Scan barcode
xtina005's review against another edition
4.0
A good follow up to the first book in the series but with less space travel
dspacenine's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent follow-up to a remarkable novel about interstellar colonization. Can't wait to finish the trilogy.
colls's review against another edition
4.0
An enjoyable follow up to Coyote, although I did enjoy the first book a bit more. I felt the new characters introduced here weren't quite as interesting as the first set and the lack of POV focus bothered me here where I found the opposite in the first book.
Still it was an interesting follow up and I'm curious as to where the next book will go.
Still it was an interesting follow up and I'm curious as to where the next book will go.
cj13's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Gun violence
alexctelander's review against another edition
4.0
Almost ten years ago, when I read Coyote by Allen Steele and hailed it as a great work of science fiction and hoped he would do a sequel, little did I know it would become an ongoing series! In the first sequel to Coyote, Coyote Rising, Steele continues with his parallelism of the settling of the New World, as things begin to heat up on the world of Coyote and revolution is afoot.
With the arrival of a whole host of new colonists from a very different Earth under a new doomed socialist dictatorship at the end of Coyote, the original colonists have fled their former cities, striking out for the jungles, forests and hinterlands, creating their own new hamlets and towns. Originally published as a series of stories in Asimov’s, each “part” of the book looks at a different viewpoint of this diverse world, as the original colonists plan raids and revolts against these new colonists who seek to subjugate and control them. But the original colonists have a strong leader in Rigil Kent, who is the familiar protagonist from Coyote, Carlos Montero: a great leader and an even better schemer at fighting back against these Social Collectivists.
Coyote Rising also focuses on the building of an important great bridge and its attempted detonation and destruction by the rebels. Steele has great fun researching the architectural fundamentals of building such a large bridge from the viewpoint of James Alonzo Garcia. In another story he focuses on the strange genetically engineered character of Reverend Zoltan Shirow, a cult leader who gives a whole new meaning to the term “batshit crazy.”
Reading this sequel is like delving through an important volume of history covering the beautiful but dangerous planet of Coyote, as Steele seeks to tell a wide variety of entertaining and captivating stories told by a host of interesting and at times fascinating characters.
Originally written on August 15, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to the BookBanter site.
With the arrival of a whole host of new colonists from a very different Earth under a new doomed socialist dictatorship at the end of Coyote, the original colonists have fled their former cities, striking out for the jungles, forests and hinterlands, creating their own new hamlets and towns. Originally published as a series of stories in Asimov’s, each “part” of the book looks at a different viewpoint of this diverse world, as the original colonists plan raids and revolts against these new colonists who seek to subjugate and control them. But the original colonists have a strong leader in Rigil Kent, who is the familiar protagonist from Coyote, Carlos Montero: a great leader and an even better schemer at fighting back against these Social Collectivists.
Coyote Rising also focuses on the building of an important great bridge and its attempted detonation and destruction by the rebels. Steele has great fun researching the architectural fundamentals of building such a large bridge from the viewpoint of James Alonzo Garcia. In another story he focuses on the strange genetically engineered character of Reverend Zoltan Shirow, a cult leader who gives a whole new meaning to the term “batshit crazy.”
Reading this sequel is like delving through an important volume of history covering the beautiful but dangerous planet of Coyote, as Steele seeks to tell a wide variety of entertaining and captivating stories told by a host of interesting and at times fascinating characters.
Originally written on August 15, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to the BookBanter site.
jayshay's review against another edition
3.0
A fairly solid follow up to Coyote with the same enjoyable bouncing around between characters, again Steele has written interconnected stories that add up to an enjoyable novel. This book was much more conscious of its links to American history, though shouldn't it have been the war of American Independence, rather than the American Civil War? Sometimes these historical underpinnings seemed more of a crutch rather than a way to deepen the story. With the move away from settlers versus nature, the villains didn't quite fill the vacuum for me. Luisa Hernandez was pretty cardboard and dumbly obsessive. The mad profit/god storyline didn't seem to go anywhere. Yet I really liked, continued to like Carlos, Wendy, Robert Lee and the rest of the settlers. It was a shame that the new guy Captain Fernando Baptiste wasn't given more of a role as a respected opponent. It would have made for a more gripping war for me (but maybe that's a different book).
Loved the stories of Allegra and Sissy, of the architect and his bridge, even the doomed story of Benjamin Harlan and Zoltan's cult (even though Zoltan and the fate of his companion wasn't satisfying). Even with the American patriotic ending (Canadian here) I'll be sure to come back for more good storytelling.
Loved the stories of Allegra and Sissy, of the architect and his bridge, even the doomed story of Benjamin Harlan and Zoltan's cult (even though Zoltan and the fate of his companion wasn't satisfying). Even with the American patriotic ending (Canadian here) I'll be sure to come back for more good storytelling.
sjstuart's review against another edition
3.0
This book had the same episodic format as the prior book (and later ones) in the series -- each chapter was previously published as a standalone short story. This time around I was expecting the format, and can appreciate it more. The approach gives the book a kaleidoscopic feel; each chapter presents a view of the same general society from an entirely different perspective, and they are only loosely connected by any overarching storyline. Once you get used to viewing the chapters as self-contained, and not expecting the loose ends to be wrapped up later in the book, it's not a bad structure. Plus it seems like Steele had learned something about how to write in this format by the time of this sequel, or perhaps spent more time rewriting the stories for inclusion in novel form: there was far less of the repetitive explanation of things that occurred in previous chapters.
The characters are a bit more fleshed out and less one-dimensional than in the previous book. Several of them show a little more complexity in their motivations. This is an improvement over one-dimensional characters that can be summed up in a single phrase. But even though the characters may be conflicted, they don't tend to evolve or show much growth, so they still seem somewhat predictable. Most of them are well drawn, and capture your imagination for the duration of the story or chapter that they are featured in, but then fade into predictable cardboard cutouts if they stick around longer.
This is still very much a frontier adventure tale, with some political drama mixed in. Personally, I enjoyed that less than I would have if it had focused more on aspects of the alien environment, or the challenge of bootstrapping from the dwindling supply of high-tech supplies. But I'm sure Steele would claim that the focus is on personalities, with the alien world is just a backdrop. And he does have a talent for constructing some fascinating characters, at least at the short story length.
The characters are a bit more fleshed out and less one-dimensional than in the previous book. Several of them show a little more complexity in their motivations. This is an improvement over one-dimensional characters that can be summed up in a single phrase. But even though the characters may be conflicted, they don't tend to evolve or show much growth, so they still seem somewhat predictable. Most of them are well drawn, and capture your imagination for the duration of the story or chapter that they are featured in, but then fade into predictable cardboard cutouts if they stick around longer.
This is still very much a frontier adventure tale, with some political drama mixed in. Personally, I enjoyed that less than I would have if it had focused more on aspects of the alien environment, or the challenge of bootstrapping from the dwindling supply of high-tech supplies. But I'm sure Steele would claim that the focus is on personalities, with the alien world is just a backdrop. And he does have a talent for constructing some fascinating characters, at least at the short story length.
lazyreader's review
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The Second book in the Coyote Trilogy. This is the story of being found by Earth, and the invasion of Coyote by new settlers. Matriarch Luisa Hernandez has appointed herself as Governor of Coyote, and is extremely disappointed in the original settlers, who don't want to remain under her dominion. This is the story of Revolution.
tachyondecay's review
3.0
I'd like to love Coyote Rising more; Allen Steele has created a very original tale of interstellar colonization. Unfortunately, I found the plot and the characters lacking the substance required to truly distinguish a novel, no matter how original its premise.
The first book in the series, [b:Coyote|686344|Coyote|Allen Steele|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177192185s/686344.jpg|373645], depicted a fantastic new world, Earth-like in so many ways yet also devastatingly alien. Even as the original colonists began to settle the planet, more ships from Earth arrived, bringing with them a social collectivist philosophy that threatened to undermine the existing colony's stability. Thus, Steele sets the stage for Coyote Rising, tagged as "a novel of interstellar revolution."
Therein lies the problem: Coyote was interesting by virtue of the world the colonists were exploring and the challenges they had to face; Coyote Rising is almost purely driven by plot, and I enjoyed that far less. There are still some environmental elements to the conflicts faced by our protagonists, most notably a volcanic eruption that cools Coyote's climate, but they seem secondary to Steele's need for the original colonists to revolt against the tyrannical administration of the "Western Hemisphere Union," personified by the irrational Luisa Hernandez.
In the first book, we meet Hernandez only briefly toward the end. As the leader of the second wave of colonists, she seems to honestly believe that social collectivism is the best form of government, and Robert Lee's decision to abandon the original colony and take the original colonists into hiding is prudent. Yet in Coyote Rising, any hint of depth in Hernandez's character is gone. She's a scheming, shallow antagonist whose only desire is total oppression and control. Where's my complex villain who agonizes over her actions, questions whether her morals are correct, then decides her course of action is the only just one?
The antagonists also suffer from an unfortunate tendency to go rogue. Over the course of Coyote Rising, a significant number of people in positions of power with the WHU colony switch sides and join the original colonists (this doesn't count the droves of people fleeing to the original colony because the new colony is a slum). On the surface, this makes sense. Steele's emphasizing how collectivism has failed the colony in the face of the challenges of settling Coyote. Yet the very fact that the collectivist stance seems so indefensible has two unfortunate consequences: firstly, it makes the actions of die-hard antagonists, like Hernandez, even more unconvincing; secondly, it undermines the threat of the antagonists. Steele's trying to make a big point about how humans will fight for freedom, even if it means death, but his protagonist's easy philosophical success undermines his efforts to advance this theme.
If I seem overly negative, it's only because Coyote Rising was so good that it could have been so much better. The book isn't beyond redemption: it has great action scenes, as well as truly moving ones. My favourite scene, the most touching one, occurs near the end of the book, as Robert Lee confronts Luisa Hernandez. I read it as if it were in slow motion, knowing what would happen, and it still moved me. That's why I'm critical of this book: it had potential. Here's hoping [b:Coyote Frontier|365975|Coyote Frontier|Allen Steele|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174150630s/365975.jpg|356001] improves my opinion of this series' literary merits.
The first book in the series, [b:Coyote|686344|Coyote|Allen Steele|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177192185s/686344.jpg|373645], depicted a fantastic new world, Earth-like in so many ways yet also devastatingly alien. Even as the original colonists began to settle the planet, more ships from Earth arrived, bringing with them a social collectivist philosophy that threatened to undermine the existing colony's stability. Thus, Steele sets the stage for Coyote Rising, tagged as "a novel of interstellar revolution."
Therein lies the problem: Coyote was interesting by virtue of the world the colonists were exploring and the challenges they had to face; Coyote Rising is almost purely driven by plot, and I enjoyed that far less. There are still some environmental elements to the conflicts faced by our protagonists, most notably a volcanic eruption that cools Coyote's climate, but they seem secondary to Steele's need for the original colonists to revolt against the tyrannical administration of the "Western Hemisphere Union," personified by the irrational Luisa Hernandez.
In the first book, we meet Hernandez only briefly toward the end. As the leader of the second wave of colonists, she seems to honestly believe that social collectivism is the best form of government, and Robert Lee's decision to abandon the original colony and take the original colonists into hiding is prudent. Yet in Coyote Rising, any hint of depth in Hernandez's character is gone. She's a scheming, shallow antagonist whose only desire is total oppression and control. Where's my complex villain who agonizes over her actions, questions whether her morals are correct, then decides her course of action is the only just one?
The antagonists also suffer from an unfortunate tendency to go rogue. Over the course of Coyote Rising, a significant number of people in positions of power with the WHU colony switch sides and join the original colonists (this doesn't count the droves of people fleeing to the original colony because the new colony is a slum). On the surface, this makes sense. Steele's emphasizing how collectivism has failed the colony in the face of the challenges of settling Coyote. Yet the very fact that the collectivist stance seems so indefensible has two unfortunate consequences: firstly, it makes the actions of die-hard antagonists, like Hernandez, even more unconvincing; secondly, it undermines the threat of the antagonists. Steele's trying to make a big point about how humans will fight for freedom, even if it means death, but his protagonist's easy philosophical success undermines his efforts to advance this theme.
If I seem overly negative, it's only because Coyote Rising was so good that it could have been so much better. The book isn't beyond redemption: it has great action scenes, as well as truly moving ones. My favourite scene, the most touching one, occurs near the end of the book, as Robert Lee confronts Luisa Hernandez. I read it as if it were in slow motion, knowing what would happen, and it still moved me. That's why I'm critical of this book: it had potential. Here's hoping [b:Coyote Frontier|365975|Coyote Frontier|Allen Steele|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174150630s/365975.jpg|356001] improves my opinion of this series' literary merits.
alexctelander's review
4.0
Almost ten years ago, when I read Coyote by Allen Steele and hailed it as a great work of science fiction and hoped he would do a sequel, little did I know it would become an ongoing series! In the first sequel to Coyote, Coyote Rising, Steele continues with his parallelism of the settling of the New World, as things begin to heat up on the world of Coyote and revolution is afoot.
With the arrival of a whole host of new colonists from a very different Earth under a new doomed socialist dictatorship at the end of Coyote, the original colonists have fled their former cities, striking out for the jungles, forests and hinterlands, creating their own new hamlets and towns. Originally published as a series of stories in Asimov’s, each “part” of the book looks at a different viewpoint of this diverse world, as the original colonists plan raids and revolts against these new colonists who seek to subjugate and control them. But the original colonists have a strong leader in Rigil Kent, who is the familiar protagonist from Coyote, Carlos Montero: a great leader and an even better schemer at fighting back against these Social Collectivists.
Coyote Rising also focuses on the building of an important great bridge and its attempted detonation and destruction by the rebels. Steele has great fun researching the architectural fundamentals of building such a large bridge from the viewpoint of James Alonzo Garcia. In another story he focuses on the strange genetically engineered character of Reverend Zoltan Shirow, a cult leader who gives a whole new meaning to the term “batshit crazy.”
Reading this sequel is like delving through an important volume of history covering the beautiful but dangerous planet of Coyote, as Steele seeks to tell a wide variety of entertaining and captivating stories told by a host of interesting and at times fascinating characters.
Originally written on August 15, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to the BookBanter site.
With the arrival of a whole host of new colonists from a very different Earth under a new doomed socialist dictatorship at the end of Coyote, the original colonists have fled their former cities, striking out for the jungles, forests and hinterlands, creating their own new hamlets and towns. Originally published as a series of stories in Asimov’s, each “part” of the book looks at a different viewpoint of this diverse world, as the original colonists plan raids and revolts against these new colonists who seek to subjugate and control them. But the original colonists have a strong leader in Rigil Kent, who is the familiar protagonist from Coyote, Carlos Montero: a great leader and an even better schemer at fighting back against these Social Collectivists.
Coyote Rising also focuses on the building of an important great bridge and its attempted detonation and destruction by the rebels. Steele has great fun researching the architectural fundamentals of building such a large bridge from the viewpoint of James Alonzo Garcia. In another story he focuses on the strange genetically engineered character of Reverend Zoltan Shirow, a cult leader who gives a whole new meaning to the term “batshit crazy.”
Reading this sequel is like delving through an important volume of history covering the beautiful but dangerous planet of Coyote, as Steele seeks to tell a wide variety of entertaining and captivating stories told by a host of interesting and at times fascinating characters.
Originally written on August 15, 2011 ©Alex C. Telander.
For more reviews and exclusive interviews, go to the BookBanter site.
More...