What do You think about Freedom's Ransom (2015)?
From Publishers Weekly Coffee, not oil, becomes black gold in this eagerly awaited fourth volume in McCaffrey's intriguing Catteni/Freedom series (Freedom's Landing, etc.), which focuses on the business side of revolution. On Earth and the planets Barevi and Botany in the not-so-distant future, the traditional gold standard has fallen and coffee, fresh bread and meat become more valuable than diamonds when trading for the technological parts stolen by greedy Catteni mercenaries for the evil Eosi. These vital aerospace supplies will aid Terrans and Botany colonists seeking independence from the Eosi, whose barbaric routine of loot, pillage and destroy includes removing entire urban populations and selling them to other Catteni worlds as slaves. "I dropped. I stay," is the rallying cry of Zainal, a rebel Catteni who's taken from a prison on Barevi, a trading center for the Catteni Empire, and "dropped" with other slaves of assorted species on Botany, owned by the mysterious Farmers. Zainal becomes a reluctant leader of the other slaves and becomes mate to Terran Kris Bjornsen. Zainal and his team ultimately undertake two missions one to Earth, to acquire coffee beans and dental equipment for Dr. Eric Sachs, Botany colonist and former Manhattanite, and one to Barevi, to barter the beans and dentistry, turning this installment into an entertaining lesson on supply and demand. The visit to a bleak Manhattan after the Eosian looting is as disturbing, touching and humorous as the trading in the Barevian market. awards, McCaffrey was the recipient of the American Library Association's 1999 Margaret A. Edwards Life Achievement Award.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
—Al
*Book source ~ Home libraryHaving 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 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.
—A Voracious Reader (a.k.a. Carol)
This is not one of Anne McCaffrey's better books. It felt like the plot was all over the place. Space that could have been devoted to developing the characters was instead given over to detailed descriptions of dentistry practices and coffee varieties. Many of the supporting characters who had been interesting and complex are now just names mentioned with no context, given flat lines that could have come from anyone. It was difficult to keep all the secondary characters straight (or muster up the energy to bother, since they felt so interchangeable in this book), even having read the previous books in the series so recently. I picked up this book in a hurry after finishing the previous one, thinking that some of the more interesting unresolved plot points would be covered: what sort of parental relationship Kris could develop with Zainal's sons, Chuck's reaction to Amy, how the Deski and other non-humans on Botany feel about the emancipation of (just!) the humans, and if this would lead to any changes for them. The parental issues were barely even mentioned, and I don't recall anything beyond the occasional throw-away line from the non-human, non-Catteni in this book. There were so many interesting places she could have taken this story, but instead we learn how to make caps for teeth and which types of coffee beans grow where. If I had not read this book, I think my overall opinion of the Botany series would be much higher.
—Meran
