About this title: Soldiers fight throughout centuries and millennia by making time traveling "collapsar jumps." As a result, they never come to know a society or to build a home. Their alienation was envisioned as analogous to that of the soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Winner of the 1975 Nebula and 1976 Hugo awards.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780345301482ISBN:034530148X
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. PB, 1981, minor cover wear, corner crease. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1976-01-01
ISBN-13:9780345247674ISBN:0345247671
Description: Good. Stated first printing. Small stain fore edge front cover; spine creased. General surface rubbing/scuffing. Corners still crisp; spine has been creased. Pages age toned. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Eos
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780380708215ISBN:0380708213
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Eos
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780060510862ISBN:0060510862
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover has corner creases, otherwise great condition! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 288 p. Audience: General/trade. Ships First Class with Delivery Confirmation to most U.S. locations. read more
Description: Very Good. 0380708213 Mass Market Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Description: Very Good. 034530148X Mass Market Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light discoloration due to aging and other light wear. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Millenium Press, New York
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781857988086ISBN:1857988086
Description: Paperback, NO highlighting or notes, has normal slight edge wear to corners and edges; otherwise, a tight, clean copy. INV#H-4 VG/no dust jacket. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: 1985-02-12
ISBN-13:9780345324894ISBN:0345324897
Description: Very Good. PAPERBACK. Very Good-Condition. Binding tight, pages clean. Light edge-wear. Tanning to inner covers and pages. Nice copy! read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Eos
Date Published: 1991
ISBN-13:9780380708215ISBN:0380708213
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 272 p. Audience: General/trade. Book is in excellent condition. Cover and pages are clean, binding is tight. We ship daily, Satisfaction Guaranteed. read more
"Interesting take on things. in a way in the end this is more an "anti-war" book than a stand alone novel. it unfortunatly reflects the utopian type views that came out of the 60s/70s reaction to Viet Nam, the one that asks the question, "what would happen if they gave a war and nobody came?" Of course the un-accepted answer to this question is, they bring it to you. See the Twin Towers in New York as a refference to what happens when someone gives a war and you don't come.
I'm marking the spoiler warning on this one as I want to coment on the way Haldeman tyes up the book....so, spoiler beyond this point. In the end of this book after generations of war (the characters are able to fight much of it because of time distortion involved in near light speed space travel), we and the alien enemy learn to communicate and both sides say, "why did you start this thing?" To which both sides answer, "us? You statred it!"
The entire point of the book is that war is poinyless...and in a way it is. The only problem not addressed is that dealing with a bully if you just choose not ot fight, you get pounded. Oh well...idealism is good, but so is a grasp of reality."
"This was arguably the second classic novel about future warfare, after Heinlein's "Starship Troopers," and it's often compared to it. I would now add John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" and its sequels to that short list. All three authors dealt with timeless human qualities removed into a different space and time. Haldeman, who was a Vietnam veteran, definitely infused this mid-70s novel with a feeling of futility and frustration reminiscent of our southeast Asian involvement. There's a whole level of time and space displacement that adds to the challenges faced by the main character. The soldiers of Earth are stuck in an intergalactic war with a mysterious enemy. Neither side grasps much about the other: they each just continue to blindly wage war at an increasing cost over centuries. The combatants not only have to contend with their foe and with traumatic physical and emotional injury and loss, but with the staggering changes in their very homeworld as time passes. It's a bleak but ultimately hopeful story."
"Aside from the fact that Joe Haldeman was practically made to write this book (science degree paired with Vietnam War service and the Iowa Writer's Workshop attendance), it's brilliant. It flows very well, none of the stranger points of the book (everyone becoming homosexual to cut back on population and as a result, our main character's heterosextuality becomes a thing of conflict) coming off as such; you just seem to roll with it.
The fact that the novel takes place over a ridiculously long amount of time is nice, since due to time dilation we experience the changes right alongside William, baffled by each time he encounters the society that has changed while he's been gone.
As I neared the end, I found myself honestly wondering how in the world it would end, since with less than 10 pages left, we find out a crucial plot development, and with less than 2 pages, the last loose end is tied. It's wonderful, and the ending matches with the rest of the well-constructed novel."
"I found this novel to be one of the most sadly thought-provoking works of science fiction of the past few decades. Written in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, it tells the story of a futuristic soldier who sacrifices his place in the world, even his whole identity, in order to fight a war he barely ever understands. The premise of the plot was stunning: The "front line" is on the other side of the galaxy, so the only way to prosecute the war is to hurl troop transports across the stars at relativistic velocities, which means that while only a handful of months pass for the passengers many decades meanwhile pass back on Earth. Each tour in the war leaves the characters more divorced from the world they fight to protect, as they recognize less and less of the society to which they return.
The ending of the book is an anti-climax: The war ends somewhat suddenly for the characters and with a whimper. Yet somehow this feels very appropriate for this war and this setting. While the dialogue, characterizations, and narrative are nothing special, this book is well worth reading for its ideas."
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