Freedom (TM)

By: Daniel Suarez

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

The propulsive, shockingly plausible sequel to New York Times best seller Daemon.

In one of the most buzzed-about debuts, Daniel Suarez introduced a terrifying vision of a new world order, controlled by the Daemon, an insidious computer program unleashed by a hi-tech wunderkind. Daemon captured the attention of the tech community, became a New York Times and Indie best seller, and left listeners hungry for more. Well, more is here, and it's even more gripping than its predecessor.

In the opening chapters of Freedom, the Daemon is firmly in control, using an expanded network of real-world, dispossessed darknet operatives to tear apart civilization and rebuild it anew. Soon civil war breaks out in the American Midwest, in a brutal wave of violence that becomes known as the Corn Rebellion. Former detective Pete Sebeck, now the Daemon's most powerful - though reluctant - operative, must lead a small band of enlightened humans toward a populist movement designed to protect the new world order. But the private armies of global business are preparing to crush the Daemon once and for all.

In a world of conflicted loyalties, rapidly diminishing human power, and the possibility that anyone can be a spy, what's at stake is nothing less than human freedom's last hope to survive the technology revolution.

©2010 Penguin; 2010 Daniel Suarez

Critic reviews

"Freedom™ surpasses its smart, exciting predecessor. This concluding volume crackles with electrifying action scenes and bristles with intriguing ideas about a frightening, near-future world. The two books combined form the cyberthriller against which all others will be measured.” (Publishers Weekly [starred review]

“Suarez continues his popular technothriller, and Daemon fans will be well be pleased with the exciting conclusion.” (Booklist)

"An engrossing, fast-paced tale of speculative fiction." (SF Site)

Not as good as the first, but still engrossing.

It is a common problem in Science Fiction that sequels are not as good as the first because the ability to suspend disbelief of the main out-of-reality components gets stretched thin by extended scrutiny and elaboration. Freedom suffers this fate a bit due to the use of deus ex machina via battle tech and green tech, and its dance on the border of political style conspiracy theories.(mostly leftwing, but he even nods to the black helicopter wingnuts) Both of these problems were foreseeable in Daemon, and Suarez does make some effort to ameliorate them. However, what he really does to make this a 4 star work is to overlay a gripping plot that will not let you go. I finished this in record time for an audiobook, and enjoyed the book tremendously. So while i still like Daemon better, and did not mind the ending at all, this book is a worthy sequel

Phenomenal

This book is phenomenal! Be sure to listen to "Daemon" first (which is also excellent) so you've got your bearings. Suarez does an amazing job of spinning real world politics in with his world of realistic fictional (for now?) technology. This book made it hard to take off my headphones. My dog certainly enjoyed his extra long walks while I was listening to it.

Another amazing book from Suarez

This sequel shines; it is as technologically plausible as the first book was and it was absolutely thrilling. The ending was fantastic and you are left with a proper sense of justice at the finish.
This book brings the story started in Daemon to a close but, somehow I still want to hear more about the daemon darknet.

Sci fi, with a moral to story.

Once you can accept the first book for what it is, it makes it easier to enjoy the second. This is differently not a 'what if' type of book, but is straight up fiction. After reading some the reviews for the first book, I was expecting some kind of true to life techno worse case tech go wrong story. Far from it. Much of the tech and scenarios are not even possible by today's standards and may not be likely in even another fifty years. It is just a good ol' plain fun sci fi. It did make me wish we had a real life dark net though, sounds so cool.

A good continuation of Daemon

Daemon was one of the most interesting, detailed, engrossing... just near perfect books I've listened to. Freedom (TM) is a worthy follow up but the story somehow was just didn't suck me in the way Daniel Suarez's first book did. Maybe the freshness of how different Daemon was from other books wore off? I can't recommend this book or the first highly enough.

Excellent read!

What made the experience of listening to Freedom (TM) the most enjoyable?

The way Suarez writes this story is fascinating. He makes you care or really dislike the characters with his writing. Looking forward to reading Kill Decision.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jon Ross and Pete Sebeck.

What does Jeff Gurner bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I like how Gurner can play all of the characters.

The trials and tribulations continue

This effort to extend Daemon to it's natural conclusion is admirable in it's scope, and does teach the reader abit more about the rationale behind the DarkNet and it's brilliant founder. Personally I thought the wrap up was abit trite and rushed, but that is a small complaint in the scope of things. Recommended, with the ( obvious ) proviso that you need to read the prequel to make sense of this.

Great book!

I love the book so much I listened to it again! There were a few things that I missed the first time so it was not boring at all. The story is about current and near future technology. Very current with the times! Highly recommend for a tech minded listener.

Amazing

My family can finally get me back from this story! Wow.
Definitely a must listen or read, your choice.
At least you have a choice....

Too violent, but hard to put down

I read this series in September of twenty-seventeen, and it was hard to put down. Some of the scenes took forever to develop, but that was OK thanks to the ability to go double or triple speed.