Now We Are Free

The Colonists #2

by R.P. Nathan

Cara has evaded the Colonists and made her way to Cambridge. Along the way she makes new allies; but then has to abandon them. In Cambridge she is treated like a celebrity, but all Cara wants is to rescue her friends. When the leader of the Rebels announces a daring rescue attempt, she gets the chance…

Yet all the while she is being hunted by Aggie and the Colonists. They are determined to recapture her and break the resistance movement once and for all.

The heart-stopping sequel to Now We Are Animals.

567 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 19, 2024

About the author

R P Nathan is an author and astronomer who has been writing fiction for all ages for over 30 years. He is best known for ground-breaking YA novel "Now We Are Animals"; historical mystery "A Richer Dust Concealed"; exquisite literary thriller "The Collaborators"; and hilarious romantic comedy "The Second Best Man".

You can read more about these books and more at his website, rpnathan.com

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the premise of this series, and throughly enjoyed the first in the series “We are animals”.

I felt this one was wordy where it didn’t need to be, a bit slower than I wanted and the main character really did become more annoying as the book went on. She seemed to get younger and more immature, instead of growing and rising to the challenges and this was in stark contrast to the strength of mind she showed in the first book.

There were also a lot of errors in the kindle version I read, words missing from sentences, which was distracting as I read.

Definitely readable but could have been so much better.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was so excited for this book after reading the first one. I didn't realize this was going to be a trilogy and this book ended on a cliffhanger. Ugh, so frustrating. Three years until the next book.

I really like the story. The FMC though got a bit annoying in this book as she was so self involved and naive. I thought she would grow a bit as a character, but she didn't. She's also pretty useless. More of a plot mechanism than a character maybe.

Still, looking forward to the third book.

[Jennifer Cario · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read some truly wonderful books this year. This was not one of them. I'd read Now We Are Animals when it was released and enjoyed the book and their approach to YA alien invasion.

That said, the second book in the series started slow and became excruciating. Rather than maturing through her experiences, the main character seems to have regressed to a crush obsessed, self obsessed, infuriatingly fatuous middle schooler. Without exaggeration, it felt like Caillou, the whiny, selfish child from the PBS series grew up and became the main character.

Without giving actual spoilers... she repeatedly makes choices from a place of such selfishness, it was hard to believe it wasn't written as rage bait. she has no regard to the wants, needs or even value of the people around her and spends most of the book acting like a child stomping her foot for not instantly getting her way.

The premise of the book remained interesting and I would have liked to see how it played out, but it was like you replaced the author of the first book in the series with a heartsick 12 year old whose only literary knowledge was The Mockingjay and the Twilight Series.

If you need to know what happens, do yourself a favor and read the Wikipedia plot summary and save yourself the experience of reading this novel.

[Makenzie Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I sat on this one for a while.

First, the kindle version is quite literally full of typos or grammatical errors. It was to the point that I became distracted by them and treated finding them like a game. I’m unsure if that is just the kindle format or if the physical book also has that issue. Another gripe on formatting is that we essentially abandoned the style of “journal entries” and it simply became a novel that had dates as chapters. That isn’t terrible but what I loved about the first book was that style of writing.

Secondly, I LOVED the first book of this series but I grew to strongly dislike Cara (our main character) by the end of this book. Cara in the first novel was a typical teenage girl, but she was a survivor and reminded me of myself at that age. She was curious and quizzical - very blunt but self aware. But this version of Cara was self centered, boy/girl crazy, indifferent towards anyone she didn’t find amusing, and just all in all not fun to have narrate the story. It was honestly hard to empathize with her about half way through. You’d think going through the first book’s events she would have grown more but she just became worse?

The third book is not out yet, and I’m unsure if I’ll pick it up. I think if grammatical errors are addressed and Cara has a redemption arc I’d be interested in giving it a go. I hope the plot will also be slightly less predictable as I knew exactly where this was going once you know who could do you know what in the first book.

[Rachael Gathercole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the first book and so eagerly bought this one. Well, it was not the continuation I had hoped for, the main character became very love focused and woe is me, it felt much slower than the first book and I kept finding myself losing interest. By the end it felt like things were coming together and then it stopped, page turn, a third book coming soon. I felt quite annoyed by the end, especially as the concept was really interesting. Overall disappointed and not keen to read the third. We'll see, maybe in time I'll look back fondly but right now it's a no from me.

[Molly Fairhurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book - it picks up well from the first book and continues with the same narrative style that sucks you in, although perhaps not quite as much as the first one.
The time jumps were sometimes confusing, and it feels like Cara has made backwards progression in terms of developing as a character. Without spoilers, she is just quite whiny and selfish throughout the whole thing, which was disappointing to read.
I enjoyed the way the author allowed us to learn more about the Colonists and their way of thinking, and will certainly be reading the next one!

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Now We Are Free' was an interesting read. Not as fast-paced and direct as the first book, 'Now We Are Animals,' but still an intriguing story. As in 'Now We Are Animals,' the depiction of the tensions between Colonists and Humans suggests underlying respect for all living creatures.

The part of the book in which Cara is alone and confused about what's going on could have been shorter and less opaque. In this alternate universe, I also would have preferred that bisexuality and same-sex attraction be treated as the norm instead of something people felt they had to hide.

The book is great young adult fiction and, as an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I'm looking forward to reading the third book in the series!

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first book but this one was a slog. Cara became the most obnoxious form of teenager. Are we supposed to believe that the characters are essentially in an apocalypse and all she can think about is being in love with every character who is nice to her, male, female, or alien? She whines throughout the book and insists on being involved in a dangerous mission without any skills to assist anyone; she can't even shoot a gun despite training. And somehow, the leaders... let her go? It strains credulity.

Also, she may be the most naive person ever written on paper. What a disappointment. She wasn't intensely likeable in the first book, but she's insufferable in this one. She's learned nothing and regressed entirely.

[Rachelle Durrant · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book rambles a lot with unnecessary details. The main character shows little growth and behaves like a child much of the time. Cara's relationships with other characters are chaotic and show a very immature person. She should be growing through the series, not regressing and acting so childish with her friendships. It has to be about her all the time, even after two of her friends are rescued and trying to share their experiences. While I enjoyed the first book a lot more, this one dragged and really ended up nowhere. Also, random details like a fox and her babies. Why? If the fox has significance, it should be shown in this book. Instead, it just feels like filler.

[Hullabaloo22 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good continuation

This follows directly on from Now We Are Animals,, and is the second book of the trilogy.


Cara has managed to escape the Colonists and manages to reach Cambridge. We get to know her a bit more her good traits and the not so good ones. There's a lot of story development as well as more backstory, and there's plenty of action too.

I would have given it 4 and a half stars of the option had been available. I loved the first book , I liked the second. Definitely looking forward to reading book 3.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of dull, and felt way too long. Frankly, it feels like the author had a couple of plot points to turn into a whole book, and the rest is filler. The “twists” were very telegraphed, in my opinion, and the supposedly clever secret message shared between one character and another was immediately apparent. There were also quite a few errors in terms of syntax, which kept breaking my focus on the story. Probably won’t bother reading the last of the series when it’s released.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good!

A solid sequel that started out slow, but the latter third of the book I felt was worth the wait. There were some grammar mistakes that slipped editing but I didn’t find them too distracting. The main character is showing some signs of growth towards the end, too; I’m overall super excited to see more of Cara and Aggie. :)

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing - I really loved the first one, but this was too slow, the main character was pretty annoying, and the plot seemed a little chaotic. I'll probably still read the last of the trilogy as I want to see how it ends!

[Jade · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a genuinely beautiful series. I had to pace myself throughout this book so I could make it last. I recommend this book to everyone I meet. The intersectionality of the conflicts/events in the book and RPN’s storytelling of the real world - I absolutely cannot wait for the next book.

[Maria-Therese Giberson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it but when is the next book coming out!!!

[Clare Manton · Rating 4 out of 5]

OMG free range humans...!! Interesting.

Overall i liked the book but it got a little boring when I could see the plot but I still had to read through Cara's self centred personality.

I do want to see how the trilogy ends.