# Books like Forever War
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** books-writing-myths
**Created:** [December 4, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223 "2020-12-04T19:22:12Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/1 "2020-12-04T19:22:13Z")
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. Forever War is one of my favorite books of all times, an Joe Haldeman is one of my favorite authors.
For those of you that have read it, what do you think? And, do you have recommendations of other books that I might like that are similar in some way?
I really like the writing style, and I like that it’s fairly hard SF (the thread on hard SF is what prompted me to start this). So, any suggestions?
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/2 "2020-12-04T19:29:16Z")
Well, the obvious one to mention is Robert Heinlein’s **Starship Troopers** , which uses very similar technology and a similar setup. Only Haldeman’s is a post-Vietnam take on Heinlein’s concepts.(Class: Compare and contrast for the next session)
And, of course, John Scalzi’s **Old Man’s War** and the others in the series.
I haven’t read Haldeman’s _Forever Peace_ and similarly-named works, so I can’t speak about them.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/3 "2020-12-04T20:09:12Z")
Excellent. I actually haven’t read either of those!
I think Forever Peace wasn’t actually part of the series, but Forever Free was, maybe? I read them a long time ago.
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### Author:  [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/4 "2020-12-04T21:12:03Z")
It’s been a while since I read Forever War, but I got a similar vibe from Bobbi in The Expanse/Caliban’s War. Gritty and brutal.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/5 "2020-12-04T21:19:08Z")
Excellent. I’ll check out that one, too.
I’ve read tons of sci-fi but managed to miss all the suggestions so far.
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/6 "2020-12-04T21:54:09Z")
If you do read The Expanse books, be sure to do it in order.
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### Author:  [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/7 "2020-12-04T22:53:22Z")
And if you do, your timing is excellent, since the last book is due out soon. They’ve got a lot of loose ends to tie up!
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/8 "2020-12-04T23:00:09Z")
Can you narrow it down a bit? What was it you **liked** about _The Forever War_?
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### Author:  [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/9 "2020-12-04T23:26:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> And, of course, John Scalzi’s **Old Man’s War** and the others in the series.
Yeah, I’d say **Old Man’s War** is probably the closest in theme and tone. Not quite as cynical and dysfunctional as I recall _Forever War_ being, but still plenty cynical.
You could think of it this way:
Starship Troopers = WWII
Forever War = Vietnam
Old Man’s War = Iraq and Afghanistan
Similar set-ups for very different times and places, leading to similar but different stories.
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/10 "2020-12-05T00:00:46Z")
I really like the way Haldeman writes. I guess he writes very, uh, directly? I like the hard sci-fi aspect of it. I like the hard edge.
I’m not sure if that’s helpful. I know he’s a huge fan of Hemingway, but I’m not really a fan of Hemingway’s, even though someone might say they have a similar writing style.
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### Author:  [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/11 "2020-12-05T00:17:48Z")
I’ll repeat the recommendation for “Old man’s war”. I would recommend that (and the rest of the series) regardless of what genre you like, but here it seems especially fitting.
“Ender’s Game” ticks a lot of the same boxes.
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### Author:  [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/12 "2020-12-05T01:05:06Z")
Yeah to “Ender’s Game”, a classic. You have the Ansible which is kind of magic, as well as the gravity issues. But still–Scott Card is a turd, but it’s something else.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/13 "2020-12-05T01:41:57Z")
OK, going to throw some stuff out and see if it sticks.
The _Sten_ series (7 books) - Chris Bunch & Alan Cole
_Hammer’s Slammers_ - David Drake
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### Author:  [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/14 "2020-12-05T03:01:21Z")
“The Eternity Brigade” by Stephen Goldin was pretty much inspired “Forever War” and isn’t half bad.
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### Author:  [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/15 "2020-12-05T05:00:05Z")
Anything by Peter F. Hamiliton.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/16 "2020-12-05T05:52:37Z")
Just a tangent. Starship Troopers was my gateway drug into SF. As a youngster, I became fascinated with war books and especially WW2. At the time, I knew a shipman that was on the Arizona, and a P40 flying Asian Theater vet, as well as my father and a bunch of others.
I picked up Starship Troopers in 7th grade English class, and was hooked on SF for many years. Oddly enough, I haven’t read any fiction for way too long.
Anyhoo, you should read Starship Troopers for the context.
I read and liked the Forever War when it came out.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/17 "2020-12-05T08:07:25Z")
Not hard SF at all but it does follow it’s own twisted logic; I have very limited experience with any other novels or short stories set there but I can highly recommend [Lord of the Dark Millennium: The Dan Abnett Collection (Warhammer 40,000)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1789991382/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_a4ZYFbB4H0QBZ).
The Gaunt’s Ghosts stories especially showcase a horrifying numbness and disorientation, the characters know they toil brutally and endlessly across space and time for goals they do not know and likely would not understand but they have no way to do anything else…
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### Author:  [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/18 "2020-12-05T12:00:21Z")
Thanks again, everyone! This is great stuff.
I’ve read Ender’s Game and loved it. Has any series of books deteriorated as fast as that one? Looking it up on Wikipedia, I didn’t even realize it went past Xenocide, which I forced myself to finish, and has a whole set of parallel stories as well. Were any of those any good?
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### Author:  [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/19 "2020-12-05T14:11:39Z")
Ender’s Shadow is pretty good. The same story told from the perspective of Bean.
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### Author:  [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)
#### Post date: [December 5, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-like-forever-war/927223/20 "2020-12-05T14:28:25Z")
I thought the follow up to Ender’s Game, _Speaker For The Dead_ was one of the greatest sci-fi books I’ve ever read.
For some reason I didn’t love Forever War but maybe I’ll read it again as I was on holiday the first time and maybe it wasn’t the right choice for the time.
The Old Man series is very good so I would second that as a recommendation.
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