Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Falling Free  By  cover art

Falling Free

By: Lois McMaster Bujold
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.22

Buy for $13.22

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Leo Graf was just your average highly efficient engineer: mind your own business, fix what's wrong, and move on to the next job. But all that changed on his assignment to the Cay Habitat, where a group of humanoids had been secretly, commercially bioengineered for working in free fall.

Could he just stand there and allow the exploitation of hundreds of helpless children merely to enhance the bottom line of a heartless mega-corporation?

He hadn't anticipated a situation where the right thing to do was neither safe, nor in the rules. Leo adopted a thousand quaddies. Now all he had to do was teach them to be free.

©1988 Lois McMaster Bujold (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

Nebula Award Finalist, Best Novel, 1988

"Superb....Read, or you will be missing something extraordinary." (Chicago Sun-Times)

"Bujold's best work in my opinion." (Science Fiction Chronicle)

Featured Article: 12 of the Best Sci-Fi Series in Audio


From the furthest reaches of space to the microbiology of pandemics and gene manipulation, to the future implications of technology for societies similar to our own, science fiction is a fascinating genre that offers listeners a wide variety of ways to access its themes. In looking for the best sci-fi audiobook series, it can be difficult to know where to start due to the genre's sheer number of iterations and variations. But what these series have in common is an acute devotion to telling a good story, as well as fully building out the worlds therein. The writing is enhanced by the creative and impassioned narration.

What listeners say about Falling Free

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,736
  • 4 Stars
    1,014
  • 3 Stars
    391
  • 2 Stars
    73
  • 1 Stars
    29
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,745
  • 4 Stars
    758
  • 3 Stars
    220
  • 2 Stars
    39
  • 1 Stars
    7
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,481
  • 4 Stars
    848
  • 3 Stars
    357
  • 2 Stars
    64
  • 1 Stars
    26

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good book, give it time

It takes a little while to get in to, but great book in the end. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not as refined as her later works.

Falling Free is interesting and worth a read if you want the whole Barayar story line, but not as good as her later work. still, it was entertaining.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

nice background story

Like the book Ethen of Athos, this story has little baring on the rest of the Vorkosigan saga, but it is great background on one of the bio-engineered races mentioned in various books of the series. As usual, Grover does a great job with his narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First in the Series

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I liked this book and look forward to reading the next one.

What did you like best about this story?

Strong woman character.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

He is competent.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Space thriller!

Any additional comments?

As noted above, looking forward to the next book in the saga.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Sci Fi Sociology

Reminiscent of Heinlein, this deals with the personhood of the genetically engineered. A bit dated and heavy-handed, but good solid work in the genre. I'm surprised it's a jumping off point for a series, it didn't have that feel to me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

quality story, writing and performance

quality story, writing and performance... looking forward to the rest of the series. good read.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This was great!

It's like a great mixture of Robert Heinlein and McCartney!
I can't wait to hear the next book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Al
  • 07-19-22

Wonderful world building and characters

This is a wonderful book and well worth the read. I have reread this book 5 times over the years, often as the start of rereading the Miles Vorkosigan series. This last time I listened to the audible version and enjoyed it. The story is really best thought of as YA fiction, and is wonderfully fun in execution. The scope of the world is amazing both in terms of the vision of the future and the perceptive approach to how people behave.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Engaging space tale with an ethical twist

This was great story that reveals human biases inherent in profiteering and the ethical question of what constitutes being human.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Review for Falling Free

I thought this book was very original, very entertaining, and very bold. I would definitely recommend it to anybody who enjoys sci-fi.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!