12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing ending to a good series, June 30, 2006
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.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing Ending to a Good Series, October 17, 2006
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.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Among the Let-downs, November 17, 2006
A Kid's Review
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.
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