Freedom's Ransom (The Catteni Sequence)

Worst book written by McCaffery, if she actually wrote it and the publisher didn't sub-contract. Reminds me of mass market pulp SF written in the 1950's. Botany has many high level leaders of Earth nations, but they exert no influence on their respective roots. Earth could care less about the colony trying to 'help', which makes no sense (Botany has cool alien tech!). Instead the colony goes into the coffee business with a dental sideline (don't ask). As in transporting coffee beans across interstellar distances because not one supra-advanced alien race can grow or synthesize their own caffeinated drinks.

The vocabulary of the main characters consists of the phrase 'I drop, I stay' whenever a tense situation comes by, which admittedly isn't often. Lots of fluff, slice of life, meetings, and no characterization. Conflict is solved by sending people elsewhere. Events which happened earlier are retconned to be different (or the author gets her own details wrong), plus jarring perspective changes between paragraphs with no reader warning.

A great book to MST3K in your head, just unbelievable in terms of construction (both of science and characters). Needed editing, fact-checking, and additional drafts. Without McCaffery's name, would have been thrown away.

Zainal, Kris and the others who were dropped on Botany to fend for themselves have built a growing, thriving world. Botany has become so prosperous they are now venturing to Earth to see if they can aid in Humanity's overall recovery from Catteni/Eosi domination. But Earth is wanting in just about every resource they took for granted before the invasion...natural and man-made. Those from Botany, led by Zainal, hatch a plan to barter for the resources and supplies that are needed from Barevi merchants who looted them from Earth to begin with. But will they manage to barter for what they need from the Barevi merchants? Or will it take more than mere haggling skills to leave Barevi will all their supply lists fully checked-off?

The only question I have for McCaffrey's Freedom's Ransom is what happened? Botany's tale was such a promising and enjoyable yarn about Humans and aliens working together in a tough situation to survive that it did not deserve this ending. The holes in this story abound. The pacing was choppy. Everything just came so quickly and easily to Zainal and the others attempting to trade for what they needed...until it didn't, and then whatever plan was hatched to fix things you knew would work quickly and without much drama. And what about the Farmers...? The mysterious, ultra-advanced alien race who had the original claim to Botany but allowed those dropped to stay...and protected them from Eosi assault in the previous novel. The characters never did track down where they came from.

Freedom's Ransom could have been such a fitting conclusion to a fine story...instead, McCaffrey seemed to rush just about every aspect of the tale. What I really want to say to her is: "Take this story back and do it right! Write this final story the way it should have been...fittingly, neatly, without all the plot holes and with the appropriate expectancy of a novel that winds down a series."

Take this story back Ms. McCaffrey and finish it the way it should have been finished...

I have read Anne McCaffrey books before and thoroughly enjoyed them but this was a great disappointment. It was possibly one of the most boring books I have ever read and with the most irritatingly stupid plot. Although to say the book had a plot would be something of a compliment that it doesn't deserve. I suspect that earlier books in the series may have been good but this truly wasn't.

Here's the story so far - earth ravaged by aliens, humans on a distant planet plan rehabilitation. The survivors on earth are starving and ravaged with disease so what's the great plan? ... the idiotic first priority is to set up a satellite cellphone system; and how do they pay for that - set up a dentist's practice and a Starbucks. This book is the story of how they achieve that. Now if this is meant to be an ironical look at western countries' priorities, coffee and a white smile, in the face of sub-Saharan Africa starvation,it is an interesting take; but as a sci-fi thriller it is about as yawn inducing as your mother telling you about her shopping trip and latest dental treatment - oh and she'll also tell you about the bread she baked. Give this one a miss and try another of Ms. McCaffrey genuinely excellent books.

The "Freedom" series kept my interest up through the third book. This fourth one falls off a cliff. Imagine a universe where a few tons of automotive supplies and food has a measurable impact on the reconstruction of a looted and devastated Earth. Imagine one where interstellar travel is so cheap that bird carcasses, bananas, and coffee beans are the prized trade items. Repetitious descriptions and dialog, boring 1-D characters, a chaotic plot, bad science and inconsistent technology, absurd scale effects, and a host of other flaws make this a painful book to push through to the end. You'll also find "exterior motives" and "one of the only". Sad. How did the publisher let this one get to print?

Anne McCaffrey has become quite a good writer. If you look at the awkward writing in one of her early books, like "Dragonflight," and compare it with the superior writing in, say, "All the Weyrs," you can see the development. Ms. McCaffrey has always brought new ideas to her readers. But much of the pleasure for old fans has been seeing the level of writing improve.
Until now. The "Freedom" series has been interesting, but the ideas in it were not particularly new. It's plowed ground. Even the late L. Ron Hubbard has written a "defeat the evil alien invaders" book, although he didn't have the heroine sleeping with the enemy. Ms. McCaffrey brought her own style to the first three books, with some new twists and a sparer, more polished style than we had seen in earlier books. But in "Freedom's Ransom," the fourth book in the series, she seems to have run out of steam and skipped one or two rewrites. Not the least of her problems is that the series really concluded emotionally in the third book; this novel feels like an afterthought...
As other reviewers have noted, there is some sloppy research, and as an economics lesson, it's not going to cause Alan Greenspan any sleepless nights. And speaking of sleepless nights, there might be a few too many references to coffee in the course of the book.
Rumor has it her next book returns us to Pern. I'll look forward to it, and count this as an aberration.

I usually enjoy Anne McCaffrey's writing and I own many of her books. Unfortunately, this book is far below her normal quality. I like all of the Freedom series books less than those in her other series, however, the first three books had intriguing characters and featured an interesting exploration of the dynamics of forming a new society on an alien planet. In addition, the end of the third book worked well as the end of a trilogy. In my opinion, the only topic worthy of writing about further in future books was a greater exploration of the mysterious Farmers. That storyline is not addressed in any depth in this book.

This novel resembles the additional material an author writes to flesh out the characters or the story's world in the first draft of a novel--the kind of material that is usually greatly condensed or eliminated in the final version. There simply is not enough material here to warrant a novel and the material that is here is more observational than narrative. There is almost no direct conflict in the book to move the plot forward and no major character development either. Unless you like reading about coffee and trading for spare parts for hours, I would recommend stopping at the third book. Better yet, read one of her other excellent series instead. I recommend the Pern series for fantasy fans or the Crystal Singer series for readers who enjoy science fiction.

I read the first three books in the Freedom series and while they weren't on par with the Pern or Ship series, they were solid enough to keep me moving on to the next book...up until I came to Freedom's Ransom. It was dragging along so slow that I decided to check here and see whether it picked towards the end. Unfortunately, it appears most of the reviewers agree with me -- this is not a very good book.
I've been reading all of Anne McCafferey's books for a good 15 years now, and I suppose that everyone has to eventually produce a dud. If I were to sum up the plot of the book after 204 of 287 pages, I would only need 2 words: Coffee and teeth. That's it. After everything that's happened so far in this series, that's an awful long plunge back into reality. Sure, there's going to be rebuilding, but this doesn't offer anything in the way of intrigue, excitement, interesting characters...nuthin. Thankfully I got this series at the library instead of spending money on it, but if there is a 5th book in the series I may be hard pressed to check that one out unless I hear glowing reviews first based on number four falling flat.

When Catten's mercenaries who were controlled by their Esoi masters invaded Earth, the people of Terra put up a brave fight but were ultimately defeated. Dissidents by the thousands were dropped on the planet Botony and were expected to colonize that world. That they succeeded was due in large part to Zainal, a highborn Catteni who was accidentally dropped and wanted to stay.

It was Zainal's plan that led to the destruction of the Esoi and the liberation of Earth. Now, the once mighty planet must rebuild their shattered world and Zainal, along with his mate, former Denver resident, Kris Bjornsen, intends to see that this happens. He leads an expedition to Earth where they pick up some coffee and dental supplies and then heads off for the trade planet Barevi where stolen Terran goods are rotting away in greedy merchants' warehouses.

It has been almost four years since the last Freedom book was published but it was well worth the wait. FREEDOM'S RANSOM reintroduces the audience to some old and beloved characters and shows what has been happening in their lives since they were last scene. There is plenty of action especially daring feats to keep fans of space opera thrillers very happy.

Harriet Klausner

I was pretty disappointed in the fourth book in the Freedom series. For one, it seems like the plot of almost the entire book (obtaining valuables in order to ransom Earth's goods back) is cancelled toward the end with the execution of an audacious and hasty scheme.

As always, the Botanists luck out a little too much, a little too often to reflect reality and Murphy's Law. Rarely does even a small thing go wrong in the execution of their grandiose plans. Minor and annoying inconsistencies seem to get worse with this book, and the characters did not seem the same at all. Even their speech seemed different. As others have noted, the constant focus on teeth and coffee got very old, very fast! In some places, I felt like I was reading a coffee ad.

Showing how Earth and Botany functioned after the end of Eosi domination was a good idea, in my opinion, but it could easily have been done in a concise, interesting chapter or two. Instead, the series just won't die and continues on in a repetitive, shopping-list fashion.

The series overall is pretty good for a light read when one has some time to kill. There are some winning aspects that, for the most part, outweigh the negative aspects, such as the generally believeable characters, an imaginative planet, the creative ETs, and the ingenuity and resiliency of humans. However, if you liked the first three books, just skip this one and let your imagination wrap up the series.

Like others, I noticed several mistakes, such as names and rearranging events that took place in prior books. This is most noticable in the 4th book, "Ransom" - but started happening in the 3rd book.

I was a huge McCaffrey fan, but I've noticed that the problems I and others noticed in "Ransom" has been happening in other series of McCaffrey's as well. "Pegasus In Space" and the 2nd & 3rd books in the Petaybee stories. As I never got into the Pern stories (forgive me please!), I cannot speak to those books, but understand from friends who are fans of the Pern books that there are also discrepancies.

I understand that after writing so many books, the details can get a bit muddled in your head - but I really would suggest to Ms McCaffrey begin using story bibles for all of her series if she plans to continue writing sequels. Fans get very frustrated when they have to go back to an earlier book because the latest one they are reading in the series calls someone by a different name or events have changed.

I have really enjoyed reading the series but number 4 is a disappointment. There are so many other ascepts of this series that need to be explored that reading about the principal characters going out on a trading expedition for several hundred pages was not enjoyable. Hopefully number 5 and beyond will deal with things like conquered races, humans included, dropped on other Catteni worlds, are all the Eosi really gone and who are the Farmers?

Freedom's Ransom could have have been a good story, but instead, it is a description of a story. Instead of dialog and action telling the story, the story is described in prose. It brings to mind the old line "SHOW the reader, don't TELL her!" This is definitely a book that could have used another rewrite to replace the tedious prose with dialog and action. This isn't the first of her books about which I'd make this same complaint.

I loved the first three in this series, Freedom's Landing, Freedom's Choice, and Freedom's Challenge. To be perfectly honest, Anne should have left it with those three. When I first learned there was another, I was like oh great. The Freedom series has been one of my four favorite series that Anne does. But it was a real chore to read the book. Unlike most of her work, this book dragged and reading it was literally like pulling teeth. I felt I was at the dentist have all my teeth pulled. I can highly recommened the first three in the Freedom series, but Freedom's Ransom, I would definately say skip it. Anne Mccaffrey was having an off day when she wrote this one.

This is one of those books that keeps you reading, but only because you're sure the good part must be coming up next. The characters
were never in real danger and the interpersonal conflicts were mostly solved by shipping people off somewhere. The moments with the Masai were interesting, but too brief.
I've enjoyed the romance between Zainal and Kris in the last three books, but they seem almost bored in this one.
I was really looking forward to this book, hopefully the next one will have the spark back.

Though best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series of books, I like Anne's work that is based in a world similar to ours. The Catteni Sequence delivers. What would happen if Earth were invaded? If you enjoyed Independence Day, you'll like this series. I also highly recommend Susan Wright's SLAVE TRADE trilogy (don't be fooled by the provocative title--good for young adults too).

Anne McCaffery has done it again in this book. Although this isn't her normal stand alone novel, "Freedom's Ransom" must be taken and should be read after the others in the Freedom Series. I think she's done well in keeping with the Characterization and shows that there is much to be done even after a revolution in order to get things running smooth. I look forward to seeing her next novel as our Main Characters may go hunting for the Farmers or completing thier joint mission in becoming partners with the Cattini.

I had figured the series was done with the previous book. When I found this book at the book store, I was like "I must get it". Now, I could have easily waited, and so could have M[r]s. McCaffrey. In my oppinion, this book is only half done. When I reached the last page, I was still expecting more pages. Somewhat dissapointing, I hope she chooses to finish this book with the same attention and care she uses for her other books.

I enjoyed the first three books in this series too much to be impressed by this fourth installment. While the concept of looking at Botany's evolution after the Eosi downfall was interesting, I found the plot meandering, and the editorial errors distracting. Although sort of enjoyable, the book felt "cobbled together", and I expected more from my favorite author.

Hey folks, this is just another book in the series. It is good. It adds to the original story and does a fine job. It does get into to much detail and no real set on the edge of your reading recliner but hey a story is a story and kick back and enjoy, especially on a cold stormy wintery night.

Love it! Love it! Love it! A series that incorporates all my favorite genre: Romance, Sci-Fi, and Adventure! When the Third of the Freedom series ended I was told that it was the last! I felt like I had lost touch with family members! I am excited to have the saga continue in Freedom's Ransom. Hopefully there will be more to follow.

I'd have to agree with previous reviewers who say this is mediocre but who cares? I gobbled this up faster than a Thanksgiving turkey. The book's 300 pages, reads fast. I finished it in one weekend. Was it worth the cost of hardcover? YEAH!