Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: I had a very good time with this one. A good choice for anyone looking for something written on a higher quality scale than most of the stuff you find in the sci-fi section. I really enjoyed Haldman's device for handing off storylines. I find it refreshing how he keeps re-inventing his fiction. However when it comes down to The Coming is best described as a good old fashioned sci-fi mystery. The kind of thing Asimov or Heinlein would write in their heyday.
Rating:
Summary: Good story but not hard Sci-fi
Review: I liked this book a lot, but:
1. It's not hard sci-fi, more like political fiction set forward a few years.
2. The style of the book is just friggin' great but something Haldeman has never used before.
I was hooked early on and really enjoyed the story and the style. But if you are looking for some good old fashioned sci-fi this won't be your cup of tea.
Rating:
Summary: Good science thriller
Review: I won't quite call this 'science fiction' because the typical sci-fi book has more aliens, lasers, and space travel than this book.This book has messages that might be coming from aliens. Not quite sci-fi. But man it's a great thriller. Kind of a science thriller, mixed with a political thriller, mixed with modern character driven fiction. Okay it's an odd mix, but it really works. If you come to the book with an open mind and enjoy the way Haldeman tells the story you will have a really good time. You may have to set asside some assumptions about Haldeman - this is no "Forever War". And thank goodness, that was a great book but who would want to read the same story over and over? I thought this was one of Haldeman's best works. On par with "The Hemmingway Hoax" and far better than "Forever Peace" (yeah, count me in for bagging that one). So I've kind of rambled but I've been up all week studying for finals and this is my idea of a break. What it comes down to is it's a great book if you are willing to mix genres a little. I loved it.
Rating: 
Summary: A puff pastry of a book
Review: I'm a huge fan of "first contact" books, and I like Joe Haldeman's books. I really, really like them. So it was with considerable anticipation that I ordered "The Coming" from Amazon and waited for it to arrive. It did, I read it, and it was a puff pastry. A puff pastry of a book is one you bite into and find there's little there but air. Others have described the story here, so I won't bother you by repeating it. I will say that if you like character development, you'll probably like the book. If you like to see a veiw of the future, you may like this, 'tho much is left unexplained, as Heinlein would have done, but less well. And if you're looking for a conclusion, well, you won't find it here. I'm really at a loss to understand why someone of Haldeman's reputation would have published this fairly short novel in the shape it's in. Perhaps he had bills coming due. Perhaps he thought this would be the perfect start to a multi-volume future history. Maybe he thought that this was just a very good book as it stands. The narrative changes almost with each paragraph. Someone in one paragraph is often the narrator in the next. This works with movies, but is a new - and not-quite-succesful experiment in this book. Changes in viewpoint can round out a story nicely, but in "The Coming" they are often just impediments to a free-flowing novel. I don't. My summary: If you like Haldeman, wait until your library has a copy of the book. If it doesn't, wait until it's remaindered or comes out in paperback. It's not a true first contact story, a time travel story (!), or a psychological study done well. It's a minor offering from a major talent. I don't know the reason "T
Rating:
Summary: An ok short story, but a waste for a novel
Review: I'm a Joe Haldeman fan (his Hugo and Nebula winners are excellent) but this book reads more like a verbose short story then a full novel. A third of the way through I gave up and began scanning and eventually skipped to the end and ho-hummed the book closed. Perhaps I missed something, but I doubt it. Save your money and time and buy another novel instead.
Rating: 
Summary: A quick read, but generally leaves you empty
Review: I've pretty much got most of Joe Haldeman's works and have been reading his books since I first got Mindbridge back in '76 or so. I just finished reading this book after deciding to catch up on my backlog. The story seemed a bit rushed and disconnected, part of which comes from switching to another character every few pages. The feel of the society felt more like one from 10 or 15 years in the future, rather than 50 years from now (who thinks MIDI will be a term used 50 years from now?). As for the ending, well, I'm not sure it was satisfying. But I can't comment on that without spoiling it.
There was one editorial mistaken in the December part, where the prison guard is thinking about a murder he watched that morning, when the murder happened in November. Maybe this book was supposed to take place over 2 months in an earlier draft. Anyway, that caused me a little confusion for a bit. Perhaps this is an indication of putting out a book too quickly, for the money, instead of spending more time reworking it. Or, at least, reading it through once.
Rating:
Summary: Characters, not The Twilight Zone
Review: If you read through the previous reviews, you'll see two types. The negative ones seem to want to force this book into a mold. They want a trick ending like the Twilight Zone, or an alien story like Contact. The positive ones allow the story to mature into what Haldeman does best: develop real characters and real situations. Everything makes sense, everything feels right, especially with the characters. Nobody is a two dimensional prototype except for Cool Moon Davis, who's a hysterical portrait of an incompetent Washington power-elite politician). In fact, I found the best characters to be the more minor ones, including some nice touches with an "evil sidekick" named Solo... no Oil-Can Harry, he. The style of writing is another strong aspect of the book. Similar to the movies Short Cuts or 20 Bucks, it meanders through the large cast of characters as they move through the world. Think of it like a river: if you fight it upstream, you'll end up exhausted and frustrated but if you go with the tide, you're in for a wonderful scenic treat. As for the ending, it's not supposed to be a surprise! Any reader should be able to predict 90% of it. That doesn't make it a bad ending, just a true one. Final thought: with the electoral debacle down in Florida, this book is strangely timely as Haldeman lets us know about his distaste for politics in the state Hunter Thompson called "the most corrupt & profoundly degenerate state in the Union." Not that the federal government fares any better in Haldeman's acerbic hands. He chooses to focus his admiration and love on individuals, which makes The Coming an outstanding book you'll want to read over and over.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Interesting from the first till last page. This book will hold your attention, the confronting, flawed (to some) and likeable characters are just part of what make this book a winner. The realisation you are coming to the end of this fine book is unpalatable.
Rating:
Summary: A quick easy and very very light read.
Review: It is difficult to believe that the author of this novel won the Hugo and Nebula Awards and that he won them twice. "The Coming" isn't much of a novel. If you are really into science fiction this novel is not for you. It is futuristic to some degree but is very light on aliens and space travel and such. In fact, it is pretty light on story as well. "The Coming" is really more about politics, government and relations between people and set in the not so distant future. But it is a quick light easy read, good filler and better than watching TV.
Rating: 
Summary: A pretty good read
Review: Joe Haldeman is a solid dependable sf writer, and this book will let no one down.
An astronomer registers a signal from outer space. The characteristics of the signal hint that the senders have immense power at their disposal, and that they are arriving in three months...
This book is about how this fact changes the life of the astronomer and the people around her. We also get a glimpse of the political situation in the world of her day, and the book has its fair share of political satire.
The book is well written and in many ways believable, but I can also recognize some of the sources of inspiration for the author: Will Eisner's Life on Another Planet most notably, but also Fred Pohl's The Day the Martians Came. Both are better, but that does not mean that The Coming is bad.
| 
