Falling Free [Import] [Paperback]

Lois McMaster Bujold (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (May 18, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747232423
• ISBN-13: 978-0747232421
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who actually own genetically engineered products?, June 28, 1999

By 

R. D. Allison ([e-mail]) (Gainesville, Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Falling Free (Nebula Award Stories) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ms. Bujold's novel won the 1988 Nebula Award for best science fiction novel of the year. It is centered in an orbiting workstation of a megacorporation. The corporation has genetically engineered humans (most of whom are teenagers or younger) having no legs and four arms, called quaddies, so that they are more effective and efficient in a zero gravity environment. The corporation considers them property rather than workers since it was the corporation that actually made them. A visiting welding instructor and engineer named Leo Graf sets out to free them. Actually, this novel is a part of Bujold's science fiction series, most of which are centered around members of the Vorkosigan family. The action in "Falling Free" occurs about 200 years before the action in Bujold's first novel, "Shards of Honor" (1986). The question of who is the real owner of genetically engineered products is a hot topic in biochemistry and molecular biology circles today and, believe it or not, Ms. Bujold's novel has been discussed.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Graet story, greater characters., September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Falling Free (Nebula Award Stories) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is only marginally in the Vorkosigan Saga, but this does not make it a minor book by Bujold. The story is breath-taking, as are all Bujold stories. But the depth of some characters (Leo Graf in particular) is maybe even better here. Bujold's remarkable humanism, which is a constant throughout her work (Ethan of Athos, Mountains of Mourning, etc.) is here at its best.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun sci-fi adventure with some deeper philosophical issues, July 19, 2001

By 

Aimee "reader extraordinaire" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Falling Free (Nebula Award Stories) (Mass Market Paperback)

I absolutely love Lois McMaster Bujold; she is one of my all-time favorite authors. But one of the problems I have with recommending her books is that I don't know where to start! It's hard to find the beginning of her Vorkosigan series. Falling Free, although not really part of the series, is the chronological beginning and a good introduction to LMB. In this book (as with all her books), she combines intelligence, humor, drama, and a touch of philosophy and blends them into a rollicking, quick-moving adventure story. This particular novel also has some good, hard science-fictional ideas, ideas which I found fascinating.