The Forever War, The Spirit of Dorsai
Word count: 1390
Sometimes I read books because of the associated filk. I’ve known forever that I ought to read The Forever War (Joe Haldeman), but I didn’t get around to buying a copy until the filk got stuck in my head. Likewise for The Spirit of Dorsai (Gordon R. Dickson), which is half of the collection Dorsai Spirit that I bought under the influence of several Dorsai filk.
The Forever War follows the career of one Private Mandella as he advances through the ranks of Earth’s military space forces from the very first batch of draftees to well past the end of the eponymous war. He accumulates millions in interest on his pay due to relativistic effects. Although there are wormhole-analogs in the story, the process of getting to and from them at near-light speeds lets Our Soldier live through centuries of conflict without fighting many battles himself. He’d like to muster out, but he finds that human culture has passed him by.
The writing was excellent, and the use of relativity here was a gem in a genre filled with fanciful hyperdrives and wormholes that take the space out of space. The only disappointment was the ending, which was a bit of a clone ex machina that reminded me of the resolution of Forever Peace.
The Spirit of Dorsai doesn’t really compare. The book consists of two novellas with a frame story that made no sense to me, though I’m sure it fits into the Childe Cycle somewhere. The first novella follows an old woman as she leads the defense of her home town on the Dorsai against occupying forces. There was a lovely plot twist in here, but also a feeling of plot holes, or at least stretches in credibility. I got the feeling that Dickson wasn’t comfortable writing a female character, though I couldn’t point to anything in particular. (It’s not like his characterization is naturalistic even for men.)
I enjoyed the second novella more. One of the Dorsai was assassinated in Dorsai!; this story tells how the local authorities try to solve the murder while dealing with a band of suddenly vengeful mercenaries. Meanwhile, the Dorsai leader tries to balance the requirements of the Mercenary Code against justice and personal honor. I’m a sucker for honor, and there are elements of a good mystery here as well.