Joe Haldeman's The Forever War

I’ve just finished reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, a book first published way back in the last century (1974 I think) but re-released under the FS Masterworks series.

Now, many people compare this book with Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and I would say that there are a great many similarities but it does differ, I think, in one very striking respect.

The Forever War charts the life and times of William Mandella (I thought it was Mandalla but amazon says no), a soldier in the war against an alien race, over a period of many centuries.

The method employed to visit other worlds means that he and his fellow soldiers age only a few months and years while planet bound individuals age centuries and it is the ever changing face of Earth and human culture that Mandella sees when he returns to Earth or other human settlements that is the soul of this book. That and his relationship with another character but hey, relationships happen all the time, so it is the former that makes it extra special.

I won’t go into detail so you’ll have to read it to find out what I mean but if you are a SciFi fan, I can thoroughly recommend it. I zipped through it faster than any other book I have read.