In Starburst, David Langford called Free Live Free a "fine, delightful book", while emphasizing that it is ultimately "unclassifiable".[2]
Dave Langford reviewed Free Live Free for White Dwarf #71, and stated that "the final surprises aren't even the kind of surprises anticipated. I refuse to say more. It's a breath of fresh air. Read it."[3]
Kirkus Reviews described it as "an uneasy, lurching mix of fantasy, science fiction, and mystery", stated that the conclusion was "a bust", and asked why Wolfe "can't put together a book that fully convinces and satisfies."[4]
Wendy Graham reviewed Free Live Free for Adventurer magazine and stated that "Starts well this book, but by the time the finale approached I was still reading it pretty much for the sake of finally finishing it - you know the Mastermind Syndrome, 'I've started so I'll finish'. A nice idea which got buried under a blanket of over-convolution."[5]
At the SF Site, Jean-Louis Trudel called it "deeply engaging", with "a compassion not always evident in Wolfe's other books", but felt that its conclusion was "a bit of a letdown", with certain revelations and explanations being "not entirely persuasive".[6]
CNN states that it is "outrageous", "ingenious", "highly entertaining", and "masterful", but concedes that the ending is not only "contrived", but "confusing", and that only "Wolfe's mastery of the written word" prevents the novel from being entirely burlesque.[1]
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