Falling Free

Plot summary

Set about 200 years before the birth of Miles Vorkosigan, the novel concerns the Quaddies, genetically modified humans with four arms instead of legs, designed for zero-gravity labor. Legally classified as post-fetal experimental tissue cultures, they are treated as chattel slaves by the company that created them, which controls their breeding and indoctrination. When new artificial gravity technology renders the Quaddies obsolete, the company plans to dump them on a planet in an isolated camp.

Bipedal engineer Leo Graf, hired to teach them construction techniques, instead organizes a mass escape to a remote star system. Bujold has noted that Falling Free was the first half of an intended story; the unwritten second part would have depicted the Quaddies settling into what became known as Quaddiespace. Diplomatic Immunity, published in 2002, revisits the Quaddies in their home system about 240 years after the colony's founding.

Characters

Leo Graf, a genetically unmodified human engineer based on the author's father, is hired to train the Quaddies in space-engineering practices. Unaware of their nature until arrival, he becomes sympathetic and devises their escape. Silver, a young female Quaddie, assists Graf and later falls in love with him. Bruce Van Atta, Graf's boss and the primary villain, views the Quaddies as a stepping stone for his career.

Reception

Falling Free won the 1988 Nebula Award for Best Novel. At Reactor, Jo Walton described it as a very traditional science fiction book with the best bit being the science, though she found the romance between Silver and Leo unconvincing and noted the work is less technically accomplished than Bujold's later novels. The SF Site observed a general lack of subtlety and finesse that Bujold would later develop, and faulted Bruce Van Atta as unrelievedly nasty, but praised the lively dialogue and bright spots of wit.