Official Review: Freedom Diligentia by Mark Van Roosendaal
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- DC Brown
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Official Review: Freedom Diligentia by Mark Van Roosendaal
Freedom Diligentia by Mark Van Roosendaal has everything: an Earth with colonies in space, worlds inhabited by aliens, wars and skirmishes, devastation, and hope. It's a very intricate and detailed story with several combatants in the conflicts presented. For example, Earth has had a civil war with its space colony, Freedom. Freedom won its sovereignty from Communist Earth. At the same time, they have a common enemy, the Uncons, a species that wants to own the universe.
Though this seems to be the main thrust of the story, we begin on an unknown planet with an unknown species, the Borsi, dealing with a wildfire. But it was not a natural wildfire; this fire burns because of an enemy unknown to them. Slowly we learn the natives are quiet and peace-loving. They would have provided what the Uncons need, had they been asked.
The book takes us from one planet to another. There is a civil war on one planet; another is experiencing political upheaval, yet another has never experienced conflict or war. All are in the path of the overwhelming destructive force of the Uncons. Can these different species work together to fight this fierce army? Can they overcome their infighting? Is there any defense against the Uncons?
The author certainly shows excellent imagination. Many science fiction tales give us protagonists that are bi-pedal, humanoid beings as if evolution had only one pathway. The author provides us planets that are not clones of Earth but have varying types of gravity and atmospheres that produce diverse, intelligent beings. His aliens are very different, from slugs to thugs.
While the book has a fascinating premise, it is not particularly well-edited. There are many grammatical errors along the way. The story does not always flow smoothly, often getting bogged down in philosophy and extraneous details. The details of the war are graphic and violent. Things like foul language and explicit sex are not present at all.
This book is for lovers of science fiction. It has a detailed universe, each planet with its species, intelligent and otherwise. As such, I would recommend it to science fiction readers from tweens to those of us who enjoyed Robert Heinlein or followed Gene Rodenberry from the beginning. I enjoyed the details provided by the author of places, species, and things, but because of the poor editing and the points of stagnation in the story, I can only give this book 2 out of 4 stars.
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Freedom Diligentia
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- NetMassimo
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Massimo
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And thanks for your honest review.
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A great review though.
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