Freedom's Ransom by Anne McCaffrey

Enslaved on an uninhabited planet by the alien Eosi, Kristin Bjornsen and her fellow humans not only survived against all odds to colonize the world now known as Botany, but liberated themselves from their captors and claimed it as their home... The colonists could not have achieved victory without the help of the exiled Catteni alien, Zainal, who helped Kris contact other races subjugated by the Eosi, and inspired the rebellion that freed them all. To ensure Botany's future, its people must build alliances. In the wake of alien devastation, Earth has been looted of its technology-technology Botany desperately needs. If Kris and Zainal can reclaim the stolen goods, they can assist Earth while setting a foundation for Botany's place in the universe... Editorial Reviews Masterly [and] memorable.--Booklist Touching and humorous.--Publishers Weekly Touching and humorous.-Publishers Weekly McCaffrey is masterly at creating universes and characters so memorable that readers can slip comfortably back into [her] world...Full of humorous events as well as excitement, the fourth entry in McCaffrey's Freedom series will be relished by fans.-Booklist - From the Publisher Coffee, not oil, becomes black gold in this eagerly awaited fourth volume in McCaffrey's intriguing Catteni/Freedom series (Freedom's Landing, etc.), which focuses on the business side of revolution. On Earth and the planets Barevi and Botany in the not-so-distant future, the traditional gold standard has fallen and coffee, fresh bread and meat become more valuable than diamonds when trading for the technological parts stolen by greedy Catteni mercenaries for the evil Eosi. These vital aerospace supplies will aid Terrans and Botany colonists seeking independence from the Eosi, whose barbaric routine of loot, pillage and destroy includes removing entire urban populations and selling them to other Catteni worlds as slaves. I dropped. I stay, is the rallying cry of Zainal, a rebel Catteni who's taken from a prison on Barevi, a trading center for the Catteni Empire, and dropped with other slaves of assorted species on Botany, owned by the mysterious Farmers. Zainal becomes a reluctant leader of the other slaves and becomes mate to Terran Kris Bjornsen. Zainal and his team ultimately undertake two missions one to Earth, to acquire coffee beans and dental equipment for Dr. Eric Sachs, Botany colonist and former Manhattanite, and one to Barevi, to barter the beans and dentistry, turning this installment into an entertaining lesson on supply and demand. The visit to a bleak Manhattan after the Eosian looting is as disturbing, touching and humorous as the trading in the Barevian market. (June 10) FYI: The first woman ever to win both the Hugo and the Nebula awards, McCaffrey was the recipient of the American Library Association's 1999 Margaret A. Edwards Life Achievement Award. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. - Publishers Weekly This agonizingly slow story continues the series that began with Freedom's Landing, then on to Freedom's Choice and Freedom's Challenge. The humans and other species who live on the planet Botany are all former slaves of the Catteni, a race that controlled many worlds, including the now-ravaged Earth. Here the Botanists seek to kick-start their economy by ransoming back materials looted by the Catteni. The tale lifelessly chronicles how heroine Kris Bjornsen, the renegade Catteni Zainal, and a plethora of lesser characters plan and execute the trading mission while exploiting the Catteni's taste for coffee and cosmetic gold tooth caps (this last involves a deadly dull dentistry subplot). Dick Hill's consistent voice characterizations cannot overcome the weak plot and complete lack of action. Independent of the series, Ransom is too weak to stand alone; even if the prior tapes did well at your library, consider carefully. For fans only.-Douglas C. Lord, formerly with Connecticut State Lib., Hartford Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. - Library Journal Addition to McCaffrey's series (Freedom's Challenge, 1998, etc.) about the multispecies colonists of planet Botany, dropped involuntarily there by the catlike Catteni after they conquered Earth. Now, though, the Eosi, who dominated the Catteni, have been defeated and driven away; Earth is again free. But the planet's infrastructure and economy have been smashed; many of the manufactures needed to rebuild civilization were looted by the Catteni and deposited on the merchant planet Barevi. Despite a lack of buyers, the Barevi traders refuse to yield the looted goods. So Kris Bjornsen, her lover Zainal the Catteni, and the other Botanists must find a way to recover the goods through trade. But what to trade? Well, the Catteni are hooked on coffee, so the Botanists maneuver to pick up a big load of fresh-roasted Kenyan. And the Catteni, much given to fighting, frequently loose or break teeth; gold teeth are both stylish and fashionable, and dentistry is not among Catteni accomplishments. One of the Botanists happens to be a dentist: he's able to pick up supplies and equipment in half-ruined New York . . . If none of this sounds particularly exciting or enthralling-that's because it isn't. An unlikely and soporific concatenation of aliens, coffee, dentistry, and shopping: for dogged series fans only. - Kirkus Reviews