Wednesday, January 23, 2013

52 Books: #1 - The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

One of the things I wanted to do this year was explore different books. I hardly ever read SF. In fact I think it's been about 15 years since I last read an SF novel, which is pretty odd when you consider that I love SF TV and films.

The Forever War is the story of one man, William Mandella. At the beginning of the book he's just signed up to fight in the war against Taurans, an alien race who are threatening the Universe.  The war is happening at various far distant points in the galaxy which are reached via Stargates, however these gates alter time and by the time you come back through from whatever point in the Universe you've been to the Earth has aged, sometimes by hundreds of years. You however remain the same age.  That's quite an interesting concept. For the soldiers it's like coming back to a different planet as political and social views have changed over time. Of course there is nothing on this new Earth for them so they re-enlist and become perpetual soldiers.

I really liked this book and will probably read the next one in the trilogy too at some point.  So I feel vindicated by my decision to start off my year of books with something out of my comfort zone.

Next up a more familiar genre.

1 comment:

Karen (Euro Crime) said...

I've been meaning to try this one for ages. I've reserved the omnibus but whether I'll get to it is another matter!