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A review by yak_attak
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold
4.5
If Lois McMaster Bujold doesn't ever get a movie pitch for Falling Free, what are we even doing as a society. Grizzled seen-it-all engineering instructor comes into the company's secret project, has to essentially teach rowdy children, gets his heart melted by their plight, ends up leading them on a revolution against the exploitative company who thinks to own them, and helps them out with an ever increasing series of crazy one-in-a-million science experiments.
It fits almost too precisely into a 90's teen science adventure type thing. You know exactly the vibe I mean. You know exactly the plot beats and moments that will happen - this doesn't mean it's all by the numbers, Bujold does fantastic job with the children here, giving them a lot of life, sense of self and agency, while still keeping them as essentially kids who don't really get it yet. This spins into a lot of great commentary about bio-experimentation, corporate overreach, unionization, and general ethics.
The side she does a lesser job with is Leo, the Engineer's character - I think mainly in that the book is too short. This is also to its benefit, I don't know if a plot this simple needs to stick around longer, but we also don't get quite as much time to see how things are at present before they all go to shit. Leo doesn't discover the kids' plight so much as... is 100% on board with breaking them out the second he meets them. That means he's a cool guy, but also means he doesn't get much character development through the story. He's more a vehicle to deliver Science! and Speeches!
Cool scenes, big science, blue collar, anti-corporate, feel good... yeah. Can't complain about this one.
It fits almost too precisely into a 90's teen science adventure type thing. You know exactly the vibe I mean. You know exactly the plot beats and moments that will happen - this doesn't mean it's all by the numbers, Bujold does fantastic job with the children here, giving them a lot of life, sense of self and agency, while still keeping them as essentially kids who don't really get it yet. This spins into a lot of great commentary about bio-experimentation, corporate overreach, unionization, and general ethics.
The side she does a lesser job with is Leo, the Engineer's character - I think mainly in that the book is too short. This is also to its benefit, I don't know if a plot this simple needs to stick around longer, but we also don't get quite as much time to see how things are at present before they all go to shit. Leo doesn't discover the kids' plight so much as... is 100% on board with breaking them out the second he meets them. That means he's a cool guy, but also means he doesn't get much character development through the story. He's more a vehicle to deliver Science! and Speeches!
Cool scenes, big science, blue collar, anti-corporate, feel good... yeah. Can't complain about this one.