Forever Peace - Hardcover

Haldeman, Joe

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0441004067 ISBN 13: 9780441004065

Publisher: Ace Hardcover, 1997

Synopsis

In 2043, the war is still raging on and life on Earth is slowly coming to an end, but when Julian and his lover, Dr. Amelia Harding, make a great scientific discovery, they quickly devise a plan to end the destruction by stopping the indestructible war machines once and for all.

About this title

About the Author

Joe Haldeman is currently an adjunct professor teaching writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Reviews

Not a sequel to Haldeman's 1974 masterpiece, The Forever War, though the concepts and issues inevitably are similar. In 2043, the US-led Alliance is fighting a prolonged and dirty war against the third-world force of Ngumi, or ``rebels.'' ``Mechanic'' sergeant Julian Class, a black soldier fighting for a predominantly white establishment, cyberlinks via a jack implanted in his skull to a robot ``soldierboy'' body--and to the other members of his platoon. The result is full, instant telepathy, in which secrets are impossible. Meanwhile, Julian's white lover, professor Amelia Harding, discovers that a particle accelerator experiment being assembled near Jupiter could destroy the entire universe. Then a colleague of Julian's, the military researcher Marty Larrin, reveals that prolonged cyberlinking ``humanizes'' people, that is, renders them incapable of killing. Julian, a near-pacifist, agrees to help Marty humanize all the military's bigwigs while he and Amelia attempt to halt the accelerator project. Trouble is, the Alliance armies are riddled with ruthless religious-fanatic Hammer of God moles, who think that the end of the universe would be a splendid idea. Hardworking, often absorbing, and agreeably narrated, but the hard-to-fathom plot rubs uneasily against the chaotic and not altogether convincing backdrop. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Veteran sf writer Haldeman views this novel not as a continuation of but as a follow-up to the problems raised in his highly acclaimed 1975 novel, Forever War. In the Universal Welfare State in 2043, draftees and volunteers link their brains to "soldierboy" war machines that do the actual fighting hundreds of miles away. Black physics professor and linked draftee Julian Class; his white mentor and lover, Dr. Amelia Harding; and her colleague Peter discover that the high-profile Jupiter Project is about to re-create the Big Bang that will destroy the solar system. The original 20 survivors of an experiment to link brains via implanted jacks discover they can turn people into pacifists by linking them for two weeks. Together with Julian and Amelia, the group stays one jump ahead of assassins as they try to stop the project and pacify key figures. 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.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ace Hardcover
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0441004067
• ISBN 13: 9780441004065
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 326