by Joe Haldeman
First published 1976
William Mandella gets drafted into Earth's army in 1996 under the Elite Conscription Act. The military sends him millions of light years from home to battle alien forces in an interstellar war. Mandella serves with a unit of brilliant young soldiers who view their veteran commander as a dangerous outsider. Fighting the enemy proves manageable. The real challenge emerges as relativity warps time during space travel. What feels like two years of service to Mandella equals three thousand years on Earth. He returns to find humanity transformed beyond recognition. The people he once knew have evolved into something alien. Mandella faces a choice between the familiar brutality of endless war and a home planet he no longer understands. His military service becomes the longest tour of duty in human history as he struggles to find his place in a universe where time itself has become the enemy.
Genres: science-fiction, literary-fiction, military-fiction, time-travel
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Earth
Period: 1996, 3000 years
218 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Ballantine Books
Content warnings: war