The Forever War

by Joe Haldeman

Hardcover

Published Dec. 1, 1974 by St Martins Pr.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-29890-6

(27 reviews)

The Forever War (1974) is a military science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story about human soldiers fighting an interstellar war against an alien civilization known as the Taurans. It won the Nebula Award in 1975 and the Hugo and Locus awards in 1976. Forever Free (1999) and Forever Peace (1997) are respectively, direct and thematic sequel novels. The novella A Separate War (1999) is another sequel of sorts, occurring simultaneously with the final portion of The Forever War. Informally, the novels comprise The Forever War series; the novel also inspired a comic book and a board game. The Forever War is the first title in the SF Masterworks series.

31 editions

Keith Stevenson reviewed The Forever War (The Forever War, #1) by Joe Haldeman

Review of 'The Forever War (The Forever War, #1)' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Haldeman's The Forever War has garnered a lot of praise and awards over the years, and is particularly lauded for it's anti-war themes.

The parrallels with the Vietnam War situation are obvious and there are quite a few points made about the stupidity of war, 'military intelligence', the dehumanising effects of battle, the dislocation felt by returning soldiers (made even more so by time dilation), and the difficulties of fitting back into a society that doesn't understand where you've been and what you've seen.

But for all that the tone of the novel is eminenetly readable, told from the laconic first person viewpoint of William Mandella, never preachy, and despite the fact it appears to come from a diametrically opposed political base, it reads like a modernised Golden Age Heinlein military SF romp.