Customer Reviews

Among the Free

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Among the Free takes place quite a while after Among the Enemy and revolves around Luke, the protagonist of the first, second, and fourth books in the series. It takes place in a world where there have been extreme food shortages, so families are only allowed to have two children. Any family who has three children is severely punished, and the Third Child is killed. Due to a series of inadequately explained events, the government is overthrown and it looks as though Luke and the other Third Children might finally be able to come out of hiding. Unfortunately, the new government has other ideas.

Among the Free could have been a good finish to the Shadow Children series. Sadly, the ending is so rushed and implausible, that it spoils the rest of the book. It seems as though the author wrote the first part of the book, and then ran out of time to conclude the book in a satisfying manner. Even the tone of the ending is different; the series is fairly dark, while the ending is the exact opposite. The result is a very strong beginning and middle and a fizzle-out, unsatisfying ending.

Another problem is that many of the main characters' stories are not resolved. If you are not familiar with the series, the third book is about Nina, another Third Child; the fifth book is about Trey, a friend of Luke's who is also a Third Child; and the sixth book is about Luke's brother. References are made to characters from the earlier books, but most of the characters do not come back. However, a lot of the story revolves around Luke having imaginary conversations with Jen, who died in the first book. The author should have spent more time on the characters who were still alive and relevant, rather than the characters who weren't.

The book isn't all bad. In fact, except for the end, it's fairly good. The story advances at a slower pace than some of the earlier books, but it's still interesting and has some surprising twists.

If you've read the first six books in the series and are dying to find out what happens, go out and read the seventh, but don't expect a masterpiece. Or, if you want, you could use your imagination to make up a better ending.

Among the Free should have been the exciting climax to a well-done series about illegal third children fighting the Population Police. Instead, it is rushed and unbelievable, with Luke, our hero from the first few books, still unsure of himself and still being led by the voice of his friend Jen instead of thinking things through for himself.

The story picks up with Luke still working for the Population Police while secretly trying to sabotage the organization. Forced to make a life or death decision, Luke panics and leaves the scene. Ms. Haddix then has Luke on the run, meeting people who are there one second and gone the next without lending anything valuable to the plot. I felt as though the author was at a loss at times as to what exactly she wanted Luke to be doing. When he finally does return to headquarters, he unwittingly stumbles upon yet another plot by the Population Police, but still he wavers on what to do. When he finally does make a decision, the action picks up but it suddenly seems so implausible based on his prior actions that Luke becomes a caricature of himself. The ending itself is very rushed and highly unbelievable, and it would have been nice to have more interaction with the other characters Haddix introduced during the series, as well as having Luke return to his family.

While the book does have its moments, overall this was quite a disappointing ending to a good series. I almost got the impression that Ms. Haddix just wanted the book to be done as the story was padded with scenes and people that just didn't matter. The action parts are what saves this rating from two stars. I hope the author decides to write one more book that covers the recovery process for these characters and does justice to a fine series overall.

During this interesting series, the protagionists were a group of third children living under a dictatorship with Chinese-style population laws. You follow about 10 kids through escapes and attacks from the goverment. The novel ends not even mentioning what happens to every one besides Luke Garner, in affect, dropping their characters like a rock. For some unknown reason, a despotism-style goverment ends suddenly when people get fed up with it. No mention is made of what happens to the Population Police's various resources, including: fanitical soldiers, gas, machine guns, tanks, the nation's food supply, a huge military, and a generation of brainwashed citizens. Presumably they all disappered. What then follows is a wad of pages just describing food. I take it no thought was given to what they would do after the all the feasts that effectivily demolish the food supply. If you must finish the series, rent it, but don't waste $17 like I did.

This book is great in almost every aspect of literature and entertainment. It does a great job at showing the human will to survive and basic morale and ethical principals established in societies in today's world. This book helps introduce younger readers and older readers to the world of politics in a strange way. It has many views on right and wrong and is just amazing. I suggest the entire series to anyone who wants a great read.

This was purchased for a student. He had read all other parts of the series and when he finished this book, he was extremely satisfied. Thank you Amazon for having what I was unable to find in local book stores.

I bought these books for our grandson who was in the sixth grade. He read the entire series in 4 weeks. It was wonderful seeing him reading every spare moment he had. He gave up TV and PSP3 to finish these books. That is testimony enough for me showing how fabulous this series is. He is now in 7th grade and re-reading the series.

I wasn't as disappointed with the book as much as I thought I would be after reading some of the reviews on this website. The book definitely had a more satisfying conclusion than the Series of Unfortunate Events. I found the book suspenseful enough to make me want to keep reading it. I do agree with other reviewers that the ending did seem rushed. "Can there really only be a few pages left," I thought to myself. If you have read the other books in the series I would definitely recommend reading this one, but I hope the author will begin another series telling what happens next with these characters. I'd always hoped to see the reunion between Luke and his parents. For the best of MPH, check out Running out of Time. Running Out of Time (Aladdin Fiction)

In any society there are things that are illegal, but what if it was illegal to exist? Luke is a third born child in a society that only allows two children per family. In an attempt to weaken their countries corrupt government, Luke and his friends joined the Population Police (an armed force whose purpose is to find and kill third children) and try to sabotage it from within. But times of rebellion have arisen and the government is overthrown. As different people struggle to gain power, the country is in even more danger. Among the Free, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, wraps up the Shadow Children series perfectly. It is a fast moving book best suited for 6th to 8th graders and anyone that has started the series. Even though they are fictional, a lot of the events and ideas behind the Shadow Children series are based on the Holocaust during World War 2. The idea of genocide (the annihilation of an entire race) stems from the Holocaust, along with the armed forces of the Population Police. They were a take off from the Nazis. All seven books in the series are thrilling page-turners, and earn two thumbs-up from me!

Among the Free: Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Throughout the 6 books in the series of the "Shadow Children", all 3rd born children are illegal, as punishment for breaking this law: the child and parents are sentenced to death without trial, unless the parents decide to become informants for the "Population Police" that are responsible for killing all 3rd children and sometimes parents. Sadly, the reason for all of this madness is food shortages. In order to stop this movement many rebellions have taken place. Unfortunately, the main character Luke, lost his first friend, that was a 3rd born just as he was, in a rally that cost hundreds of people their lives. After this act of insanity Luke was forced to leave home, alone. Incredibly, Luke was sent to a school for all boys which turns out to be a school for 3rd boys! After about 2 years there he was forced to rescue his friend who was taken to be an informant by the Population Police. Incredibly in a burst of hope Luke is courageous enough to join the Population Police in order to get to his friend. Gravely Luke is trapped and cannot escape the Population Headquarters, along with no chance of escape he is sent to Chiutza on a mission to summon villagers to a meeting in town square. Insane as it may seem , one lady refused to move and was sentenced to death, but Luke had to be the one to do it. Scared, Luke ran and dropped the gun on the ground, moments later he hears 2 gunshots that he thinks are towards him but in reality Luke's Sergeant is shot by a villager. Luckily Luke's rebellion was followed by more villages to rebel and the Population Police were taken over, but that isn't the end.

Luke, a third child wanted the population law gone. It was that, because of droughts that nobody was allowed more than 2 children. When he figures out the population police were overthrown he goes to check it out.
What I liked about the book was that it was always exciting. It also had interesting settings. Also the characters were detailed descriptively. Another thing was the characters did things you wouldn't guess. What I didn't like about the book though was that it usually switched topics. Also the characters weren't doing things they liked so it was mostly sad.