Forever Free (novel)

"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

Plot & Characters

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.

Taking their daughter and leaving their son who has decided to go to Earth they head away from their planet. However before they have gotten very far many unexplained occurrences happen and the ship starts to lose power mysteriously. They abandon the ship and some people who believe it all to be a test by some deity and return home. Upon arrival, they find the planet still intact, but seemingly vacant with everyone having disappeared at the same time as the incident on their ship. They then return to Earth and in the course of the investigation they discover a shape-shifting being (similar to the "Chameleon" 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".

ee also

* Simulated reality