KCR: Freehold (scifi, war)

Image via WikipediaFreehold is the first book of Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold universe, and it is a blast. Freehold of Graine is the only independent colony that does not belong to the UNES, nor the Colonial Alliance. It is where people go... when they have nowhere left to run, and where people go to disappear.

Sergeant Kendra Pacelli is about to get hit with trumped up charges of corruption because she discovered it. Her only chance is to run to Freehold. Once there she had clawed her way out of debt, started a new life... then her world turned upside down AGAIN, when UNES decided that Freehold is too much of a problem to be left alone... and staged an "intervention".  Now, Pacelli must fight using all of her training... both UN and freehold, and protect her new home... or die trying.

The book is an interesting mix of "fish out of water" where the main character, Pacelli, was forced to abandone all she knew and move to Freehold, where NOTHING is the same. The economic system and ethics seem to be completely different, yet seem to make sense. Through odd circumstances she ended up back in military, got trained (her UN training was more of a hindrance), and actually rose in rank... When UN forces came calling, she had to deal with collaborators, glory hounds, and more in order to fight an effective guerilla campaign, and later, join the campaign to liberate Freehold.

The book is brutally honest about the clash of world views. Freehold must look absolutely bizarre to people used to big governments. It's hard to describe, but basically government is so minimal, it's only there to do true public service. There is no welfare, and public safety is NOT police (but more rescue). Good samaritan-ism is rewarded, not punished, as the victim (or his/her insurance) pay the rescuer. So on and so forth. The new social norm is described in detail and in general seem to make sense. It made so much sense, the UN invasion later is even MORE of an contrast.

All in all, the book is worth reading, with the training and military sections at the end quite interesting.

Rating: Get it!

You may also want to read the other book in the series: "The Weapon", which describes undercover agents of Freehold on Earth, ready to cause HUGE amount of havoc (and civilian casualties) to force UN to turn its attention inward and withdraw from Freehold... should UN ever invade Freehold.