The Forever War/YMMV
- Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: Two examples.
- "But love, he said, love was a fragile blossom; love was a delicate crystal; love was an unstable reaction with a half-life of about eight months. Bullshit, I said, and accused him of wearing cultural blinders; thirty centuries of prewar society taught that love was one thing that could last to the grave and beyond and if he had been born instead of hatched he would know that without being told!"
- "I never found anybody else and I don't want anybody else. I don't care whether you're ninety years old or thirty. If I can't be your lover, I'll be your nurse."
- Ending Fatigue: Used to good effect, as Haldeman sets up the story such that the only way to end it is to force an ending. This reinforces the point that the war has gone on so long that people no longer have any idea why they're fighting or what they hope to accomplish.
- Unfortunate Implications: Halderman's depiction of homosexuality in The Forever War is quite infamous for the amount of criticism it's attracted.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: Conscript soldier in a war with no objectives against ill-defined enemy for government that doesn't give a rat's ass about winning or losing, who comes home to a world he doesn't recognize and that doesn't really want him. And the war is itself based on false pretenses and started by asshole generals. Nope, no allegory here.
- but note that this is in itself AT LEAST Older Than Radio, as demonstrated by Colour Sergeant Bourne in Zulu
- or most Great War writing from All Quiet on the Western Front onwards
- but note that this is in itself AT LEAST Older Than Radio, as demonstrated by Colour Sergeant Bourne in Zulu
- The Woobie: Mandella.