The Freedom Race, Lucinda Roy
The Freedom Race, Lucinda Roy
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The Freedom Race

Author: Lucinda Roy

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh

Unabridged: 19 hr 17 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/13/2021

Synopsis

"Adjoa Andoh's heartfelt narration enriches this speculative story set in a near-future America after a second civil war." -AudioFile Magazine

The Freedom Race, Lucinda Roy’s explosive first foray into speculative fiction, is a poignant blend of subjugation, resistance, and hope.

The second Civil War, the Sequel, came and went in the United States leaving radiation, sickness, and fractures too deep to mend. One faction, the Homestead Territories, dealt with the devastation by recruiting immigrants from Africa and beginning a new slave trade while the other two factions stood by and watched.

Ji-ji Lottermule was bred and raised in captivity on one of the plantations in the Homestead Territories of the Disunited States to serve and breed more “muleseeds." There is only one way out—the annual Freedom Race. First prize, freedom.

An underground movement has plans to free Ji-ji, who unknowingly holds the key to breaking the grip of the Territories. However, before she can begin to free them all, Ji-ji must unravel the very real voices of the dead.

Written by one of today’s most committed activists, Lucinda Roy has created a terrifying glimpse of what might be and tempered it with strength and hope. It is a call to justice in the face of an unsettling future.

A Macmillan audio production from Tor Books

About Lucinda Roy

LUCINDA ROY is an award-winning novelist, poet, and memoirist. The Bird Tribe is her ninth book. A distinguished professor emerita, who co-founded the MFA program in creative writing at Virginia Tech, she relocated to speculative fiction for this Dreambird Chronicles trilogy because of the freedom it offered to enter realms a rigid adherence to realism doesn’t allow. Her commentaries have appeared in numerous newspapers and journals, including USA Today, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has lived and taught on three continents and is recognized for her keynotes on creative writing, diversity, campus safety, and higher education.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Talia

3.75/5 stars The Freedom Race by Lucinda Roy is the story of a girl, Ji,-Ji who wants nothing more to enter the freedom race and petition for the freedom of her love ones. ⁣ ⁣ This is a good book. A smart book. A carefully designed book. The world-building is meticulous and literary. This is the type o......more

Goodreads review by Amanda

I was sent this book and the sequel, which comes out tomorrow! (July 5, 2022) When I read the synopsis, this one felt like so many fantasy / speculative fiction works out there. I've read quite a few of them. But, I've requested oh so many books from Tor just for my hopes to be dashed. So, I'm doing......more

Goodreads review by Mary

This book will destroy you. It is very uncomfortable to read and that is the point. The base history of this story is what would have happened if the insurrection had truly succeeded. The United States has splintered and territories have reverted back to slavery where shades of skin tones can determ......more

Quotes

Praise for The Freedom Race

“Every now and then a work comes along that makes you wonder whether you are reading or dreaming. And you’re not sure it matters which.”—Nikki Giovanni

“You ever have the feeling that if you don’t read something, you may be missing out on something momentous happening? . . . I got that vibe from the first page of The Freedom Race. It has a prescience about it in the tradition of Octavia Butler. . . . If ‘resilience’ was a book, it would be The Freedom Race.”—Maurice Broaddus, author of Buffalo Soldier

“Roy (The Hotel Alleluia) turns to speculative fiction for the first time with this lyrical, Afrofuturist hero’s quest set in the not-too-distant future. ...[Ji-Ji's] harrowing but profoundly spiritual quest for sovereignty against all odds impresses. Readers ... will appreciate both the tenacious heroine and Roy’s intricate prose stylings.”—Publishers Weekly

“The future Lucinda Roy calls up in The Freedom Race is a fierce, unsettling riff on our past and present. Instead of watching democracy evaporate and justice fail, Ms. Roy challenges us all to get over ourselves and join the race for freedom.”—Andrea Hairston, author of Will Do Magic for Small Change

“American magic-realism meets the outcome of the Second U.S. Civil War in a well-told, but brutally jolting, strangely prescient, and soul-haunting narrative.”—L. E. Modesitt, Jr., bestselling author of the Saga of Recluce series

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