First book in Haldeman's trilogy. I like this author and will try any of his books. I found this one to be average. It's pretty good Space Opera but I had a little trouble caring about his future world. I don't know if it was me or maybe I have read to many future Earths done well by Heilein and others. Good enough that I went on to read the second book of the three. ( )

SF books written about the near future have a habit of retrospectively turning into alternative histories. This is the case with Haldeman's Worlds which was published in 1950, predicting the Vietnam war in surprisingly accurate detail - apart from the bit where the Communists are defeated, of course. But the book isn't really about that. Instead Haldeman has set up a group of orbiting "Worlds" ranging from hollowed asteroids to tin cans, each with a variant culture, form of government and economy. Starting there, we follow the protagonist to Earth where she starts doing post-graduate studies at New York University and gets caught up in radical politics. As part of the academic program she goes on a world tour.

Haldeman spends a great deal of time in a fairly short novel describing the Earth his protagonist sees. It's a common enough trick in SF and elsewhere; bring in an outsider to give perspective on what is ordinarily so familiar as to be beneath notice. And what Haldeman is describing is really just the world as he saw it back in 1950; the fact that the USA is run by Lobbies that get votes only from their members - direct elections having disappeared - is just making explicit what Haldeman thinks is in practice happening anyway: Pressure groups dictate policy and even politicians according to their size and spending power and run things in their perceived best interests, which may or may not conform to the perceived best interests of the majority. The policy makers are therefore shadowy figures that avoid public naming, let alone direct election. Then we proceed around the planet on a whistle-stop tour, giving Haldeman's the protagonist's impressions of the rest of the world, with greater or lesser detail, depending on the country.

This gets a little dull as it doesn't really drive the plot (there is one, it's about a plot) anywhere. After it ends, the book accelerates into an action adventure that winds up to a conclusion that doesn't seem all that likely.

WWIII is started by an individual acting alone in a manner there are safeguards against now and most likely were in 1950, too.

There are two sequels and indeed this book could be viewed as ending having set up the situation necessary for the second book and perhaps should not be judged alone. I would happily read these subsequent volumes and indeed anything else Haldeman wrote but I'm still looking for something as radical, original and mind-blowing as The Hemmingway Hoax which turned me on to Haldeman in the first place. ( )

In 2084, sexually promiscuous college student Marianne O’Hara leaves her off-world colony of New New York (one of many known as the Worlds) to attend university in New York City on Earth, where she meets a Bohemian poet and artist named Benny and an FBI agent named Jeff Hawkings.

Marianne and Benny become entangled with an anti-government group that seem at first innocuous—until one of their members is murdered and Benny finds his apartment bugged. As their suspicions about the organization grow and their safety is jeopardized, Benny decides to inform the FBI about the group then move to a remote farm in South Carolina after assuming a new identity. Meanwhile, Marianne takes several months to tour the world with some of her classmates from New York University including Jeff Hawkings.

Upon returning to New York, Marianne is attacked and nearly raped. As tensions build between the Earth and the Worlds over trade agreements, Marianne and Jeff arrange to leave Earth for New New York—but not before she visits New Orleans. While there, Marianne is persuaded to audition for a jazz band as a clarinet player. She soon becomes famous on the local scene—resulting in her abduction by a wealthy businessman who demands ransom from New New York.

How will Marianne escape from her kidnappers and what will happen as negotiations between Earth and the Worlds disintegrate into threats?

Worlds is considered a classic SF novel and while I enjoyed several chapters at the beginning and end, the story suffered from a sagging middle. Marianne’s globetrotting was told in the form of diary entries and much of it was tedious. There was little character development during these chapters aside from the budding romance between Marianne and Jeff and her fleeting concern for Benny back home. ( )

Wildly inconsistent. Some of the best genre fiction as writing that I've read in years combined with some of the worst. ( )

Haldeman looks into the future & sees many splinter cultures moving into artificial satellites around the Earth. Our civilization is further splintered by colonies on the moon & other celestial bodies. Earth isn't in great shape & we're given a tour by our heroine from one of the splinter colonies.Lots of action & adventure while exploring how our civilization has changed in a century (published in 1981 & the story takes place in 2084). Maybe he bit off a bit bigger bite than he should have. It drags in places & he goes a little wild in others, so as much as I enjoyed it, it really isn't a top notch book. Not like [b:The Forever War|21611|The Forever War|Joe Haldeman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167322714s/21611.jpg|423] or [b:All My Sins Remembered|362801|All My Sins Remembered (Gollancz SF S.)|Joe Haldeman|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174107744s/362801.jpg|1851650]. Still, it's better than the average SF book & his civilization is a credible, scary look at the future. ( )