“The Forever War” uses relativity as its sharpest weapon. Every campaign keeps the soldiers away far longer than they feel, and the alienation of returning to a home that has moved on without them hits harder than any battle. Some find that the hardware gets more attention than the relationships and that parts of its imagined future show their age. Best for those who want military science fiction that doubts war itself.

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About the book

The Forever War is a 1974 military science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, telling the contemplative story about human soldiers fighting an interstellar war against an alien civilization known as the Taurans. It won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1975 and the Hugo and Locus awards in 1976. Forever Free (1999) and Forever Peace (1997) are, respectively, direct and thematic sequel novels. The novella A Separate War (1999) is another sequel of sorts, occurring simultaneously with the final portion of The Forever War. Informally, the novels comprise The Forever War series; the novel also inspired a comic book and a board game. The Forever War is the first title in the SF Masterworks series.

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Reading order · The Forever War series

Full order & progress →

The Forever War1974 · 1,221 ratingsThis book
8.28.2 / 10
Forever Peace1997 · 141 ratings
7.57.5 / 10
Forever Free1999 · 41 ratings · Not ranked yet
–Not ranked yet

Where the score comes from

The sources average 8.1 across 1,221 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 89% of the weight and the score stays at 8.2 — the Classics average of 7.7 barely moves it. A further +0.20 comes from the small bonus for major awards.