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Enslaved on an uninhabited planet by the alien Eosi, Kristin Bjornsen and her fellow humans not only survived against all odds to colonize the world now known as Botany, but liberated themselves from their captors and claimed it as their home…The colonists could not have achieved victory without the help of the exiled Catteni alien, Zainal, who helped Kris contact other races subjugated by the Eosi, and inspired the rebellion that freed them all. To ensure Botany’s future, its people show more must build alliances.
In the wake of alien devastation, Earth has been looted of its technology—technology Botany desperately needs. If Kris and Zainal can reclaim the stolen goods, they can assist Earth while setting a foundation for Botany’s place in the universe…
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Having overthrown the Eosi overlords in Freedom’s Challenge, the survivors on Botany, Earth and all the other newly free planets must figure out a way to do more than survive. They need to thrive and in order to do that they need things that the Catteni have looted for the Eosi. Once again, Zainal steps into the breach and comes up with a plan to help all the planets. But is it too far of a reach?
Being free of the Eosi is only the first step and who knew what it would take to get Earth up and running again, not to mention finding what the people of Botany need in order to stay in communication with Earth, Catten and the other planets. I sure didn’t grasp the massive undertaking until Zainal, Kris and show more everyone else had to tackle it in this book. The clever way they go about it is ingenious and the fact that coffee has become a major form of payment says a lot for its caffeine addictive qualities. I personally can’t stand the stuff, but if it can addict the Catteni enough to use it as payment for much needed technological goods then have it I say. All of the bargaining and trading and rebuilding is endlessly interesting. And the idea of using Botany as a vacation planet has merit. All-in-all a great ending to a favorite series. show less
Having overthrown the Eosi overlords in Freedom’s Challenge, the survivors on Botany, Earth and all the other newly free planets must figure out a way to do more than survive. They need to thrive and in order to do that they need things that the Catteni have looted for the Eosi. Once again, Zainal steps into the breach and comes up with a plan to help all the planets. But is it too far of a reach?
Being free of the Eosi is only the first step and who knew what it would take to get Earth up and running again, not to mention finding what the people of Botany need in order to stay in communication with Earth, Catten and the other planets. I sure didn’t grasp the massive undertaking until Zainal, Kris and show more everyone else had to tackle it in this book. The clever way they go about it is ingenious and the fact that coffee has become a major form of payment says a lot for its caffeine addictive qualities. I personally can’t stand the stuff, but if it can addict the Catteni enough to use it as payment for much needed technological goods then have it I say. All of the bargaining and trading and rebuilding is endlessly interesting. And the idea of using Botany as a vacation planet has merit. All-in-all a great ending to a favorite series. show less
When Kris Bjornsen and her fellow slaves were dumped on an uninhabited planet by the alien overlords called Catteni, there was no guarantee they would survive. Without the help of Zainal, a renegade Catteni exiled by his own people, they might all have been food for the predators of the new world. But they did survive, building a civilization and a home on the planet they named Botany. In time they were instrumental in driving the Catteni away from Earth and neighboring planets. Botany is free now, and so is the devastated Earth.
The survivalist days are over, and the time has come for Botany to find its place in the power struggles of the newly configured universe. As an agricultural planet, rich in resources, Botany has more to offer show more than the colonists may have thought. A trip to Earth shows Kris and Zainal very dramatically how weakened the home planet is after years of Catteni domination, and how much Earth needs what Botany can give.
Other worlds too have had their wealth skimmed away by the Catteni: the nearby planet of Barevi is little more than a corrupt bazaar, where bits and pieces of Earth's once powerful technology can be traded for grain and mineral ores.
Earth needs food, and the resources to rebuild. Botany needs technology - from solar satellite panels to simple batteries - and, some say, the will to protect itself from being overrun by refugees who may or may not have strength and skills. As alien influence fades, the people of Botany must decide what kind of world they will become. show less
The survivalist days are over, and the time has come for Botany to find its place in the power struggles of the newly configured universe. As an agricultural planet, rich in resources, Botany has more to offer show more than the colonists may have thought. A trip to Earth shows Kris and Zainal very dramatically how weakened the home planet is after years of Catteni domination, and how much Earth needs what Botany can give.
Other worlds too have had their wealth skimmed away by the Catteni: the nearby planet of Barevi is little more than a corrupt bazaar, where bits and pieces of Earth's once powerful technology can be traded for grain and mineral ores.
Earth needs food, and the resources to rebuild. Botany needs technology - from solar satellite panels to simple batteries - and, some say, the will to protect itself from being overrun by refugees who may or may not have strength and skills. As alien influence fades, the people of Botany must decide what kind of world they will become. show less
Dull. Shopping in space. No better or worse than any of the preceeding novels, with all the same unbelivable plotting. Obviously tacked onto the end of the series which ended last book.
Although the Eosi are no longer running the galaxy the friendly Cats still aren't shipping goods to Earth and repairing all their damage so Zanial organises a shopping trip to satisy his sense of duty that he didn't have in the earlier books when he was avoiding Eosi duties. Fortunetly the chip and readily available coffee bean makes a wonderful replacement for the annoying difficult and rare gold standard. Yes you can have your money and eat (ok drink) it at the same time. This is perhaps almost belivable, I could see fragmented communities rejecting show more gold instead of a more useful barter system. But coffee? really? It doesn't keep well and is horrendously bulky. And then when offered weight for weight against heavy satellite parts just doesn't seem sensible. However with a few hiccups all goes according to plan and the world is saved.
What happened to the Deskis and other aliens? Completely ignored troughout this book?! The only belivable character is the Market manager Kabalash. I'm very glad Mccaffery made no attempt anywhere in the series to describe the Cat's ships engines because she'd have made a complete pigs ear of it, but they were pretty unbelivable too - especially the way they don't take any account of just how vast space actually is.
Although the ending seems ripe to scratch another sequel out of the series, for the time being this is it. Worth reading only if you really like Mccaffery, have read the others, and like shopping. show less
Although the Eosi are no longer running the galaxy the friendly Cats still aren't shipping goods to Earth and repairing all their damage so Zanial organises a shopping trip to satisy his sense of duty that he didn't have in the earlier books when he was avoiding Eosi duties. Fortunetly the chip and readily available coffee bean makes a wonderful replacement for the annoying difficult and rare gold standard. Yes you can have your money and eat (ok drink) it at the same time. This is perhaps almost belivable, I could see fragmented communities rejecting show more gold instead of a more useful barter system. But coffee? really? It doesn't keep well and is horrendously bulky. And then when offered weight for weight against heavy satellite parts just doesn't seem sensible. However with a few hiccups all goes according to plan and the world is saved.
What happened to the Deskis and other aliens? Completely ignored troughout this book?! The only belivable character is the Market manager Kabalash. I'm very glad Mccaffery made no attempt anywhere in the series to describe the Cat's ships engines because she'd have made a complete pigs ear of it, but they were pretty unbelivable too - especially the way they don't take any account of just how vast space actually is.
Although the ending seems ripe to scratch another sequel out of the series, for the time being this is it. Worth reading only if you really like Mccaffery, have read the others, and like shopping. show less
The Freedom series by McCaffry was one of her best series. It was more Sci-fi and less psy. There are no telepaths, or telekinetic. No teleportation. Just humans on a distant world trying their best to survive when everything around them wants to kill them.
I loved the relationship building between the main character and her alien captive. Also the way they recreate their new society. There are a lot of interesting ideas for making a society work on a rough world, and recreating everything from nothing. Very well done.
I loved the relationship building between the main character and her alien captive. Also the way they recreate their new society. There are a lot of interesting ideas for making a society work on a rough world, and recreating everything from nothing. Very well done.
Despite this book being about trading, while the previous book was about overthrowing the galactic tyrants, it has about the same amount of action.
A few things about this book don't make too much sense, such as where the ships get their fuel from, previously they were stealing it from other planets - but in this book I assume that no longer happens.
Fuel is completely taken out of consideration in travelling to Earth and Barevi from presumably another solar system to trade a few trays of cooked poultry, bags of flour, coffee beans, etc.
But besides all that, I managed to shift my brain off and enjoy the easy pacing of Ms McCaffrey's story telling.
A few things about this book don't make too much sense, such as where the ships get their fuel from, previously they were stealing it from other planets - but in this book I assume that no longer happens.
Fuel is completely taken out of consideration in travelling to Earth and Barevi from presumably another solar system to trade a few trays of cooked poultry, bags of flour, coffee beans, etc.
But besides all that, I managed to shift my brain off and enjoy the easy pacing of Ms McCaffrey's story telling.
Freedom’s Ransom gives an update on some actions by the characters of the earlier novels in the series. If you are a fan of the series, it is worthwhile, but lacks the intensity and action of the other volumes. Readers do get some feeling and view of recovery on earth, progress on Botany Bay and Barevi, and some of the problems faced in an emerging Catteni society free of Eosi domination. But many features of a mixed, multi-sentient society are not revived. In terms of being a page-turner this is much weaker than the first three novels. If this is your first read in the series you are not likely to become a fan.
Anne McCaffrey is one of my all time favorite authors and was one of the first fantasy authors I ever read. Her books can come across as a bit dated now but on the whole I quite enjoy them. Her world building is wonderful and I always find her characters engaging. The Catteni series is one of my favorites by her.
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Anne McCaffrey was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 1, 1926. She received a degree in Slavonic languages from Radcliffe College. She worked in advertising for Helena Rubenstein from 1947 to 1952. Her first publication was a short story in Science Fiction Magazine, and her first novel, Restoree, was published in 1967. She is a well-known show more author of over 100 books, mostly science fiction, including the Dragonriders of Pern series, the Crystal Singer series, Acorna's Children series, The Twins of Petaybee series, and Barque Cats series. She won numerous awards including the Hugo Award for Best Novella for the short story Weyr Search in 1968 and the Nebula Award for Best Novella for Dragonrider in 1969. In 2006, she was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. She has also written books under the pseudonym Jody Lynn. She died of a stroke on November 21, 2011 at the age of 85. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title
- Freedom's Ransom
- Original title
- Freedom's Ransom
- Original publication date
- 2002-05 ( Bantam Press ∙ London ∙ UK) ( Bantam Press ∙ London ∙ UK)
- People/Characters
- Kris Bjornson; Zainal; Chuck Mitford; Clune; Floss; Ferris (show all 8); Ditsy; Eric Sachs
- Important places
- Botany (Fictitious Planet)
- Epigraph
- "We dropped, we stay!"
SLOGAN OF THE BOTANY COLONISTS - Dedication
- This book is respectfully dedicated to the people I've met on my chat line: herewith listed in their on-line nicknames. I apologize in advance if I have forgotten anyone, and this list is current even to newbies as of Jun... (show all)e 19, 2001.
Many of you gave me your time, encouragement and often explicit help throughout this book. I am pleased to have met all of you listed below. Ciao.
[99 names listed] - First words
- Kamiton's messenger came in a Baby-type fast scout, and Jerry Short , the duty officer in the hanger, immediately informed Zanial of its imminent arrival and request to land.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'I dropped, I stay.'
- Original language
- English
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