Customer Reviews

The Forever War 3 : Major Mandella

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The theme of this book might be "You Can't Go Home Again." The protagonist, William Mandella, is caught up in an interstellar war--he's been drafted pursuant to the "Elite Conscription Act" for having a high IQ and military physique.

The book tracks Mandella's battles with Earth's enemy: the Taurans. After each battle he returns to Earth, to find that although only a year or so has passed for him, due to the effects of relativity and interstellar travel, Earth has changed hugely, in imaginative and depressing ways. Soon Mandella has no home other than the Army, which is no bargain either.

No doubt it is Haldeman's experience as a Vietnam veteran that gives this book a hard-to-describe plausibility and realism. Despite being wildly speculative, this novel (which is really a series of interconnected short stories) has a gritty authentic feel that won it the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

This novel constitutes in my opinion the best military science fiction story up to this time. It merits the overused label of "classic."

Unfortunately, nothing Haldeman has written since is remotely as good as this novel.

The theme of this book might be "You Can't Go Home Again." The protagonist, William Mandella, is caught up in an interstellar war--he's been drafted pursuant to the "Elite Conscription Act" for having a high IQ and military physique.

The book tracks Mandella's battles with Earth's enemy: the Taurans. After each battle he returns to Earth, to find that although only a year or so has passed for him, due to the effects of relativity and interstellar travel, Earth has changed hugely, in imaginative and depressing ways. Soon Mandella has no home other than the Army, which is no bargain either.

No doubt it is Haldeman's experience as a Vietnam veteran that gives this book a hard-to-describe plausibility and realism. Despite being wildly speculative, this novel (which is really a series of interconnected short stories) has a gritty authentic feel that won it the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

This novel constitutes in my opinion the best military science fiction story up to this time. It merits the overused label of "classic."

Unfortunately, nothing Haldeman has written since is remotely as good as this novel.

Joe Haldeman tracks the main character (William Mandella) through his military career in this Hugo award winning novel. Originally published in multiple parts, it is now combined into a single volume that works well as a unit.

In the novel, Earth is at war with an alien species they have never even seen. Because of vast distances and near-light speeds needed to take the war to enemy territories, each battle sees Earth age decades or centuries while the soldiers age only a few months or years. As Mandella rises from private to major, Earth changes, the war changes, and even the enemy changes as Haldeman gradually transforms the story from a war novel into a strong statement about what war really is. This is perhaps my favorite modern sci-fi novel and is worth re-reading every few years.