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Forever Peace cover art

Forever Peace

By: Joe Haldeman
Narrated by: George Wilson
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Summary

Drawing on his own war experiences, Vietnam veteran Joe Haldeman creates stunning works of science fiction. Forever Peace is not a sequel to his previous award-winning work, The Forever War, but it deals with similarly provocative issues. When it was published, Forever Peace was chosen as the Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. It also won the coveted Hugo Award.

War in the 21st century is fought by "soldierboys". Remote-controlled mechanical monsters, they are run by human soldiers who hard-wire their brains together to form each unit. Julian is one of these dedicated soldiers, until he inadvertently kills a young boy. Now he struggles to understand how this has changed his mind.

Forever Peace is a riveting portrayal of the effects of collective consciousness, and it offers some tantalizing revelations. Narrator George Wilson's skillful performance weaves together the elements of futuristic technology with the drama of a trained soldier reconciling basic human needs.

©1997 Joe Haldeman (P)2000 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"At once a hard science, military, and political thriller, this book presents a thoughtful and hopeful solution to ending war in the 21st century. Essential for sf collections." ( Library Journal)

What listeners say about Forever Peace

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

An Enjoyable Romp

What did you like best about Forever Peace? What did you like least?

The first half of the book. The second half of the book.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The stuff at the beginning. The stuff at the end.

Any additional comments?

If you enjoyed "The Forever War" then I can see no reason why you wouldn't enjoy at least the first half of this book. The second half, although entertaining, just seemed a bit daft. Having said all that, the whole thing was infinitely better than listening to Radio 2 or John Humphrys.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Uninteresting

Unlike his first book, this one was completely uninteresting stock scifi-action with scarcely a hint of novelty to it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Sci-Fi thriller that reads like a film.

Joe Haldeman, said although this wasn't a direct prequel to The Forever Wars, there's aspects of the story that fit into that universe.

There's three stories interweaving within the book, one of them the military industrial complex and the futility of war, another is a love affair between a couple of different races and ages, and thirdly a threat that could kill us all.

What more do you need from a Thriller!

The reader is fantastic, a voice that is pure Americana with a slightly world weary sardonic tone, that I think references the sense of war weary America that this book portrays.

I have a lot of audio books and I regularly come back to this one, knowing what's going to happen before you listen, but it not mattering as you're so immersed in the books universe, says a lot about the quality of the story and the reader.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Uneven near-future war story

It's a while since I read a book that generated mixed feelings within me like this: half the time I was thinking and feeling what a great story this was, the other half I felt bewildered, a little short-changed, and rolled eyes at the cliche.
And in many ways it's a book of two halves with a loose connection of near-future war with a quirky interface system between man, machine, and one another called 'jacking.' it's this tech that I most enjoyed about the book as some of the concepts felt very interesting regarding shared experience, emotions, and understanding a la Philip K Dick territory. Yet in the latter stages of the book even that became a bit of a strange goofy plotline to strive for a utopian peace.
The book starts well in what was a now well trod morality of future war trope. The recruits pilot remote killing machines (whether army, navy, or air force) against a third world rebel force. The process is fairly safe for them as remote operators save the risk of stroke or heart attack, or the risk of psychological trauma. It's this latter event that affects the main character after killing a teenager in a mission gone wrong.
The story follows the impact of this, and the consequences on his army career. So far, so good, and so relatable. And if the book remained about the horror of war, especially where war was about impersonal remote murder, then that would suit me. The exploration of 'jacking' and its impact upon world perspective and relationships was interesting and could have progressed more
Instead the second half of the book evolves into a strange future conspiracy thriller. To ask the question about the nature of innate violence in man is again of interest, but then the twist of the jacking being a pacifier after overexposure seemed strange and contrived. Then the morality of enforcing this upon a population after a cursory ethical debate amongst intellectuals, and then driving forward a coup with a time frame determined by impending Armageddon (conveniently tied to the main characters day job as a physicist) started to feel... just bizarre. Then throwing in some Christian extremist assassins with a penchant for sexual sadistic violence--it all felt utterly random.
I enjoyed Haldeman's writing and his clever bounce between first and third person. He handles graphic violence and sexual content without being gratuitous and I enjoyed some of his characters and ideas. But this felt too uneven, too much like two stories bolted together with scanty plot threads between.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Some interesting technology.

There were parts of this thriller that worked well, but it was a lot of focus on sex and a predictable story about a military conflict. This didn't come close to Forever War

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Tired cash in

I swear this was made this as it went along; significant changes of direction, none of which carry weight, are sprinkled through the book.

One moment they’re working without sleep on a universe ending dilemma - the next, having sex before visiting the zoo, then getting drunk at a nightclub. I guess solving universal demise has to respect work-life balance.

Throw in simpering attitudes towards race (where the only thoughts and acts of racism come from the, black, main character - in a book written by a white man) and a superfluous obsession with sex (which reads as an old man’s idea of what he believes a young man wants to read) and you’re left with an “award winning” book that’s reads like the author is cashing in on a, fairly insulting, view of his target audience.

After this and Scalzi I’m beginning to wonder if winning a Hugo award actually means anything anymore.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Like "Forever War" it has aged very well.

Uninteresting tech and remarkably simplistic storyline. Narrator was okay if somewhat one dimensional. Would lot recommend the series

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

NOT part of the forever series

it's misleading because of the title I thought it was part of the forever series but it has nothing to do with them, also i guess I'm not smart enough for this book because I had not idea what was going on most of the time and it didn't help that sometimes the narrator would talk as the character then switch to talking about the character so confusing , to me any way, there wasn't really much action either I wouldn't say it was bad but it was no where near as good as the actual forever books imho.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good book

I Liked the book good narration I recommend the book series I would give it ⭐️⭐️⭐️

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting, deep, thoughtful story.

Interesting ideas, not especially new to todays science fiction reader or popular culture devotee but written in 1997 and very well imagined from that time. The story is a slow steady flow, and I had to persevere at times because I found the lead characters human failings irritating, but worth seeing through to the end to get the fully formed picture. Halle an has a powerful and forward thinking imagination and a clearly a so,I’d knowledge of science to stand his ideas up. The narrators style was almost laconic but suited the slow passing of the story. Was a big fan of the Forever War. This one seemed derivatively titled to start with but it all comes clear in the end. Worth the effort.

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