Falling Free

Vorkosigan Saga (Publication Order) #4

by Lois McMaster Bujold, Suford Lewis, James A. McMaster (Introduction)

Leo Graf was an effective engineer. Safety regs weren't just the rule book he swore by; he'd helped write them. All that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat. Leo was profoundly uneasy with the corporate exploitation of his bright new students... until that exploitation turned to something much worse. He hadn't anticipated a situation where the right thing to do was neither safe, nor in the rules...

Leo Graf adopted a thousand quaddies---now all he had to do was teach them to be free.

Falling Free takes place approximately 200 years before the events in Cordelia's Honor and does not share settings or characters with the main body of the series.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Space

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Lois McMaster Bujold was born in 1949, the daughter of an engineering professor at Ohio State University, from whom she picked up her early interest in science fiction. She now lives in Minneapolis, and has two grown children.

Her fantasy from HarperCollins includes the award-winning Chalion series and the Sharing Knife tetralogy; her science fiction from Baen Books features the perennially bestselling Vorkosigan Saga. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages.

Questions regarding foreign rights, film/tv subrights, and other business matters should be directed to Spectrum Literary Agency, spectrumliteraryagency.com

A listing of her awards and nominations may be seen here:

http://www.sfadb.com/Lois_McMaster_Bu...

A listing of her interviews is here:

http://vorkosigan.wikia.com/wiki/Auth...

An older fan-run site devoted to her work, The Bujold Nexus, is here:

http://www.dendarii.com/

Reviews

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.25 ***

"... “On the sixth day God saw He couldn't do it all, so He created ENGINEERS” ..."

Evgeny and I decided to read the whole series together:) It turned out to be a great decision:):):)

I just closed the last page and needed to get on here and say how much I enjoyed this book! It is the first one I read by this author and now I am wondering why I never read her books before? After all, I was raised on Sci-Fi and Fantasy, this should have been in my radar long time ago! However, I think my reluctance of reading books in an unfinished series might have something to do with it. So, I end up being the last one at the party most of the time, but I say "Better late than Never!!"!!!

This book was published first in 1987 and I can recognize many of the style markers for that time, markers which I miss dearly nowadays... One in particular is the technical side of the Sci-Fi, still heavily relying on the science, rather then fantasy. Being raised by two ENGINEERS, and the way my mind seems to like to structure itself, I love the writing in which we take in consideration all physical laws as we know them and build on them, or despite of them, instead of just coming up with impossibilities which defy logic on all levels, and justified by saying "Well, it is Fantasy, everything goes!". Those writers tend to forget that all of us, no matter how ignorant of science itself, live in a physical world in which, no matter how much we might not like it, every action DOES have a reaction!!! Or as the Fantasy writers like to say, there is a PRICE for all magic!

"... "Don't be afraid of trouble, Silver. They're a sign of life. We'll deal with them together - tomorrow".” ..."

Ms. BUJOLD has created a world based on scientific possibilities and has brought it and all of its inhabitants to life in a somewhat linear and minimalistic, but very powerful and enjoyable way. There are about 4-5 POV's, but the main characters is Leo, the teaching engineer, who has been brought on board of this space habitat in order to teach the very unexpected young and naive students, the Quaddies, a genetically created new species of humans, designed to function best and mostly exclusively at 0 Gravity environments. This experiment has been funded by a mega for profit corporation and is treating them as a biological tool, with no rights, no desires, feelings, or anything remotely acknowledging them as human. Thus they reserve the right to use them and discard them as they see fit, especially since the whole 25-26 year old experiment has been conducted clandestinely.

In the moment I met the first Quaddie, Tony, I was in love!!! They have been raised in with a myriad of wrong ideas, but with some true caring and idealism as well. Many things they are made to do, which I found despicable and abhorrent, they did with no issues because they had not been thought they were not right... Their distance from violence and intrigues is also what makes them so lovable, loving and I was disarmed by their innocence. Contrasted to the cold-hearted calculation and pure cynicism of the company management, I wanted to cry, not only for them, but for humanity and the path we seem to be on even now, regular and "insignificant" humans and environment be damned!!!

"... “Were you BORN inhuman or did you grow so by degrees?! MS, MD, PHD?” ..."

Claire and her baby were adorable, but Silver stole the show! This rebellious, but still good hearted young woman braved all the unknown challenges, as terrifying for her as they were, in order to bring on a change for her people and find herself in the process. And the nursery supervisor was the heart of all the humans in the book. Compelling indeed!

"... “It's an ancient and honorable term for the final step in any engineering project. Turn it on, see if it smokes.”..."

Overall, I loved the book and found it perfectly balanced, despite reading over and over in some of the reviews that there was not enough action... The massage was hefty enough to compensate for all the little weaknesses. For a Sci-Fi, it is a very pleasant read!!!

I wish you all happy Reading and may you always find what you seek in the pages of a good book!!

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Update 10/3/17 Re-read

I think I just relaxed into this read, knowing damn well that it was going to be a novel of revolution against corporate idiots and assholes. Understanding that this came out in '88 goes a long way to grooving to the sense of hate and loathing we all felt during that time period. Or is that just me? Maybe it's just me.

Fortunately, I love the Children's Crusade and the RAH feel, from the Can-Do engineering and idealistic gruffness to the all-out freedom brigade. :)

If I had to compare this to most SF in general, I'd still have to give it top marks. But as a piece of the Vorkosigan universe? It's in it and a few pieces carry over. That's about it. :) It's fine. lol


Original review:

Unfortunately for me, I've already read a number of the Miles books, so when I got around to reading this, I just wanted Miles. I was doing an injustice to the novel, although I didn't realize it at the time. So, I'm going back and reading all of the novels in chronological order to get a better and more mature grip on the series that I remember so fondly.

Firstly, I like Graf. Secondly, I like the quaddies. I saw that the quaddies were mushrooms and ripe for the picking, and half-expected a Moon is a Harsh Mistress treatment. It didn't happen, just a mere run-away novel, but I did enjoy the ultimate set-up. As a novel on its own, I think it might have deserved more agency and action, but in the wider scheme of things, I was perfectly happy. I am a fan-boy, after all.

The characters weren't quite as delightful as some by the same author, but they weren't a slouch by any standard. It's hard to turn engineers into full-blown heroes, but it was fun to see.

Oh, wait... I do recall reading all of Heinlein... :) Maybe it's not so hard. Still fun, after all these years.

On a positive note, I think she's better than Heinlein in world-building and tight-gripped control of technology and consequence. Some of her characters are a lot better than his, too. I think this is very high praise, by the way. I grew up on Heinlein and enjoyed every single page.

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

engineer encounters hideous situation involving exploitation of a unique group of workers. engineer fights against this hideous situation.

so this is really a 2 star book, whatever, I'm giving it 3 stars because yeah I liked it, and more importantly I would never give 2 stars to a friend and at this point I kinda feel like Lois McMaster Bujold is my friend. I've been working my way back and forth through her Vorkosigan Saga and I think that not only do I believe in everything she believes in - the points she wants to make and the anger she feels at some things and her perspective on gender & race & sexual identity, all that - but I think that she has been working out those points as a sort of conversation with this series' readers about progressive values and fighting against authority, about how different people stand up in different ways but those different ways may amount to the same kind of courage, a conversation about how Bujold herself feels about these sorts of things and how her own viewpoint has progressed (well, perhaps progressed... maybe she has just become increasingly sophisticated in how she expresses her viewpoint and values). so what if the situation presented is a bit maudlin, the villain obnoxiously rote and two-dimensional, too much mechanical-technical-engineering mumbo jumbo, the ending rather on the wish fulfillment side of things, some unnecessary infantilizing of the labor force in question, etc... well what of it. the novel was for the most part fun, exciting, moving, and thoughtful. that's how I like my space operas. the central character is great and just as appealing is the major supporting character Silver, whose characterization is surprisingly dynamic. Bujold moves her past her race's adorable but limited childlike attributes; she eventually displays cunning, insight, leadership, a sensitive sort of ruthlessness, and in the end transcends what could have been a clichéd type - the ambitious young lady who uses sex to get ahead. and the ending... well, sometimes I like wish fulfillment, so sue me.

Bujold would later improve her technique - but the awesome person she clearly is, well, that's already present in this early work. sister, I really dig you.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

No fate but what we make.

That could be the motto for this story and I loved the concept. This is a quite old scifi book, belonging to a quite long series. But it didn't show in the way I first thought.

The story is about an engineer arriving on a space station in order to teach some employees of the company he works for as well. When he arrives, however, he discovers that the students are children and genetically altered ones at that. The worst, though, is how they are being treated by the "normal" humans as they have no human rights. They are things to be worked and bred. And all too soon this is exactly what endagers them all.

Hence, this book is about basic human rights, gender equality (consider the age of the story, then you can stand next to me clapping at the author), technology vs. humanity (in a way) and what makes us individuals and human.

I liked how fun and fast-paced this was. The world Bujold built here came to life effortlessly and though a lot of ideas where incorporated, each topic was addressed with enough details and they fit together seemlessly too. The characters were lively and quirky in their ways (though some stood out a bit more than others, naturally) and many story elements were quite chuckle-worthy, at least for people with enough Schadenfreude (like myself). Most of all, I liked how the author played tricks on the reader (myself included). I was actually shocked and confused about the supposed sexism I encountered in the first third of the book, but Bujold wonderfully turned those concepts upside down (making them fit perfectly with the setting), creating powerful reversals that became equally powerful statements.

I know that we won't get to see the people from this story again as the rest of the series will play several hundred years in the future, which actually makes me sad. But at least we'll get to see some Quaddies in other installments so in a way the author lets us see what became of them as a society.

[Justine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shockingly, my first book by the prolific and decorated Lois McMaster Bujold, but definitely not my last.

This was really enjoyable for me. I sometimes struggle with older SF, finding it a bit stiff and not as expressively written as I prefer. That wasn't the case here. I loved the compact story that builds up at the end for an exciting conclusion. The characters were quite nicely done, and were an interestingly different combination of both the subtle and the obvious.

In a way this book reminded me of those pre-CGI SF films and TV shows that put more of a premium on entertainment through the telling of the story rather than being essentially a vehicle to showcase special effects. This was an entertaining story, and it was very focused, unencumbered by detailing anything extraneous to the actual events.

I listened to the audiobook of this (my library has the whole series on Hoopla!), and honestly, I wasn't at first a huge fan of the narrator, Grover Gardner. However, I came to appreciate him a bit more as the story proceeded. He has kind of a storyteller's cadence to his speech that actually went well with the way the book is written. It felt like he was telling me a story rather than reading one, if that makes any sense.

In any event, I'm absolutely continuing with this series, and have already started listening to Shards of Honor.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 2 out of 5]

💀 DNF at 20% 💀

Review to come. Maybe. Then again probably not.



P.S. Maria, Dearest Wife, I 💕lurves💕 thee, but this series just isn't for me. (Oh wow, I just made a rhyme. A poet is me and stuff.)

· Book 1: Shards of Honor ★★★

[Jim C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating is 3.5 stars.

This book is the beginning of a series. In this one we are in deep space and we visit a station where they employ genetically altered humans. Technology shifts and these altered humans are no longer needed. What do you do with them?

I thought this book was so interesting. It did take a little time to get into it and the science at times became a little dry. But the overall concept about these humans that are no longer needed was fascinating. I love when sci-fi or fantasy takes on a subject that is present in the real world. This book does it. The characters were so interesting too as I loved some of them and hated others. I did think at times they became a little dry also. I think me and the author's writing style doesn't exactly work for me. That being said, I didn't really care too much as I was absorbed with the story and how the situation was resolved.

This is not an action story at all as there is very few action scenes. It is a morality book that takes place in the future but tackles this subject for the present. I was fascinated by this portion of the novel. The writing style isn't my favorite as I did get bored. The story itself is worth five stars. The writing style did affect my enjoyment and that is the reason I went with my rating.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasantly diverting tale that started out with a bit more teeth, a beginning that unveiled a rich ethical and moral dilemma unfolding, leading me to believe it would have more substance than it wound up having. Bujold writes clever dialogue and warm characters, but her villain in this was too one-note and the ramping up of the stakes never really took off as vividly or compellingly as they could have. According to the folks who’ve read more of her Vorkosigan Saga books, this one is a bit of an outlier in many ways. I’m definitely still willing to give them a go, but I’m not as eager to as I am to continue with the sequels to The Curse of Chalion, which I enjoyed quite a bit more than this book.

[Lightreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few hundred years before the events of the Vorkosigan books, a galactic corporation genetically engineered the Quaddies, people perfectly suited to zero gravity engineering and construction work because of their extra pair of arms instead of legs. A human engineer comes aboard the project, and through a series of events which do not need exploring at this juncture he finds himself spearheading nothing less than a revolution in a desperate bid to get the Quaddies safely out of corporate control when they’re slated for termination.

Huh. So about 75 pages into this book I went “um what?” and ran off to check the publication date. Because I knew it was early Bujold, but I didn’t realize how early. I mean, it’s classic Bujold SF – powered by character concerns as much as technology – but it’s, you know . . . early. I was tipped off by the wobbly POV, the slightly hasty character development, the wild coincidences – the entire plot hinges on a typo at one point, for God’s sake! There’s also the slightly troubling shape of the thing, the way the revolution is powered by a human with his big human ideas, and the Quaddies are just a bunch of kids following along.

Still, it is Bujold, and there are flashes of what will later be her more concentrated moments of clarity and brilliance:



“I’m no worse than anyone else.”

“But I’m giving you the chance to be better, don’t you see . . .”



The moral compass of the book points a bit too uncomplicatedly for my taste, but the heart of the thing is true. It’s about choices and self-determination, about how being a bystander makes you complicit in horror because choosing to do nothing is a choice too. The theme and narrative line of direction waver a bit – sometimes blaring in your ear, sometimes too tenuous – but they sound a clear note for all that.

Ah well. Everyone’s a new writer, just learning where all the muscles are, and the stunning difference between this book and, say, Memory is a testament to talent developed.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Falling Free: Enjoyable early novel, but not quite up to Miles Vorkosigan standards
I believe this is the first of Bujold's books to win a major SF award and bring her name into the spotlight, as most military SF Baen books had not been aiming for major recognition (in my opinion), but it got me started on the Miles Vorkosigan series and it's a bit of a mystery why I never actually read/listened to it till 30 years after publication! Still, better late than never.

As most readers and even fans admit, it's a decent and enjoyable hard SF adventure with a no-nonsense engineer hero, lovable and innocent genetically-altered quaddies with four arms and no legs designed for zero-G work, and an evil corporate villain who exploits them and isn't above trying to get rid of them when the profit margin is not sufficient.

So it sets up some pretty obvious targets for readers to love/hate, and lacks the complex and clever plots and characterization of the later Miles Vorkosigan books, so it mainly suffers from comparison rather than being a bad book by any measure. Still, it is inevitable it will be considered a lesser work along with Ethan of Athos, but it's a high hurdle to compete with Miles.

Still, certainly a decent read and worth your time if you like this kind of story and want to complete your knowledge of the backstory of the Miles Vorkosigan universe.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prvo imamo Dreamweaver's Dilemma interesantnu pričicu o opsnostima nove tehnologije prikazane kroz blago detektivsku priču. Simpatično ili u suštini ništa posebno.

Druga priča, Falling Free, je daleko interesantnija pošto se bavi grupom modifikovanih ljudi, dece zapravo, i njihovom borbom za svoju budućnost. Ima dobrih momenata, likovi su interesantni jedino što nikako nisma imao osećaj veličine date stanice kao ni da ima puno osoba na njoj (a trbalo bi da bude preko 1000). Lako se čita i drži pažnju tako može da prođe.

P.S. Malo sam bio stroži sa ocenom nego što treba pa samo prepravljam na 4 zvezde :)

[Clouds · Rating 3 out of 5]

- Falling Free is the 11th Vorkosigan Saga novel I've read
- So far... I've been delighted to give 3 of those 5 stars
- Happy to give 6 of them a very solid 4 stars
- Only Shards of Honour has gotten a 3 stars from me (before now)
- Despite being a Nebula award winner, I'd say this is the weakest Bujold I've read.

That's not to say Falling Free is bad - 3 stars is defined as "liked it" and I certainly did that (I read most of it in one sitting in the tub), it's just that I know Bujold can do better than this.

So... about the book.

Falling Free is set in the same universe as the stories about Miles Vorkosigan, but waaaay earlier in the timeline, and nothing to do with the planet of Barrayar - so none of the familiarity of shared characters or locations from the main series (which reminded me of Small Gods within Pratchett's Discworld series).

The hero is a level-headed engineer (which reminded me of Clarke's Fountains of Paradise, which I read a few months ago) called Graf. Graf is assigned to teach space welding on a secret-project space-habitat. When he gets there, Graf discovers the habitat is populated by a genetically engineered 'new breed' of humans calls Quaddies, with extra arms instead of legs - adapted for permanent life in zero-gee.

This is a great, visual concept. Win.

FROM HERE BE SPOILERS!

When news of a scientific breakthrough (artificial gravity) hits the secret-project, the decision is made (by evil senior company execs) to kill the project, sterilise the Quaddies and imprison them on a planet. Graf decides to throw in his lot with the Quaddies and rescue them. Cue space habitat rebellion (which reminded me of parts of Vinge's Deepness in the Sky).

So what's the problem?

What usually makes Bujold's sci-fi sing is her superb characters. Loveable, unpredictable, proactive, dynamic and exciting - but flawed, error-prone, egotistical, etc. If you've never read Bujold and you're just checking out this title, you're in for a treat because she's ace, this just isn't her best. In this book (I can't believe I'm saying this...) all her characters felt flat.

Graf is too 'perfect'.
Van Atta is too 'bad'.
Claire and Tony are too 'nice'.
Silver is the only characters with a bit of complexity/ambiguity, but everything she does is driven by someone else (sleeping with Van Atta because he wants it, helping Claire and Tony escape because they want to, leading the rebellion because Graf suggests it, etc).

The adventure skips along at a good pace, and I was never tempted to put it down, but once the character 'types' had been set-up, I spent the rest of the book waiting for someone (anyone!) to break from their type... to do something unexpected. All the big moments are foreshadowed in multiple ways - this is structured, engineered storytelling - but it makes the whole shebang feel like it's running on rails - there was no suspense regarding if things would work out OK, but plenty of curiosity as to how the obstacles would be overcome.

Falling Free is a good addition to the Vorkosiverse - but it's like a bread roll in the middle of a great meal - nothing wrong with a tasty bread roll, but in context it's a palette cleanser to set you up for the more complex tastes to follow. More Miles please..!

After this I read: Diplomatic Immunity

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10 en 2007. Media de los 23 libros de la autora : ¡¡¡ 9/10 !!!

Joder, ¿sabéis lo que es mantener una media de 9/10 a lo largo de 23 libros?. Pues eso, casi imposible. Pero si tenemos en cuenta que casi todos son de su saga de Miles Vorkorsigan y que yo amo al personaje y a la forma que tiene la autora de narrar sus aventuras, pues ya está dicho todo.

Este se supone que el el primero de la Saga de Miles y se llevó un Nébula, pero en realidad no aparece Miles. Sí su universo. Va sobre los cuadrúmanos, humanos adaptados genéticamente para trabajar en gravedad cero y que aparecen en otras novelas de la saga.

Como todo Miles es lectura ligera, pero que personalmente me encanta.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is first in chronological order of the Vorkosigan Saga save for the short story Dreamweaver's Dilemma. I now have all the audio books lined up. I've read most of them in published order, but read them generally as they were published, which is a different order & has stretched out for many years. I've never tried them in audio format, but thought them well suited. I was right.

This deals with the origins of the Quaddies, a race that was first introduced in one of the early books about Miles. I really liked it, although Murphy (what can go wrong will) seemed to camp out in the final pages. It was a little too much, but fun.

The reader was very good & the audio volume was excellent. There weren't many whispered conversations which frustrate me since I'm often barely able to hear due to the tractor or something. My local library has almost the entire series available as audio books, so I plan on listening to the rest soon.

[Daniel Pastor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Increíble saga. 16 libros después, y aunque éste no sigue el hilo de Miles aún estando lógicamente vinculado, se acabó lo que se daba.

Aquí el ingeniero Leo Graf descubre a los cuadrumanos acabados de "crear" y acaba siendo su liberador, tanto social como físicamente.
Una buena aventura espacial para cerrar la serie (aunque cronológicamente no sea el último, al estar desvinculado de Miles yo lo he leído al final).

Serie que volveré a leer en un tiempo, seguro!

[Apatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Falling Free is one of several Hugo winners for Lois McMaster Bujold, she is practically sci-fi’s counterpart to Meryl Streep in term of awards. This book is set in her popular Vorkosigan universe but does not have any Vorkosigan in it, not even a mention. In the time setting of this book Miles Vorkosigan will not be born for another 200 years. However, this does not mean this book is like a cup of coffee without any coffee in it, it is well worth anybody’s time.

Basically this is a story of a race of bioengineered humans called the “Quadies”. They have four arms but no legs, the lower pair of arms are placed where the legs normally are. This configuration is designed for living and operating naturally in freefall. They live in a space habitat where they carry out engineering and other work for no payment. Their needs are provided by GalacTech, the company that fund their creation and own them. As such the Quadies are basically lower than second class citizens, they are perhaps only a few steps above beasts of burden. They lack the most basic human rights, as these do not extend to transhuman rights.

As you can imagine the central theme of this book is about the right to live a good life, free from tyranny. A right which we would have to extend to any sentient beings we create, be they transhumans or artificial intelligences. Thematically it reminds me a little of Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. However, Falling Free is not some heavy-handed propaganda, Ms. Bujold never loses sight of her role as a storyteller. The story of the Quadies’ struggle for independence and freedom is told in Bujold’s dependable breezy and graceful narrative style. The ethical aspect of the story is for the readers to infer at their leisure or completely ignore if they just want to kick back and soak in a few hours of escapism.

As always Bujold is able to create a cast of relatable characters, the hero Leo Graf (human with legs) is suitably resourceful, honorable, slightly insecure and humble. The main Quaddies characters are very likable and tend to have a childlike earnestness to them. The villain of the piece, Mr. Van Atta, the general manager of the space habitat project, is not one of fiction’s most formidable antagonists. He lacks the competency, his villainy is more of a “boo-hiss” variety. This is not a densely plotted novel, but it does move along at a fair clip.

The Vorkosigan series is often classified as “military science fiction” but Falling Free does not have any military in it, just a few ineffective security guards. This is closer to being a “hard SF” novel than a military one. In fact the science or the “SFnal” aspect of the book may be its best features. The advantages of having four arms and no legs is vividly depicted, as is the Quaddies’s first experience of a planet with gravity, how mobility suddenly becomes much more of an issue. I can just about imagine being a Quaddie. The outcome of the book is fairly predictable but given the plot trajectory I do not see that Bujold had any choice. If you are new to the Vorkosigan series Falling Free is not a bad start, it works 100% as a standalone book, though I believe there are some better books in the series.

About 4.5 stars.

[David Rubenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leo Graf is an engineer, assigned to a space habitat to teach advanced welding techniques. Residing in the space habitat are a thousand young and very young quaddies, genetically engineered with no legs but four arms and hands to be especially well adapted for working in a gravitation-free environment. Everything at first seems fine, except that the director is inhumane. He looks at the quaddies as if they are mutants, they are property of his corporation. They can be manipulated and worked in any way he feels is desirable.

This is an exciting story, with some interesting novel concepts about genetic engineering, spelling out the differences for the quaddies between a gravitation-free environment and living on a regular planet. The story is filled with engineering details, reminding me a bit of The Martian, which also is jam-packed with engineering. Only here, the engineering details are not a major theme of the story--they serve more as a backdrop.

I have two issues with this book. First, since I have read many other books by Lois McMaster Bujold, I know what type of ending is in store, ahead of time. My second issue, is that the program's director is too evil. People generally are not so black-and-white. If Leo Graf were not so perfect, and the director had not been portrayed as 100% evil, then the story could have been more interesting.

I did not read this book; I listened to the audiobook, narrated like all the other Bujold books by Grover Gardner . He does a very good job reading the story, and I never had any trouble following who was speaking during the dialogs. This is a fun book, a bit predictable, but it did keep my attention throughout.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the start of my chronological read of the Vorkosigan books. I have read many of them previously, but out of order. This is my first exposure to Falling Free and despite some minor issues, I think it's held up pretty well.

Leo Graf is a testing engineer whose latest posting at the Cay Habitat leads to some surprises. The people he's come to teach zero-G engineering practicalities to are an engineered variety of human: free-fall adapted "quaddies" with a second set of arms instead of legs. But the catch is that they've also been engineered as slave labor for the corporation that created them.

While I've not read this before, I have read Diplomatic Immunity where we get the future of the quaddies in Miles's time. I don't remember a great deal about it, but now I'm looking forward to picking up some of the nuances relating to their origin that I probably missed the first time around.

This is a very simple story, that of slaves fleeing from a horrible master and making their own destiny. The good and bad are very well-separated with the bad guy being both evil and incompetent, so the outcome is never in doubt as the situation is just too stark. Where a lot of the tension comes in is whether Graf and the quaddies can escape without paying a terrible cost in lives and people left behind.

Solid, but there are far better and more nuanced commentary on slave peoples available in modern speculative fiction, notably The Fifth Season and the rest of that trilogy.

[Veronique · Rating 4 out of 5]

"If you ever have to make a choice between learning and inspiration, boy, choose learning. It works more of the time."

If you're interested in science fiction, you will eventually hear of Bujold and her Vorkosigan Saga. Falling Free is the first title in the chronological order and my first forray into this author's world.

Yes, it has an old fashioned aspect (it was written in the late 1980s), perhaps due to the cringing mysoginy and racism. Stereotypes abound too, with the big 'baddie', who became more farcical as the story progressed, employed by a soulless corporation, interested only in financial gain. Do hold on however. Bujold thankfully gives us a development that shatters all of it, with a pretty cool revolution, with action-filled scenes.

It is not perfect, by any means, but I enjoyed it, especially the revolt, and look forward to the next instalment.

[Chloe Frizzle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly the most Engineering of any of the books in the series.
After splitting the point of view across so many characters, and giving so much of our time to a hateable and simplistic villain, it also feels like the novel is lacking character heart.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars.

This book reminded me strongly of C.J. Cherryh’s book Downbelow Station. In both books a huge intergalactic company is using and abusing a population of people who are considered somehow “less than” humans. In DbS, it was an alien race, the Hisa (also known as Downers in human slang). Here in Falling Free it is the quaddies, the result of human genome manipulation, who have four arms instead of two arms & two legs, supposedly to be make them more suited to zero gravity.

There are strong hints of the Frankenstein story, with people often being physically ill when first meeting a quaddie. There is also a security agent on the nearest planet who reacts poorly to them, having envisioned monsters rather than people. So-called normal people react very negatively towards quaddies, just as people reacted with fear & hostility to Frankenstein’s creature.

I also couldn’t help but think of Octavia Butler’s work, dealing as it does with issues of slavery and power differentials. Butler’s works are much more powerful, but this novel does deal with some of the same themes. The quaddies are considered property, rather than employees, and the breeding program that the company had devised for them reminded me strongly of a slave owner using a stock breeding scheme for his slaves rather than acknowledging their personal relationships and preferences. Add to that the sexual exploitation of at least one of the female quaddies, and that parallel becomes undeniable.

This book takes place in the Vorkosigan universe, but does not mention the family at all (for those of you who are most interested in Cordelia and Miles). Once again, like with Ethan of Athos, I am left wishing that Bujold had continued on with this story line, instead of this volume being a one-off. It seems to me that the story is just really getting going at the novel’s end.

Book 225 in my Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project.

[Oleksandr Zholud · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first in the internal chronology volume of Vorkosigan saga, which can be seen as a sidequel, for it happens two centuries before and on a planet unrelated to neither Barrayar nor other major players. The book won both Hugo and Nebula Awards. I read is as a part of Vorkosigan Challenge read in May 2020 at Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels group.

The story sets an interesting problem: we know what happens to obsolete machinery, but what can be a fate of bio-engineered beings? There are a lot of health problems for people in zero gravity: their bones became brittle, their muscles atrophy, they are much less protected from radiation, etc. And a company, Galactech, found a solution: create a new species based on human DNA, who’ll be adopted for just such conditions. Also replace their unnecessary legs with another pair of hands, and you get “quaddies”. Of course, being created by a corp they are not persons, but valuable equipment. Only one problem, another firm develops an artificial gravity, so no need in quaddies any more…

The main protagonist is Leo Graf, a zero-grav wielding engineer, sent by the company to teach quaddies. Quite soon his morals overcome his desire to live quietly until the retirement and he has to become, as a world-weary outsider, an unwilling revolution leader for naïve and childlike (due to limited education) quaddies.
The setup is great, the ‘big question’ is both novel and important, the writing style is light and easy to follow, like most other books of the saga. And like the other books of the saga, there is a great number of highly unlikely coincidences, which the reader ought to gloss over to enjoy the story. Also the villain is the story is just too cartoonishly evil.

Overall, a nice easy story, which can be read as a standalone.

[Carlex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars.

At the moment I'm leaving my monthly reading of the Vorkosigan series. In general, the books are quite good but if you read them in a row they end up being repetitive. For example, in the plot scheme, although the author has it well thought out - even some amazing details, for example, in this novel about space engineering -, a certain pattern emerges: big problem + that gets desperately worse + and that leads to a brilliant solution by the main character. I think I'm not doing this saga justice with this simplistic summary, but I'm not doing it either if I keep reading the books routinely so I prefer to wait some period of time for the next readings, when I really can enjoy them.

About Falling Free itself, it has its interest, the story about the quaddies and some ethical dilemmas that arise, and also about some curiosities about space engineering.

Note: I'm also leaving my monthly Discworld readings, more or less for the same reasons.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Executive Summary: Much like Ethan of Athos this one had a very strange premise. I thought it was alright, but I'm hoping the series focuses on Miles again soon.

Audiobook: Grover Gardner does another good job. When you're not sure about a book, having a good narrator can be a big help.

Full Review
I had issues with this book. It wasn't the idea of Quaddies themselves, but the idea of genetically engineering what are essentially slaves. Leo was a pretty good character, but the book felt like a sort of White Savior story at times. Leo wasn't as bad about this as some of the others. He seemed more about helping them help themselves than being their savior.

The quaddies themselves weren't so much there to be saved as they were people born into a bad situation that wasn't of their own making. I don't remember the names of any of the other characters at this point, but the main antagonist was an awful human being who treated the quaddies like property instead of people.

I read this book a few months ago now, so some of the details aren't as clear, but I remember one of the main female quaddies was my favorite.

I struggled with this book at times, but there are some interesting ideas explored here. I'd probably have preferred something a bit more light and fun.

I'll continue the series as it looks like the next one finally returns to Miles. The one book I've read where he's been the focus is the one I've enjoyed the most of the series so far.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our intrepid engineer Leo starts a new job and gets to know genetically engineered humans--optimized for life in free fall, with another set of arms instead of legs. Fittingly they are called quaddies. They are also treated as something less than human and our engineer finds himself in the position of wanting to help the underdogs.

This hasn't aged well. It feels pretty old-fashioned and quite a little sexist. If you can get past that, the story is entertaining.

The audiobook narrator does a decent job, but could have given more distinct voices to the various characters. Those are all pretty one-dimensional.

Leo is the nice guy, Mr. Fix-it, and apparently based on Bujold's father, who was an engineer and wrote a definitive book on non-destructive testing.

The bad guy is a proper slimebag, the quaddies are all nice, naive kids.

Bujold's imagery is very vivid. The story is well plotted and paced, if a little predictable. Every now and then she geeks out and over-indulges in engineering babble.

The ending feels a bit as if there could have been more, and I read somewhere that Bujold had indeed planned to write another book to tell the rest of the story.

Chronologically Falling Free is the first book in the Vorkosigan Saga. It is more of a prequel though, as it is set 200 years before the main series, without the central character of the series.

I plan to buddy read the whole series with some friends, in the mentioned chronological order, not in order of publication. Let's see how far I get!

Better than just ok, but not great, 3.5 stars.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m thinking of rereading all of the Vorkosigan books in chronological order. This is the first one, although it was published fourth. I find Bujold’s writing very soothing to read right now. Often humorous, always thoughtful. I didn’t love this book as much as later books in this series, it lacks both Miles and Cordelia who remain as always two of my favourite characters ever. I did like this a lot though. It had a slow start, but I found myself increasingly caught up in the Quaddies plight, enraged by their callous treatment by the corporation that created them and bred them to be slaves with no thought of how they might feel. That the oldest of the Quaddies are little more than twenty is heartbreaking, no parents little love except from each other (although it seems that some of their caretakers did love them after all). I liked Leo and I found Silver to be an interesting character, but I did think that both of them suffered from a lack of character development. I give this three and a half stars rounded up to four, just because it’s Bujold and I genuinely love her writing style.

August 13, 2024

Three and a half stars. Not my favorite of Bujold’s but still enjoyable.

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded down because of a way too shallow villain.

This was a nice space adventure with LMB's usually witty character/dialogue writing (minus the above mentioned villain who didn't really fit her usual quality).
It was nice to read a complete standalone in the Vorkosigan saga, so that I didn't have to ponder constantly if I should know character xyz like it happens to me in the later Miles' books.

Nothing deep, but a good concept and a twist-ful action story.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This was an interesting science fiction story that explored concepts of bioengineering and personhood. As a business major, I loved the company perspective, considering the aspects of human resources and asset management. I will definitely read more in this companion series.

[Ivana Books Are Magic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first ( and so far the only novel) by Lois McMaster that I have read. I don't know anything about Vorkosigan saga nor about this author save the fact that she got a Nebula award for this novel, which I happen to think she deserved. I’m not sure will I explore this saga or not. I mean, taken the fact how much I was impressed by this novel, sure I would love to but with so many books on my reading list, who knows? In any case, this review will focus solely on this novel and explore it as such. My focus with this review is the novel itself and what I believe are its literary
merits.

Let's get to reviewing part, shall we? Saying that I really liked this novel is kind of an understatement but the reason why I’m giving it four and not five stars is that I like to keep five stars for those novels that really changed my life. This one didn’t feel life-changing to me nor did I have a sensation of having my mind completely blown away…. what it felt like was a great novel. …really brilliant piece of writing!


I really do feel like singing praises to this novel because I really think that it is great, its characters are incredibly well developed and the plot is bullet proof. As a story, it is a page turner! I enjoyed reading it so much. As a SF novel, it is everything I love about this genre. The very reason why I love SF so much is that it often explores the most complex questions of our existence, the philological and moral dilemmas that lie deep in our soul. This novel has really gone into depth, into what makes us human, what makes us moral or immoral. In addition, I liked how it showcased that making a moral decision can be incredibly difficult and seriously challenging. That all being said, it still managed to be such an exciting story. It is action packed and keeps you on your toes, all that while managing to contain a real message and feeling of profoundness? Did I manage that the characters feel so alive that it impossible not to love them and feel deeply for them? If that doesn’t make it a fantastic read, what is a fantastic read? If this isn’t a great novel, what is a great novel?


I would even go so far as to say that I can’t imagine an average SF fan not liking this novel. As soon as I started reading it, I had that warm feeling inside that good science fiction always grants me. Sure, we all have different tastes and I’m sure that there are people who won’t fall madly in love with this one, but it just seemed to me that it is a novel worth liking. Not that you should like it, I mean we live in a free world or at least that is where we should be living. I just have this idea in my head of it being likeable because I don’t see it as having any weak points. The story is great, the writing is very good and it flows naturally with the story. Yes, the writing isn’t exactly poetic but for this kind of story it need not be. It is logical, well organized and it works with the story not against it.


Where does the main literary merit of this novel lie? I’m kind of divided on that one. I would say it has two main strongpoints: its focus on ethics (it presents very credible ethical dilemma and explores it wonderfully) and its characterisation (the protagonist is masterfully portrayed and the author even managed to make a whole new species look credible- no easy task at any rate).

My final thoughts?

This is an amazing SF novel, among the best that this genre has to offer. I immensely enjoyed reading it. I can’t find any flaws with it whatsoever and I consider it to be an exceptional piece of writing. That all being said, I didn’t feel that special connection with it, that feeling of having my soul stripped bare but that sensation only happened a few times in my life, so that doesn’t make this novel a lesser one. It is not one of those novels that changed my life, but it felt like a great piece of writing nevertheless. I’m as certain as I can possibly be that this novel deserves to be praised.

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another book in the box of old books we inherited and had a space station on the cover and if you've read my reviews, you know how this goes. This also happened to be the first of Lois McMaster Bujold that I've read. What can I say, there are a lot of books to get around to in life but I'm getting in my fair share of old science fiction in 2020.

So let me start with what I liked. I very much liked the set up of the story. Bujold drops you right into the story with Leo Graf, the protagonist, arriving at his new assignment Cay Station. Almost immediately, the hellscape alert goes off as the company he is working for has bought him out to teach welding to a group of genetically engineered slave workers. They literally gave them an extra set of hands where legs go so that they work more efficiently in free fall and they're able to withstand higher levels of radiation all so the company doesn't need to pay for employees to go planetside for a months rotation because of things like monetary compensation and time off. The group are called "Quaddies", receive no payment, are strictly monitored, taught not to question anything and told when and with whom to have sex and procreate. Oh and there's the not so small matter of the 1000 of them ranging from babies of a few months old to teenagers. Let the cringing begin. As it happens, very soon after Leo's arrival, another company has come up with technology that outmodes the Quaddies and the company's solution is to eliminate the biological work product i.e. the Quaddies. This sets Leo off on a journey of finding his cause and undertaking the massive job of stewarding the Quaddies in their quest for autonomy and survival. A lot happens and it was all worth it. The ending is happy and left me wanting to find out what happens with them down the line.

Now to the other bits. The resident baddie Bruce Van Atta was just a bit too on the nose. He was thoroughly awful from beginning to end and it was a bit much. Also, the Leo/Silver relationship. Like, if your almost 40-year-old protagonist is struck by the fact that the Quaddies look like children & proceed with childlike innocence one minute, perhaps don't have him checking out one of them for a hookup the next (over and over and over). It took me out of the story each time and was frankly skeevy. I liked Silver and she showed personality and agency but there was still a cavernous differential between them that didn't work for me. I also felt like the fact that she'd had liaisons with Van Atta and Ti was supposed to make the thing with Graf cool and it just didn't. The former was definitely off in power differential and Ti wasn't so far off from her in age. Anyway, that's what kicked this down to a three-star read for me. I didn't feel like the story was made better by the Leo/Silver relationship but it did detract.

Recommended, if only for the space station and peek at the corporate and political situation that is operating in this universe.