The Forever War

Content Ratings

Moderate Romance

Mandella and his fellow soldier Marygay share a sustained romantic and sexual relationship; sex scenes are depicted concisely but directly, including early scenes involving military-mandated group sexual activity among soldiers.

Intense Themes

The novel is a sustained anti-war argument depicting dehumanization of soldiers, alienation from a changing society, the pointlessness of colonial war, and the psychological damage of combat over a lifetime of service.

High Violence

Combat sequences depict soldiers being killed in visceral and sometimes grotesque detail; suits fail, bodies are destroyed, and the horror of war at extreme relativistic distances is rendered with stark realism.

Synopsis

Drafted into an interstellar war against an alien species, soldier William Mandella discovers that relativistic time dilation means each tour of duty sends him centuries into an Earth he no longer recognizes, where human society has transformed beyond all familiarity. A rigorous, deeply personal anti-war novel drawing on Haldeman's own Vietnam service, examining the alienation of veterans and the senselessness of military-industrial conflict. A Hugo and Nebula Award winner.