Forever Free (novel)

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Forever Free is a science fiction novel by Joe Haldeman and the sequel to The Forever War. It was published in 1999.

The book was issued as a paperback in New York by Ace Books in 2000 with ISBN 0-441-00787-2

William Mandella, protagonist of The Forever War, and his wife Marygay are now married and live on the icy world Middle Finger. As in the first novel, they are dissatisfied with the state of society so they eventually decide to jump forward in time again, using the relativistic speed of interstellar travel. They, along with other Forever War veterans, hope that whatever they will find upon their return will be more to their liking.

However, they receive word that communication with Earth has been cut off. Instead of setting off on their relativistic journey, Mandella and a few others travel to their old home to investigate. Upon arrival, they find the planet still intact, but seemingly vacant. In the course of the investigation they discover a shapeshifting being (similar to the "Chamelion" in his later novel, Camouflage) posing as an android cowboy at a western-themed amusement park. This being has been on earth for millennia and is not certain of its own origin. It also has no idea what happened to the denizens of earth. The resolution involves an archetypical Deus Ex Machina, a childish god who evidently created the universe on a whim but doesn't really understand it. Eventually "God" restores the inhabitants, who have been stored in stasis.

The story also focuses on William's and Marygay's relationship to their children, who do not agree with their parents' views, but still have to deal with their parents 'fleeing' into the future.

Forever Free is much shorter than the preceding book and also contained many printing errors in its first edition. The comic A New Beginning, the sequel to the comic version of The Forever War, was connected to Forever Free.


The Forever War series
Novels
The Forever War (1974) | Forever Peace (1997) | Forever Free (1999)
Novellas
Hero | We Are Very Happy Here | You Can Never Go Back | This Best of All Possible Worlds | End Game | A Separate War
Comics
The Forever War | A New Beginning
Collections
Peace and War
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forever_Free_%28novel%29"
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