Freedom's Challenge

Rating:
Summary: Great ending to a fantastic series
Review: Catteni are mercenaries to their overlords, the oppressive Esoi. When they invade Earth, they ship some of their captives off to the planet Barevi to be sold as slaves. One of the prisoners, Kris Bjornsen, escapes and heals an injured Catteni, Zainal. The pair, along with other humans and aliens, is captured and shipped to the uninhabited planet of Botany Bay. The place turns out to be a good provider and the inhabitants flourish.

With the help of the Farmers, the real owners of Botany Bay, the planet is made impregnable to an Esoi attack. Although Kris and Zainal become mates and live peacefully on their adopted planet, both know that they must break the stranglehold the Esoi have on their native worlds. The colonists infiltrate Earth to coordinate the resistance movement. The endgame has begun and Kris and Zainal know that the lives of several billion people are at stake if their daring plan fails.

For those who have read FREEDOM'S LANDING and FREEDOM'S CHOICE, FREEDOM'S CHALLENGE will prove to be an emotionally satisfying conclusion to one of the best space operas in years. Over the course of the trilogy, Anne McCaffrey has developed her primary and secondary characters to such a degree that the audience will regard both human and alien as real beings. The romance between the human and the Cattani is perfectly described as it condemns prejudice especially towards biracial couples. The magnificent Ms. McCaffrey has provided a memorable series.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I enjoyed Freedoms Landing and Freedoms Choice. None of these books were what I would call "deep" or "thought provoking". They were just plain fun. I also enjoyed this novel, but there is a disquieting sense of disappointment with it as well. My understanding is that this is the last of the Freedom series. There are still many questions in this universe that McCaffrey has created. This book was rushed, almost as though the author was getting tired of the series. Too many convenient "duex ex machina" type plot devices. "Gee whiz, lets use this conveniently placed herb to wipe out the overlords!" If you have read the first two books, you have to read this to finish the series. Just don't expect too much.....

Rating:
Summary: Keep Reading
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this third installation of the Freedom's series. I loved the way they used a male voice and female voice to play the different characters. Listening to the story is a little like watching it play out on a stage. The Freedom series is a good tale, but it's just a little on fast-forward. The "dropped" has accomplished a lot in the time they spent on Botany. Granted they have thousands of "dropped" with highly specialized skills that enable the former-slaves to develop Botany so quickly, but I'm sure a lot of sci-fi realists (is there really such a thing) would be a little put off by what the Botanists have achieved (freeing Earth and Cattani from the dreaded Eosi) in just a short time with their wit being their main resource. Just keep your vision on fast-forward and you'll enjoy the series. I'm looking forward to the fourth in the series, Freedom's Ransom, due out June 2002. I hope it'll explain a few things and tie up some loose ends.

Rating:
Summary: A Series of Successes
Review: In this third volume of the Freedom trilogy, Anne McCaffrey closes all the loose ends she'd left open in the previous two volumes, effectively ending the series. As a whole, the series was interesting, and throughout the three books, I felt for the characters, and wanted to know what they'd do next. It was a step-by-step detailed description of how a small group of exiles built a home on a planet that was initially hostile to them. In the context of being a series ending, the book is satisfying. The colonists finally realize success after so long and hard an endeavor. But when viewed by itself, this book contained only the successes, and none of the real hardships.

The entire book passes by with very little challenge to the colonists of Botany. It was an interesting logistical inventory for setting up a successful colony, but there's no real conflict. Just about everything they attempt works out, often better than they'd expected. About halfway through the book, I was sure something would finally go wrong, but it never did. Some of the successes were ridiculously easy. Some were at the very least, improbable. The humans on Botany were able to disguise themselves as Catteni with a little makeup and prosthetic cheekbones. This disguise was somehow able to fool real Catteni even after prolonged interaction. I found this a little bit unlikely.

As an ending to the series, it was adequate. But to make it a good installment in a trilogy, the author really should have included more conflict and story. The last book could have ended "And they lived happily ever after" and no real plot points would have been lost. Still, the writing style is enjoyable, and I already liked the characters enough to see what happened next. The same favorites are back in this book, and the story such as it is moves along with good pacing. On that merit alone, the book earns three stars.

Rating:
Summary: Written for the money
Review: This is the conclusion to her trilogy spun from a short story about a band of humans and aliens made prisoner in an interspecies war and dumped on a planet. They make the planet their own, overcome suspicion and distrust of the one enemy alien among them, and unite to spearhead a rebellion that eventually overthrows the bad guys. Anne McCaffrey has always had a tendency to make her characters too black-and-white - the good guys are courageous, smart, let's-all-be-one-happy-family types, and the bad ones are always annoying, petty, cowardly, generally hateful creatures that you keep wishing would be killed somewhere along the way. She does the same here, to an even greater extent. I have a great respect for her talent, but she has plateaued, and her stories, while still well written, are not as captivating as her earlier ones that won her fame. This series is full of cliches, and while it spins a good yarn, can't really be taken seriously. I get the feeling that this was written more for money than the story itself.