
Falling Free
- 307
- Pages
- about 6 h
- Reading time
- Nebula Award for Best Novel
- Prometheus Award - Hall of Fame
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Our view
“Falling Free” is a space adventure built on one strong idea: what becomes of people engineered for a job once the job no longer needs them. Set in the Vorkosigan universe before the main story, it follows four-armed workers living weightless on a space station. Some readers find the love story dated, the characters a little flat and the pace slack in places; others relish the way company rules get turned against the company.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Falling Free is a science fiction novel by American writer Lois McMaster Bujold, part of her Vorkosigan Saga. It was first published as four installments in Analog from December 1987 to February 1988, and was included in the 2007 omnibus Miles, Mutants and Microbes.
Reading order · The Vorkosigan Saga
Full order & progress →- Shards of HonorStart here
7.57.5 / 10 - The Warrior's Apprentice
–Not ranked yet - Ethan of Athos
7.57.5 / 10 - Falling FreeThis book
7.67.6 / 10 - Brothers in Arms
7.97.9 / 10 - Borders of Infinity
7.97.9 / 10 - WeathermanWeatherman–Not ranked yet
- Barrayar
8.18.1 / 10 - Mirror Dance
8.28.2 / 10 - Cetaganda
7.97.9 / 10 - Labyrinth
–Not ranked yet - Memory
8.38.3 / 10 - Komarr
8.08.0 / 10 - A Civil Campaign
8.18.1 / 10 - Winterfair Gifts
7.87.8 / 10 - Diplomatic Immunity
7.97.9 / 10 - Cryoburn
7.77.7 / 10 - Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
8.08.0 / 10 - Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen
7.67.6 / 10 - The Flowers of Vashnoi
–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.3 across 196 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 57% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Science fiction average of 7.8. That is how 7.6 comes out. A further +0.10 comes from the small bonus for major awards.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.5 | 19 | 10% |
| Google Books | 7.0 | 7 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 7.3 | 170 | 87% |
Frequently asked
How long is Falling Free?
It has 307 pages — shorter than 78% of the ranked books in Science fiction.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Science fiction — and a score of 7.6, the closest to this book.





