Forever Free

Joe Haldeman

Book 3 of Forever War

Language: English

Publisher: Ace Books

Published: Apr 15, 1999

Description:

From John W. Campbell Award winner Joe Haldeman comes the latest novel set in the universe of his classic novels The Forever War and Forever Peace, each of which has the rare honor of winning both the Hugo and Nebula Awards...A veteran of The Forever War, William Mandella has since settled on a planet set aside for his kind. Married with two children, he makes his living on the snow-covered world ice fishing and teaching physics. But Mandella, his family, and his way of life have become obsolete. The denizens of Earth have evolved into a group consciousness known simply as Man, and they have taken control of Mandella's new home. Humans are considered dangerous because of their independent natures, though they are kept safe for the sake of their diverse gene pool.That's not how Mandella and his fellow soldiers want to exist. In a desperate gamble, he rallies the humans to hijack the spaceship Time Warp and take to the stars to begin humanity anew. Then something goes wrong. The crew is forced to abandon ship and return home in suspended animation twenty-five years later. But the planet has aged centuries during their interstellar voyage -- and the crew wonders what new world awaits them upon arrival...

Forever Free by Joe Haldeman

Veterans of the intergalactic Forever War must brave an alien universe to escape mind-control slavery in this thrilling far-future sci-fi adventure.

On virtually every list of the greatest military science fiction adventures ever written, Joe Haldeman’s Hugo and Nebula Award–winning classic, The Forever War, is ranked at the very top. In Forever Free, the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master and author of the acclaimed Worlds series returns to that same volatile universe where human space marines once engaged the alien Taurans in never-ending battle.

While loyal soldier William Mandella was fighting for the survival of the human race in a distant galaxy, thousands of years were passing on his home planet, Earth. Then, with the end of the hostilities came the shocking realization that humanity had evolved into something he did not recognize.

Offered the choice of retaining his individuality or becoming part of the genetically modified shared Human hive-mind, Mandella chose exile, joining other veterans of the Forever War seeking a new life on a wasteland world they called Middle Finger.

Making a home for themselves in this half-frozen hell, Mandella and his life partner, Marygay, have survived into middle age, raising a son and a daughter in the process. Now, the dark truth about the colonists’ ultimate role in the continuation of the Human group mind will force Mandella and Marygay to take desperate action as they hijack an interstellar vessel and set off on a frantic escape across space and time.

But what awaits them upon their return is a mystery far beyond all human—or Human—comprehension . . .

In Forever Free, Joe Haldeman’s stunning vision of humankind’s far future reaches its enthralling conclusion in a masterwork of speculation from the mind and heart of one of the undisputed champions of hard science fiction.