Despite this book being about trading, while the previous book was about overthrowing the galactic tyrants, it has about the same amount of action.
A few things about this book don't make too much sense, such as where the ships get their fuel from, previously they were stealing it from other planets - but in this book I assume that no longer happens.
Fuel is completely taken out of consideration in travelling to Earth and Barevi from presumably another solar system to trade a few trays of cooked poultry, bags of flour, coffee beans, etc.

But besides all that, I managed to shift my brain off and enjoy the easy pacing of Ms McCaffrey's story telling.

( )

When Kris Bjornsen and her fellow slaves were dumped on an uninhabited planet by the alien overlords called Catteni, there was no guarantee they would survive. Without the help of Zainal, a renegade Catteni exiled by his own people, they might all have been food for the predators of the new world. But they did survive, building a civilization and a home on the planet they named Botany. In time they were instrumental in driving the Catteni away from Earth and neighboring planets. Botany is free now, and so is the devastated Earth.
The survivalist days are over, and the time has come for Botany to find its place in the power struggles of the newly configured universe. As an agricultural planet, rich in resources, Botany has more to offer than the colonists may have thought. A trip to Earth shows Kris and Zainal very dramatically how weakened the home planet is after years of Catteni domination, and how much Earth needs what Botany can give.

Other worlds too have had their wealth skimmed away by the Catteni: the nearby planet of Barevi is little more than a corrupt bazaar, where bits and pieces of Earth's once powerful technology can be traded for grain and mineral ores.

Earth needs food, and the resources to rebuild. Botany needs technology - from solar satellite panels to simple batteries - and, some say, the will to protect itself from being overrun by refugees who may or may not have strength and skills. As alien influence fades, the people of Botany must decide what kind of world they will become. ( )

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. ( )

The Freedom series by McCaffry was one of her best series. It was more Sci-fi and less psy. There are no telepaths, or telekinetic. No teleportation. Just humans on a distant world trying their best to survive when everything around them wants to kill them.

I loved the relationship building between the main character and her alien captive. Also the way they recreate their new society. There are a lot of interesting ideas for making a society work on a rough world, and recreating everything from nothing. Very well done. ( )

*Book source ~ Home library

Having overthrown the Eosi overlords in Freedom’s Challenge, the survivors on Botany, Earth and all the other newly free planets must figure out a way to do more than survive. They need to thrive and in order to do that they need things that the Catteni have looted for the Eosi. Once again, Zainal steps into the breach and comes up with a plan to help all the planets. But is it too far of a reach?

Being free of the Eosi is only the first step and who knew what it would take to get Earth up and running again, not to mention finding what the people of Botany need in order to stay in communication with Earth, Catten and the other planets. I sure didn’t grasp the massive undertaking until Zainal, Kris and everyone else had to tackle it in this book. The clever way they go about it is ingenious and the fact that coffee has become a major form of payment says a lot for its caffeine addictive qualities. I personally can’t stand the stuff, but if it can addict the Catteni enough to use it as payment for much needed technological goods then have it I say. All of the bargaining and trading and rebuilding is endlessly interesting. And the idea of using Botany as a vacation planet has merit. All-in-all a great ending to a favorite series. ( )