Reddit reviews Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1)
We found 4 Reddit comments about Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
We found 4 Reddit comments about Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
MHI is part of Baen's free library. There's a large number of book 1's for various Baen series that remain free permanently on Amazon and other places.
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The last time this was brought up here's what I said:
So Baen is heavier on SciFi than Fantasy/Urban Fantasy...and their authors tend to display their Conservative/Libertarian philosophies a bit more. But they do tell some fun stories if you lean towards their politics or can roll your eyes at that.
There's some others out there that I can't think of, but these are favorites of mine other than MHI...
John Ringo has a fantasy series I haven't gotten to yet and the weakest of his SciFi series up for free. I wish they had Live Free or Die or Through the Looking Glass, which are much much better series, but alas:
http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Dragons-Council-Wars-ebook/dp/B00BER04VI/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-2&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
David Weber does great space navy battles in his Honor Harrington series.
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=la_B000APBAFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879923&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APBAFE
Williamsons Freehold is a Libertarian's utopian heaven, but it's a favorite popcorn read of mine - the latter half is heavy military SF.
http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Book-Michael-Z-Williamson-ebook/dp/B00BEQLTZY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456879862&sr=8-1&keywords=freehold
The Ring of Fire series is about a 1990's era West Virginia coal mining town that gets thrown back into the year 1632 in Europe.
http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456882709&sr=8-4&keywords=1632
>What's with sci-fi/fantasy writers? Is democracy not dramatic enough?
I think most Sci-fi writers take a look at how technology is expected to develop in the future, and can only see how it would help with the subjugation of large groups of people, rather than their liberation. In addition, I think that most of them are in the paradigm that world peace, or some semblance of it, is only achievable through a one-world government so in order to make a 'feasible' world without constant warring states, you have to turn it into one big state that keeps everyone in line.
I mean, if you have interstellar starships full of nuclear weapons, then it becomes really easy to imagine that you can rule a whole planet with a central organization that controls the nukes. Who needs democracy at that point?
Edit: oh, and I should add that they emulate historical trends, where one big empire is generally the way large territories are governed, after one nation makes a large conquest of the surrounding ones. So this 'trend' is assumed to hold into the future, with larger territories held due to the better technology.
Additionally, the more technology develops, the more prosperous we tend to become. The more prosperous we become, the larger the government leech is able to grow, and the more the government leech can grow... the more powerful its military can become (+ technology). The more powerful a military becomes, the larger a population it can successfully control.
Thus, when you extrapolate technology/prosperity growth into the future, its easy to imagine a giant country like China or the U.S. building up a giant, technologically advanced army and conquering the planet or most of it (maybe doing so 'peacefully,' even. Which is to say "united under our banner or we nuke you.").
Anyone who is still in the statist paradigm will have a REALLY hard time imagining a free society being the dominant social organization since they don't think such a thing is feasible on any scale, much less a planetary/interplanetary one.
But with that said, you just need to seek out the right Sci-fi authors:
Others are certainly out there if you look.
Freehold Book 1 is currently free on Amazon and the 21 hour ebook is only $1.99. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEQLTZY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
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