A review by jayshay
Coyote Rising by Allen M. Steele

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.