4 stars because I really got into it and couldn't put it down.
Not 5 stars as it is not quite top standard.
McCaffrey is always an easy to read author.
Strong female lead character, most others chop and change too much to get quite a read on their personalities. ( )

I read a fair amount of McCaffrey's work back in my twenties, but hadn't encountered this particular novel, so when it turned up on sale in Kindle format, I looked forward to re-acquainting myself with a favorite author. The brief description of the plot had me looking forward to something perhaps in the same vein as Godwin's Space Prison (a.k.a. The Survivors). Alas, Freedom's Landing was an unpleasant surprise.

I found the characters largely two-dimensional, the plot poorly developed, and the dynamic between protagonist Kris Bjornson, and Zainal predictable and uninteresting. It was pretty much inevitable from right from their first meeting that they were going to eventually become lovers. At least this wasn't too raunchy, but even so, I got a vibe of those ho-hum "Human woman abducted by virile humanoid space aliens who finds her irresistible" soft-core porn pot-boilers.

It's often the case that an author whose work I like occasionally publishes a book that I don't enjoy. That's only to be expected. It's also true that my tastes in books have evolved considerably since those long-ago days of my teens and twenties, to the point that books that I loved at that age make me cringe today. Without going back to re-read McCaffrey classics like The Ship Who Sang, I suppose I can't be certain whether it's just the Catteni setting that irks me, or if I just don't like this author's work anymore. I suspect it's the former, and I may well circle back to an older book or two of hers that I remember fondly, just to find out for sure. But at this point, I've no intention of reading further in the Catteni series. ( )

It's the dawning of a new age for mankind when the Catteni descend to Earth and easily overcome the Earth's population. Thousands are herded onto slave ships headed for the intergalactic auction block.
Kris Bjornsen is captured in Denver on her way to her college classes and wakes up on the primitive planet Barevi. Courageous and resourceful, she manages a single-woman escape from the Catteni and is living in the wilds of the planet when she comes to the aid of a Catteni soldier pursued by his own ranks.

Recaptured together, they join forces with other slaves to outwit their captors and a hostile planetary environment.

Readers will delight in this "against-the-odds" story of survival, ingenuity and romance. ( )

Anne McCaffrey is one of my all time favorite authors and was one of the first fantasy authors I ever read. Her books can come across as a bit dated now but on the whole I quite enjoy them. Her world building is wonderful and I always find her characters engaging. The Catteni series is one of my favorites by her. ( )

[Freedom's Landing] is the story of Kristin, who was snatched from her Denver neighborhood and taken to a distant planet as a slave by the Catteni's. This is a survivalist story, and not a very good one. I'm not a sci-fi or space fan so perhaps this book is better than I think. I listened to this on audio and the characterizations were not good. Mitford's southern is very much put upon and the Australian accent is abysmal. Also too much focus on a man's "member" and no need for so much taking the Lord's name in vain--it added nothing to the story. Sigh. 331 pages 2.5 stars ( )