Product Description
NOW IN PAPERBACK-FROM THE AUTHOR OF MARSBOUND

Grad- school dropout Matt Fuller is toiling as a lowly research assistant at MIT when he inadvertently creates a time machine. With a dead-end job and a girlfriend who left him for another man, Matt has nothing to lose in taking a time-machine trip himself—or so he thinks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (129)

Classic old style SF slightly modernised
Another discovery on my journey through joint Hugo/Nebula winners. This book felt so old-school to me: take an idea and wrap a novel around it. In the classic short stories of the fifties and sixties the idea was easily the main character, with everyone else in supporting roles. That's still here, but it is a novel, and SF writers are more aware of how thin their characters may be, so there is more of an attempt to build them. That being said, the boy/girl subplot is dated rather than nuanced - but there is something sentimentally enjoyable about how the boy hero comes into contact with the naively sexual girl, much as she is more daydream than individual. Haldeman has a go at showing how he gets where the kids are, man, referencing, for example, digital porn - but, charmingly, the roles they actually play could have come straight from a black and white movie.

Whatever, the idea is a cool one, and Haldeman has fun with it. There's an enjoyable recklessness as we're hurled through a geometric progression in time - each jump in years at least doubling the last. Haldeman doesn't worry about details in painstakingly painting each new era, rather he just plays with some ideas and then moves on. This is what it is - if you're after rigorous and challenging look elsewhere. If you're after Boys' own adventures, climb aboard.

Great Time Travel Tale
I love science fiction stories and I am most interested in time travel stories. I think that the theory of time travel is one of the most fascinating theories in the world. I have read and re-read The Accidental Time Machine and I think that it is by far the best time travel story I have ever read. Thank you Joe Haldeman. "Keep em comin".

I wonder if the book was even written by Joe Haldeman
I wonder if the book was even written by Joe Haldeman. Sorry Joe but I can not even say that the book was worth the time I gave it. I wish I had a time machine to go back and get the time I wasted reading this book. Yet I would recommend anyone read Joe Haldeman.

I don't need all the ends tied up, but to introduce a character like future Matt in the being of the book and never discover or even meet him was wrong.

The key to any book is whither you like the character? Matt made no sense to me. He never questions who put up the Million Dollars bond money or where the number 1,000,000.00 came from and just assumes it was a future Matt? He does not question the note to get in the car and jump again. I don't understand what his reasons where for jumping except that he assumes future Matt was the person that jumped back and put up the money as well as left him the note to jump. Yet we never does find out which future Matt did tell our story Matt that he needs to jump. Even the reason Matt does jumped again is not clear except to think that he has to in order for him to be the future Matt which comes back and saves him. Which again is strange because our Matt doesn't seem to be in any real danger to speak of except that the note tells him to do it. It just had lots and lots of unanswered questions, which would have been great if there had been a second book. We are lead to believe our Matt will one day be the future Matt that does figures out reverse time travel and does puts up one Million for a cash bond and write the note telling past Matt to go find the car and time jump. But it never happens? The character's actions just never made any sense to me. Do we just assume that future Matt that jumped back in time just want ahead and jumped forward after he gave past Matt the money? Did it not ever occur to him that future Matt the rich Matt wanted him to jump so that future Matt can stick around and avoid the Paradox of having two Matts in the same time plane?

Unfortunately we find that a look alike Jesus Christ is all behind it. Which is some how connected to out Matt, because should Matt our Matt not exist than our look alike JC and other will not exist. If you make any sense out of this book please email me.

Since we never did met the future Matt that did jump back and started our Matt on his journey in the end the book made no sense.

Sorry, but I do recommend you read any other ofJoe Haldeman's other books.

Traveling into an increasingly alien future
Matthew Fuller is a research assistant at MIT, working too many hours without enough sleep.One day, while building a calibrator to measure quantum effects, his machine disappears.Almost before he fully comprehends it, the machine reappears.The next time it happens, it is gone for a dozen seconds.Eventually he figures out that his machine is traveling through time.When he tries to use it to transport himself, he arrives several weeks in the future, wanted by the police for grand theft and murder.In order to save his skin, he jumps ahead again.Eventually, he ends up far, far in the future, beyond the lives of anyone he knew.Can he find a new home, or possibly a way back to his own time?

The future worlds described here are interesting extrapolations of human behavior and technology, but are increasingly unrecognizable to anything within our realm of experience.Haldeman's time travel certainly seems credible, and his futures present unique challenges for his characters as the leap ever further from their own times.An entertaining story, with plenty of philosophical meat to chew on.

A Little Fluffy, Quixotic Ending Saved It
Being from the Boston area I liked the setting straight away. While the novel moves along at a nice pace this isn't diamond hard sci-fi, more like peanut-brittle sci-fi. JH can spin a yarn and "as time goes by" (pun intended) there is adequate character development with marginal plot twists to keep one's interest. My strongest positive is that the book did get my own imagination going. I bought this as a discount hardcover. Recommended for your Kindle/iPhone/iPad commute reading. I read this in three rides, to and from work. ... Read more

Product Description
A novel of the red planet from the Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author of The Accidental Time Machine and Old Twentieth.

Young Carmen Dula and her family are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime—they’re going to Mars.

Once on the Red Planet, however, Carmen realizes things are not so different from Earth. There are chores to do, lessons to learn, and oppressive authority figures to rebel against. And when she ventures out into the bleak Mars landscape alone one night, a simple accident leads her to the edge of death until she is saved by an angel—an angel with too many arms and legs, a head that looks like a potato gone bad, and a message for the newly arrived human inhabitants of Mars:

We were here first. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (43)

Not as good as Camouflage
Camouflage is seriously better. Marsbound is readable, a bit short, but not what I expected after reading Camouflage. Still entertaining and quite pleasant.

Joe scores again
Wonderful book to read with a stead flow. Started the book Friday evening and finished Saturday afternoon. I would have just keep reading had I had the sequel.

Mark

Mars with a Touch of Heinlein
I just finished reading this book on my Droid phone,which is equipped with the Kindle app. I have a hard cover copy of the book, but by virtue of it being on my phone I was able to hit this book when pulling out a hard cover might have been prohibitive such as when on the checkout line or on the subway.

The plot made me feel that Joe Haldeman was channeling a bit of the old Heinlein magic: strong female character, bratty brother, smart parents, all bound for a family trip to Mars. Indeed, Carmen, the daughter would have been at home either inHaldeman's own works (such as his under praised "Worlds" trilogy) or a Heinlein novel. The story involves an "outpost" on Mars and man's first contact with intelligent non-human life.

My only main criticism is in the development of some of the characters; such as the antagonistic colony administrator; which are not fleshed out as fully as I would have liked (a great villain usually needs some sort of great back story). The ending, with no spoilers needed, left me happy, in the past I have sometimes felt Haldeman's endings are a bit too abrupt, but this one had that gentle touch of humor that makes me went to read the next book in the series.

Lastly one minor quibble, the formatting, at least on my Droid/Kindle, hadwords fused together in several spots, I don't know if it is native to the Kindle formatting of this book, or just the way it is presented on my Droid phone or not; but this should not take away from a fine old school science fiction yarn.

Sounds like a good read but...
I'm sorry, I have a hard time purchasing an eBook for more than the hardcover sells for.While the reviews for the book sound intriguing, fortunately there is a huge selection of excellent SciFi eBooks that are *not* overpriced to choose from.I think I'll go buy one of those instead.

thought I found an old Heinlein novel!
Hard to believe that this is the same person that gave us the Forever War. This novel has the feel of the Dean of Science Fiction, Robert A. Heinlein. If that was the feel Mr. Haldeman was going for he exceeded and then some. I can narrow this story down to three words: A Fun Read. ... Read more

Product Description
A New from the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Award-winning author of Marsbound.

Carmen Dula and her husband have spent six years travelling to a distant solar system that is home to the enigmatic, powerful race known as "The Others," in the hopes of finding enough common purpose between their species to forge a delicate truce.

By the time Carmen and her party return, fifty years have been consumed by relativity-and the Earthlings have not been idle, building a massive flotilla of warships to defend Earth against The Others. But The Others have more power than any could imagine-and they will brook no insolence from the upstart human race.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Not Joe Haldeman best work...
Even already knowing the characters from MARSBOUND it didn't quite do it for me. I was expecting something more from the Gehenna incident than just establishing character depth. The ending is not what you expect but it is not surprising either...

Martian in the Middle
Being the middle book in a trilogy can be a challenge. Marsbound being the first novel and Earthbound to be the end piece. Marsbound had a distinctive Heinlein flavor (family trip to Mars); this one is pure Haldeman.

Brief plot summary: Earth sends a crew to the distant home-world of the seemingly all powerful "Others" to plead for peace. The crew consists of Carmen the "Mars Girl" who first encountered the "Martians" on Mars, she is accompanied by three other human Mars dwellers; and three spies.

There are moments of tension as we wonder where everyone's loyalties lie.

This book has all the hallmarks of true to form Haldeman: strong women character; a bit of sex; all powerful aliens, and death and mayhem. The ending with no spoiler is memorable and is a great set up for the next book while remaining satisfying if you go no further.

The only thing I found distracting was the switching between various characters narrating each chapter; this was not done in the first book and was a bit of a switch up for the second. Why a good technique it can prove distracting. Still all and all a very enjoyable read.

Mediocrebound
"Starbound",the sequel to the most excellent "Marsbound" is actually the second in a planned trilogy according to author Joe Haldeman.The final book in the series will be called "Earthbound" and is due out next year some time (see interview with JH at [...]

Regardless, whereas Marsbound, written from the perspective of a spunky, sparky, horny and clever young woman, Carmen Dula, who is forced to accompany her family to Mars was sharp, interesting, funny (Carmen's dialogue mostly), fast-paced and great SF, this sequel is dull, listless and just sort of slogs along.Carmen is back but does not even remotely resemble the Carmen of Marsbound, even though only a few years have passed.This time she, husband Paul and a handful of others, including a couple of Martians are on their way at subliminal speeds to the home world of the über-advanced"Others" who almost destroyed the all of mankind in Marsbound to try and make peace or die trying.

The story all told in first person and in many cases it is difficult to tell for several paragraphs or pages who is narrating.I found this disconcerting.The story is also boring - basically 7 humans plus two four legged, four armed Mr. Potato Head-horse hybrids stuck in a tin can for 6 years.Nothing of note happens, no great discoveries, some psychological problems but....

The meeting with the Others is anticlimactic and problematic from a plotting point of view.Without giving anything crucial away, I had a problem with just exactly how a race of super-advanced but ultra-slow moving and thinking life forms could possibly respond to events on a human time scale.We are justway, way too fast even for their thought processes so how could they possibly respond to things that happen over the course of a few years, let along near instantaneously?Just didn't make sense.

The ending was very abrupt and also didn't make much sense from a physics point of view, but of course it was intended to pave the way for the last in the trilogy I suppose.

I am a huge fan of Joe Haldeman and this is the first of his novels that I didn't think was great.Certainly do not read this one without first reading Marsbound - this one is not stand-alone - and don't read this as your introduction to the great SF of Joe Haldeman.Try "The Accidental Time Machine" instead.Perhaps the final entry in the series will pull everything together.I sure hope so.

JM Tepper

I enjoyed this book ...
It's an easy read and has a possibly salutary ending considering the human race's inclination for self destruction. In other words, I enjoyed the ending most of all. It made my day ...

Enjoyable reading.
While I liked Marsbound a little better than Starbound I have to say I enjoyed the story and was left wanting to read the third book in the trilogy. I would have liked to know who was narrating because Haldeman goes back and forth. The ending falls off a ledge but that is forgivable because there will be a third book. I look forward to the third book. ... Read more

Product Description
Two aliens have wandered Earth for centuries. The Changeling has survived by adapting the forms of many different organisms. The Chameleon destroys anything or anyone that threatens it.

Now, a sunken relic that holds the key to their origins calls to them to take them home--but the Chameleon has decided there's only room for one. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (88)

Hiding in plain sight - no spoilers
"Camouflage", a short, self-contained SF novel by Joe Haldeman, is a perfect example of why he is held in such high esteem by SF critics and fans alike.It's great!4.5 stars.

At just 289 pages, Camouflage is a model of compact writing and plotting.While lacking Haldeman's trademark humor, the writing is still snappy and the dialogue believable.The main characters are fleshed out enough to make one care about them, and the plot "mysteries" stay hidden until literally the last few pages when all is revealed.No red herrings, all was there to figure out if one was paying attention.When I had only 10 pages to go, I was thinking that there was no way that Haldeman was going to be able to resolve everything fairly and to my satisfaction.I thought that I was either going to find out that this was "to be continued" although I was pretty sure that I had not seen any sequels in Haldeman's bibliography or else the ending was going to be lame.Neither was true.

This is a unique first contact story and a very skilled and original description of totally alien psychology interacting with various human intellectual and emotional behaviors.A lightning fast and excellent read.

J.M. Tepper

Fun to read.A page turner, but not Nebula award material
My title says most of what I have to say.You can read this book quickly and enjoy it.It moves fast and is fun, but I don't understand how this got the Nebula award.It doesn't compare with past winners like Dune, Flowers for Algernon, Left Hand of Darkness, Neuromancer.I just don't get it.Maybe nothing very impressive was written the year it got the award.

Camouflage
One of the best books I've read in a long time.I couldn't put it down.Joe Haldeman is becoming one of my favorite authors and he delivers in this book.

Good book.
This is the second Joe Haldeman book that I have read.It was good, and had the classic Haldeman abrupt ending.This author is very imaginative, and I appreciate his ability to bounce back and forth between the past and future.Overall a good read!

Tight entertaining prose, with some weak character and plot elements.
Camouflage was tight and fun to read. Haldeman's high concept approach and the book's corresponding structure are very strong. (Thank you for not writing another 500 page space opera, just because!) Those strengths kept me reading despite some rather obvious weak plot points and a couple of flat characters.

It's worth noting that the weak plot points didn't bother me until I was well done with the book.

What bothered me more was how little attention Haldeman put into making the Chameleon richer. There was a little too much of the Generic Alien Baddie with only a cursory attempt at motivation. If he'd done half as well with Chameleon as he did with Changeling, it would have been a much stronger and more memorable book.

I loved Haldeman's diction and crisp witty style. The prose was sleek, and even with my quarrels it kept me reading in a pretty obsessive way until it was finished.

Haldeman has been a bit of a blank spot for me-- one of those authors I've been meaning to read, but never quite got around to doing it. Based on this, I'm a lot more enthusiastic to give more of his work a try.

I will admit to being puzzled as to why this won a Tiptree. I don't think he's doing anything that interesting with gender. Different strokes, I guess. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (347)

Completely engrossing
Politically relevant, well written (and I usually am not a fan of first-person writing), and even genuinely funny at times. Also a great book for anyone who watches Star Wars or any other sci-fi fare and says "Oh come on, physics wouldn't allow for that."

Maybe It's Me
The Forever War is about a soldier, drafted to fight in a war against an alien enemy. Since the war is being fought light years from earth, and since he is shipped out and returned to earth or other bases repeatedly and at relativistic speeds, his subjective time becomes seriously compressed relative to the passage of time on earth. With each return to earth or to a base, he is growingly out of touch with earth culture.

The metaphor is the VietNam War experience for US soldiers in the 60s and 70s, and the author, Joe Haldeman, was a VietNam Vet.

So far, so good, and interesting. And I did get into the book -- it was a fast, engaging read. But I don't think, beyond the mere fact of the VietNam metaphor, I am going to be thinking about this book a month from now. Haldeman's character is thin -- I don't feel like I knew him that well -- and, I suspect as a consequence, the disorientations he experiences just weren't that deep or detailed for me.

I understand there is a movie in the making. I'd see the movie, now that I've read the book. A good director might make something more of the book than my experience in reading it (the movie, for me at least, could actually be better than the book!).

The book won numerous awards for science fiction, so maybe others saw something I didn't.

Forever Recommended
Amazing book. Couldn't put it down! I got it on a Thursday and it was finished by Sunday. As you read it you'll think it's a fairly basic story, but after it's over and you sit and think about it you'll realize the depth and ingenious of the story. It's simply brilliant, I don't want to spoil any of the story but believe me it's worth a read. It's not terribly long so even if you're on the fence just get it, it's not going to kill you to read it.

I'd recommend it to anyone who likes war/sci-fi/good stories.

Takes Forever To Read
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

Life's too short to read this book. I am puzzled by it's winning awards and garnering great reviews. I admit, I'm not usually fond of dystopias in the first place but I am very interested in sci fi, millitary fiction and I even appreciate a bit of sexiness in books. All of which The Forever War has.

It's just that the author doesn't write any of it all that well or compelling. There's a war theme. Even a rather interesting idea of space travel warping time such that a soldier engaged in interstellar war suffers such time dilation that every time he returns "home" to earth, it's a different and alien place. Yes, that's a cool idea and plot device. However, the war story sections fall flat. The battle scenes are not compelling. The camaraderie scenes do not bond you with the main character.He's nothing like the story teller of Orson Scott Card, Eric Flint or David Weber.

The different dystopias of earth are interesting ideas -- but not told in very compelling ways.

The aliens -- they were not brought to life in any meaningful way.

The horror of war was there -- but not told in any way that would move you.

Sex -- plenty of talk about sex -- none of it actually sexy.He goes from complete sexual promiscuity where the female soldiers are required to have sex with any and every male soldier....to complete homosexuality where everyone is gay but the archaic "from the past" main character. Kind of an interesting idea...perhaps people in the 70's found it shocking...but it's not compellingly told from my current vantage point.

There's a love story theme throughout -- but again, it's simply not told well.You don't fall in love with the main character's love of each other.

I'd love to see what a David Weber or John Ringo could have done with Halderman's ideas. He had some truly interesting ideas and plot lines. But I had to force myself to finish the book. I had read half of it before starting on the five book Alvin Maker series by OSC. I read the first of those with my youngest daughter and was simply compelled to devour the next and the next. Not so with The Forever War. There are just so many other really great books that take up the themes and plot devices of this book to bother reading it.

It wasn't the worst book I've ever read. It isn't even a BAD book. There are definitely interesting thoughts and points. It's just not a very well told story.

Lee

Absolute classic
It's already been said, so I'll keep it short. This is a classic sci-fi war story with a totally different perspective than most war novels. It is an absolute must read! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

DON'T BUY THIS VERSION
This is a collection of three novels bound into a single volume. Unfortunately, whatever imbecile wrote the back cover "blurb" gave away virtually the entire ending to the first novel. And yes, even more besides. I really hope whoever was responsible lost their job over this.

So if you do wind up with this edition, STAY AWAY FROM THE BACK COVER!!!

Please understand that this is truly the only reason why I gave this collection a 1 star review: I just wanted my warning to leap out at people so that others could avoid my fate; the fate of a man who knew too much. Some things in this life you don't WANT to know. Like the ending of a novel BEFORE you read it.

Man, I really do hope that person lost their job...

As you can probably tell, I still get steamed just thinking about it. And all this is really quite a pity: the front-cover artwork is unusually powerful and evocative of the story itself. But that's just life I guess.

Incidentally, because I have seen some of my reviews crop up for editions other than the one I originally wrote them for, let me stress that I am saying all this about Peace And War: Forever Peace, Forever Free, Forever War: " Forever Peace " , " Forever Free " , " Forever War " (Gollancz S.F.).

Other than that, this is nice collected epic that includes three separate novels in a single volume. The style can perhaps best be described as intelligent space opera. Much of the technology to be found in this book is grounded in real science; particularly the use of sub-light space flight. This means that the time dilating effects of relativity come into play, which in turn becomes the basis for the most fundamental challenges faced by the characters on a psychological level. One never forgets that the first novel in the series - The Forever War - is a book that followed closely on the heels of the "new wave" of science fiction pioneered in the 1960's by authors such as J.C. Ballard.

The Forever War is also a novel that can very easily be interpreted as an allegory for the experience of many Viet Nam war soldiers; for the war they fought, and the experience of returning to to a society very different from the one they left. And indeed, in the author's note Haldeman provides, he himself accepts that this is part of the basis for the novel. However, The Forever War is also sufficiently grounded in universal human concerns that it works on a more timeless level as well.

If I wasn't judging the book by its cover, I'd give it 4 stars.

So yes; this is something that I would recommend reading. Just do yourself a favor and buy another edition.

great deal for Sci-Fi buffs
It's a nice Omnibus of Joe Haldeman. Forever War and Forever Peace are great companions for real Mandella Freaks Forever Free is also attached.

Nice to get them together.
It is nice to get them all in one binding.
The stories are somewhat nostalgic, written in a time that seems "the good old days" for some, or something vague like the Crimean War for those who do not remember President Johnson. Our American Condition today is so very different.Yet there are points to ponder.

All three novels are worth reading and re-reading. Even though the end of "Forever Free" seems to be a weak gimmick. The very idea that God is not someone who would be a welcome guest at a home dinner is worth pondering. ... Read more

Product Description
William Mandela is a genetic throwback, one of the small group of humans who fought and survived the Forever War.They returned to find humanity has evolved into a group mind called Man. Surrounded by a society that is too autocratic and intrusive, living a dull existence which cannot compare to the certainties of combat and feeling increasingly alienated, the veterans plan an escape to the future by means of space travel and relativity.But when their ship starts to fail, their journey becomes a search for the Unknown, the elusive entity responsible.Amazon.com Review
You can't lose for winning--especially, it would seem, if you're Joe Haldeman. Suffering the same fate as many an author who's dared to pen unconventional sequels to a ferociously loved book (in this case, The Forever War), Haldeman has risked the ire of his many devoted admirers a second time (the first sequel was the award-spangled Forever Peace). But Haldeman's call--not too surprisingly--proves to be a deft one, giving us a book that, while significantly different from its predecessor, turns out to be equally captivating and sensitive, in many ways even more thought-provoking. (Sure, it doesn't match The Forever War for sheer impact, but then again, what does?)

As in The Forever War, the heart of this story is the dry, ironic bite of fighting-suit vet William Mandella, now middle-aged and a parent (along with his love and comrade-in-arms Marygay) to two teen-aged kids. The family leads a spartan life on the cold and desolate planet Middle Finger, which serves as a sort of genetic safe-deposit box for the current incarnation of humanity, an inhuman race of group-mind clones known as Man. But the animals in the zoo are getting restless, and a core group of vets led by William and Marygay plot an unusual escape: hijacking a reconditioned time ship and using it to take a 40,000 light-year tour (over 10 years of their own time) to rejoin the world they know only after 2,000 generations have passed. Much of the action involves the hatching and fruition of this plot, but Haldeman doesn't really mix things up until nearing the end, when he dissolves physics as we know it and calls down the wrath of God itself. --Paul Hughes ... Read more

Customer Reviews (93)

"Deus ex machina" does NOT apply to this book
To be clear, this book (and NOT Forever Peace (Remembering Tomorrow)) is the direct sequel to the Forever War.

I'll begin by addressing many of the reviews here. So many reviewers have been using the phrase "deus ex machina" followed brusquely by a comment about literally throwing the book in the trash. However, very few people apparently understand the proper use of the term "deus ex machina". The complaints are misguided, on account of a lack of understanding of the novel. Allow me to explain.

(Spoilers!)

This novel is a sci-fi mystery. At the end of it, the mystery is solved when the extremely strange and increasingly bizarre events of prior pages is explained. It is solved because we meet the mover behind the events. To repeat: this mover has been causing the events to occur all along, but was merely an unseen character until the end because it is, I repeat, a mystery. Now, when used correctly, "deus ex machina" is employed to explain when an outside, godlike character intervenes in an outright plot contrivance to correct all the chaos and tragedy that has gone on with the other characters. The mover at the end of this novel is emphatically *not* an outside character who intervenes suddenly. He has been acting throughout the pages all along. We just finally meet him at the end. The key character behind the events is revealed as the close of the mystery, not a "deus ex machina".

It is true that Haldeman could certainly have taken more care to prepare us better for the ending of the novel. But the reviewers here are dolts for using the phrase "deus ex machina" to encapsulate the theme of their reviews. They have absolutely missed the point of Forever Free.

The book is entertaining and a relatively quick read. It is not the masterpiece of Forever War. But it is satisfying nevertheless when you stop thinking that a "deus ex machina" has occurred, and take a moment to realize the mystery structure of the book, and that the mover behind the events doesn't just swoop in suddenly. He was there, unseen, all along. Not a damn soul on earth says "The Usual Suspects" ended with a deus ex machina when Keyser Söze was revealed to be Kevin Spacey's character!

Ugh
Reading this was like taking a spaceship to Bizarro World and reading their version of The Forever War -- in every way that War was excellent, Peace is terrible. To think I was excited to find a hardcover version.

The first book I bought by Haldeman
This is the first book I bought by Haldeman and he is now one of my favorite authors.Never been disappointed by anything of his I have read.

Not Free SF Reader
Reasonable setup, can't say that for the rest, though.


The few human relics of the war are living together stashed away on a planet just in case the group entity needs them again.

Bunch of retired soldiers, so they get bored, and decide to play with relativity and take a trip into the future, so to speak.

When they come back after your spaceship accident type event, everybody has gone bye-bye, humans and aliens.

The story starts to go that way, too, unfortunately.

Do not waste your time
As I said above do not waste your time with this book, it has to be one of the worst books I have ever read. I wish I could give it less then 1 star.

The book starts of ok, Halderman reintroduces the characters from Forever War and sets up what could be a great story idea but then the books just gets bad. Its as if he got tired of writing the book halfway though and then took some drugs and then just started writing whatever crazy drugged up idea came to him. I was so upset with this book I burned it. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1968, a nation fought two wars: one abroad...and one with itself. On one front, Spider walked point and tried to survive an insanity he neither accepted nor understood. On another, his "girl," Beverly, drifted into a strange counterculture that offered her dangerous freedoms at the price of her innocence. In 1968, a great black leader was murdered on a balcony in Memphis...a political convention in Chicago was stained with young blood...and Spider and Beverly searched for their separate peace in two worlds on fire. It was the year that changed us all. In 1968, everything went crazy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Not Brilliant, but very good
Joe Haldeman is well known as a science fiction writer. The Forever War, remains an SF classic, having won the Hugo award, and serves as a fascinating counterpoint to Heinlein's Starship Troopers.

1968 is not a science fiction novel. It's a mainstream novel that, per the title, takes place in 1968.

I'd been looking for a copy for a while, and managed to pick up a used library copy on Amazon (yea Amazon)

This is Spider's story. Spider is a young draftee in "The 'Nam", assigned to a combat engineering squadron. The story also follows the life of Beverly, Spider's girfriend, but it's Spider's story.

It's very tightly written, many "chapters" are a half page or less. While Spider is the protagonist, he's not a "hero" in the normal sense; things happen TO Spider, not because of him.

And in case you didn't figure it out reading The Forever War, Vietnam was NOT a fun place in 1968. Then again, neither was Chicago during the convention.

Ultimately, it's a slice of life story, and a rather sad one.

I recommend it if you get the chance to read it.

A dual review of 1968 and Trinity Fields
1968, by Joe Haldeman and Trinity Fields, by Bradford Morrow

1968 will surprise readers who think of Joe Haldeman exclusively as a science fiction writer. Its stunning realism and cynical outlook are harrowing. Haldeman's main character is Spider, a soldier in Vietnam. Haldeman never compromises his grim vision of this pivotal year in American history--just when you think it can't get worse for poor Spider, it does. The writing is razor sharp--I was especially enamored of the sections relating Spider's evolving description of his wounding and near death in an ambush. The story changes with time and with Spider's experiences and mental state. At story's end, Haldeman turns the tables and tells the story from another participant's point of view. In doing so, he manages to give the entire book an ironic spin.

The focus in Trinity Fields is on Brice McCarthy, who's sedate existence is interrupted by a letter from a friend he thought long dead. The letter causes Brice to reflect on his life, and, more importantly, on the influence that his boyhood friend, Kip Calder, has had on him. As sons of scientists working on the Manhattan Project, the duo literally grew up in the shadow of the atomic bomb. As children, the two were inseparable, but as they grew older their paths diverged. Their deteriorating friendship finally collapses over their philosophical differences regarding the Vietnam War and their love for the same woman. Ultimately, Brice joins the radical Left and Kip flies secret missions over Laos. Morrow's description of their meeting some twenty five years later, and the poignant favor Kip asks of Brice provide an emotional and satisfying climax.

Taken together, 1968 and Trinity Fields provide plenty of food for thought. Morrow's book, cerebral and reflective, is the perfect complement to the more visceral and gruelling 1968. In both, the horror stems from the Vietnam war, and the physical and mental damage it inflicted. Individually, either book is worthy of your attention, but I recommend that you read them together for greater impact.

1968 Retrospective
If you read this book you will learn why 1969 was such a great year! By the time we had gotten through 1968 we were entitled to something good and it came. Like everything in the 60's, 1969 did not live up to its promise but we did learn from it -- and we had a lot of fun too.

In 1968 I graduated from high school. My awareness was limited and in that I was a lot like Spider. However it was impossible NOT to be aware of some things. Assasinations left and right; rioting in city after city; Prague; "My fellow American, I come to you tonight with a heavy heart"; Humphrey refusing to promise peace; Chicago; the election of Nixon. Pretty grim.

So this is a pretty grim book, how could it be otherwise. It is faithful to its subject and describes it well, which makes for a downer. Almost every page had me saying "Yep, that's how it was."

But you know, it might have been better without the retrospectives. I think Joe tried to alleviate the bummer by putting in intermezzos or in-between chapters which give today's views on certain things. This gives a sense of "everything's gonna be okay, we made it to the future intact" whereas that was no sure thing at the time -- another reason to celebrate in 1969.

Joe, why don't you do Spider a favor and let him experience the Summer of Love? After the Summer of Hate, he deserves it!

Acurate and depressing account of a turbulent year
Without a doubt, Joe Haldenman recaptures the historical and turbulent moments of a year that will always be remembered for its political and social issues. Not only is the story multi-dimesional and historically accurate, but the characters are also multi-dimensional. Ones that you will feel sympathy for in the end. If you enjoy studying, or reading about the turbulent '60's, then 1968 is the novel for you.

A Very Moving Story
While I love many of Haldeman's science fiction novels, I think 1968 is his best work. He dealt with his Vietnam experience in a very different way in The Forever War by presenting it in a futuristic setting. Here, he confronts it head on, and I think that's what makes 1968 even more powerful than The Forever War. It's amazing to me how little has changed as far as military life goes after reading this book. I was in the Marine Corps infantry in the early nineties, and the same lingo is still being used--like taking "pogey bait" out to the field with you, for example. Even though I, nor others of my generation, can imagine what the Vietname war was really like, I think Haldeman's novel is one of the best at giving us a taste of what it was like. But there's much more to 1968 than just a soldier's Vietnam experience. Much of the book takes place after the main character, Spider, returns home. He arrives a changed man, and the home he remembered has also changed. Haldeman doesn't give us a neat, clean resolution to the story, but what he does give us--a bitter taste of reality--seems so much more real than most novels. I also really enjoyed Tim O'Briens The Things They Carried, but 1968 was slightly more powerful for me. If you also like science fiction, you might enjoy some of the details in 1968--at one point Spider is reading Glory Road by Robert Heinlein, and at another point a soldier is reading The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick. There's also a little bit of astronomy thrown in, if that's your thing. So personally, 1968 had a lot going for it in addition to its main motive. I think this is Haldeman's crowning acheivement, and I'd like to see it back in print. Also, I think Haldeman has at least one more good Vietnam novel in him. ... Read more

Product Description
A chronology and study of Haldeman's life and works. ... Read more

Product Description
From the depths of space comes a startling message: "We're Coming."

On the brink of war and hysteria, Earth must prepare for the arrival. But the question still remains as to who-or what-will actually arrive...

"His most successful and rewarding book in years." (Jonathan Strahan, Locus)

"A large-scale story [that] provides food for thought as well as fast-paced action." (Library Journal)Amazon.com Review
Joe Haldeman plays tag in The Coming, as the narrative is passed from character to character in a seamless, if ultimately disappointing, tale set in 2054. Haldeman, whose honors include the Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell awards, puts Gainesville, Florida, and 20 or so characters under the microscope to study a chain of events in the wake of a local astronomy professor receiving a mysterious message that may be from aliens.

Professor Aurora Bell receives a message from space that simply states, "We're coming." The message appears to be alien, and according to Professor Bell's calculations, the vessel that sent it is headed toward Earth and will arrive in three months. As the local population and the rest of the world begin to examine what a visitation from a superior alien force might mean, speculation looms about whether or not the message is a hoax. The arrival approaches, and Professor Bell and those around her become embroiled in the media circus. The politics and intrigue of the situation take on a life of their own.

Haldeman paints a vivid picture in The Coming of a world on the brink of another world war, where homosexuality is illegal, technology is advanced, and yet, humans really haven't changed that much. The tension in Florida is a microcosm that reflects the larger picture of Earth in trouble. But The Coming doesn't really get interesting until the final third of the book, and even then the ending is disappointing. Every few pages the story moves on to a different character, so most of the them are a bit flat. Haldeman has focused the story so tightly on one city that all the important events take place off stage and the characters have little to do but react. --Kathie Huddleston ... Read more

Customer Reviews (58)

Years before she was inflicted upon us, Haldeman predicted Sarah Palin!
At least the pinheaded president of "The Coming" seemed to greatly resemble her. It's possibly the most (accidentally) intriguing aspect of this novel.

Haldeman is a brilliant writer - I've read The Forever War and the Worlds Trilogy so many times, the books fell apart in my hands. This one isn't in the same league. For one thing, we almost - but don't quite - bond with the characters, in part because too many points of view are offered. The female protagonist's relationship with her husband is left unexplored, though as depicted it elicit too many nagging questions to be left alone. The response of the citizens of earth to the possible approach of an alien craft are quite hollow.

Haldeman at his best draw us in with vibrant, lovable characters (like Marianne O'Hara from Worlds and Mandella from The Forever War. He could have done that here with a longer, more detailed book, but it didn't quite happen.

A fascinating look at our future
I'd had The Forever War recommended to me, and thought it was brilliant, so I was excited to see that Joe Haldeman was still writing science fiction. I started reading his new books with this one.

The book starts out with a detailed description of an office--and by extension, life and the world--in what is clearly a technologically advanced future Earth. This comes before the surprisingly undramatic reveal that Dr. Aurora Bell, to whom the office belongs, has received a message from outer space: "We're coming."

This is the first clue (although I myself didn't figure it out until I noticed how few pages were left in the book) that this story is really more about life in the future than about aliens, or whatever/whoever sent the message. Another clue is Haldeman's use of changing POVs frequently throughout the book, showing that he's telling us a story about people.

In other words, the possibility of alien invasion is basically just the background premise that makes this book a story. Instead, the book is a very interesting and plausible look at our future. The closer I got to the end, even after I realized that the book wasn't really about whatever was coming, the more I wanted to keep reading until I finished it.

We learn about the effects of global warming; we learn about the advancing technologies in many fields, including news reporting, cinema, recreational drugs, music composition, and war; we learn about politics as well as cultural trends and taboos in the 21st century. We are given a good picture of what it is like to be living in the 2050s, and are given a scary idea of what may be to come in their (and our) future. And, of course, we see what is being done in preparation for "The Coming," as it comes to be called.

The answer to the question of who or what is coming might not be a surprise, but the way Haldeman chose to end the story certainly was for me. Unfortunately, the ending is a bit...flat? Perhaps not flat; I really don't know what the right word is. Also, a few questions remain, in my mind, to be answered. Despite this, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it.

Joe Haldeman's "The Coming"...

If you're a fan of Joe Haldeman and his style of science fiction, I think you will enjoy "The Coming".

I am primarily a fan of "Military" Sci-Fi, and this novel is definitely not that, but all in all, I

did enjoy it very much.It is very well written, with enough plot twists and turns to keep you reading

page after page.

Um?
The immediate set-up of this book has a lot of promise.However, when the book itself degenerates into a massively mulitiplayer dialogue, it felt like a fictional account of an election or natural disaster without the luxury of having it play out on TV.I almost get the feeling this was written as a script and repackaged as a short novel.I was less than impressed.

Boring Soap Opera
Well, all those people who have relentlessly beat the "character development" drum...I hope you're happy.Here we have yet another good SF author serving up a book packed with nothing but "character development",and it's boring as hell. No scientific concepts here to speak of, and very little thoughtful extrapolation--just a whole lot of slice-of-life style narration. If I want to immerse myself in the mundane details of average people's lives I CAN DO THAT FOR REAL. No book needed.

This book has no business being listed under the SF category. As for the 5-star reviewers, I suggest you give in and try the romance aisle next time. Really, you'll be happier there.And maybe SF fans can stop seeing their favorite authors write books like this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Joe Haldeman has changed readers' perceptions of science fiction and war through such groundbreaking novels as The Forever War and Forever Peace. Now, the author David Brin calls "one of the best prophetic writers of our times" has crafted a tale in which the future of humanity is intertwined with the destiny of Rosa Tolliver-an ordinary woman in the days after the Civil War, trying to make a new life for herself in the Alaska gold fields and feeling an odd sense of being watched. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

ODD BUT FRIGHTENINGLY ENJOYABLE!!!
For three quarters of the book I was trying to figure what in tarnation did it have to do with science fiction except for a raven who kept reappearing and cawing "No Gold".
The last quarter of the book was where everything not only fell into place but also grabs you by your knickers and keeps you reading at a very fast pace. This is one of those books where at the end you ask yourself.."Now, did I enjoy that book?". After some serious thought, I found that I enjoyed it very much. Helpful hint though...read the entire book.

Good sleeping pill.Not real SCI-FI
I am a big Haldeman fan but this must have been written in a period of writers block.Most of the story is in first person monologe with little verbal interaction between the characters.It just skims along never putting any depth in the story or the people in it.Even when she cought her husband using there 14 year old son for his pleasure did any conversation take place.In any real life situation like that there would have been plenty of words and hellfire taking place.Probably a little mayhem also.That would have created some excitement to the story.But in the book the whole episode was passed over in a few sentances with nothing happening.If this book had been written by an unknown author it probably would have been nothing but a rejection slip.I just don't see how all these readers gave it 4 stars.It is misleeding to people who use reviews to pick books.I got it from a library.If I had bought it based on the reviews i would be really mad.

Pointlessly slow, with a ridiculous ending
Haldeman demonstrates the pitfalls of genre-bending fiction in this historical/fantasy novel that reads like it was started by Jack London and completed by Arthur C. Clarke.The heroine, Rosa Coleman, was an east-coast society lady until difficult personal circumstances caused her to begin a lifelong journey across turn-of-the-century America.

Rosa's adventures in the rough and ready West make for fairly interesting reading, particularly the sections that are set in Alaska, since we seldom see this side of American history discussed from a feminine perspective.Once or twice we get brief hints that something otherworldly is going on, when Rosa gets visits from the mysterious Raven, but there's not much here that isn't straight historical fiction...

Until we're just about done with the book, when we suddenly find that Rosa Coleman's America is really a far-out sci-fi fantasy world where time and space can be traversed as easily as riding a train.(Too bad she didn't find that out 150 pages earlier; we could've saved a lot of time reading about outmoded forms of transportation).The closing pages cover territory that other sci-fi writers have handled much more imaginatively and effectively, but that's not nearly as serious a flaw as the fact that these events don't belong in this book at all.Haldeman clearly didn't know how to end this modest historical novel he was working on, so he took a left turn and went off into outer space.But the fact is that this is plain bad storytelling, cheating the readers out of the conclusion they deserve.Every story should have a point to it, and if the point of this novel was Rosa's adventures in America, Haldeman needed a conclusion that made sense within that context.And if the point of the novel was the trippy alternate-reality stuff, then why devote most of the book to the events in Philadelphia, and Dodge City, and the Alaskan tundra, and theendless travels in between?

If you're a fan of travelogues where the main attraction is the descriptions of scenery and unique adventures in exotic locales, you'll probably enjoy watching this engaging woman cross the USA.But if, like this reviewer, you expect a story to have a beginning, middle, and most of all, an ending that stems organically from that beginning, this book will be a real disappointment.

Very good but very "quiet" reading
Written as a memoir, much of this book takes place in 19th Century America. Rosa Coleman was a part of high society in Philadelphia. After witnessing her husband sodomizing Daniel, their young son, she picked him up and fled across uncharted America by train and steamboat. Pinkerton detectives working for her husband were never far behind.

Months later, they found themselves in San Francisco, heading to Alaska to look for gold. Alaska was also as far way from Philadelphia as Rosa and Daniel could go. They were in the company of Doc and Charles, an older man and his son, also looking to strike it rich. Rosa and Doc hit it off, by 19th Century standards, pretty quickly. The only strange thing about Rosa and Daniel's journey was that every so often a raven would come down out of the sky, land in front of them, and squawk the words "No gold" before leaving.

Rosa decided to stay in the town of Sitka, rather than join the men in the Alaskan wilderness. She got a job as a schoolteacher, and met Gordon, part Russian priest and part shaman. They are both there to teach, and hopefully convert, the local Tlingit (native) children. The raven is considered a trickster in many cultures, including Tlingit.

After several months, Rosa received a letter from Charles saying that Doc and Charles were shot and killed in a streetcorner dispute. In a fit of despair, Rosa took out a pistol that she kept for protection, and was prepared to use it on herself. At that moment, a talking raven, part Gordon and part trickster, flew into her cabin and took her on a journey. She visited a planet of man-sized, mobile, intelligent plants. She visited a planet whose sun was stationary in the sky. She visited a devastated Times Square, far in her future. She was turned into a golden eagle, and into a carnivorous dinosaur. Rosa was taught all about alternate universes, and was returned to one where Doc and Daniel were still alive, because they hadn't yet made the trip into the Alaskan wilderness.

This is an excellent novel, but a pretty "quiet" novel. The science fiction doesn't start until about the last quarter of the story. By the end, it gets nice and weird, and will give the reader plenty to consider. Two thumbs up.

An engaging read, even though it's light on the SF
After panning Haldeman's "The Coming", I'm glad to be able to give a positive review of "The Guardian". Though very light on the SF, the characterizations are good and the pace is brisk.

Fair warning - the SF elements don't come in until past the half-way point. There is one section that is an intense look at speculative worlds, and the ending smacks of classic alternative history. However, you don't want to buy this book for the SF/alternative history elements, because everything included has been done elsewhere, and better. It's the seamless integration of these elements with the story and characterization that makes this a worthwhile read.

This is not a classic, and I don't expect to read it again. But I enjoyed it as a one-timer, and passed it on to another reader who also enjoyed it. ... Read more

Product Description
2043 A.D.: The Ngumi War rages. A burned-out soldier and his scientist lover discover a secret that could put the universe back to square one--not a terrifying prospect, but a tempting one. Featured on the "Locus" Recommended Reading list and selected by "Publishers Weekly" as one of the best books of the year.Amazon.com Review
Julian Class is a full-time professor and part-time combatveteran who spends a third of each month virtually wired to a robotic"soldierboy." The soldierboys, along with flyboys and otheradvanced constructs, allow the U.S. to wage a remotely controlled waragainst constant uprisings in the Third World. The conflicts arelargely driven by the so-called First World countries' access tonanoforges--devices that can almost instantly manufacture any productimaginable, given the proper raw materials--and the Third Worldcountries' lack of access to these devices. But even as Julian learnsthat the consensual reality shared by soldierboy operators can lead touniversal peace, the nanoforges create a way for humanity to utterlydestroy itself, and it will be a race against time to see which willhappen first. Although Forever Peace bears a title similar toJoe Haldeman's classic novel The Forever War,he says it's not a sequel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (122)

This is two books: one good, one bad
A plot twist in the middle of THE FOREVER PEACE divides the book neatly into two parts.The first part is a war story; the second is a techno-political thriller.

Deep into the 21st Century, a world war rages.The rich nations of the northern hemisphere are battling the poor nations of the southern hemisphere. Key to the north's war efforts (and to the book) are "soldierboys."Think of them as Predator drones with arms and legs--stealthy, bristling with an array of futuristic weapons and nearly indestructible. The men and women who control them do so from hundreds of miles away.This portion of the book is gripping, well paced and is reflective of Haldeman's earlier award-winning novel THE FOREVER WAR.

Once the book turns into a techno-political thriller, it falls apart.Its failures are three fold:First, the focal point upon which techno-political thriller revolves is the link between the first microseconds of the Big Bang and the "nanoforges" which are producing most of the north's great wealth.The nature of this link is never explained except to say it is mathematically very complicated.As a reader, I could not accept this huge leap in logic, yet this point is critical to the plot.Second, the men and women who control the soldierboys are not only mentally melded into their fighting units but also into each other.Each can see, hear and smell what the others in their squad can see, hear and smell.Each knows what the others are thinking.I ask, why???A soldier needs to be able to concentrate on why he or she is doing.What military advantage would be gained by overwhelming a soldier's thought processes with a cacophony of sensory inputs?This technology would be counterproductive.Third, when it is proposed that the soldierboys should, in effect, overthrow the government, everyone (with one minor exception) is okay with that.No one points out that the last time someone tried to impose a master race upon humanity, things didn't work out so well.

One bright spot in the second half of the book is the assassin Gavrila. She is incredibly cunning, ruthless, intelligent, tenacious, clever, deadly, fanatical, and let's face it, just plain scary.When she is on the page, the book is wondrous!

BTW:Did anyone else wonder: If the war arose out of the disparate wealth between the north and the south, and if the nanoforges create unlimited amounts of wealth, then why didn't the north end the war by simply giving the south a bunch of nanoforges?

Not cynically titled
It may be tempting to assume that Joe Haldeman has cynically chosen a title for this book because the title resonates with the title of his famous work "The Forever War", despite the prologue which explains the two books are unrelated except in common themes.This is NOT the case.This is NOT a cynical coattails ride on that earlier work's fame.The title of this book is perfectly apt.Give it a read!

Good read, but dismal as hell
Forever Peace is a good book. I often found myself wondering how authors like Haldeman (a Vietnam vet) can put such terrifying, nihilistic and depressing imagery in their books and still manage to get up every morning. There were some parts of the book that turned my stomach to read, and the main character was suicidally stricken and so hateful of the world he lived in. Read it through if you have a durable tummy, just don't expect to be smiling at the end.

Real and believable characters fuel Forever Peace
I was a little skeptical coming in to this one after reading the first 10 pages.Soldierboys and so on just didn't seem like the science fiction I was looking for.But, hey, it won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, so how could it not be a good read?I came to love this book on so many different levels.

The first half of the book is noticeably better than the second half of the book.In the first half Haldeman spends his time developing the military sci fi world, and especially developing the characters and building their interaction as entirely believable.I am a huge fan of many of the main characters because they are real and believable.Their interaction, namely Julian and Amelia, draw you in to the world and brings the story to a level that we understand, despite the science fiction elements that can, at times, alienate the reader.

The second half was still a good half as the political, ethical and moral values of a near future are analyzed in relation to the Soldierboys technology and the world that they live in.Haldeman did get a little more philosophical which is what brought the narrative of the story down a little, but I still felt that this turned out to be a great book.Could the underlying theory behind Soldierboy technology work without some guerilla group taking the initiative away and using it aganst them?Not sure.But it was still worth the read.A definite recommend.

4 stars.

This is a novel that would have been better as a short story.
If you have read and enjoyed this novel, then please skip over this review.If you haven't yet read it, then press on.My apologies in advance to the author and his fans.

The novel isn't really a science fiction novel.It is a story masking an exposition of the author's perceptions of race, war, sex, religion, and culture. Based on 1960s thinking in these areas, but set in the middle of the 21st century, the attitudes of the characters were not believable.Worse yet, the trite anti-western themes telegraphed where the story was going and led me to predict how it would end by about page forty.

"Forever Peace" fell short in other ways as well.There were a host of characters, none of which had sufficient development to make them sympathetic.The antagonists were unbelievably dangerous and the protagonists seemed to give the antagonist's assassins every chance to kill them.To describe the protagonists as naïve would be generous, especially in light of the fact that many of the protagonists were soldiers, or reformed killers, and could draw from a collective life experience of "one thousand years."

The only area where the author really seemed to have any insight on the future was in identifying the odd effect that killing people from a very long distance, using tele-operated equipment, would have on the soldiers who had that assignment.Fighting from remote safety, and then stepping out the door to a peaceful, normal environment brings an emotional dislocation already being experienced by service personnel.This aspect might have been a worthy subject for a short story. ... Read more

Product Description
The passengers aboard the starship Ad Astra spend most oftheir time on the thousand-year journey to Beta Hydrii within thevirtual reality of twentieth-century Earth. There, they can experiencenostalgia for the hardship of a life they've since evolved beyond.

But when people inside the virtual reality chamber start todie, engineer Jacob Brewer finds himself face-to-face with a sentientmachine obsessed with humanity. It has put itself in charge of theship. And it wants to talk to Jacob... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

No ending
I give Halderman 5 stars but the book only one star. I bought this book to read on a flight from Seattle to Chicago. My previous Haldeman all 5 stars and I looked forward with high expectations of this nove.I wasn't dissapointed with "Old Twentieth."As usual Haldeman's plot and characters were well detailed, amusing, and intrigue. Planned it out so I could finish the book on my flight back to Seattle starting with Chapter 15 "Duck." One hour from Seattle and started Chapter 20 "Conspiracy."The book was bulding torward a climax resolving all the mysteries laid out in in the previous chapters. Page 258 IS THE LAST PAGE, the next is the 1st page "Praise for Joe Haldeman" and continues to page 18 the last page in the book, 32 pages (the ending chpaters) gone.First time ever I had purchased a book with a mega pugbishing error. So I give "One Star" for Berkely Publishing and Amazon.

I found the backstory disgusting
I found the backstory of this scifi novel disgusting. The rich manage to buy immortality for themselves, and then kill off everyone else with a bioengineered plague and turn the world into their country club. I suppose that would be one way to end poverty! And it is a logical extrapolation of current trends, since the rich have certainly been acquiring ever more wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us, at least here in the U.S. I am sure there are some fat cats out there who would carry out the scenario in the book, given the chance.

I was so upset at this that I almost didn't read the rest of the book. As it was, I had a hard time relating to the rich kid protagonist and his pals, and kept more or less hoping for them to get their comeuppance. Which they sort of do, but only after living it up for a couple of centuries or so.

Having said this, I have to admit that Haldeman has written a very good book, which held my interest throughout. I have been fascinated by the idea of "time travel" by means of virtual reality (which, unlike the real thing, is probably at least theoretically possible) ever since seeing the movie "The Thirteenth Floor". The "visits" to different years of the twentieth century were the best part of the story for me. Haldeman should consider writing some straight historical novels, if he hasn't already.

If you liked the virtual time travel part of "Old Twentieth", you should enjoy Raymond Gallun's classic scifi novel "The Eden Cycle", if you can find it. (Gallun wrote about virtual reality before the term itself was invented.) You should also like "The Thirteenth Floor", as well as the movie "Westworld", in which virtual time travel is achieved in a somewhat different manner.

Great story, disappointing ending
I've been a Haldeman fan since _The Forever War_.This book starts out with great potential, functional immortality, biological warfare, generation ship space travel, VR time travel, all sorts of interesting memes to explore.It was an interesting read, right up to the last dozen pages.I went back and re-read the ending three times, and I still think it's weak.

Ruined by a cop-out ending
As you'll read in the more positive reviews of this book, most of it is an enjoyable exploration of an interesting world, with decently developed characters, an intriguing history, some rather engrossing puzzles.Then in literally the last five pages Haldeman essentially throws it all away, with an ending so bad, so abrupt, so self-denying, that it reaches back and sucks most of the interest out of the earlier narrative.Not only are we not going to get the answers to the various puzzles, but the puzzles themselves might not really have existed at all.Or something.

Not recommended, unless you must read everything he's ever written.Or if you can stop just before the end, and finish it better yourself.

Another good book by Joe Haldeman
_Old Twentieth_ by Joe Haldeman is another good work by this outstanding author. I didn't think it as good as either _Forever War_ or _Forever Peace_ but nonetheless found it engaging.

The book opens up with a battle scene in 1915, Gallipoli, something that shouldn't surprise the reader too much as one of the basic premises of the book, as relayed on the back cover, is that in the future many people use a time machine of sorts, an incredibly sophisticated virtual reality program that lets its users vividly relive just about any aspect of life in the 20th century. So completely immersive is the experience that the users while in the machine are unaware that they are in a virtual reality program and they actually think they are the characters they inhabit.

Why the 20th century? It addition to I imagine the copious amounts of research and in particular media images from the era, it was the last century in world history in which the "life-to-death-arc" still existed for everyone on the planet, something fascinating to many of the characters in the story. Starting in the 21st century actual immortality became a viable option. Thanks to the Becker-Cendrek Process (or the BCP pill as it was popularly known), one's body can become a self-repairing machine, immune to disease and many injuries. In a lengthy but still interesting chapter of nearly pure exposition, we learn that the pill was available at first only to the extremely wealthy and that this generated great jealousy, jealousy so immense and far-reaching that a war resulted, the Immortality War (or just the War), a conflict that eventually resulted in the death ofnearly everyone that had not taken the pill (7 billion people), leaving 200 million immortals left alive.

Fast forward to the future. It took many decades of work to get the world running to any degree again, as most of those who took the BCP pill were not those who actually made society run at the nuts-and-bolts level (your nurses, mechanics, farmers, garbage collectors, plumbers, police officers, fire fighters, construction workers, etc.). However society had recovered enough to send a fleet of five ships on a thousand year journey to a planet discovered orbiting Beta Hydrii, a planet with at least one planet with free oxygen in its atmosphere and liquid water.

The substantially sized crew of the five ships settle in for a long journey to their incredibly distant location, many people with more than one job and a number of hobbies to keep them entertained. One of them, Jacob Brewer, in addition to being an accomplished musician and a chef of French and Spanish cuisine, is a virtual reality engineer, working hard to keep the fleet's "time machine" running, making sure not only its technical aspects are up to standards but making sure that there are no anomalies or anachronisms in what the machine displays to its users (for instance making sure a famous art exhibition is not in two places at the same time).

The fun starts when Jacob finds there are some subtle, minor anomalies. He finds that New York City in certain year in the middle twentieth century starts to smell too clean. Not an absence of smell, but some of the olfactory substrata of the city is absent. While investigating this relatively minor problem someone dies in New York, in the simulator. This is not supposed to happen, not for an immortal, certainly not in virtual reality.

What is going on? Is the machine accidentally killing people? Does it need repair or need to be shut off entirely? Or is it deliberately killing people? Perhaps the incredibly sophisticated program has grown to hate humans, or just certain humans, or that some of the characters in the program - a mobster perhaps - have taken on a life of their own. What is the cause?

The majority of the book is Jacob and his fellow engineers trying to track down the problem and fix it, a quest that leads them to some surprising places. Against this backdrop we see some of the complicated mission aspects of the fleet on its way to the final destination and some of the trials and tribulations of Jacob in his personal life, his up and down relationship to his new wife. Though perhaps necessary parts of Jacob's story, as his life didn't occur only in a vacuum, focused only on the machine, sometimes they were a bit distracting (particularly the relationship aspects).

The ending of the book, the answer to the mystery, was intriguing though a bit abrupt. Questions are answered though and it was an interesting ending.

Overall I liked the book, it was a very fast read and I really liked the amount of historical detail that Haldeman packed into the various forays into various virtual reality trips, describing places and events from the 20th century. ... Read more

Product Description
The August 2010 issue of Lightspeed Magazine features all types of sf, from near-future, sociological soft sf, to far-future, star-spanning hard sf, and anything and everything in between: Catherynne M. Valente teaches us “How to Become a Mars Overlord,” with her step-by-step program that enables each and every one of us to find the right Mars for us to rule over; Tananarive Due tells the tragic story of “Patient Zero” in her chilling account of a child being raised in isolation, ignorant of an apocalyptic infection raging in the outside world; in the audacious “Arvies,” author Adam-Troy Castro tells the story of a post-poverty utopia in which everybody lucky enough to be plugged into the society's opportunities gets to do whatever the heck they want to do with their lives, indulging their slightest whims—including living their lives inside a living womb.; and for our final fiction selection of the month, we present “More Than the Sum of His Parts” by Joe Haldeman, an examination of one man’s transformation from human to cyborg that asks the question: As a person becomes less and less organic, might they become less and less human? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

New Magazine worth checking out
For those that don't know, John Joseph Adams was previously involved with S&SF in an editor related position (I am not 100% certain of his previous title).He has now taken on the reigns of this new e-only publication, LightSpeed Magazine.The articles and stories are available to read online for free (they are released 2 or 3 at a time throughout the month) or you can download the entire digital edition and read on your preferred ereader before the stories are posted online.The magazine is collection of new and old stories with non-fiction articles which have also been very entertaining.I have had a difficult time converting from paper to eink only but this one is a no brain'er considering I couldn't get a paper copy if I wanted to.It certainly made the decision easy for me. ... Read more

Product Description
6 years of stories from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author.

Here are fifteen stories-never before collected-that tread upon familiar Haldeman territory, as well as explore the outer reaches of his phenomenal imagination. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A Separate Piece of Joe Haldeman
A Separate Piece of Haldeman's Sci-Fi Anthology


A Separate War and other stories is an attempt by the old sci-fi writer, Joe Haldeman (The Forever War) to represent stories of his full range as a writer.This is an interesting concept, as he starts his first tale as one of the stories he ever first submitted, to his last one, a funky tale written like a movie script!

Listing all the stories and analyzing each would be hard not only on this writer but on the reader as well -- so here are the ones that impacted me, good or ill.

The intro written by one of my favorite writers, Connie Willis, was entertaining enough.Usually I skip these prefaces, but she gushes about the eloquence of Joe and her excitement at meeting him.I can relate, regarding meeting celebrities.Moving on...

The first story, A Separate War, was the best one.It takes up where The Forever War leaves off.It's military science fiction at its best -- an alien/human war where one must compensate for the great distances traveled, the impossibility of relationships, and he writes a gay element into the story to give it some interest and perhaps shock value.

I find this in several stories where his characters have some character flaw, are in the military, are gay to some extent or are impacted by a cold and ruthless social norm.

Finding My Shadow was a sad love story about Boston after its annihilation by a virus bomb.The government has declared the area a disaster area.The protagonist however, who left her lover to the virus, defects and joins the victims, only to find that the disease has long been dissipated.She tries to tell her government that with surprising results.

For White Hill is another 'alien war' story.A team of artists are on the planet Earth, which is uninhabitable except for a few stations where you can get the virus that wiped out all life flushed out of your system (in a gruesomely painful manner).It's really about love, about environmental disasters and about self-sacrifice.It's long, too!

Giza reflects on Man's attempt to bio-engineer himself to be able to mine the asteroids.Except his new creation rebels and the results are not pretty.I was not impressed with the last story, Fantasy for Six Electrodes and One Adrenaline Drip, which was written as a movie script where you could key in emotions and sex stimulation.

Haldeman makes his political views well known with an alien "child", Braxn, who becomes the President of the United States in order to know the feeling of power and his father who tamps down his power to teach him some humility.These are in the related tales Power Complex and Out of Phase.

Overall, an entertaining piece of work.I have yet to read Haldeman's novels but his short stories are hit or miss.I would probably go ahead and read his novels The Accidental Time Machine and The Forever War, but his shorts, well, are not bad at all.

joe haldeman

If you enjoy the Science Fiction of Joe Haldeman...I guarantee you will enjoy this collection of his essays and short stories!

Doesn't make a great first impression
Writing as someone new to Haldeman, this reviewer found this collection... largely unimpressive.A pall of melancholia hangs over much of the material, which may be a good enough thing in small doses, or in the service of some political aim, but more often came off as merely depressing for depression's sake.A lot of the shorter pieces seemed mere sketches, begging for someone to write a full-blown story about them someday.On the other hand "For White Hill" seemed positively endless. The title story was pretty good, even if you haven't read Haldeman's "Forever" series, but one can't help but suspect that it would have a lot more impact if you had.Still, it possessed the elements of action and energy that too many of these entries lacked.No doubt there are enough decent stories here to please Haldeman's many fans, but the rest of us might be better advised to start our explorations of his oeuvre somewhere else.

Haldeman's Latest Collection
While this collection is subtitled "36 Years of Award-Winning Stories," 12 of the 15 short stories included span the years from 1995 to 2005. Of the newer stories, "Finding My Shadow" and "Civil Disobedience," stand out from the crowd. The stories are angry, disenfranchised, and examine the the state of America during the Bush administration by looking into the future. Short stories, even from a writer as talented as Joe Haldeman, can be hit-or-miss--for instance, the "hard SF" piece "For White Hill" didn't work for me, since I'm not a big fan of "hard SF." Based on the shorts that I enjoyed, I'm definitely going to pick up some of his past collections (all out-of-print), including None So Blind: A Short Story Collection, Infinite Dreams, Dealing in Futures, and War Stories.

Great Set of Short Stories!!
Joe Haldeman is one of my favorite writers.This is a great book of short stories that give you a glimpse into the breadth of his writing talent and also a look at his thinking and writing over time.Very interesting compilation.Worth your time to read!! ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (10)

Is Haldeman a sex addict, or what??
This guy writes solid sci-fi, but what is with all the sex scenes?Everybody in his novels is a slut.You have to wonder if it's some secret wish of Haldeman's that he could live in a future world of his imagination where everybody jumps into bed with everybody at the drop of a hat (or their pants).

A fantastic book that builds slowly to an incredible climax.
Set late in the 21st century, Worlds tells the story of a young woman, Marianne, who grew up in one of the orbital habitats (called Worlds hence the title) that surround the Earth. She journeys to Earth for the first time as part of a year long educational and sightseeing tour. She gets involved with groups and events that give the reader information, in a subtle way, about the tense political situation that exists between the Worlds and Earth. Not only is there tension between the Worlds and Earth there is additional friction between the territories and nation states of the Earth. The USA has fragmented into several republics and dominions that have widely varying socio-economic situations. This adds confusion to the geo-political landscape and sets the stage for the momentous events of the book.

As the plot starts to build to the exciting and dynamic conclusion, the tidbits the reader had been given in earlier chapters become more coherent. By the end of the book the pacing has completely changed and it ends at a blistering level leaving the reader wondering, what next? What next is Worlds Apart.

Worlds and Worlds Apart are two books that demand to be read together. The buildup in Worlds is only fully concluded in Worlds Apart. Buy Worlds separately and you will regret it for certain. Worlds and Worlds Apart together comprise an intensely compelling story that I found to be the best of Haldeman, even better than the Forever War.

Worlds Apart from the Average Author
Worlds was one of the first science fiction novels I ever read and it is still one of the best.When I started this book I got through the first 50 pages or so.For various reasons I didn't pick the book up until about six months later.When I finally got back to it, I was able to remember everything I had read before.Haldeman was definitely on top of his game with this one.He took a great premise and turned it into a great story with engaging characters and a fast-paced plot.The detail and imagery in his depictions of this future Earth and life in the Worlds makes you feel like you are standing right there next to the characters, literally immersed within the novel.If there was anything lacking, I certainly do not remember it.

This is a great book
This book is what got me started on Haldeman.I was always looking for someone with the talent of Asimov or Heinlein but no one ever seemed to match up.Then someone handed me a copy of "Worlds" and that was it.I read "Worlds Apart" within days of finish "Worlds" and moved on to ready pretty much everything Haldeman wrote.

Frankly I find him a little uneven with about 90% of his books being some of the greatest sci-fi ever written and 10% leaving me wondering if I had picked up the wrong author.Well I can assure you this is a great novel worthy of the author of "The Forever War", "Mindbridge" and "The Hemmingway Hoax".

If you've read Haldeman you know what I mean.If you are new this is a great place to start.

One of my favorites
I picked this book up because I like to read a little sci-fi now and then and someone told me this author is from my home state, Florida.Well good enough for me so I started out with the "Worlds" series.Now this was years ago so I've forgotten a lot of details, but I liked it enough to track it down on ... and buy a new copy to read again.

The story centers around a woman who is born and raised on a man-made satellite orbiting Earth.In her early twenties she comes to Earth for the first time to go to school.The first part of the book deals with the culture clash, and her meeting a guy she fall for.The last part (again I am reaching back) deals with their separation and a war on Earth (I'm trying not to spoil anything).It was written 20 years ago or so but the story rings very true in this post 9/11 era.

I also really like the next two books, Worlds Apart and Worlds Enough In Time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

At least as good as "Forever War"
Because "All My Sins" is a connected set of novelettes, it has less of the narrative momentum that is so powerful in "Forever War". On the other hand, "All My Sins" is more mature writing, and it is still a great read. It's fine adventure, with a haunting undertone.

Well strung-together espionage SF
Haldeman isn't my favorite SF author, not even in my top 10. However, I gave him another chance even though I was disappointed with Camouflage. All My Sins Remembered is basically three short espionage stories stringed together. The first was razzle dazzle inventiveness, a real gem! The second story followed the recipe of the first, so it was good but should have been strong enough to stray from the previous. The third story however was twisty-turny (in a bad way). I couldn't quite follow the last story, but was happy to see that all the stories were strung together in a rather original way through a shrink and also ended on a rather original note.

the rave reviews do not lie
I have been curious about Haldeman after recently hearing of his award winning sci-fi books. So, the other day I was at a used book store browsing their selection of his titles and using my iPhone to reference the Amazon users' reviews. The store didn't have Camouflage or the Forever War, but they had All My Sins Remembered, which seems to be out of print and the copy in my hands was printed in 1978.

That's when I realized I was participating in science fiction by using such sophisticated technology to study this artifact who's creator wouldn't have imagined possible at the time of the book's printing. Little did Haldeman know in 1978 that his book would be out of print 30 years later or that readers would migrate to a digital medium (Kindle) and his book set in the future, would itself become such an antique.

Anyway, I hope that Amazon publishes this book on Kindle because the reviewers are right on the mark. His writing is tight, and draws the reader into the rapid pace of the stories (3) very quickly. In my first sitting with the book, I made it to page 100.

If his other books are as good as 'All My Sins Remembered,' then I've found my new favorite SF author!

dissenting voice
So many others have raved about this book, I had to offer an opposing opinion. I read most of Haldeman's books in a two month window after being impressed with Forever Peace. AMSR had was my least favorite of them all, and was a chore to get through. I prefer books that have interesting plots and focus on character. The premise of AMSR is that the reader follows the main character as he inhabits different personas as an agent of the government. Problem is that the different sections seem disjointed, so I didn't get a feeling of continuous plot. And because the main character spends so much time impersonating other people, I didn't get a clear sense of who he was. As a result I was bored nearly from page 1.

After reading so many Haldeman books, I began to realize that he recycles themes endlessly. If you want a book about the immorality of governments, try The Forever War, which is one of his best. If you want a book about changing identities, you can get that in Camouflage, which is not a great book but at least I thought Haldeman did a better job of depicting a consistent main character despite the fact that his outer identity was always changing.

Impressive
There is nothing new here.We've seen this idea done over and over again in various forms and media.The idea of a secret agent who becomes disillusioned is rather large cliche and I am the first to express total surprise at how quickly I got absorbed into this story.


Otto McGavin is the protagonist who's job is to do the government's dirty work.We have the obligatory mistakes and stumbling before Otto proves his worth.We have the inevidable bitterness as time goes on watching the character decay and of course the inevidable "oops my government is bad" toward the end.So what makes this a classic?As always it is the author's ability to weave the story together and set a pace that moves quickly leaving you drawn into the tale.This would not have worked as a serious and detailed novel.Instead we have a series of short stories woven together to move the story forward in a quick fashion.The ending is both expected and brilliant at the same time.Some may say this is dated but I disagree.We are living in another vietnam that is more hostile, more brutal and unlike before, never ending and what better time than now to think about the issues brought up in this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A great suspenseful page turner from Haldeman.
Buying Time is another great book by a master of the genre of hard sci fi. Different from Haldeman's previous novels, Buying Time is less cerebral and more of a suspenseful thriller.Despite this change there is still a unique vision of a possible future here that Haldeman defines with an edgy cynical perspective.Haldeman's central characters defy the status quo and find themselves fighting to stay alive in a world where one corporation makes the rules about life and death.

The premise behind Buying Time is that in the near future a process is developed that lets people live forever.The catch is that only one company sells this process and it costs whoever wants it everything they own with a minimum payment of one million dollars.In addition the process only lasts for ten years.There are other onerous rules associated with making that million that makes it more difficult than usual for people to get rejuvenated.

A small group of people have managed to make a habit out of getting rejuvenated and become a subculture unto themselves.Dallas Barr is one of these people, having already lived for several hundred years.At the outset of the novel Dallas, along with a host of other immortals, is invited to join a secret group called the Steering Committee. His refusal to join initiates a series of events that set the book in motion.

The rest of the novel leads us through the mysteries of the Stileman Foundation (the makers of the Stileman rejuvenation process) the motivations of the Steering Committee and the effect it has on Dallas and his companion Maria Marconi.

Their relationship is played out in a relatively superficial manner, but the pacing of the book is such that it doesn't matter all that much.The tidbits that we are given are enough to give context to the situations that Dallas and Maria find themselves encountering.This combined with a plot filled with many mysteries keeps the pages turning throughout.

The only downside would be how the book ends.After a considerable buildup of suspense the ending feels like a bit of a cop out and doesn't seem to connect properly with the rest of the story. This is very much a book where a good middle props up a humdrum beginning and weak ending.

Buying Time is certainly a very good book, perhaps not in league with Haldeman's Worlds and Worlds Apart, but definitely a fun and thought provoking piece of science fiction.

A fun read
All the twist of a classic suspense novel with a bit of Haldeman hard sci-fi thrown in.This is one of the most entertaining books I have read in a long time.

This book really kicks
Suspenseful and action-packed, with believable (and likable) characters and a lot of solid science-fictional ideas that come together in unexpectedbut inevitable ways. If I have one criticsm it's with the ending and theway in which one character is changed by a drug experience. I just didn'tbuy it. (Yes, i'm being vague to avoid spoiling it if you haven't read it.)Still a very worthwhile read.

My favorite book
Being a devoted SF fan with a library of hundreds of books, and with an interest ranging from early works of A.E. van Vogt in the 1940s to Gibson and all ranges of the field, I was surprised to read this book by a to me unknown author and find that it was the best one I ever read. The story is suspenseful, fastpaced, and reminds me of a mix between Alistair MacLean and John le Carre set in an SF universe. Haldemans descriptions of violence are, perhaps because of his history in the military, very lifelike, and succeeds in making you feel the shock and surprise that only reallife violence can {check out the boatscene with the exploding head}. I can only say READ IT!!! ... Read more

Product Description
In New New York during the one-day World War that inflicted everyone over eighteen with madness and death, Marianne is torn between her desire to aid her lover and her duty to humankind. Reprint. NYT. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Gripping and irresistable
The second book in Joe Haldeman's "Worlds" series picks up where the first left off, and is just as enjoyable.I must admit, I read it in one sitting as I couldn't put it down, and it left me thirsty for the third book in the trilogy.

Worlds Apartheid
"Worlds Apart" is the sequel to "Worlds", and "Worlds Apart" is yet another book I have managed to read out of order. Having not read "Worlds", I have no idea how that book builds up to "Worlds Apart", but "Worlds Apart" was a good read just the same and I would not have known that it was a sequel if I had not read the back jacket.

Joe Haldeman continues to hold true to the science fiction genre, telling digestible, speculative stories along the lines of the Grand Masters. So much of good science fiction has been co-opted by corporate interests that it is always refreshing to read a Haldeman; to remember how science fiction should serve to expand the imagination, and to recall how stories used to be self contained.

In "Worlds Apart", Haldeman continues to explore diverging human culture. Some of his plot devices may seem over the top, but that really isn't the point, which is: If you separate human beings by "X", what will happen? Will we remain true to our kin and kind or will we look out only for ourselves?

Early science fiction was a means to expand the mind and prepare the reader for possible futures, to present dichotomies well in advance so that reasoned judgments could be made. Joe Haldeman is one of the few science fiction writers who continues to practice this tradition.

A must read after Worlds.Some of the best fiction ever.
This book and it's predecessor Worlds comprise a story that is exceptional and meaningful, filled with characters and situations that are given breadth and life with startling clarity.For those that haven't read Worlds I would advise you to read that book before continuing reading this review.

Worlds Apart continues the story of Marianne O'Hara after the events of Worlds.The Worlds are all that is left of civilization after a devastating war has wiped out most life on Earth.A virus unleashed across the world continues to kill those who age beyond puberty.Marianne has barely been able to return to the orbiting habitat of New New York where she monitors the progress of Earth and plans for the future of the human race.

Marianne's lover Jeff Hawking is trapped on Earth and we follow his perspective through the ravaged aftermath.An anomaly of Jeff's biology keeps him from dying off to the virus that plagues the population and he makes his way across the country looking to help people and find a way to communicate with Marianne in orbit.

The story told in Worlds Apart is one of the most extraordinary and realistic portrayals of a world gone wrong.By telling the stories of the survivors from many different levels and with such gripping humanity Haldeman creates an intensely personal experience for the reader.I can't recommend the two books Worlds and Worlds Apart enough.

Captivating
I was floored by WORLDS and sought out the sequel right away.I was hooked just a few pages in and devoured it in a wonderful weekend of reading.This novel is as strong as the first book and stronger than the third (WORLDS ENOUGH IN TIME).For me this ranks with the best of Haldeman's works and is a must read for anyone who enjoys good speculative fiction.

Great book, even better than Worlds
I loved this book, even better than the first book in the series.It's not often I can say a book moved me, but man, there are part in this book you will never forget.I bought this series after I caught a talk by Stephen King years ago where someone asked to name some of his favorite writers.I wrote a few names down and somehow I only tracked down one: Haldeman.I don't recall if he mentioned this series but it's where I started and I ended up reading most of the books he wrote.I loved about 90% of them and liked the other 10% well enough. ... Read more

Product Description
Jacque Le Favre is a tamer, a member of one of the exploration teams that humankind has been able to send to the stars. His first world is the second planet out from Groombridge 1618, a rather unpromising place until they encounter the alien L'vrai, with its awesome and appalling gift of telepathy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Science fiction after 30 years
Having read this book 30 years after it was written is fascinating.Back when this was written, computers were just in their infancy.Yet, Joe Haldeman dreamed and wrote about outer travel in typical science fiction manner which would work even today.In fact it even makes a better read in 2009 than it could have in 1978.

Not Free SF Reader
Important new technologies not fully understood.


There are a couple in this book, one method actually allows physical transportation over huge distances, the other allows mental communication in a similar fashion.

The book takes a look at some of the scientific process that went into these discoveries - some accidental, and the upshot of what happens when you don't actually completely understand what is going on, or why you actually have this.

weak characters but fasinating ideas
OK, this is not the stuff of new.Basically what we have is a first contact story with a non-human race that once again proports to have staggering powers and abilities that far surpass humanity.Nevertheless, Haldeman weaves tremendous amounts of satire and wit that keep the readers attention through a rather overdone plotline.While I enjoyed the read, I found this was a book with great potential and fasinating ideas that never bears fruition.The characters are cardboard cutouts and integrating any type of romance in that atmosphere (which it did) leads to some tedious dialog and pointless situations.
The book gets interesting once we meet the alien race and becomes a great page turner.I loved Forever War as well as All My Sins Remembered but this felt a shadow of a book compared to the former two.

Quick, enjoyable read
In addition to using several sci-fi concepts in a well thought out way, this book brings up many thought provoking ideas. These mainly revolve around how much we really do not know about the universe, and the fact that hardly any of our theories work on all levels. The true gem of this book is in the ending, which makes it worth the read. To say more would take away from the book ;)

And now comes the part where I must complain. To call this 'a genuine masterpiece' as per the cover is a bit strong. This book is puffed up with such things as charts and graphs that only the most picky? will care to study. Also, an unnecessary sex scene, which clashes with the book's later attitude on the subject.

One of the best Haldeman books
Haldeman has a dedicated following for a reason, one of the big reasons is this book.I read Mindbridge after reading Worlds and Worlds Apart.Since then I've read most of Haldman's novels.My favorites are easily, Forever Peace, Forever War, Mindbridge, and Worlds Apart.This is a great place to start if you are new to Haldeman.My only complaint is it's a little short.More like a long novella.It does make for a nice quick read on a weekend when you want to relax with a good book. ... Read more