The Freedom (or Catteni) Series

I haven't read much science fiction. I watch a lot of science fiction movies and TV shows but I find it difficult to read science fiction books. I get confused with all the different kinds of spaceships, and technical and science jargon. So I tend to avoid most science fiction. Occasionally though, I will find a series (as science fiction is almost always written in series instead of singular books) that I really like and find easy to understand.

My parents recently got really into audio books and listen to them on their way to work. My dad decided to get some Anne McCaffrey books and choose the Freedom Series. On the days I went in to work with him and he was listening to an audio book, I took a book of my own and read during the drive. It worked pretty well, until I heard one of the voices in the series. The character sounded like a Nazgul (the few times you hear them speak) or Emperor Palpatine talking through Vader's helmet. Needless to say, I was intrigued and decided to read the books, which I did this weekend (the series made up four of the eleven books I read).

The series is called both the Freedom Series and the Catteni Series. Freedom because each book has the word "freedom" in the title and the concept of freedom is very important to the story, and Catteni because the Catteni are the alien race that have attacked Earth (or Terra, as they call it). The series was published beginning in 1995 with Freedom's Landing, followed by Freedom's Choice in 1996, Freedom's Challenge in 1998 and Freedom's Ransom in 2002.

As I mentioned, an alien race called the Catteni have invaded Earth. They are humanoid, with grey skin and yellow eyes. Their home planet has a denser gravity than Earth and the other planets in the series, so while they are bulkier than humans they can move quickly. The Catteni have rounded up thousands of humans and taken them from Earth to become slaves. The story begins with Kris Bjornsen on Barevi, a merchant planet with a slave market. Kris inadvertently saves a Catteni man, and together they are captured and dropped on an uncivilized planet. This is a common practice of the Catteni to see if a planet is habitable. Throughout the first novel, the people dropped adjust to their new surroundings. They name the planet Botany and begin making it a home. Zainal, the Catteni, becomes a huge asset to the humans and other alien races and is a major reason they survive. Kris also finds herself falling for him and they begin a relationship.

The rest of the series describes the struggle of the Botanists to regain their freedom. Through Zainal, they learn that the Catteni are just as much victims as the other alien races. They are controlled by the Eosi, our Nazgul sounding friends from earlier. Zainal, Kris, and the other Botanists slowly steal spaceships from the Catteni and begin a rebellion against the Eosi. They manage to kill the Eosi and free Earth, Botany and Catten (the Catteni home planet) from Eosi domination. In the last book, Zainal leads a group from Botany to Earth and then to Barevi to help restore order and regain materials stolen from Earth.

I really liked the series. I loved the description of Botany and the ingenuity of the humans in adapting to their surroundings. I thought it was interesting that the Catteni were just as much victims as the humans and other alien races. I think having the bad guys being controlled by even bigger bad guys was smart and different. I also appreciated the difference in how Catteni raise their children versus how humans raise their children. Not to mention how amusing it was reading about Zainal slowly learning English and then seeing him correct a human's English later. And even though there were a lot of people moving in and out of the series, it was easy to keep track of everyone and like certain people better than others. Not all of the humans were likable either, which was realistic and showed that even after being invaded by aliens some people will be creepers.

For the first major science fiction series I've read, it was easy to read and understand. And it really was very good. What I like so much about fantasy is that it's magical, even if there isn't magic in the story. And since science and magic are at such odds with each other, science fiction doesn't tend to be magical the way fantasy is. But I found the Freedom Series to be magical in a way. Even though there were spaceships and travel between planets, there was still a fantastical element to it. It was certainly more believable than fantasy; it's easier to believe in an alien invasion than in magic wands. And I enjoyed that even through an alien invasion and against tremendous odds, humans fought back and won. It just goes to show what resilient beings we are.