Falling Free

Is Bujold's novel as good to listen to as it is to read?

• Falling Free
• By Lois McMaster Bujold
• Narrated by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan
• The Reader's Chair
• 7 cassettes/9 hours, 9 minutes

eo Graf is an elder statesman engineer. His exemplary safety record and standards have earned him a position on GalacTech's null-G orbital habitat, teaching its denizens free-fall welding and construction. Upon arrival he discovers his students are genetically engineered space workers -- human, but with no legal rights. They are owned by GalacTech and are classified as "post-fetal experimental tissue."

The quaddies, as they are known, have been designed well. Their bones don't decalcify, they self-replicate and their legs and feet have been replaced with an extra set of arms and hands (which would cripple them outside of free-fall). They are even programmed genetically and socialized for cooperation and obedience.

GalacTech expects to make a killing farming out its specialized labor force to space construction projects. However, when an artificial gravity mechanism is marketed by a competitor, quaddie labor is no longer cost-competitive. GalacTech writes off the loss and plans to sterilize the quaddie population and warehouse them for the rest of their lives on a desolate planet surface. Leo Graf, who has until now insulated his mind against looming ethical dilemmas, finds himself faced with a life-defining decision.

Bujold's literary style is militaristic, scientific and well suited to the audio format. As a hardcover read, Falling Free might come on strong with engineering and environmental detail, but suffer in characterization. As narrated by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan, however (he does the male points of view, she the female), the characters are lent a strength and presence they might not legitimately have in print alone.

The prospect of listening to seven tapes more than nine hours long may seem burdensome or unwieldy, at least to the audiotape-uninitiated. But about forty-five minutes into the tale, the ear becomes accustomed to the theater of the mind, and it would probably be awkward to try to switch back to traditional print.

Like the slogan on the cassette box says, Falling Free is "a good story well told." Hints of what it might be like living in null-G are well-integrated into the plot, and the story itself arises fairly believably out of mostly-believable characters. Curiously enough, the characters with the least emotional credibility are the traditional two-legged ones. Bujold swaddles her traditional humans in only the usual descriptions and motivations. This doesn't inflict too much harm on the story except at the very end, when the predictability of these characters becomes more obvious and pat, making them seem like they're taking stage direction instead of taking action.

I'd never before experienced a book on audiotape. I was doubtful of the enjoyableness of the experience, but am now a complete convert and shall investigate libraries and catalogues. It's a great, rewarding medium, and not just for folks with eyestrain. -- Tamara I

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