We Read Science Fiction

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman nearing the top of my all time favourite scifi books at number 4. As is true for most of my list, it won both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. It’s been a long time since I last re-read this book — it was one of the first science fiction stories I ever tackled — but I can still remember it vividly. The basic plot is simple: Humanity has discovered a series natural wormholes, and in the process of charting their endpoints stumbles across an alien race and starts a war. Lacking FTL travel (besides the wormholes), both sides develop ships that can travel closer and closer to the speed of light. The natural result of this is time dilation and all of the consequences thereof. Each mission sends the soldiers hundreds of years into the relative future (compared to Earth) which rips relationships apart and returns the soldiers to a strange world each visit “home.”

Summary: Excellent. Faced paced and full of action, Haldeman weaves a very plausible story (almost) within the confines of modern physics. Characters are shaped and destroyed by a war and a universe that is changing faster than they are.

I’m sure some of the physics theories contained in this 1975 novel are out of date, and I’m sure there were even liberties taken with respect to the established theories of the time, but at least Haldeman didn’t pull out a magic “go anywhere in zero time FTL drive” to tell this story. Moreover, that lack of a FTL drive is part of the core of the novel as the effects of time dilation are explored with a number of consequences.

One of the big consequences is the fact that on the very first mission the soldiers loose the people they are fighting for. Their shipmates become their whole universe and that alters their war strategies on more than one occasion.

Also, the ending is superb and an excellent commentary on war and humanity. After building up your love for these characters Haldeman uses that passion to make a very political statement. By then you don’t care and it doesn’t detract from the story or the ride in any way. Moreover, it seems to be the perfectly fitting ending for such a book. It’s no cheat that’s for sure.

I highly recommend this novel and it’s often one of the very first ones I suggest to new friends when they start into science fiction. If you haven’t read it, then you need to go to the library today and find it.

Enjoy.