Imagine it is the not too distant future and mankind has
expanded beyond planet Earth to colonize other planets. Imagine mankind has
come into contact with a hostile alien species and we find ourselves embroiled
in our first alien war. Imagine you are a recently graduated physics student
with hopes of continuing your research after graduation but before that can
happen the military now under the name of United Nations Earth Forces (UNEF)
has decided to pluck the best and brightest the world has to offer to fight in
this alien war. Your plans of studying dark matter are about to take a turn for
actual hands on field work but not exactly in the way you had in mind.
Now this alien war is not
taking place in our fair solar system. It will be taking place light years away
on planets with conditions that will require you to learn how to fight in a
military grade space suit. The enemy is bizarre not only in its features and
tactics it is also somewhat easy to kill at first but the second time around it
always comes back stronger and vastly superior in terms of strategy and
weapons. The probability of survival for the average space soldier is quite low
but deaths warm embrace might be a comforting thought compared to the other
more major problem you will have on your hands if you manage to venture back
home to planet Earth.
A wormhole for instantaneous
travel to distant stars is a technology that does not exist. You will be
traveling at very high speeds but not at the speed of light. This means it may
take you a few months to reach your next battle destination. You will age a few
months on that star cruiser that ferries you to a far off dangerous land but
back home on planet earth decades will have passed by. The further you travel
in space the more time has passed on Earth. This is called time dilation effect
and it can create massive psychological shock for a returning soldier. You entered
the service at say 21 years of age. You completed two years of service in your
time frame and leave the service after your tour of duty at age 23 but when you
return to Earth 20 or so years has gone by. Family and friends have aged or
perhaps have passed on. Society has changed from what you once knew and this
new world you live in is just as foreign as the strange lands in outer space
you have just returned from. You are home but you are not home at all. You find
it nearly impossible to adapt to this new society so what do you do? You return
to the only “home” you have become familiar with, the service. You reenlist to defend
planet Earth, a place that time will continue to pass in bunches while you age
as you normally would.
This is the bizarre and sad
predicament for Private William Mandella who eventually by no desire of his own
reaches the rank of Major. Mandela’s own intelligence was in the eyes of the
government and military nothing more than fertile resources to be exploited
along with others all in the name of a space war that most people had no
details on. All they knew was the propaganda that Taurans were terrifying
beasts that wished nothing more than to destroy the human species and enslave
Earth. Mandella along with his comrades were pumped with hypnotic drugs to hammer
this concept through. One mention of the “magic word” and they would become
ruthless killers against this sadistic enemy. They were put through a difficult
boot camp on the icy moon of Charon that orbits Pluto. They trained, they
learned, they prepared, and in the case of Private William Mandella and Private
Marygay Potter, they fell in love.
Mandella and Potter went
through boot camp together, they fought together, and they survived together
and returned to Earth together. Separated for the first time in two years they
got a look at a planet Earth where class wars and famine had taken hold. A
place where the population had grown so much homosexuality was encouraged to
keep the numbers down. A place where Mandela’s father was now dead, his mother
had become a lesbian who was dying of a disease and because she was not
educated enough did not warrant any “worth” to the medical system and refused
care, his younger brother now a soldier himself and stationed on the Moon. As
for Marygay she found near harmony as her parents were part of a farming
commune. Life was happy but still under the threat of starving raiders who had
no food of their own. Mandella goes to be with Marygay but their happiness is
shattered when raiders attack their home and murder Marygay’s parents. Mandella
and Potter have nothing left for them on planet Earth. They are together again
and returning to the service to defend Earth is the only home they know now.
They reenlist; they both get
injured on the battle field. Mandella loses his leg, Potter her arm. Medical
technology gives them cybernetic attachments that eventually grow skin. They
are stationed on the idyllic planet “Heaven”. A veteran’s hospital that is a
tropical paradise but is really nothing more than an “auto body shop”, once you
are repaired you are sent back into the battlefield. Mandella and Potter fall
deeper in love but they will be separated. The effects of time dilation could
mean that the next time they see each other, one might have aged drastically or
one might simply be visiting the others gravestone.
The Forever War is one of
the best books I have ever read. I could go on but I have said enough. It has
one of the best endings I have ever read, hell maybe the best. I have known
about the book for quite some time and getting it for Christmas was brilliant.
It is written so smoothly and easy to read. I often like to place myself as the
main character when reading a book so that way I feel more attached. I
certainly did that with Private William Mandella and it worked perfectly
because I truly related to him and what he was going through. I felt like I was
pulled into the story and it had a real effect on me. The moment when Mandella
and Potter are in their battle suits, touch each other’s space helmets because
they can’t kiss, that might have been the single most romantic moment I have
ever come across ever. Now, who did I picture in my mind as Marygay Potter?
Well, that is for me to know and for you not to concern yourself with. I will
say this though, I have never been in love but if that time ever comes I hope it’s
as strong as Mandella and Potter.
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