The Price of Freedom

After discovering what The Price of Safety and The Price of Rebellion are in the first two outings in Michael C Bland’s dystopian trilogy, we finally get to see what The Price of Freedom is in this final outing. In a world in which everyone has been rendered blind unless they wear technology, you cannot believe what you see as illicit groups are controlling what is beamed into your upgrades. The sky looks blue, the President looks real, but in reality, the world is ending. 

We have already seen that Dray Quintero will do anything to save his family. This could be joining a rebellion to save one daughter, only to abandon them to save another. This third outing opens with most of Dray’s family captured and tortured. The latest plan by the Zion group is to map the minds of the rebels so they can preempt any future uprising. Can Dray escape once again and finally get the people of America to wake up and remove the digital scales from their eyes? With the aid of his brilliant daughters, perhaps. 

The Freedom series has always been action packed, and this third outing does not disappoint in this area. There are some epic set pieces from an early prison escape to a finale that is worthy of the epic page count over three books. Closing a series can be tricky, and you need to hit the landing to satisfy the fans. This is one area that Freedom does exceptionally well. Bland ties up many of the loose ends in the story and give just the right glimpse of what the future may hold for the characters. 

Along with the action, the other theme that dominated the series was what people would do for their family. In the case of Dray, he uniformly does what is best for his family and not for the greater cause. In book two this leads indirectly to the mass destruction of the rebellion and Dray and his family end up captured anyway. If it is not Dray going off to help his family, it is his estranged wife who is betraying them. 

This theme is strong and does give the book identity, but it does also beggars belief at times. Dray is so blinkered that he is unable to see that his actions hurt and kill other families. There is no noble sacrifice here, until...... Book three finally sees Dray realise that what is best for the rebellion may just be best for his family. Finally, the Quintero family and the rebellion are on the same page. How the rebels are willing to trust them again is beyond me. 

Some of the family drama was too heightened for me, taking on a soap opera like level of passion, but it is a passion that drives the book. As an author, Bland tackles everything with gusto; the character development, the enemies, the action. It is all heightened, making it feel like a modern take on a 70s pulp science fiction novel. For fan who likes their action fast, their character choices crazy, Freedom, and the series as a whole, is good fun.