Falling Free

Falling Free is the early Lois McMaster Bujold novel that won the 1988 Nebula and that set up what became one of the most beloved SF series of the late 20th century. The book is technically a Vorkosigan-universe prequel, set centuries before Miles Vorkosigan is born. The protagonist is Leo Graf, a freelance welding engineer who takes a contract to teach Quaddies, a genetically engineered human variant whose four arms (no legs) make them perfect for zero-gravity work.

What Bujold does with the premise is what she does with most of her premises: she takes a slightly strange SF concept and uses it to write a serious moral novel about labor exploitation, corporate responsibility, and what it means to genuinely care about people whose situation you only stumbled into. Leo is a wonderful protagonist. The Quaddies (Tony, Silver, the engineering students) are full characters.

The book is short, the prose is clear, and the closing chapters have the kind of weight Bujold would later make her signature. Five stars. A great Bujold standalone and a useful introduction to the writer who would go on to write Miles.