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Forever Peace

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
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 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.
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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 29, 1997
      It isn't the sequel to The Forever War (1975) that it was rumored to be--except, perhaps, on a thematic level--but Haldeman's latest novel holds its own with that SF classic. In the year 2043, an American-led Alliance has been at war with Ngumi, a third-world confederation, for eight years, due largely to the Alliance's refusal to share new technology. Aside from a few thermonuclear strikes, most of the fighting, at least on the Alliance's side, has been carried out by "soldierboys," killing machines run under remote control by brain-jacked "mechanics," many of them draftees like physicist Julian Class. Meanwhile, in orbit around Jupiter, humanity's most ambitious scientific experiment ever, the Jupiter Project, is coming to fruition. But Julian's lover and former adviser, Amelia Harding, discovers that potentially the Project could destroy not just our solar system but the entire universe, in a reprise of the Big Bang. When Amelia and Julian try to stop the Project, their way is blocked by the Hammer of God, an influential Christian cult dedicated to bringing about the Endtime. As always, Haldeman, a Vietnam vet, writes with intelligence and power about the horrors of war, and about humanity's seeming inability to overcome its violent tendencies. Julian Class, like so many of Haldeman's protagonists, is an essentially good man who, forced by the military to become a killer, has been driven nearly to suicide by guilt. His story packs an enormous emotional punch, and this novel should be a strong awards contender. Author appearances.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      When he inadvertently kills a young boy in a seeming exercise, Julian discovers that the wars of the twenty-first century, though fought by robots controlled by technicians hundreds of miles away, are no more antiseptic than wars ever were, but are equally senseless and cruel. From that point on, he struggles to disengage himself. But he finds that he can't--without short-circuiting the whole process of war. George Wilson narrates this sci-fi mystery with a jaded, cynical tone that matches the embittered mood of the protagonist. His female voices, however, sound affected and stilted. They distract the reader and mar an otherwise entertaining reading. P.E.F. (c) AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:810
  • Text Difficulty:3-4

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