Broken into sections covering decades or even centuries, the realistic battle sequences and detailed discussion of physics complement each other well. But a lot of ground is covered, both physically and thematically.

Like so many older works, The Forever War is relatively short, only 238 pages in the Gollancz edition. Nevertheless, the changing sexual morality of Haldeman’s humanity, while inventive, never seems, well. There is, much to my surprise, an asexual character, Charlie, possible the earliest example of one I have found in SF. I doubt this particular vision would make it past modern censors and sensitivity readers. But from a 21st century perspective, there’s is something just not quite right. In the Seventies, Haldeman’s vision of a global embrace of homosexuality must have seemed daring, even progressive. So different is this new world that the soldiers would rather return to the front lines than try to adapt to it. The alienation of humanity’s own soldiers as they return from the front is beautifully done. Tempting though it may be to label The forever War ‘alternate history’, the (thankfully) inaccurate timeline is of no real consequence, as the Earth we know, the Earth Mandella knows, is quickly left behind.ĭespite knowing that ‘home’ will have changed, the Earth of the mid 21st century is almost as alien as the Taurans themselves, and that is the masterstroke of this novel. The scenes of warfare on the planetary surfaces of the galaxy, through jungles and trenches, would have nowhere near as much of an impact had they not been written by a veteran. But the date is a significant one, chosen so that the same soldiers who fight the Taurans were also present in the Vietnam war, as Haldeman himself was. Obviously, (Despite what the Internet may wish you to believe) Earth was not in an interstellar war in the late 90s.

There are two main issues with a modern reading. Such is its influence on modern SF that I was surprised to see how recently it had been published. It’s always a tricky proposition, reviewing a stone-cold classic like The Forever War. But as the war drags on, he finds that the home he left behind can never be the one he returns to. William Mandella has enlisted in the UNEF (United Nations Exploratory Force), dedicating his life to fighting back the alien threat. With the war happening across vast interstellar distances, Einstein’s laws of general relativity mean that for every month the soldiers spend on the front lines, years pass by back on Earth. The year is 1997, and Earth is waging war against the Taurans.

The forever war 1974