Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: "The Coming" is an enjoyable book if simplistic. The book is set in the near future with the Earth recieving a call from outer space 'they' are coming. The reader finds the Earth falling apart from overcrowding and the usual political wars, but not the usual players. The story jumps between various characters with higher or lower interest in the coming.
To me, this book feels like a seventies movie about post apolyptic earth without all of the destruction yet. It is on the brink. Think of a combination of 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' and 'Soylent Green' and you have the feel of this book. It is not a bad book by any means. It is rather enjoyable and a nice easy read. It misses because the reader doesn't have to think about the Earth's situation. Some of his characters also miss. Haldeman places a medical student in the book who also has to perform in porn videos to pay for school. She adds nothing to the story except that the world is not right. He also has the proverbial crazy lady who's character is left hanging in the story. If either one was not added, the story would not have suffered at all. Nice easy read that is enjoyable, but nothing special here.
Rating: 
Summary: nice original format, but very short on science
Review: I gave the book a couple of stars because the presentation is very original -- we get to hop around between various persons and their points of view as the alien visitation is approaching. It creates a dynamic flow that keeps you with the story. However, the story itself is lacking. It's bigger on sex and blackmail than it is on science. I was hoping for something that discussed more of the characters feelings towards the alien arrival, but what you get is just a bunch of uninteresting personal side-stories about who's had affairs with who. The book also loses a star for having the characters speak a dialog that is a mixture of spanish and english. The author probably has a point here -- English will continue to absorb spanish words, but the effect is distracting and just didn't work for me. Lastly, the ending seemed rushed and poorly thought out.
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 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.
Rating:
Summary: Decent, but somewhat disappointing, sci-fi tale
Review: Joe Haldeman is quite the enigmatic science fiction author. He has the ability to create brilliant narrative, such as "The Forever War", yet still produce disappointing stories like the previously mentioned books sequel "Forever Free" and this book "The Coming". "The Coming" is a quick read with a relatively interesting premise, and given the fact that this book didn't make me angry, uncomfortable, or profoundly disappointed, I will marginally recommend it with three stars. If it were a longer, more involved book, I might be compelled to change that opinion.
"The Coming" focuses on the impact on the scientific community and society in general of a message seemingly from an alien species telling humanity `We're coming' and to be prepared for their arrival on New Year's Day. What enables part of this story to work is that Haldeman does a credible job of representing realistic responses to such an event. The U.S. Government and military want to remove the scientist who discovered this message from the project so that they can take control and exact a military response if necessary (`if necessary' to this government meaning `we're going to attack what we don't understand and we do fear'). There is panic among some segments of society and a variety of conspiracies hatched to thwart the various government plans for responding to this alien greeting or threat. In addition to representing panic, which is a stock sci-fi plot development, Haldeman also focuses on the much larger portion of the population that is enormously intrigued (if not terrified) by this event and are thirsting for any drop of information about `the coming'. One only needs to look back in the past two years with such monumental events as 9/11, Space Shuttle Columbia, and Gulf War: Part Two to realize that this representation by Haldeman is much closer to true reality than any form of panic.
Alas, for all these positive aspects, "The Coming" does have numerous failings that put this book on the fence between a positive or negative recommendation. The first deals with an aspect of Haldeman's writing that pervades all of his novels; that being his insistence on injecting overt sexuality that borders on literary pornography into his stories. In some instances, it works. In "The Forever War", the loosening of tightened morals and rampant promiscuity was used to demonstrate the dramatic change in society and societal values brought about by time and circumstance. While some of the descriptions were graphic, they fit the overall story arc. In "The Coming", the sexuality references seem nothing more than gratuitous eroticism and have little or nothing to do with the plot. One who is not familiar with Haldeman's work might instantly be soured on him by these story elements. Those who are more knowledgeable about his work will expect this, but still find it gratuitous.
The other failing deals with the fact that, despite an enormous buildup to the New Year's Day arrival by these messengers, the payoff is decidedly disappointing. I won't go into detail, because the reader should read it for themselves, but it leaves much to be desired. "The Coming" is not a bad book; it is just not a particularly good one. It certainly has its good moments as well as its not so good ones. At just over 200 pages, though, it's worth checking out.
Rating: 
Summary: Ruining A Great Idea: The Coming by Joe Haldeman
Review: Set a little over fifty years in the future, this novel finds our planet in not the best of shape. As many others have theorized, global warming has taken place and coastal cities are either gone or surrounded by large dikes in a slowly failing attempt to keep the waters out of the streets. With the rise in temps, the UV rays have become a major worry along with the resultant increase in skin cancers, as well as other types. Regional conflicts have become more heated while at the same time, through the use of technology; the United States has become much more repressive. The FBI has become a law unto themselves and something known as the cube, has replaced television. But, while things have changed, some things like dirty politics, extortion and murder are all still common. All three are set into motion by the ominous message recorded by Astronomy Professor Aurora "Rory" Bell in Gainesville, Florida. In a repeated gamma burst transmission, the same message is sent over and over again-"We're coming." They apparently are as scientists on the moon confirm the transmission as well as the fact that it came from deep space. Clearly from beyond where any human spacecraft has gone, the ship seems to be three months out from arriving on Earth. In fact, it appears that it will arrive on New Year's Day, 2056 and the event is quickly dubbed "The Second Coming" by the media. The message and imminent arrival of an alien craft swings into motion a number of events over the next three months as detailed in the book, including the eventual arrival of the alien craft. Some events have a direct relation to the arrival, while many, seen through numerous characters do not. The science fiction elements become very secondary as the work focuses more on the human relationships between the many, many characters as well as various casual linkages between them. Which is where the interesting premise and story are tremendously weakened by the execution. Almost every other page, the reader is shifted to the point of view of another character. After fifteen or twenty of these shifts in perspective, it becomes rather annoying as stereotypical character after character is added. At times, the work switches back to the allegedly main characters, but more often than not, it is off in some sort of far-flung jaunt through the actions of a distantly related character. That problem of story telling along with the insertion of two very graphic gratuitous sex scenes which seem to have no purpose other than to serve as titillation on someone's whim, weaken this novel tremendously. In so doing, an interesting premise with lots of potential becomes a lower than average read and a real disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: A very unusual thriller
Review: The Coming really had me on the edge of my seat for reasons that go far beyond the normal excitement of a plot where the fate of the planet is in the balance. What set it apart from your typical "disaster thriller" is the fact that the characters are not really in the thick of things except at the very beginning and end. I think this is what lends the book such a real feel. The main character is the one who first identifies the message and is involved in the investigation of it authenticity, but she is quickly pushed aside by bureaucrats and somewhat sidelined. What the book is then is a reflection of how those events affect the main characters and the people of the Florida College town where they live. In a unique way the narrative passes on to other people in their lives always winding back to the original cast. It an interesting way of telling a story that I have never seen before. I loved the novelty of it (no pun intended!). The book is quite different not only in narrative style but in the personal politics that Haldeman envisions for the future. The book is quite controversial in that regard and at first I found it kind of shocking. Still the book is quite good and a full meal for the mind!
Rating:
Summary: Garbage
Review: The worst "novel" I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: Good science thriller
Review: The worst "novel" I've read in years.
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