Published in the year of my birth, 1974, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman initially harkens back to Heinlein's late Fifties classic Starship Troopers. There are some distinct similarities between Troopers and the first half of Forever.
Both tales are told in the first person, from the point of view of soldiers serving humankind in an intergalactic war with alien beings. Both describe life aboard a military spacecraft and the nuts and bolts of traveling through space and soldiering in unconventional environments. Haldeman focuses some attention on the phenomenon of time dilation as experienced by people traveling through space at near the speed of light.
While I much more thoroughly enjoy Heinlein's depiction of the extra-terrestrial soldier, I do enjoy Haldeman's characters' return to Earth after being away (relatively speaking) and finding things vastly different than they had left them. In a way, the characters experience the future world of The Forever War much like the reader experiences it. It is different, strange and seems to be a vision realized by an earlier generation.
And the twist comes when our protagonist and his love interest get dragged back into the war, sent off at relativistic speed and face new realities that change almost daily.
The novel is well paced, with good bits of action interjected in the overall story. The climax battle scene is interesting enough without dragging the reader into a long description of useless technical data. In some ways Haldeman paints a more believeable picture of interstellar war than Heinlein does. Though in my mind both pale against Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.
The ending is partly predictable, but even the narrator alludes to the possible outcome early on. The twist that Haldeman offers is a nice unexpected gift, and resolves the story nicely. While I still like Starship Troopers better, Haldeman's The Forever War is right up there and adds some substance to the sub-genre.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is another title on my Hugo and Nebula List. Also check out "Tricentennial" which is a short story by Haldeman.
Reportedly, Blade Runner director Ridley Scott, has the rights to the film version of Haldeman's classic. Hopefully he will make a film of the same caliber as Blade Runner without giving in to the allure of flashy CGI over good storytelling.
Supposed concept art for film by Steve Simmons
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