Be Specific About Books Supposing Freehold (Freehold #1)
| Original Title: | Freehold |
| ISBN: | 0743471792 (ISBN13: 9780743471794) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Freehold #1, Freehold: Grainne War #1 |
Michael Z. Williamson
Paperback | Pages: 688 pages Rating: 4.04 | 3941 Users | 182 Reviews
List Out Of Books Freehold (Freehold #1)
| Title | : | Freehold (Freehold #1) |
| Author | : | Michael Z. Williamson |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 688 pages |
| Published | : | January 1st 2004 by Baen (first published December 30th 2003) |
| Categories | : | Science Fiction. Fiction. War. Military Fiction |
Relation During Books Freehold (Freehold #1)
As others have said: this book was deeply cliched, lazily written, and inexpertly welded to a political manifesto; at best, it's "bubblegum" sci-fi. I read it for the explosions and space battles, and even then it disappointed several times. For one thing, there aren't any space battles till well into the second half of the novel. The first half is entirely consumed with the main character (a tall, leggy, gorgeous blonde who doesn't know she's attractive) escaping from Earth; most of this, however, takes the form of a political tract against The Evilz Of Big Guvvermint and The Awesomeness Of Freehold, the Libertarian nudity-tolerant utopia she runs to. There follow endless pages of Kendra marveling at everyone's firearms, sampling freely-sold hallucinogenic drinks, and learning to "relax" in the nude around her new boyfriend (the strong, manly military officer and ace pilot who lives next door) and girlfriend (a petite Asian courtesan with a nonstop libido) -- yep, she randomly becomes bisexual, presumably so the author could write a bunch of cheesy, gratuitous threesome-scenes. I'm not opposed to threesome setups, but the writing for this was as lazy and clueless as the rest of the book, resulting in Kris spending about ten seconds contemplating her new interest in women, and lines like "your body is so sexy"... Seriously. For another, all of this is frequently interrupted by pages-long explanations of how Freehold's system works and how wonderful it is. (Personally, I spent it racking up a count of how many branches the "small" government of Freehold had. There's an awful lot of them.) This includes one gem about how their military cuts its costs in half by selling off used equipment to the highest bidder, no questions asked. Yes, they know they're quite likely supplying terrorists on other planets, but those terrorists are probably going to attack Earth, not Freehold, and the *really important* thing is that their military budget is reduced! This book could have been an entertaining, but not memorable, hour's read if only some wise editor had cut out 200 pages of political harangue, and perhaps required some more effort expended on the war with Earth and the fallout on the characters. As it stands, the traumas they suffer play out as mere afterthoughts -- particularly egregious in the case of Marta, who is viciously gang-raped. The rushed and superficial handling made it feel over-the-top, done for shock value rather than a necessary part of the plot... Especially after suffering through Williamson's weak and irrational handwaving over why rape is a nearly unheard-of crime on Freehold. (As another review noted, this came down to "there's a taboo against it for some reason," yet -- given all we're told of how Freehold works, including a legal system that relies almost entirely on provable monetary loss -- by its own logic only a prostitute can be raped.)Rating Out Of Books Freehold (Freehold #1)
Ratings: 4.04 From 3941 Users | 182 ReviewsJudgment Out Of Books Freehold (Freehold #1)
As others have said: this book was deeply cliched, lazily written, and inexpertly welded to a political manifesto; at best, it's "bubblegum" sci-fi. I read it for the explosions and space battles, and even then it disappointed several times.For one thing, there aren't any space battles till well into the second half of the novel. The first half is entirely consumed with the main character (a tall, leggy, gorgeous blonde who doesn't know she's attractive) escaping from Earth; most of this,very good read, easy to follow the story and great characters
I got the ebook free from the Baen free library, which offers hundreds of books to download. Anyway, this book wasn't quite what I was expecting based off of the description. It bills itself almost as a thriller with a woman who works in the logistics department of the United Nations Armed Forces on Earth being wrongfully accused of moving goods illegally. Being advised of this by a friend who works as an MP and being told in no uncertain terms that she would be arrested, she flees from the base
Freehold is one of my favorite books of all time and had a strong impact on my decision to be more a libertarian. It is the story of Kendra Pacelli who is wrongly accused of a crime on Earth and is forced to immigrate to the Libertarian utopia of Freehold.There are basically two parts to the book. The first part is classic mellui story. The point of the story is not so much character growth and change, but to move around the setting and show the reader what it is like. This is the type of story
Awesome story. More like 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book. Kendra Pacelli was well fleshed out. The supporting cast was done pretty well if not all that in depth. The action flowed fast and furious at times, at others slower but still intriguing. Told in essentially four phases of unequal length. The first was the fish-out-of-water where we are introduced to the main character and her major supporting cast as she attempts to adjust to her new environment. The second was her military career,
I like military sci-fi and I've come to terms with the fact that most of the prolific authors in the genre are libertarians. However I'm not really entertained by having descriptions of the philosophy take up 2/3 of the book. The character development is passable, though all of them are pure military scifi cliches: the main character is the naive woman who is wronged by incompetent beauracracy, shows reluctance to military service, then ends up being exemplary. Around her there's the seasoned
I happened to read Freehold just after re-reading L. Neil Smith's Pallas, and I thought, here is what would happen in a whole free society versus all of socialist Earth situation. The Freehold military also reminded me of what I had read of Israel's military, and if you think about it, that is a microcosm of what the novel Freehold presents: hostile neighbors with military might who deny your home its right to chose a life and society based on freedom.Each time I re-read Freehold, I see more
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