Vorkosigan 7 -- Falling Free--note--numbers are OUR reading order only

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

Here's where to talk about Falling Free

[Antti]

Another early one without any Vorkosigans. I liked both Ethan of Athos and Falling Free quite a bit more than the early Miles stories - except "Mountains of Mourning". Perhaps it's because the heroes are closer to my own age, so they are now relatable? Cordelia and Aral were also very good characters: perhaps LMB writes middle-aged characters better than young ones?

I don't know, but either way, this was pretty good. The plot was very predictable, but the constant troubles and emergencies Leo had to deal with made the book a real page-turner.

[Nick]

Antti wrote: "I don't know, but either way, this was pretty good. The plot was very predictable, but the constant troubles and emergencies Leo had to deal with made the book a real page-turner."
I agree with this, one of the joys of SF is competent people solving problems. I think The Martian is probably the best example of it. But Falling Free does it very well too. The tension is expertly rachetted (view spoiler)[is that a word? (hide spoiler)] up and down with:
Oh no, something is broken, how will we fix it in time?
Phew, we fixed it.
Oh no, someone is delayed, how will we get them on time?
Phew, we got them.
Oh no, some resource is limited. How will we work around that?
Phew, we have arranged a clever work around.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish]

I really enjoyed this book. The reviews were pretty low and I was a bit worried but I gave it 4 1/2 out of 5. I loved Leo. If I think of all the inspirational fictional teachers, he'd have to be up there with my favs.

The tech seemed to be at the correct stage, for the time period of the universe. The rapidly changing and outdated technology idea felt realistic. I find it amazing how many serious themes LMB manages to squeeze into these books. She covered basic human rights, ableism, racism, workers’ rights, slavery and sexual abuse perpetrated by someone in a position of authority. (Actually, the last one there was pretty disturbing and I've put it down to how LMB added it with such a light touch.)

I guess Bruce as a baddie might have been a little one-dimensional at times and there might have been a couple of things that were resolved a little too easily too (view spoiler)[retrieving Tony for example (hide spoiler)]. But neither issue worried me too much.

It was very fast paced and LMB's trademark humour was really evident.

There was even some romance for my soft heart but not too much for those who aren't interested to whine.

[Nick]

Lee wrote: "I loved Leo. If I think of all the inspirational fictional teachers, he'd have to be up there with my favs."
Yes, agreed! He's a wonderful character. I enjoyed his mental commentary on Bruce!
This felt very much like an 'engineer's book' - most of my friends who are engineers have a particular hate for useless meddling adminstrators, so I think Bruce is probably the perfect bad guy for the story even if he is a bit mustache-twirling.

[Antti]

Lee wrote: "I guess Bruce as a baddie might have been a little one-dimensional at times and there might have been a couple of things that were resolved a little too easily too"

Yes, my thoughts exactly. I was disappointed how Bruce was just a simple villain: usually LMB writes better and more interesting antagonists.

And there definately were few problems that resolved themselves much too easily. The fewer pages there were left, the easier Leo & co could solve their problems. It reminded me of Shards of Honor, where near the end Cordelia gets away from Beta Colony more easily than I would've expected.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish]

Yeah, that was the only thing that was disappointing about the book. LMB built all this tension and then resolved it so quickly and easily.

I was reading some reviews and other readers said they could really tell it was written in 1987 and that the themes it was addressing were relevant to those times but, I don't know... I think a lot was still relevant today (unfortunately).

[Cordelia]

I liked this one. Gave it 4 stars. Leo was great as a character and the Quaddies were wonderful. It was good to see them leave a life of slavery and start a life living on their own terms. I agree, problems did get solved a little too easily. But isn't that life in the 'age of space opera'.

[Allan]

I listened to this one on audio last year. It was the first I listened to by the guy who does most of the books. Didn’t like him at all. Now that I’ve listened to several others, he’s grown on me and I associate him more with the voices. This one was a little too soft for me though.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish]

Allan wrote: "I listened to this one on audio last year. It was the first I listened to by the guy who does most of the books. Didn’t like him at all. Now that I’ve listened to several others, he’s grown on me a..."

Ha! The first book I listened to with him, he really annoyed me. Then, suddenly, with the second book I really started to like his voice. And the funny thing is I've seen other people say this so many times since: that they initially hated him and then ended up loving him. He's got some secret power over us! LOL

[Antti]

Oh man, was that Grover Gardner, the same guy who narrates LMB's Penric novellas? I haven't checked, but that sounds exactly like him. I couldn't almost finish the first book because I hated his voice so much, but now I couldn't imagine anyone else doing the voices for the series!

[Lee at ReadWriteWish]

Antti wrote: "Oh man, was that Grover Gardner, the same guy who narrates LMB's Penric novellas? I haven't checked, but that sounds exactly like him. I couldn't almost finish the first book because I hated his vo..."

Yep, that's him. It's weird, isn't it!!!?

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

I finished this up and had not realized how much of it I had forgotten. Not much to say about it. I had forgotten all the engineering in space parts--they were pretty fun.

[Joe]

I think I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't just read Moon is a Harsh Mistress... they're very similar. This one seemed..., brighter. I think it's the characters, which are great as usual. I really liked Silver especially.

It definitely was a quick page turner, but I definitely felt like this could have been its own series instead of tenuously tying it to this universe. I wouldn't mind a sequel.

[Kateblue, 2nd star to the right and straight on til morning]

See, for a long time it was not tied to the Vorkosigan universe. At least I thought it was considered a standalone.

Wait and see

[Joe]

lol! Maybe this will turn out to retroactively be a side story I wanted to hear about!

[Oleksandr, a.k.a. Acorn]

I started it yesterday and I like it - the book has an old (60s) SF feel and this is refreshing. Even with Heinleinian "the more children the better" attitude

[Caitlin]

i finished this one yesterday and really enjoyed it. i agree with everyone else that Leo was fantastic. i would've loved a teacher like him in engineering school that cared so much for his students. Joe i agree i recently read the moon is a harsh mistress and i saw the similarities but agree this one was brighter, i also liked the characters better in this one.

[Gabi]

(Very) slowly catching up.
I liked this one. The idea of the quaddies was fascinating and repulsive at the same time. I would have wished for more discussion about the ethical side of the story. But as a fast adventure type story it worked well.

I'm with those of you who found the villain too cardboard like. He's the reason why I rounded down my 3.5 stars.

LOL ... and I'm also in the same group with folks who didn't like the narrator at first. I'm still not a fan of him, but somehow in the meanwhile he just belongs to the books.