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A review by beaconatnight
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
5.0
The Forever War impressed me on so many levels. I was pumped when the battles commenced, thrilled by the exciting portrayal of action, amazed by its concepts and technologies, but most of all, crushed by its anti-war message. It confronts the reader with a picture of Earth that is so very different, yet not different at all. Joe Haldeman draws from his personal experiences in the Vietnam War to create a world that you really feel, and the more so because of his genuine talent as a writer.
After acquiring his degree in physics, William Mandella joined an elite task force in the United Nations Exploratory Force. Their purpose is to fight an as yet unknown enemy. All we know is that an alien species referred to as the Taurans attacked human colonial cruisers and killed 798 people. The soldiers are sent off into battles via so-called "collapsars" (or "stargates") that allow near-lightspeed interstellar travel. It's not only the brutal encounters that weighs very heavy on the soldiers' minds. Because of the effects of time dilation, when the soldiers get home, decades have past in the much briefer time periods that they subjectively experienced. So, the narrator passes an uprooted existence returning again and again to the battlefields of a war that goes on for centuries.
I love the mecha setting in video games, movies, and anime, and this is not even the only reason why I got a huge kick out of the action sequences in this book. The battles especially in the last couple of chapters are incredibly exhilarating chaos. Not only do they employ mecha suits, they use the entire repertoire of rocket launchers, swords, bows, bombs, crowbars, or darts. To protect themselves, they have shields, mines, and even stasis fields. While there may not be as much strategy as in, say, Ender's Game, there is enough variation throughout the encounters to keep things exciting.
I liked how the story begins at a time when so far there hadn't been any real fighting situations (only the sudden attack on the colonists' ships) and so far humanity doesn't know anything about its enemy. We have to expect the worst (or so it is said) and so we have to go all in. What this means for the soldiers becomes evident in the rough training sessions right at the beginning of the novel. The training is brutal and because of the harsh environments and the use of of armed weapons numerous recruits die before the real war even started.
The theme of soldiers having to give their lives to the war is developed throughout the book. The government assumes wide-reaching control over the soldiers' minds. Not only do they use conditioning and drugs, by post-hypnotic suggestion and the triggering of fake memories it is made sure that the soldiers will show no mercy when it comes to the inevitable encounter with the Tauran troops. This practice has fascinating implications for themes like free will and responsibility. For instance, the familiar plea for excuse that you really didn't have a choice for the horrors committed (often associated with Nazis in post-war Germany) gets another twist. I also thought it interesting that the soldiers are consciously aware of what is going on ("I hated myself for smiling"). Eventually, they even start to produce bioengineered soldiers whose whole purpose of existence is to fight in the forever war.
The casualties get seriously gruesome, with bodily mutilation becoming like an occupational disease at one point. However, I was surprised to find that I felt the moments of alleged peace even more strongly. After their return to Earth, the soldiers struggle very hard to regain a place in society and so many things are difficult to comprehend. Of the 9 billion people alive, 6 billion are unemployed. Jobs are allotted on the basis of need, and only few people are this low on the poverty level. There is an intricate black market for ways to get a job. In order to counteract the rising overpopulation, governments encourage homosexuality. Although the protagonist is generally tolerant, this still is puzzling for soldiers who hitherto so much defined themselves though their sexual relationship with the other gender. Calories now function as the new currency, electricity is only available at certain times of the day, gangs of thugs roam the streets. There is much to wrap your head around.
Probably the worst part is the lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships. In the beginning of the story, there are at least some people that Mandella cares about. Some of these relationships are based on sexual attraction, but at least these are people he knows and for some he cares dearly (and be it only because of the same experiences). The further he travels in time, the fewer the people he is able to develop any form of connection with. This is especially true for his lover Marygay Potter, who he also loses to the necessities of war. And it's not only her as a person, but also what she represents for his life: "It wasn't just losing a lover. Marygay and I were each other's only link to real life, the Earth of the 1980s and 90s." It's moments like this that make The Forever War stand out as one of the true classics of the genre.
Rating: 5/5
After acquiring his degree in physics, William Mandella joined an elite task force in the United Nations Exploratory Force. Their purpose is to fight an as yet unknown enemy. All we know is that an alien species referred to as the Taurans attacked human colonial cruisers and killed 798 people. The soldiers are sent off into battles via so-called "collapsars" (or "stargates") that allow near-lightspeed interstellar travel. It's not only the brutal encounters that weighs very heavy on the soldiers' minds. Because of the effects of time dilation, when the soldiers get home, decades have past in the much briefer time periods that they subjectively experienced. So, the narrator passes an uprooted existence returning again and again to the battlefields of a war that goes on for centuries.
I love the mecha setting in video games, movies, and anime, and this is not even the only reason why I got a huge kick out of the action sequences in this book. The battles especially in the last couple of chapters are incredibly exhilarating chaos. Not only do they employ mecha suits, they use the entire repertoire of rocket launchers, swords, bows, bombs, crowbars, or darts. To protect themselves, they have shields, mines, and even stasis fields. While there may not be as much strategy as in, say, Ender's Game, there is enough variation throughout the encounters to keep things exciting.
I liked how the story begins at a time when so far there hadn't been any real fighting situations (only the sudden attack on the colonists' ships) and so far humanity doesn't know anything about its enemy. We have to expect the worst (or so it is said) and so we have to go all in. What this means for the soldiers becomes evident in the rough training sessions right at the beginning of the novel. The training is brutal and because of the harsh environments and the use of of armed weapons numerous recruits die before the real war even started.
The theme of soldiers having to give their lives to the war is developed throughout the book. The government assumes wide-reaching control over the soldiers' minds. Not only do they use conditioning and drugs, by post-hypnotic suggestion and the triggering of fake memories it is made sure that the soldiers will show no mercy when it comes to the inevitable encounter with the Tauran troops. This practice has fascinating implications for themes like free will and responsibility. For instance, the familiar plea for excuse that you really didn't have a choice for the horrors committed (often associated with Nazis in post-war Germany) gets another twist. I also thought it interesting that the soldiers are consciously aware of what is going on ("I hated myself for smiling"). Eventually, they even start to produce bioengineered soldiers whose whole purpose of existence is to fight in the forever war.
The casualties get seriously gruesome, with bodily mutilation becoming like an occupational disease at one point. However, I was surprised to find that I felt the moments of alleged peace even more strongly. After their return to Earth, the soldiers struggle very hard to regain a place in society and so many things are difficult to comprehend. Of the 9 billion people alive, 6 billion are unemployed. Jobs are allotted on the basis of need, and only few people are this low on the poverty level. There is an intricate black market for ways to get a job. In order to counteract the rising overpopulation, governments encourage homosexuality. Although the protagonist is generally tolerant, this still is puzzling for soldiers who hitherto so much defined themselves though their sexual relationship with the other gender. Calories now function as the new currency, electricity is only available at certain times of the day, gangs of thugs roam the streets. There is much to wrap your head around.
Probably the worst part is the lack of meaningful interpersonal relationships. In the beginning of the story, there are at least some people that Mandella cares about. Some of these relationships are based on sexual attraction, but at least these are people he knows and for some he cares dearly (and be it only because of the same experiences). The further he travels in time, the fewer the people he is able to develop any form of connection with. This is especially true for his lover Marygay Potter, who he also loses to the necessities of war. And it's not only her as a person, but also what she represents for his life: "It wasn't just losing a lover. Marygay and I were each other's only link to real life, the Earth of the 1980s and 90s." It's moments like this that make The Forever War stand out as one of the true classics of the genre.
Rating: 5/5