In the course of interstellar colonization, humans discover the L’Vrai – another race rapidly expanding their own presence in the galaxy. It’s important to make contact and hopefully prevent a costly war or even genocide. There are ‘tamers’ – the front line soldiers sent to meet the L’Vrai head on; but it seems that the best way to reach the other race is via telepathy. However, the telepathic worm that is used, kills the host. Except for Jacque Lefavre, who is now the only person able to communicate with the enemy, creating the bridge between minds.

I remember reading this, age 15, when it was first released through the Science Fiction Book Club (I may even still have that copy somewhere, signed by the author at a convention). I read it in one sitting and was blown away. My how times have changed.

Reading it now, I was mostly bored. It felt as though we would have the teams try something. Something dangerous happens. Try again. Repeat.

What once seemed like clever storytelling to the 15 year old me – ‘official’ documents from military operations, communiques, etc – now feels like a cheap method of info-dumping.

This is a book I was really looking forward to rereading – my memory of it being so positive – but it doesn’t live up to my memory or expectations. Some of this could be simply that the book hasn’t aged well. What was unique in the 70’s, has been done again and again in the past 50 years. And done better, perhaps. That shouldn’t take away from what it did in ’76, taking the sci-fi reading world by storm (the book was awarded a Nebula [more impressive than the Hugo, in my mind]). If one can bear some of this in mind when reading, it would help.

As a work of classic sci-fi, it’s worth a look. The story is, today, somewhat common – almost generic. The storytelling is disjointed.

Looking for a good book? There are classics that hold their own through time, and there are classics, like Nebula-winning Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman, that don’t hold up quite so well.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman

265 Pages
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media, Open Road Integrated Media Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Release Date: December 2, 2014

Jacque Lefavre has always wanted to be a Tamer and be able to travel between worlds. on his first trip he and his team come across a creature that communicates telepathically with others creating a bridge. Lefavre and his team try to duplicate this bridge but instead create a dangerous connection to the L'vrai, an ancient race of star travelers who are hostile towards others. This contact could mean the end of mankind.

This is a classic sci-fi book, it just was not the book for me.

This is a reissue of a classic science fiction book by the author. While having read a number of the Haldeman's books while I was a teenager I somehow missed this one. The premise of the book is about dealing with an advanced alien race, using another alien lifeform to communicate telepathically and being beamed to far away places to possibly terraform other planets.  I found the book very engaging which made it a fast read.

I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of classic science fiction.

I received a free Kindle copy of Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman courtesy of Net Galley  and Open Road Integrated Media, the publisher. It was with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my fiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book as I read a number of books years ago by this author and found them interesting.