Liberty's Daughter
-
-
4.5 • 11 Ratings
-
-
- $5.99
-
- $5.99
Publisher Description
Beck Garrison lives on a seastead — an archipelago of constructed platforms and old cruise ships, assembled by libertarian separatists a generation ago. She's grown up comfortable and sheltered, but starts doing odd jobs for pocket money.
To her surprise, she finds that she's the only detective that a debt slave can afford to hire to track down the woman's missing sister. When she tackles this investigation, she learns things about life on the other side of the waterline — not to mention about herself and her father — that she did not expect. And that some people will stop at nothing to keep her from talking about . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kritzer (Chaos on CatNet) shows off her worldbuilding chops in this impressive mystery set in a near future world in which a group of "libertarian separatists" have built an archipelago of man-made islands in the Pacific Ocean near the California coast. Each of the six islands is an independent country, with differing approaches to which laws—if any—apply to their citizens. For example, on the least-restrictive, Lib, "it's legal to kill people," but the hope is that murder will be deterred by the prospect of an equally permissible revenge killing. Kritzer makes this world plausible through the eyes of her endearing protagonist, 16-year-old Beck Garrison, who earns money tracking down hard-to-find goods for clients across the islands. Her latest job—a request for size eight sandals—leads her to Debbie Miller, an indentured laborer on the island of Amsterdam, who agrees to hand over the footgear only if Beck locates Debbie's missing sister, Lynn, who hasn't been heard from for weeks. Beck's resourcefulness and audacity garner a clue to Lynn's whereabouts—but chasing this trail also uncovers a sinister plot, places Beck's life in danger, and reveals secrets about her life and the world that Beck's powerful father, Paul, has been keeping from her. The political critique is sharp and the mystery is gripping. Admirers of Chris McKinney's Water City trilogy will be riveted.
Customer Reviews
Near Future Novel which Explores a Libertarian Society on a Sea Stead
“Liberty’s Daughter” is the newly released novel by Naomi Kritzer, who is probably best known for her excellent short stories. Many of these have been collected into her noteworthy anthology, “Cat Pictures Please.” She’s also written a duo of young adult books.
“Liberty’s Daughter” takes the reader to a gritty near future world where libertarians and others have established a sea stead in the Pacific Ocean. This community consists of a number of decommissioned ships, platforms, and other structures all gathered together. These have differing levels of rules of law, from none to few. This loose confederation of inhabited structures was founded by rich individuals who wanted to escape from the heavy hand of governments, and live as they wished. Others come here to escape the law, or to start over where their past doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is wealth, which more or less equals power.
Beck (short for Rebecca) is the titular daughter of the sea stead, she’s lived here with her father since she was four. She’s now 16, and works as a finder. She seeks out items or services that people want or need in the limited environment of the ‘stead. She has just been commissioned to find a person, a sister of a bond-worker who has vanished. This journey leads her into the grim reality of the lower-class laborers who are exploited by some of the more powerful residents of the stead. These workers are beginning to organize, and this is a terrible thing to many in power.
Overall, I found the novel compelling. It’s an exploration of the darker underside of a libertarian society. Beck seems pivotally involved in the events of a transformative time in the history of her society, and this is a point at which I sometimes was taken slightly out of the story. However, with a little suspension of disbelief, I was able to continue my enjoyment of the novel. The vision of this near-future society isn’t utopian, and tends to the darker aspects of human nature. However, the overall narrative is positive, and Beck’s story turns out well in the end. I’d recommend this novel as a very different and interesting read, that explores a novel setting. Good science fiction explores the “what if” questions in settings that are logical extensions of the ramifications of possibilities. This is exactly that, and it does a good job of exploring its questions.