Many of Heinlein's books depicted societies, on the moon or in near-future Earth enclaves, that run on anarcho-libertarian principles. Which is where Liberty's Daughter is clearly also a response to some of Heinlein's other books, especially The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Beck Garrison is an independent gal just trying to earn some pocket money, like most teenagers, but her part-time job as 'finder' of miscellenry leads her to the dark underside of the seastead home where she has spent her entire life. But Liberty's Daughter has the feel of a classic Heinlein juvenile - its protagonist is a smarty, spunky, capable girl whose father 'runs' things in a vague, behind-the-scenes kind of way on their seastead home. I love Heinlein, skeevy spanking fetish and all. I haven't read anything by Naomi Kritzer before and don't know what her feelings about Heinlein are, but this book could not be more Heinleinesque if it added a few spankings and some Bugs. Heinlein, is patently obvious even if there are no overt call-outs or references. That this book was inspired by, and a reaction to, Robert A. And that some people will stop at nothing to keep her from talking about. 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. 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. She's grown up comfortable and sheltered, but starts doing odd jobs for pocket money.

Beck Garrison lives on a seastead - an archipelago of constructed platforms and old cruise ships, assembled by libertarian separatists a generation ago.

Dark reader for opera