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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
birdmanseven's review against another edition
4.0
Unique and more than a little haunting.
I was lucky enough to chat with the author about this and his other work over at the All the Books Show podcast. Find the Joe Haldeman episode here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-159-interview-with-joe-haldeman
I was lucky enough to chat with the author about this and his other work over at the All the Books Show podcast. Find the Joe Haldeman episode here: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/episode-159-interview-with-joe-haldeman
kapteinsyv's review against another edition
2.0
Har hørt at romanen skal være bedre, men jeg er egentlig glad for at jeg kun fikk tak i tegneserien slik at jeg slapp å bruke mer tid på denne historien.
Det største problemet :
For å kontrollere befolkningsvekst oppfordrer myndighetene på jorda alle til å bli homofile (for dette er selvfølgelig noe man bare kan velge!) hovedpersonen er homofob og blir trakassert på grunn av at han er heterofil... Jeg synes sjeldent det fungerer å snu om på ting på den måten uansett hva som er meningen bak.
Ellers så er krigingen repetetiv og man får bare se hvordan fienden ser ut, det er ikke noe mer informasjon om dem.
Det største problemet :
For å kontrollere befolkningsvekst oppfordrer myndighetene på jorda alle til å bli homofile (for dette er selvfølgelig noe man bare kan velge!) hovedpersonen er homofob og blir trakassert på grunn av at han er heterofil... Jeg synes sjeldent det fungerer å snu om på ting på den måten uansett hva som er meningen bak.
Ellers så er krigingen repetetiv og man får bare se hvordan fienden ser ut, det er ikke noe mer informasjon om dem.
cellardoor10's review against another edition
3.0
This one left me conflicted. I still can't figure out if it's intended to be homophobic or not? I don't *think* so, but given that it's definitely by a straight dude in the 70s and from his stereotypes of gay folks, it's ... odd. There's a lot of just assumed sexism, like the idea that female troopers are legally required to say yes to male troopers' sexual advances (seriously wtf)? It was interesting and compelling, and the theme of not being able to go home is very effectively explored.
There is a scene where the main character (who definitely *is* homophobic) says something like "I'm tolerant" and someone else says, "yeah, based on your psychological profile, you think you're tolerant" - and that really helped me in wading through some of his internal narrations on the topic, which were frustrating at times. And the author clearly has paid some attention to what gay folks were going through at the time, referencing slurs, and "cures" and all kinds of other very real fears and problems for gay folks. I *think* that it is a product of its time and the author's ideas of gay people, but not particularly intended to be anti-gay.
It's an odd book, very much a 1970s vision of the future, shaped by the Vietnam war's massive and pervasive cultural impacts, and the changes returning soldiers would see in their no-longer totally familiar "home".
I suppose that means the alien enemies are in some ways meant to represent Vietnamese communists? There are some spoilers we find out at the end of the book about the nature of the aliens that make me think that was at least some of the inspiration, which is ... rough.
Definitely engaging, definitely weird, definitely glad I read it, overall, even if I am left with questions.
There is a scene where the main character (who definitely *is* homophobic) says something like "I'm tolerant" and someone else says, "yeah, based on your psychological profile, you think you're tolerant" - and that really helped me in wading through some of his internal narrations on the topic, which were frustrating at times. And the author clearly has paid some attention to what gay folks were going through at the time, referencing slurs, and "cures" and all kinds of other very real fears and problems for gay folks. I *think* that it is a product of its time and the author's ideas of gay people, but not particularly intended to be anti-gay.
It's an odd book, very much a 1970s vision of the future, shaped by the Vietnam war's massive and pervasive cultural impacts, and the changes returning soldiers would see in their no-longer totally familiar "home".
I suppose that means the alien enemies are in some ways meant to represent Vietnamese communists? There are some spoilers we find out at the end of the book about the nature of the aliens that make me think that was at least some of the inspiration, which is ... rough.
Definitely engaging, definitely weird, definitely glad I read it, overall, even if I am left with questions.
greenflowervole's review against another edition
3.0
I was going to rate as a 2, but the last little scene really got me in the feels, so 3 stars.
bks37's review against another edition
3.0
I'd say the first third of this book is a carbon copy of Starship Troopers. We get introduced to the universe we're in through an incredibly detailed description of life in the futuristic army and how every little aspect works. We learn about their mech suits, about their spaceship travel and their extremely progressive co-ed military where women are legally obligated to provide sex to keep the males calm. That part felt like it was given a weird amount of focus, and also never really went away.
The interesting parts of this book were the descriptions of the alien race that humanity enters war with and our first encounters with them, and the social and psychological impacts of warfare with time dilation being a major factor. I think the aliens are super unique in their description and actions and it makes this war interesting, albeit lacking tension after the first battle was essentially a pigeon shoot. Where this book exceeds Starship Troopers though is the exploration of life outside the military. William Mandela and his military sex-buddy/girlfriend Marygay are sent to a remote outpost to do battle, but the travel to and from the planet is done through wormhole jumping. The while it felt like 2 years to them, 26 years have passed on Earth. This means they come back to a fairly bleak environment compared to what they were used to. Society continued on without them and climate change and war has devastated the world economy. That is some heavy shit to explore and I give Haldeman a lot of credit for thinking some of those things out. It was really interesting reading of his interpretation of what he thought a futuristic Earth would play out given famine, overpopulation and an interstellar war. When both of them rejoin the military to regain a sense of belonging, we get a shorter scene of combat before we see another glimpse into the future.
That's where things start getting weird. A few hundred years have passed and at this point in an effort to combat overpopulation everybody in the world has been hypnotically or chemically convinced to be gay. It's a position to take, but Haldeman's exploration of it feels extremely surface level, especially when he allows our main character to stay outside of this social custom and be labelled on 'other' for remaining hetero. His thoughts also stay in the realm of a 1970's tough boy. In that he comes to accept lesbian relationships and the thought of them having sex, but the gays still creep him out. It just felt oddly personal.
After that William is once again sent out to defend some small outpost with no obvious strategic value to us, but the nameless military high command deems it necessary so good soldiers follow orders. After another unique and detailed description of combat involving mech suits, laser guns, anti-matter domes and sword & arrow fighting, the survivors get to rotate home. This time they arrive back about 1000 years after the start of the war to find that the war is actually already over. Also humanity has become a hivemind of clones (because birth has been deemed unnecessary and outdated) and that is what caused the war to end in the first place. The hivemind was able to communicate with the enemy for the first time and the whole thing was a misunderstanding. It is a poignant ending to a war that I was a bit disappointed that William Mandela never once questioned. In all his time pondering his spacesuits and sex, he never once thought about the how and why they were fighting. That part he just took in stride right up to the end.
There were a lot of high-concept ideas in here. I wish the sexuality aspects hadn't been the main one focused on, but it felt like the author had some bones to pick. The combat was drawn out and overexplained, but that also felt like something the author really wanted to explore. Together those two concepts take up the majority of the book. It makes it thought provoking, but also a bit muddled.
The interesting parts of this book were the descriptions of the alien race that humanity enters war with and our first encounters with them, and the social and psychological impacts of warfare with time dilation being a major factor. I think the aliens are super unique in their description and actions and it makes this war interesting, albeit lacking tension after the first battle was essentially a pigeon shoot. Where this book exceeds Starship Troopers though is the exploration of life outside the military. William Mandela and his military sex-buddy/girlfriend Marygay are sent to a remote outpost to do battle, but the travel to and from the planet is done through wormhole jumping. The while it felt like 2 years to them, 26 years have passed on Earth. This means they come back to a fairly bleak environment compared to what they were used to. Society continued on without them and climate change and war has devastated the world economy. That is some heavy shit to explore and I give Haldeman a lot of credit for thinking some of those things out. It was really interesting reading of his interpretation of what he thought a futuristic Earth would play out given famine, overpopulation and an interstellar war. When both of them rejoin the military to regain a sense of belonging, we get a shorter scene of combat before we see another glimpse into the future.
That's where things start getting weird. A few hundred years have passed and at this point in an effort to combat overpopulation everybody in the world has been hypnotically or chemically convinced to be gay. It's a position to take, but Haldeman's exploration of it feels extremely surface level, especially when he allows our main character to stay outside of this social custom and be labelled on 'other' for remaining hetero. His thoughts also stay in the realm of a 1970's tough boy. In that he comes to accept lesbian relationships and the thought of them having sex, but the gays still creep him out. It just felt oddly personal.
After that William is once again sent out to defend some small outpost with no obvious strategic value to us, but the nameless military high command deems it necessary so good soldiers follow orders. After another unique and detailed description of combat involving mech suits, laser guns, anti-matter domes and sword & arrow fighting, the survivors get to rotate home. This time they arrive back about 1000 years after the start of the war to find that the war is actually already over. Also humanity has become a hivemind of clones (because birth has been deemed unnecessary and outdated) and that is what caused the war to end in the first place. The hivemind was able to communicate with the enemy for the first time and the whole thing was a misunderstanding. It is a poignant ending to a war that I was a bit disappointed that William Mandela never once questioned. In all his time pondering his spacesuits and sex, he never once thought about the how and why they were fighting. That part he just took in stride right up to the end.
There were a lot of high-concept ideas in here. I wish the sexuality aspects hadn't been the main one focused on, but it felt like the author had some bones to pick. The combat was drawn out and overexplained, but that also felt like something the author really wanted to explore. Together those two concepts take up the majority of the book. It makes it thought provoking, but also a bit muddled.
goodkoopa's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was going to be just an action novel with space marines slugging it out. It's that, but it is much more.
The novel changes pace a few times, so just when you're getting sick of the space fights, it brings you to back home a few times. Each time, it's a couple hundred years in the future because of relativistic space travel. And there we deal with social and cultural issues. The protagonist struggles to adjust to a society that has evolved for generations ahead of when he departed. Culture has changed, money doesn't exist and everyone is gay. It's really quiet interesting.
And then it is back to space to fight more space aliens and save humanity. People die. Aliens die. I got a bit tired of the battle stuff. But it was still very entertaining.
The novel changes pace a few times, so just when you're getting sick of the space fights, it brings you to back home a few times. Each time, it's a couple hundred years in the future because of relativistic space travel. And there we deal with social and cultural issues. The protagonist struggles to adjust to a society that has evolved for generations ahead of when he departed. Culture has changed, money doesn't exist and everyone is gay. It's really quiet interesting.
And then it is back to space to fight more space aliens and save humanity. People die. Aliens die. I got a bit tired of the battle stuff. But it was still very entertaining.
taqor's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
tiedyedude's review against another edition
4.0
I don't think I would have been as tolerant of this book if I had been reading it (vs. listening to the audio version). I thought there was a great balance between science fiction, military strategy, and examination of potential future societies. The concept of time-dilation in relation to space travel is rarely addressed in sci-fi. Though I would have liked a deeper exploration of the effects than pining for Marygay, it was a fairly unique plot devise. I didn't expect everything to wrap up as neatly as it does, but it didn't feel cheap.
oliviakormos's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Complicated
3.0
joshhall13's review against another edition
5.0
Hated it. What is it about classic sci-fi? It's like trying to watch an old version of the first Star Trek, but in a world that Star Trek took itself seriously... Being tight on cash, I'm really, strongly disappointed that I spent good hard earned money on this audio book.
Also, the narrator needs to go back, and do it this time with actual emotion, different voices, and a non-monotonous reading pitch. He made it boring on top of a total shit plot.
10/7/14 **edit. Going back in! It WAS a Hugo Award winner after all.
What was I thinking? A beautifully written space war drama about social change over centuries, eugenics, lifting the constraints of the definition of "human." So much more in this novel too. I mean leaving the implication that Taurans are future humans, but not smacking you over the head with the point... this Viet Nam War Veteran author basically says we are all one, and the wars are pointless. Amwzing book.
Also, the narrator needs to go back, and do it this time with actual emotion, different voices, and a non-monotonous reading pitch. He made it boring on top of a total shit plot.
10/7/14 **edit. Going back in! It WAS a Hugo Award winner after all.
What was I thinking? A beautifully written space war drama about social change over centuries, eugenics, lifting the constraints of the definition of "human." So much more in this novel too. I mean leaving the implication that Taurans are future humans, but not smacking you over the head with the point... this Viet Nam War Veteran author basically says we are all one, and the wars are pointless. Amwzing book.