The Forever War
Forever War, The
The Forever War
Joe Haldeman
Top Choice
Private William Mandella is a hero in spite of himself -- a reluctant conscript drafted into an elite military unit, and propelled through space and time to fight in a distant thousand-year conflict. He never wanted to go to war, but the leaders on Earth have drawn a line in the interstellar sand -- despite the fact that their fierce alien enemy is unknowable, unconquerable, and very far away. So Mandella will perform his duties without rancor and even rise up through the military's ranks . . . if he survives. But the true test of his mettle will come when he returns to Earth. Because of the time dilation caused by space travel the loyal soldier is aging months, while his home planet is aging centuries -- and the difference will prove the saying: you never can go home. . .

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Adventure
  • Science Fiction

Age Level: 

  • 12 and up
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IB

In the book The Forever War, author Joe Haldeman centers his novel on the epic journey of Private William Mandella. In the beginning of the book, the setting is 1997, and William Mandella his swept from is average life to become an elite soldier fighting a nascent intergalactic war, with an enemy so vicious it kills harmless colonists. The enemies are the Taurans, a race of aliens that seem to be hostile. In this impressive novel, Haldeman has Mandella fight a war with no end, climb through the ranks, and understand the importance of this war to the world.

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JP

The book, The Forever War, is about a man, William Mandella, who is drafted into a special branch of the army. His branch is a group of specially picked people who are going to be sent to fight aliens who are thought to threaten Earth. People have discovered things in space called collapsars, which are like wormholes in the way that they can instantly send anything to different parts of the universe if it goes through the collapsar. Mandella is among the first group sent out to find the Taurens, the aliens, and destroy them in 1996-97.

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