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Peace And War: The Omnibus Edition by Joe Haldeman
01/02/2007 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
Pub: Gollancz. 697 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07919-3. Buy Peace And War: The Omnibus Edition in the USA - or Buy Peace And War: The Omnibus Edition in the UK  check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
'The Forever War' is considered by many to be one of the best SF novels going and a fine metaphor for the Vietnam War which had been going on around the time Joe Haldeman wrote the book. I consider it to be one of my favourite novels and so reviewing this compendium of that book and its two sister novels was something I was looking forward to.
'Peace And War' collects together 1974's 'The Forever War' and its 1999 sequel, 'Forever Free', along with a book not set using the same timeline as the other two but in a similar spirit updated to the technology and culture of today, called 'Forever Peace'.
'The Forever War' won both Hugo and Nebula awards following its 1974 release. The book follows the military exploits of Private William Mandella, called up to fight an interstellar war with a newly discovered alien race. Following training in their all-environment battle suits, Mandella and his company fight a number of conflicts with the aliens but due to the time dilation of time travel find that centuries pass between each engagement, estranging the troopers from the very civilisation they are fighting to protect.
'The Forever War' has been revised to suit the author's original plans. The story was originally published as a series of short stories in 'Analog' but on novel publication the middle section in which Mandella returns to Earth was removed. Here it is reinserted in its full glory. The book still stands as a fantastic novel and Vietnam War allegory and the imagination of the way war and civilisation changes during the soldiers' time in transit is expertly done.
'Forever Free' follows on from the first book, after the war has finished. Mandella and Marygay, his wife and the only other of the original marines to survive the entire war, have settled down on a planet far away from Man, the group mind much of humanity now occupies. They rebel against this intrusive society and set out into space aboard a ship, which gradually begins to fail.
I was incredibly disappointed with this second book. The revelation at the end is full of deux ex machina and seems trite. The book starts off reasonably all right as the veterans plot escape but towards the end the book gets rapidly more and more farcical and the final section evaporated my suspension of belief.
'Forever Peace' was much better. It isn't a direct sequel, taking place in a different future than the other two books. In it, war on Earth is waged using robotic 'soldierboys' directed by their controllers from a safe bunker miles away. The target: rebels in South America. One of the controllers dates a scientist who discovers a threat to the universe in a new scientific project and the whole thing combines into some great action sequences.
This book would again be better without the tired 'we have to do this or everything will disappear' motivation. In such an interesting, politically-grey setting there's more than enough interest and emotion without bringing in such stretches to the imagination. A lot of the scenes involving the soldierboys and their operators and the hints at the rebels are good but nowhere near included enough.
Sadly, neither of the follow-up books in this compendium can hold a torch to the original 'Forever War'. 'Forever Peace' is worth reading, but fans of the original should steer well clear of 'Forever Free' as it ruined the story for me.
Tomas L. Martin
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