Freedom's Challenge
Read Freedom's Challenge Online
Authors: Anne McCaffrey
“Readers will savor [McCaffrey's] works for generations to come.”
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Starlog
Praise for Anne McCaffrey's Freedom series
Freedom's Landing
“McCaffrey has created another set of winning protagonists and a carefully detailed, exotic background.”
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Publishers Weekly
“There are enough problems and mysteries involved in establishing a colony to keep things interesting and to promise intriguing developments to come.”
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Locus
“Not for nothing do her fans call the author âthe Dragonlady'â¦She crafts a sci-fi adventure that will please followers of the genre and of the author.”
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Dayton Daily News
“Exciting and totally convincingâ¦There can be only more action in the sequels McCaffrey presumably plans.”
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Booklist
“The narrative hits an admirable groove.”
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Kirkus Reviews
Freedom's Choice
“A fun adventureâ¦Delightfully audacious.”
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Locus
“This episode of the Freedom saga is as exciting and convincing as the first.”
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Booklist
“The setting is crisp and expertly detailed, and the plot spins out smoothlyâ¦Readers will be eager for the next installment in the series.”
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Publishers Weekly
Freedom's Challenge
“The action is fast-paced and riveting, and the charactersâhuman and of other speciesâare well limned and exhibit great individuality. McCaffrey continues to amaze with her ability to create disparate, well-realized worlds and to portray believable humans, convincing aliens of varied sorts, and credible interactions between them all. A very satisfying tale.”
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Booklist
“Rip-roaring adventure no science fiction fan could possibly resist.”
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RT Book Reviews
Freedom's Ransom
“Touching and humorous.”
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Publishers Weekly
“McCaffrey is masterly at creating universes and characters so memorable that readers can slip comfortably back into [her] worldâ¦Full of humorous events as well as excitement, the fourth entry in McCaffrey's Freedom series will be relished by fans.”
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Booklist
Praise for the bestselling novels of
Anne McCaffrey's Tower and Hive series
The Rowan
“A reason for rejoicing.”
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The Washington Times
“One of the best McCaffrey novels.”
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Locus
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The Rowan
introduces readers to the Gwyn-Raven dynastyâ¦complete with an interstellar love affair steamy enough to attract those not usually interested in science fiction.”
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Calgary Herald
“A well-told taleâ¦McCaffrey's popularity is immense and justified.”
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Booklist
Damia
“Dynamic.”
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“Holds the reader spellbound [with an] artful weave of romance and humor that infuses her characters.”
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Calgary Herald
“McCaffrey interweaves an engrossing romance with a coming-of-age story as she examines the issue of responsibility in a society where survival depends on the abilities of a gifted few.”
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Publishers Weekly
Damia's Children
“Winning, carefully developed young characters, an attractive alien society, and an enemy drawn with more than a touch of mystery.”
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Publishers Weekly
“McCaffrey's fans won't be disappointedâ¦Fascinating in its exploration of the brain's potential
and untapped powers.”
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The Calgary Sun
“McCaffrey skillfully combines elements of family, adventure, action, and the intriguing possibilities of psychic phenomena.”
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The Toledo Blade
Lyon's Pride
“McCaffrey's protagonists remain as warm and appealing as ever.”
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Publishers Weekly
“McCaffrey continues to spin a good taleâ¦All in all, a rich, compelling novel.”
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Booklist
“Another exciting episode in the thrilling epic of the Rowanâ¦Read and enjoy!”
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RT Book Reviews
The Tower and the Hive
“Readers looking for intelligent, heroic adventure will find it here, and Rowan fans will be especially pleased at this felicitous closing of a popular SF series.”
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Publishers Weekly
“Fans of the series will plunge right in.”
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Kirkus Reviews
“The fifth installment in the author's Rowan series brings to a satisfying culmination the tale of three generations of a uniquely gifted family while leaving room for future novels. McCaffrey's skillful storytelling and fluid writingâ¦make this a necessary purchase.”
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Library Journal
“McCaffrey maintains the high quality of characterization of humans and aliens alike, and, once again, she skillfully interweaves the plot threads, making it easy to follow the action on all fronts.”
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Booklist
Ace Books by Anne McCaffrey
The Tower and Hive Series
The Rowan
Damia
Damia's Children
Lyon's Pride
The Tower and the Hive
The Freedom Series
Freedom's Landing
Freedom's Choice
Freedom's Challenge
Freedom's Ransom
FREEDOM'S
CHALLENGE
A
NNE
M
C
C
AFFREY
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA), LLC
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
For more information about the Penguin Group, visit penguin.com.
FREEDOM'S CHALLENGE
An Ace Book / published by arrangement with the author
Copyright © 1998 by Anne McCaffrey.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Ace Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group.
ACE and the “A” design are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.
For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA),
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-14383-8
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Ace/Putnam hardcover edition / 1998
Ace mass-market edition / June 1999
Cover art by Shane Rebedschied / Shannon Associates.
Cover design by Leslie Worrell.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Dedicated to the memory of
Joe Mulcahy
1980â1997
Don't look back in anger, I hear you say.
No longer mourn for me when I am dead
Than you shall hear the sullen surly bell
Give warning to the world that I am fledâ¦.
SHAKESPEARE
I HAVE, AS USUAL, ACKNOWLEDGMENTS TO make for some of the material used in
Freedom's Challenge.
Especially helpful was Dr. Susan Edwards, Ph.D., social cognitive psychologist, author of
Men Who Believe in Love
, who helped me with the social and trauma techniques, which have been used so successfully to help the victims of catastrophes, both personal and public (such as hostage situations), in recovering their personalities and self-confidence.
Margaret Ball, bless her heart, had all the Swahili and hunted down information about the customs and traditions of the Maasai tribes of East Africa. Fortunately, she also speaks Swahili, though I didn't have to use that much, since so many of the tribal chiefs are fluent enough in English.
I also wish to thank Georgeanne Kennedy for her careful copyediting and invaluable suggestions of what she wanted to know “more about” in this story.
What errors a spell-check, even the most advanced ones, do not catch, the sharp eye of the intelligent reader does. And I give my spell-check a lot of hard names to cope with. Thank goodness it can't complainâ¦ALOUD!
WHEN THE CATTENI, MERCENARIES FOR A RACE called Eosi, invaded Earth, they used their standard tactic of domination by landing in fifty cities across the planet and removing entire urban populations. These they distributed through the Catteni worlds and sold them as slaves along with other conquered species.
A group rounded up from Barevi, the hub of the slave trade, were dumped on an M-type planet of unknown quality, given rations and tools and allowed to survive or not. A former marine sergeant, Chuck Mitford, took charge of the mixed group, which included sullen Turs, spider-like Deski, hairy Rugarians, vague Ilginish, gaunt Morphins, with humans in the majority. There was also one Catteni who had been shanghaied onto the prison ship. Though there were those who wanted to kill him immediately, Kris Bjornsen, lately of Denver, suggested that he might know enough about the planet to help them.
