The Core Dump
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Review: Freehold
Freehold shares a strong libertarian point of view with science fiction authors like Heinlein.
Unfortunately, the novel is nothing but a libertarian day dream without much of a plot. Essentially, in the near future Earth is under the control of the corrupt United Nations which provides unemployment benefits and other corrupting things which has made Earth become a sort of soot-stained Dickensian nightmare, albeit on the dole and lazy.
The story’s protagonist has been framed for corruption and escapes to Freehold, a libertarian colony where people are strong and carry guns and don’t pay taxes and have great sex without the government bothering them.
After a few hundred pages of that and not much else, this reviewer stopped reading.
Much great science fiction has stemmed from dreaming of different kinds of societies and how they might work, but at the same time there has to be some kind of plot to drive things forward. Unfortunately, Freehold doesn’t have one.
The novel is part of the great Baen Free Library, so if you wish to read it, just click on the link and download to your heart’s content. Just don’t tell the United Nations. They’ll tax you.
Posted Saturday, 03 December, 2005 by Nic Lindh
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