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The Forever War
The latest book I've taken out of my "read pending" queue is The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. Its credits include the Nebula Award in 1975 and the Hugo Award in 1976, and being considered one of the classics of the genre.
This is a fairly short science-fiction novel (250 pages in my mass-market paperback copy), dealing with the main character William Mandela, a young physics student drafted into the UN-controlled space army when war breaks out against the Taurans, an alien species we at first know nothing about (I'll purposefully avoid getting into a detailed discussion of the plot).
The novel is told to us from Mandela's viewpoint; Mandela narrates everything that happens in a very easy to read colloquial style, with an exquisite attention to details; the short chapters the book is divided in makes it a breeze to read -- a weekend in my case (and I'm no fast reader).
The Mandela character is well constructed, and his account reads like a friend telling you the story of his life. There are other characters that barely appear in the novel, yet they also feel properly written. The plot is simple and direct, with just a couple of nasty turns at key points in the story (you'll know them when you see them).
This description may remind some people of Heinlein's Starship Troopers: young guy (Mandela/Rico) enters the army, goes through a training period, goes to war with an unknown species, kicks butt and all that. Actually, that superficial description is where the resemblance stops: the way Mandela and John Rico get into the army is distinct, the training period is quite different, the aliens have nothing in common; both novels focus mainly on different stuff, and the few common themes are treated differently. If you expect this to be a Starship Troopers clone, you'll be surprised.
Surprisingly, the treatment of science isn't -- very detailed. There is enough of it to dismiss claims of this being a war novel simply translated into a SF setting (even if the author's acknowledged that the novel deals with his experiences in the Vietnam war), but hard-SF zealots might be disappointed.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it. I've voted 9 for this novel in the Top100SF.
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I think the comparison to Starship Troopers is reasonable and appropriate. Starship Troopers was written during the Cold War after World War II and the Korean War, and it reflects the sensibilities of the time (plus Heinlein's own philosophy, of course). I think the Forever War is a conscious updating of Starship Troopers after the country's and the author's experiences in the Vietnam War.
BTW, Haldeman used to teach a science fiction class at M.I.T., and for all I know he still does.
Yes, it is about the vietnam war. In fact, I believe he wrote it while in the vietnam war.
Check Mr.Haldeman's website yourself.
This is the book that brought me into science fiction. By far, I consider this the best book I've read (over Ender's Game, and Starship Troopers).
The times are a bit off, if you read the unabridged version (it takes place in the 90s as I recall), but the way he deals with the thousands of years that go by is just ingenious!
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I actually prefer his trilogy of Worlds, Worlds Apart, and Worlds Enough in Time, but Forever War has a couple of concepts that I come back to years afterwards. I disagree with the assessment that Forever Free and Forever Peace suck. These are different books, with different themes, in different styles. (That said, I didn't enjoy them nearly as much. If I had to recommend one book above all others as an introduction to Haldeman, it would be the short story collection Dealing in Futures
One thing that I enjoy about Haldeman's work that also maddens me is that he adores experimentimg. Although he is a consistently good writer, he really does try to fit the style to the story. Hemingway Hoax reads very differently from some of his other books, and The Coming is a study in rapid-cutting movie techniques applied to novels.
I'm glad to see this book reviewed, as Haldeman has consistently come up with some of the most interesting ideas in SF. Oh, and the tired thing about Forever War as a retread of Starship Troopers? Heinlein didn't think so. He congratulated Haldeman on "writing one of the most original stories I've ever seen."
The reviewer left this out, but there are actually three different versions of this book that are available.
The first version was the original publication, and is the shortest. I think it was cut to make the book shorter, and thus cheaper, and it left out most of the chapters of civilian life.
The second version added some cut chapters, but not all.
The third version is the latest published, and it contained the entire book as originally written. I recently read this version, and I think it is by far the best of the three.