The Forever War

Once in a while I come across a book which I’ve always meant to read, but for some reason I just kept “missing” it. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is one such book. It’s one of those rare sci-fi novels which has won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards for “Best Novel”, and it really is worthy of both. The setting is science fiction, but in reality this book is an allegory for the Vietnam War, which is why the author had such a hard time getting it published (back in 1974/1975) when he first penned it.
Even now, 30 years later, the powerful anti-war sentiments and methaphors used in the book really resonate with the reader. While I’m not a particular fan of the writing style employed here, I cannot recommend this book highly enough to any avid science fiction readers. It is a seminal work which deserves a place on your bookshelf, and in this review I hope to tell you why this is the case.

The plot of this book concerns the events surrounding one William Mandella, a reluctant soldier in an interstellar war against an unknown and seemingly unstoppable alien foe whose greatest test is not on the battlefield, but instead when he returns home from the conflict. The impact of relativity means that for every few months served in combat, decades and even centuries will have passed back on Earth, isolating the returning combatants ever more from the world for whose future they are fighting for.

You can already see the links to the Vietnam scenario here, with soldiers returning home to the country they fought for only to be outcasts and revilled for becoming what they had been trained to do in the first place. In this case it is taken to an extreme via the impact of relativity, and to great effect. As a plot device this is wonderful and as a reader it’s very easy to identify with the protagonists because of the way the story unfolds, and also because of the simplistic and unemotional writing style employed.

I found this book wonderfully easy to read and really enjoyed the journey through the central character. I liked the future-shocks each time he returns to an Earth sometimes more alien than the worlds he has been fighting on. It is a dark novel, which does nothing whatsoever to glorify either the combat or the concepts of war, and it pulls no punches either when it comes to dealing with the corruption of ethics, orchestrated barbarism and atrocities in times of war. I can see why the author had such a hard time trying to get this published back in the seventies, given such close proximity to the Vietnam conflict, however 30 years later I would highly recommend everyone to read this.

In fact – I was so impressed with this book that I went right out and purchased two other works from the same author in the same ‘universe’ – actually that’s not strictly true; it was my wife who picked the books up for me (Thanks Susan!). The two books in question are Forever Peace, a companion novel which takes place during the same time period and Forever Free, a sequel to The Forever War. Go treat yourself to a really good sci-fi novel, which resonates as loudly today as it did when it was first published, you won’t be dissappointed.