The Forever War

This is my second year in which I have a summer reading list. Last year I had four books on the list, they were: The Commitments (Roddy Doyle), The Wasp Factory (Iain Banks), One Flew Over the Cuckoo`s Nest (Ken Kesey), and Dune (Frank Herbert). I loved all these books, my least favorite being The Commitments. I have decided to make a summer reading list every summer, but this year I am challenging myself, because there are six books on the list. This year’s list consists of: The Forever War (Joe Haldeman), Childhoods End (Arthur C. Clarke), The Virgin Suicides (Jeffrey Eugenides), The Mote in God`s Eye (Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle), Children of Dune (Frank Herbert), and finally Enders Game (Orson Scott Card). So I have just finished reading The Forever War and this is a review of it. As I read the rest of these books, I will write reviews for them all.

            The Forever War was written in 1974 by Joe Haldeman, a Vietnam veteran. This book is the first book in the SF Masterworks, a compilation of books published by Gollancz, but it was started by Millennium. This book follows the character William Mandalla. He is a soldier in a war against the alien species the Taurans. The book follows his military career as he rises through the ranks in this war. The war takes place all throughout space and due to time dilation the Earth is aging centuries while William is aging days. That’s all I can really talk about without going into too much detail and spoiling anything.

            I loved this book. The futuristic society is so interesting. One reason it is so interesting is that it keeps changing because technically the Earth is aging centuries, so every time we see the Earth, it is so different. By the last battle, William can hardly understand his fellow soldiers because the English language has changed so much that their dialect is so strange for him. When we first see Earth in this book, its population is at 9 billion, and 5-6 billion are unemployed. Currency has changed to kilocalories, because resources in the form of food are so low. The main form of birth control is what`s called ‘homolife’. Heterosexuality is actually outlawed for a while, and then it becomes so rare that by the end of the book, William is effectively one of two heterosexual people left, from his generation.  Anyway, great book. It is considered one of if not the best science fiction war novel ever written, and I can believe that.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Well, I thought this book would take maybe two weeks to read, it took around five days. I`ve read some great books that just suck you in, but nothing like this. This book literally takes your day away, when you get into this, almost nothing can pull you out of its dark, imaginative world. I started reading this because some of my family had read it, and with the American remake just coming out, I decided to check it out. Now, I consider this quite possibly the greatest book I`ve read so far. I`ve heard so much hype about the book, and I ignored it, but it’s all 100% true. All three books were released after the author`s (Stieg Larrson), death.

Without giving spoilers, I`ll explain the basic plot. So, Henrik Vanger, the patriarch of the Vanger family, one of the richest families in Sweden, is still trying to solve the disappearance of his niece’s, Harriet, who disappeared almost forty years ago. Henrik hires Mikael Blomkvist to move into his property for a year and to try to solve the mystery. Eventually Mikael hires punk prodigy Lisbeth Salander, who is also one of Sweden`s best hackers. They work together to solve the mystery, and that’s about all of the plot I`m going to give away, but know this, it all goes to hell.

This book is the first installment of The Millennium Trilogy, followed by The Girl Who Played with Fire, and finally The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest. The original Swedish title for the first book translates into “Men Who Hate Women”, and it is full of them. This is an amazing book, but not for the faint of heart. I loved it but one of the reasons I loved it so much is because of just how dark it was, it was at times very, very cruel. Every now and then I had to put it down and just take a break for a minute. Arguably the best book I`ve read to date.

This was a hard book to read, it’s full of sexual violence, and its harsh, but if you get past that stuff, then you`re in for a real treat with this. I would definitely recommend this book, but be warned; it’s not for the faint of heart. I`m looking forward to reading the second and third books, and to watching the American remake. All three books were turned into movies in Sweden in 2009.