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)

hi tech suspense

This series is amazing. The technology and world events made this book hard to stop. Characters were deep and easy to follow. Can't wait for more from this author!

The very best

Possibly one of the best books ever written. An absolute must read for anyone who is dissatisfied with the establishment but has never really vibed with the alternative options offered by your fellow peers. Ive read the physical book over a dozen times and still couldn’t hold back from buying this and the predecessors on audio. Jeff does a fantastic job with the narration i especially liked the audio effects added to the voices for when they were coming from the daemon.

Wow!

What a captivating story. Wish I could live in this kind of future! Maybe someday we all will.
Great job, thank you

Fitting End to a Great Book

I was raving about the first book in this series (Daemon)... And the raving shall continue! Jeff Gurner came back and did a great job in the narration once more. There were not as many twists in this one bit that is not to say at all that there were none. I found myself listening to the book downright non-stop! There is nothing I can truly say right now than I dare you not to enjoy this book.... I dare you....

Even better than Daemon

I really enjoyed Daemon and wasn't sure if I would like a sequel as well. Well, I did. In fact I think this book is even better. In Freedom the author fully develops a future that could be. It has a terrible bloody start in Daemon but it is like humanity gets a redo on how we want to live our society. And this is without throwing us back into the stone age as many sci-fi tales do.

I found myself fascinated listening to this book and didn't want to hit the pause button. These are the only books I've heard so far with Jeff Gurner but he is an excellent narrator.

Great Continuation of Deamon!

Where does Freedom (TM) rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It is high up on the list, but I am careful to listen to well rated performances and stories. I read the reviews before buying. Freedom ranks well, but I have no scale to explain it any other way.
I require well rated stories, well rated performances, and almost every book I grab from Audible is in this category.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Freedom (TM)?

I have a need to read historically accurate and feasible story lines. They need to take me away from my current reality and not stumble on inconsistencies. Each time the story went in a direction, it was never over the top - in other words the love story was not too much, the anger from the men and their ambition were not too much, etc.
Overall the pacing was perfect, the performance was great - except for the men performing the female voices - the story was truly a continuation of the first book Deamon.
The most memorable moment was the historical background on China. Here is an example of how Suarez has placed himself above other authors. He has spent time truly learning history and integrating that into the book, and teaching people about it. This really made me LVOE the book. The second most memorable moment is the fact that the human race is in fact flawed by their organic limits - emotionally. How greed does prevent us from obtaining higher evolution of a society, as well as the ego's of great rulers.
A big point was - a machine is probably better suited to keep us in line than we are as human beings. This statement is hard to support if not for the history of humanity. Simply look at the Greeks, the Romans, Mayans, Isla de Pascua, England, Germany, Stalin's RUSSIA, Crusades, etc. We seem to have nature build in self-destruct timers in both our heath as individuals as well as societies.

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

The voices of Loki, the synthsized voice of Sobel, the German accent of Werner, the inflection of each character juxtaposed to their motives, backgrounds and each maintaining a consistent mentality through the story.

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

How I Learned to Stop Worrying About The Deamon

Any additional comments?

As mentioned in my previous review of the first book of this series, I would like to see a woman perform the female parts of this performance. But I love Jeff's performance and consistency in both volumes.

Fun book BUT you MUST read Daemon 1st

Great follow up to Daemon, well read and very interesting vision of US future. This is a techno thriller with balls and terrifyingly plausible. Send your money but only if you have read Daemon.

Great Audio Book

The best audio books are ones where the narration adds to the story. Freedom is a "narration added" book. Suarez, the author, is a worthy successor to Michael Crichton: he shows the same attention to detail while asking the question, "what if we went --this-- far?"

Easily five stars.

Thought-provoking & Engrossing, Superb Narration

Continuing where DAEMON left off, this book really succeeds on several levels.

It's full of action and keeps you on the edge of your seat with anticipation.

It offers a critique of modern civilization where greedy elites manipulate and control the majority and treat them like cattle.

It posits a popular internet revolution that creates the seeds for a more democratic, more ecological, and more just world, but it adds this element without beating you over the head with a message.

This isn't just science fiction, it is the type of science fiction that is grounded in a thorough understanding of the way the world works and then builds an innovative antithesis that makes you ask yourself critical questions about how our world could be improved, and Daniel Suarez does all this in a fun, action-packed novel that you almost can't put down.

Production values on this audiobook are top drawer. You could easily distinguish who was saying what and even minor characters were fully differentiated (accents, regional speech patterns, etc). Really superb narration.

Very Good

I really enjoyed it I think it will make for a good series for a book report I have to do