| Product: |
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman |
| Date: |
15.09.00 (248 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Easy to read, a strong central message.
Disadvantages: These days that message is omewhat familiar. Sometimes seems a little absurd.
When I started reading this book I had a strange feeling of deja vu, largely thanks to recent film and TV in the form of Starship Troopers (based on a Heinlen novel of the same name) and Space Above and Beyond. This book was written back in 1974 and so got there long before either of those two and anyway it tells a far better war story. Joe Haldeman writes inspried by his experiences in Vietnam and the result is a book that really conveys the pain of warfare. My only complaint has to be that this message has become so common in our film and literature that it seemed almost tired. Being fair to the book it gets its message across well, it's just that it isn't a new message to me.
As Earth's space travel capabilities improve we gain the ability to travel close to the speed of light and hence cover vast distances in relatively small spaces of time (take note, relativity is very important in this novel). Mankind makes forays into colonising other star systems, but soon meets with disaster when the colonists are wiped out by an alien race known as the Taurans. Immeadiately the Earth rallys for war collecting together a bunch of well educated men and women to train into skilled killing machines. Amongst these soon to be soldiers is our protagonist William Mandella, a young man with a Physics degree. Packed off to a space boot camp he learns to fight in the most extreme conditions where simply tripping over can mean death.
Those that survive basic training are sent out to attack a Tauran base in a distant solar system. Shipped off near the speed of light relativity means that what will seem like a few monts for the soldiers will be many years for those back on Earth. After a successful first campaign the soldiers return back to Earth heros. Many years have passed and Mandella and the few survivors are shocked by how much the world has changed. Mandella is met by his mother, now an elderly woman, accompanied by a bodyguard as it's dangerou
s to travel openly without one. As he and his lover, Marygay, dscover just how alien the world is too them now they soon come together and ultimately sign up for another tour of duty. The two continue to fight together in the war, suriviving a number of difficult battles and space flights. Relativity separates them further from their home planet of Earth, each journey bringing them back to a world technologically and sociologically distinct from before. All seems well for them until they are given separate commissions, ensuring they'll never see each other again as once again relativity takes it's toll.
Overall it's a pretty good book, gripping enough that I raced through it and with an interesting if now familiar message. Relativity proves to be a powerful tool for driving home the separation and seclusion of the soldier from society. When society is so radically changed it becomes an easy step to understand the alienation the soldiers feel. One particular flaw for me arises from just how distinct the culture becomes later on. Returning from one tour of duty Mandella and Marygay discover that homosexuality is now the norm, the eugenics council of Earth encouraging it to cut down on the birth rate. In fact it's gone so far that there are no heterosexuals anymore, and if anyone is heterosexual that can be corrected. I've no objection to the homosexuality, it just seems a little bizarrely far fetched that within a matter of a few hundred years (perhaps a couple of generations) everyone has changed to one sexual orientation.
My one other complaint has to be a somewhat weak ending, the resolution of the war is something of a cop out and briefly handled at that. Perhaps it'as because the book's primary concern is the affect of war upon it's soldiers, but I felt the conclusion could have been neater. Perhaps surprisingly it finishes with an amazingly happy ending that I have to admit left me feelng good. Perhaps a little
too sickly and even a surprise in a book focussing on the affect of war on man, but definately a relief when you've felt nothing but pity for Mandella over the last hundred pages.
These complaints aside it's an enjoyable book and a good page turner. In my opinion its not the best of the titles currently available in the SF Masterworks range, but it's definately worthy of the title. If you enjoy war stories definately read this, it's suitably thoughtful on the subject. If you want some easy to read SF with a strong message again this is a book to consider.
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