n 2043, Julian Class is a soldier in the Ngumi War. The poor nations of the world have united in revolt against the wealthy nations, and the war is fought between guerrillas on one side, and machines called "soldierboys" on the other. The soldierboys are remotely controlled by troops like Julian through a mind-computer link that also produces a joint consciousness among those connected. Julian's soldierboy platoon is stationed in Panama.
In his off-duty time, Julian returns to his civilian career, as a research physicist at a university in Houston. There he works with a team, which includes his girlfriend Amelia Harding, on the Jupiter Project, a plan to drop nanoforge into Jupiter and Io. The idea is to produce a huge supercollider in an attempt to recreate the conditions that existed at the beginning of the universe.
During one of his duty periods, Julian's platoon is sent to intimidate a Costa Rican village. Things go wrong, however, and in the riot that results, Julian accidently kills a boy. The army psychologist removes him from combat duty, worried about his potential for suicide. Rather than being discharged, Julian is merely reassigned to his civilian position.
Back in Houston, Amelia discloses that a colleague has discovered that the Jupiter Project could destroy the universe. But a fanatical religious group known as the Enders, with members secretly planted in positions of power, have found out about the discovery, and they see it as a way to bring about God's final judgment. When the Enders successfully suppress the report, Julian, Amelia and a group of colleagues must find another way to stop the Jupiter Project, and with it, the Ngumi War.
A thematic sequel to a classic work
While Forever Peace is not a sequel to The Forever
War in the usual sense, author Joe Haldeman considers it a thematic sequel. And while he does use Peace to reexamine some the issues he raised in War, it's a very different novel. The army in The Forever War was an impersonal, monolithic organization with a single purpose: to defeat the enemy. The Ngumi War is a more complex affair, and the army fighting it is a more complex and diverse entity, with its own internal conflicting factions.
In one of the more interesting and compelling observations, one of Julian's research colleagues with intimate ties to the military asserts that most of the generals he knows are actually pacifists. Despite that, the army in Forever Peace, while not united, is as manipulative of its soldiers as the one in The Forever War. In fact, Julian's colleagues exploit that manipulation to its fullest to implement their final plan.
Another major difference between the two novels is the complexity and
diversity of the characters. Forever Peace is much more
concerned with broad social issues outside of military life, and Haldeman
brings these issues to the forefront through strong characterization, not
merely focusing on Julian and Amelia, but creating a supporting cast with
interesting traits and abilities.
Unfortunately, the novel doesn't end as well as it could, because
Haldeman crowds the last two years of the world's transformation into a few pages, leaving the feeling that while the novel he wrote is a fine book,
there's a story just as compelling that he has chosen not to tell. Overall,
though, it's a worthy successor to The Forever War, and well worth reading.
