagonist faces his imminent self-confrontation, the storyline unravels in a flurry of laughable plot twists. I have now officially given up on Science Fiction -- thank you Mr. Haldeman.
Rating:
Summary: The book that will become a movie -- a bad movie
Review: I am a huge fan of Joe Haldeman, but was very disappointed by this book. Haldeman's earlier works, such as Mindbridge and Forever War are great stories told by a great storyteller. His latest works have been less than great stories and definitely not written like the storyteller he once showed us to be. This book, Forever Peace, reads like a movie, and I very much expect it will be picked up. It has all the pointless violence and gory detail that a movie needs, with lots of room for cool special effects. I am sure that Haldeman intended the violence to make a point, and be realistic, but unlike other good "war" stories, the violence in this book did not enhance the plot; it hindered it.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: Science Fiction at its best. Flavors of Heinlein and William Gibson. Focused writing, good characters, brilliant, imaginative concepts that reminds you how rare really good SF is. Neuromancer meets Starship Troopers. The Dean would be proud.
Rating: 
Summary: An evolution to a higher state
Review: Basic premise: Mankind evolving to a higher pacifist state through a technological collective consciousness despite resistance from a conservative and religious group. Criticism: Weak characterisation and narrative marr this novel. Novel is too lengthly and it could have been a short story or novella at best. Haldemann wears his Vietnam vet tag like an emblem, stating that in every novel, but his experiences does not relate much. Tim O' Brien and others have expressed it better. Unlike Haldemann's magnum opus, 'The Forever War' where the basic premise and its supporting ideas were of great interest, 'Forever Peace' is a one idea novel and the idea is simply very derivative. Disappointing to the extreme.
Rating:
Summary: An epic, sweeping, visionary sense of nominal competency.
Review: Not incoherent, but incohesive. The narrative leaps from first to third-person roughly every other page--why Haldeman did this, I don't know, since it adds absolutely nothing to the effect. It doesn't even achieve a stylish jarring effect, it's just...annoying. The plot verges on the plain silly, and logical problems peek out from several corners of the text. (For example: ten days in a group mind-meld month after month after month is just fine, but FOURTEEN days even once? Well, obviously that will remove the ability to kill "except in self-defense". Er...yeah!) The prose is competent, however, and it's a decent book to kill a couple afternoons with.
Rating: 
Summary: Good solid book, good solid plot, good solid characters
Review: Not my favorite book. Not my least favorite by far. The technology was interesting and advanced the plot. I also enjoyed the switchings of perspective. I think most of those 'writing rules' were all good in the third grade, but by middle school I realized that most good writing really doesn't need to follow them. I like the book to speak for itself, not some antiquicated notion of what is 'proper.'
Rating:
Summary: Brillant & thought provoking
Review: I have to say that the concepts in this book were fascinating. It is always difficult to cover a variety of social mores and not sound preachy, but this book accomplishes the task gracefully. The characters felt real - that makes this book worthy of a place on your shelves. Don't just read it once, but twice.
Rating:
Summary: thoughtful and entertaining
Review: Although some people who reviewed this book felt it was sub-standard for Haldeman it fit my criteria of a good book. First, it was a good read. Second the plot had substance. Third, it made me think about the central issues within the novel. I'm happy when two of the three standards are met. As for the politically correct business I don't think so. Haldeman has never been that kind of writer, he has often brought about the ambiguity in relationships and of possible futures. Characters don't have to be likeable to be interesting or engaging. The issues of the cost of peace may be handled better in other books but Haldeman's take seems honest which makes this a book I'd suggest to others.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting ideas, but poor narrative
Review: The ideas in FOREVER PEACE were interesting, and thought provoking. I was surprised to find myself questioning whether removing the violent impulses from people, changing human nature was really the right thing to do. Pondering this kept me involved with the book until the end. On the other hand, I thought the narrative stunk. One of the cardinal rules of writing, I always thought, was never to change point of view in the middle of the story. And yet Haldeman does this frequently. Most of the story is narrated in the first person. But whenever the plot tension started to build, and I started to get curious, it would switch into 3rd person, and this omniscient narrator would explain just what was going on, killing any sense of tension that existed. He would tell what the bad guys happened to be doing at that moment rather than waiting for the main character to find out. I thought this was a cop-out and spoiled the pacing of the book completely.
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