The Eternity Brigade (Paperback)

~ Stephen Goldin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Hundreds of human bodies have been placed in coffins in a military warehouse. But they are not dead, merely frozen in a cryogenic process meant to preserve an army of men to be restored to life if ever they are needed. The Earth they arise to inhabit is a world completely different from any they have known or imagined. Their only task is to fight and kill in the wars that plague the planet. They are not treated as men, but as fighting machines to be endlessly duplicated and used up. By having had their genetic patterns programmed into a computer, they are doomed to live over and over again, as part of an army that will not die and cannot escape. Yet one man is determined to break the pattern and free himself, truly believing that there must be a way out...of eternity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: ereads.com (September 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585866741
• ISBN-13: 978-1585866748
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,364,707 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent anti-war science fiction "Near Classic"., February 2, 2006

By	Raegan Butcher (RainCity, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I first read this book when it was published back in the early 1980's and it is easily found in 2nd hand shops all over the country. I think i've purchased about five copies so far over the course of my life but keep giving them away as gifts; Along with Joe Haldeman's THE FOREVER WAR, this is the best depiction of disenfranchised victims of the corporate-imperial combine ever depicted in the science fiction genre. This book is really much more layered and complex than the lurid cover illustration of the old paperback edition from the first printing in 1980 would seem to suggest. One of the books that this reminds me of the most is ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, believe it or not, particularly in the passages that describe the soldiers difficulties in adjusting to life outside the war; they remind me very much of the feelings of alienation experienced by the doomed protagonist from the earlier novel when he is sent home on two weeks leave.

Twice now I have had my hopes raised that Hollywood had finally saw fit to adapt this remarkable novel into a big budget movie but on the 1st occasion it turned out that the trailer I was watching was for UNIVERSAL SOLDIER (imagine my dismay-- but those shots of them lined up in their tubes sure made me flash back to the "sleepers" in THE ETERNITY BRIGADE) and then later when I heard about SOLDIER, the unjustly maligned sci fi pic starring KURT RUSSELL, I at first thought it might be The Etrnity Brigade; no such luck.But i am glad to see that this book has had additional print runs since its first in 1980; time should be even more kind to this story--as its themes will only become more pertinent as the 21st century continues. Having read it as an 11 yr old, then an 18 yr old, then a 27 and a 34 yr old, I can attest to the fact that it has a lot to offer and never fails to stimulate the imagination.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Eternity Brigade, July 2, 2000

By	jerome liggett (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eternity Brigade (Mass Market Paperback)

The first book I ever read, that I went cover to cover with out putting down. A book well ahead of it's time in both it's ideas of future warfare, and our society of the future. A well thought out storyline that take us from a certainly plauable near-future. To a far distant one, that remains fresh and insightful today as it did when first published. A must for all true sci-fi fans.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than anything, I love a good story., December 12, 2003

By	J. Stover (Fairbanks, AK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Get ready to be sucked in. If you've never read a book from start to finish in one sitting...prepare yourself. Wildly imaginative, the story will sweep you up and hurtle you headlong into another universe. The gripping plot and well written characters drive this story from our near future to a time thousands of years from now. Goldin flings us wildly into an inconceivable far-future world. Yet, somehow the story maintains a firm grasp on the realm of the possible. Buy this book and keep it. You'll be reading it again in a year or two. I guarantee it.