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Freedom's Landing
(Catteni #1)
by
Kristin Bjornsen lived a normal life, right up until the day the spaceships floated into view above Denver. As human slaves were herded into the maw of a massive vessel, Kristin realized her normal life was over and her fight for freedom was just beginning…
The alien Catteni value strength and intelligence in their slaves—and Kristin has managed to survive her enslavement w ...more
The alien Catteni value strength and intelligence in their slaves—and Kristin has managed to survive her enslavement w ...more
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Mass Market Paperback, Ace Mass Market Edition, 324 pages
Published
June 1st 1996
by Ace
(first published 1995)
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Community Reviews
Showing 1-59

Start your review of Freedom's Landing (Catteni, #1)

I bumped into this by accident in the library, and since McCaffrey died I’d been meaning to read something by her, and the blurb looked to be promising SF with a dash of romance I decided to take the entire series with me on Christmas break. I’m so glad I did, because I really liked this first book.
It dives right in when Kris an escaped human slave on a strange planet, encounters Zainal, a Catteni (the aliens who invaded Earth and took a bunch of humans off-planet as slaves), who is on the run ...more
It dives right in when Kris an escaped human slave on a strange planet, encounters Zainal, a Catteni (the aliens who invaded Earth and took a bunch of humans off-planet as slaves), who is on the run ...more

This was really good...nice hard sci-fi with a lead female who isn't an idiot. All kinds of neat robots that groom a prison planet and a lot of discussion among mixed-species prisoners on who and how should labor be divided and such. Very cool hard science fiction with all the robots and stuff with a female lead.
...more

I had high hopes for the premise -kidnapped outworlders abandoned on strange new planet and they have to learn to survive. I just don't think it reached its potential. The MC's were appealing but one dimensional and the dangers of the new planet were never dangerous enough. Reviews of book 2 have persuaded me that things get worse in terms of characterisation and plot so I will stop here.
...more

Yeahhh. So decided to spend the afternoon doing a little window shopping (viz. going online, checking out book covers (viz. specifically Michael Whelan galleries - yes one of my favourite ways to get recs lol) and series lists and author bibliographies and reading all dem reviews...) and I stumble upon this cover. There are two things things I remember when I see it: i) The year I read this book (I borrowed it from the library); and, ii) (that after I finished it) feeling sad that I would probab
...more

I have no complaints 🙂.

I've read most of what Anne McCaffrey has written, and find most of it thoroughly enjoyable fluff that I have re-read anywhere from several to many times, because it's quick, and it's like having a coffee with an old friend. I read the first three books of this series quite some time ago, and haven't touched them since. However, recently, I decided to read the fourth book, but if I was going to do that, I'd have to re-read the first three, since I barely remember them. And who knew? Maybe at thi
...more

Jul 09, 2015
Randal
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Folk who like books with short words and no big ideas.
I don't know if this is crap McCaffrey or if McCaffrey is crap.
Let's see if I can sum up in 10 points:
10. The characters are stereotypes (Sarge, who lacked only a cigar to chew on); strong silent male love interest; attractive, outgoing female lead; wince-worthy black character (the happy cook who talks like he's about whip on a do-rag and call all the white folks "massa baas"); helpless, eye-batting female sidekick; male creeper (helpfully named "Dick"). This is more or less the cast of charact ...more
Let's see if I can sum up in 10 points:
10. The characters are stereotypes (Sarge, who lacked only a cigar to chew on); strong silent male love interest; attractive, outgoing female lead; wince-worthy black character (the happy cook who talks like he's about whip on a do-rag and call all the white folks "massa baas"); helpless, eye-batting female sidekick; male creeper (helpfully named "Dick"). This is more or less the cast of charact ...more

This is a survivalist story, about a group of humans and aliens working together to establish civilization. They fight natives, not in the form of primitive aliens, but in the form of mechanized robots that seem to farm the planet on autopilot. Who owns these machines? They don't know, but they'd love to find out.
The group has to deal with plenty of normal concerns, as well as hostility toward the Catteni (the race that invaded Earth), Zainal, who is deposited with them. Kris, a survival expert, ...more
The group has to deal with plenty of normal concerns, as well as hostility toward the Catteni (the race that invaded Earth), Zainal, who is deposited with them. Kris, a survival expert, ...more

Literally everything I remember about this book (we're talking about ten years since I read it here) is that the aliens are "like human men, but more so." In that they have larger penises. Because WHY NOT. /o\
...more

more SiFi than fantasy to be honest. Good detail (as always) and characters are fantastic. The plot didn't really grab me, there was too much other content getting in the way (not exactly 'PG' if you know what I mean. She typically has very colorful series and characters so I have no doubt that the continuing books in this one are great, I just won't be reading them.
...more

So, I first discovered McCaffrey when I picked up one of the Pern books - and became totally hooked on the series. But only been quite recently that I've branched out and tried her other books.
I can't say that this one grabbed my attention as much as the first ever Dragon book. Don't get me wrong - I liked it and enjoyed reading it, but somehow the story just never seemed to get going. Oh, Botany has it's dangers and its mysteries, but everything just seems a tad too easy. I'm sure if an actual ...more
I can't say that this one grabbed my attention as much as the first ever Dragon book. Don't get me wrong - I liked it and enjoyed reading it, but somehow the story just never seemed to get going. Oh, Botany has it's dangers and its mysteries, but everything just seems a tad too easy. I'm sure if an actual ...more

I'm a bit biased. I loved Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" novels as a kid. A year or so ago, I discovered that McCaffrey was not an obscure, one-series author hidden in the corner of the bookstore as I once thought. When I started reading her work again, I realized how much her books had influenced my tastes- all those wonderful new planets and creatures I had been craving were because of her!
Onto this one. I haven't finished this series yet but if this first book is anything to go on, it's looking to b ...more
Onto this one. I haven't finished this series yet but if this first book is anything to go on, it's looking to b ...more

This was really a strange story. I was not like any of the author’s stories that I had read before. I definitely liked the MC female lead. I liked the MC alien male too, but where is this story going? More alien races than one can shake a stick at and our MCs have been dumped on an alien planet to punish them. They are there to die or survive, seemingly. They are to colonize the planet? The MC’s alien race keeps on dumping load after load of humans and other aliens onto the planet. A planet that
...more

Kris Bjornsen was stolen from Earth and used as a slave to the ruthless Catteni, an alien race only interested in subjugating everyone under their rule. Maltreated and abused as she was, she drew the line at being a bedmate for her master so she ran away, flying the air ship and hiding out in the jungles of the alien planet, far away from starvation and the metal whips the overlords used on their slaves. She spent six months minding her own business, learning to survive on what the local fauna a
...more

You can read our full review on our blog here: http://theheroinebookstore.com/blogs/...
Aliens have scooped up huge portions of Earth's population and made them slaves, Kristin (Kris) Bjornsen being one of them. Nine months later she's living out of her stolen flitter on an alien planet, with no intention of living as a slave again. Then a chance encounter with a Catteni noble, Zainal, gets her captured again. And the Catteni have a unique way of getting rid of troublesome slaves. They have disc ...more
Aliens have scooped up huge portions of Earth's population and made them slaves, Kristin (Kris) Bjornsen being one of them. Nine months later she's living out of her stolen flitter on an alien planet, with no intention of living as a slave again. Then a chance encounter with a Catteni noble, Zainal, gets her captured again. And the Catteni have a unique way of getting rid of troublesome slaves. They have disc ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

I enjoyed this the first time I read it. I like the plot and the characters. However when I read it again recently I paid more attention to the details of how they go about setting up thier new society and i find a lot of improbable aspects. For example they have a shortage for wood even for cooking but they manage to start smithing and a kiln. Where do they get the wood for that let alone makeing steel from iron ore which requires charcoal if you havn't got coal to "cook" carbon into the ore. a
...more

May 31, 2010
Joy
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
unfinished,
fiction-scifi
So, I've gotten 60 pages into this book and....I don't think I'll continue. I tried. Really I did.
I had high hopes for this book since I like The Dragonriders of Pern but this book falls far short.
The basic premise is that humans have been enslaved by a race called the Cattani. The first human we meet is Kris who has escaped and is living in a jungle. A crashed ship draws her attention and she finds a Cattani injured. She helps him but he tries to attack her so she knocks him out and tries to l ...more
I had high hopes for this book since I like The Dragonriders of Pern but this book falls far short.
The basic premise is that humans have been enslaved by a race called the Cattani. The first human we meet is Kris who has escaped and is living in a jungle. A crashed ship draws her attention and she finds a Cattani injured. She helps him but he tries to attack her so she knocks him out and tries to l ...more

Pleasantly surprised
This was a little bit outside what I normally read but I enjoyed it. The story has a nice blend of different species while remaining connected to humans and humanoid forms that it was easy to form appearances in one's minds eye. The plot is steady and has direction. Enough to know where the story might be heading. There is a lot of detail into these worlds and experiences to make it believable enough to comprehend easily. Good humor and opposition to make things interestingly ...more
This was a little bit outside what I normally read but I enjoyed it. The story has a nice blend of different species while remaining connected to humans and humanoid forms that it was easy to form appearances in one's minds eye. The plot is steady and has direction. Enough to know where the story might be heading. There is a lot of detail into these worlds and experiences to make it believable enough to comprehend easily. Good humor and opposition to make things interestingly ...more

Nice, simple. Good guys (mostly) win, some aliens are good guys, pioneering on a new planet. And if you are going to be pioneering on a new planet, the kinds of humans you want to have along are Americans, Aussies, and the Irish. That is, McCaffrey isn't afraid of being politically incorrect and uses stereotypes liberally... The only really interesting character is the alien, natch. But I like McCaffrey's story-telling, and she never hurts my brain.
This turns out to be the first of four, not sur ...more
This turns out to be the first of four, not sur ...more

I liked this first book enough to check out the next three from the library. The series feels hollow. Many major events are not written about just spoken about in conversation and not covered well. An okay story line but not delivered well or filled out. Too many things introduced but never talked about again or developed. For such horrible events like the invasion of earth, forced pregnancy, slavery and others it was really too much Pollyanna style. Could have been a really thought provoking se
...more

It's taken me awhile to finish book one. The problem is I enjoyed the first part of the story and then I was expecting romance and to connect with the characters more. What I got was an engaging sci fi story focussed more on survival and building a new society on a new planet. So I skipped ahead to book two and that was an easier read. Overall I did enjoy it and it was a 3.5* for me.
...more

On further reflection, I realized that I had given this book an extra star with the expectation that the series would continue to be the same caliber or improve. My love of the Pern series gave me undue optimism. Since the second book was so dreadful that I don't intend to continue the series, I have removed the star and my original comments.
...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Science Fiction Book about a group of humans that find themselves on a planet where aliens are automatically farming/harvesting. [s] | 3 | 18 | Mar 01, 2020 06:46PM | |
Bring THIS to TV.. | 1 | 8 | Jun 29, 2014 01:14PM | |
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Aliens and coffee [s] | 5 | 50 | Nov 02, 2013 10:46AM | |
What's the Name o...: SOLVED. Sci-fi - romance with alien on prison planet [s] | 4 | 202 | Feb 11, 2012 06:15AM | |
Adolesent Favourite | 1 | 15 | Jan 05, 2009 08:36PM |
Anne McCaffrey was born on April 1st, 1926, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Her parents were George Herbert McCaffrey, BA, MA PhD (Harvard), Colonel USA Army (retired), and Anne Dorothy McElroy McCaffrey, estate agent. She had two brothers: Hugh McCaffrey (deceased 1988), Major US Army, and Kevin Richard McCaffrey, still living.
Anne was educated at Stuart Hall in Staunton Virginia, Montclair High Scho ...more
Her parents were George Herbert McCaffrey, BA, MA PhD (Harvard), Colonel USA Army (retired), and Anne Dorothy McElroy McCaffrey, estate agent. She had two brothers: Hugh McCaffrey (deceased 1988), Major US Army, and Kevin Richard McCaffrey, still living.
Anne was educated at Stuart Hall in Staunton Virginia, Montclair High Scho ...more
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Catteni
(4 books)
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