The Forever War

"Tonight we're going to show you eight silent ways to kill a man."

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman won both the Hugo an Nebula Awards for Best novel, and its easy to see why. It is truly a masterpiece of hard Sci-Fi. Written as an allegory to the author's own experience in the Vietnam War, the book follows the story of one young conscript and his time served in the never ending war with the Taurans.

Private William Mandella was drafted due to his unique skill set, and trained to fight in the far reaches of space. However due to relativity each mission while taking mere months subjectively can take years or even centuries back on Earth. Haldeman uses this to explore radical social and economic possibilities in our future.

I absolutely loved this book. The Science is hard enough to dazzle you, but not so hard as to leave you scratching your head in confusion. The story is wonderful. The author uses his experiences well to demonstrate not only the dangers a soldier faces in combat, but those he faces off duty, and while trying to reassimilate into the public. If you haven't read this book, and you at all enjoy Sci-Fi pick it up now.

9.5 out of 10