Customer Reviews

Coyote Rising

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Coyote Rising (2004) is the second SF novel in the Coyote trilogy, following Coyote itself. In the previous volume, five years after the arrival of the URSS Alabama, the WHSS Seeking Glorious Destiny Among the Stars for the Greater Good of Social Collectivism arrived in the 47 Ursae Majoris system carrying colonists and Matriarch Luisa Hernandez. After Mayor Lee met with the Matriarch on her ship, the Alabama colonists fled New Florida, leaving the town of Liberty stripped and deserted, and disappeared into the wilds of Midland.

The Western Hemisphere Union has sent five colony ships to 47 Ursae Majoris. The Glorious Destiny brought a thousand colonists and Union Guard to Coyote, as did New Frontiers, Long Journey, Magnificent Voyage and Spirit. Coyote has not become overcrowded, but Liberty definitely becomes overpopulated and many colonists were forced to camp in the Shuttlefield slums.

In this novel, Allegra DiSilvio arrives on Coyote in the Long Voyage. She is a composer who has been blocked from her creativity and has come to this distant planet looking for new sources of inspiration. After a long and futile search for a place to pitch her tent, she finally sets up near a swamp. Her neighbor is Cecelia -- Sissy -- Levin, mother of the Chief Proctor. Allegra gains Sissy's trust, makes a flute for her, and is soon teaching Sissy to play the instrument.

Benjamin Harlan is intrigued by a religious cult that comes to Coyote on the Magnificent Voyage. The cult leader, Reverend Zoltan Shirow, claims to be a prophet of the Universal Transformation. He looks like a bat, with wings and an animalistic face. However, Ben has his eyes mostly on Greer, a very good looking woman who seems to like him.

James Alonzo Garcia was a famous architect prior to his conscription for the Coyote Colony. He arrives on Magnificent Voyage and is quickly put to work designing a township for Shuttlefield. After the Matriarch approves his plans, Garcia is given the task of designing a bridge over the East Channel connecting New Florida to Midland.

Clark Thompson is a former colonel in the Union Guard. After arriving on Coyote, he soon leaves Shuttlefield and founds the hamlet of Thompson's Ferry. When Allegra, Sissy and other members of the Coyote Wood Ensemble arrive at his village after fleeing from the Matriarch, Thompson sends them across the ferry to Midland. Then he prepares his militia for the Union Guard troopers that are following the musicians.

Captain Fernando Baptiste is commanding officer of the Spirit of Social Collectivism Carried to the Stars. When the revolution begins, his ship is the only Union vessel in orbit around Coyote. Since Captain Baptiste is the senior officer present, he commands all military forces in the system.

This story is about the revolution of the Alabama colonist against the Matriarch and the WHU. The Union Guard outnumber the rebels and have heavier equipment. The satellite communications system aboard the URSS Alabama, has been disabled. The only advantages the rebels have are a better knowledge of the terrain and the planet itself.

This novel is based on eight short stories published in Asimov's SF Magazine between May 2003 and December 2004. These stories are arranged in chronological order, with each depicting a scenario in the evolution of the Coyote Federation. The next volume in this trilogy is Coyote Frontier.

Highly recommended for Steele fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space colonization and the fight for independence.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Hugo Award-winning author Allen Steele follows up his imaginative novel COYOTE with the sequel, COYOTE RISING. I've read all of Allen Steele's novels and most of his short stories. Why? Because he never disappoints. Steele's stories always have the ring of truth because he populates them with believable characters, fast-paced plots, and technology that is understandable to the average Joe. All of these traits are in abundance in COYOTE RISING.

In the first novel, a group of interstellar colonists hijack a prototype starship named Alabama and flee a right-wing dictatorship to settle on the distant planet Coyote. Coyote is a harsh world with long and bitter winters and dangerous wildlife. The struggle to set up the first human colony on this planet is fraught with peril and makes for a great read. Steele recaps events from COYOTE nicely in COYOTE RISING, but I recommend reading the original first. It's like watching The Empire Strikes Back --- you don't need to see Star Wars to get it, but you will enjoy it more if you do.

In COYOTE, the first settlers fled tyranny on Earth and fought hard to explore the new world and build the settlement of Liberty. But the rulers of Earth have not given up on Coyote. They cannot. A majority of Earth has become uninhabitable, so mankind needs a new home. At the end of COYOTE, more spaceships are sent to Coyote with colonists and soldiers. The original settlers don't take too kindly to these interlopers led by tyrannical colonial governor Matriarch Luisa Hernandez, so they abandon Liberty and set up a new colony.

COYOTE RISING picks up from there, with the newcomers living in the now overcrowded Shuttlefield that has cropped up next to Liberty. Steele's strength is writing about things you actually believe can happen. The colonists are limited in what they can bring to the new world, so they must use the planet's natural resources. Most of the colonists live a brutal frontier life that many modern-day people would find unbearable.

The climate and wildlife on the planet Coyote are bad enough, but the new colonists also must deal with the oppressive Matriarch Hernandez who rules with an iron fist. Many newcomers abandon their miserable situation and join the rebels --- aka, the original colonists Steele introduced to us in COYOTE. Hernandez eventually pushes the rebels too far. Led by Alabama's Captain Robert E. Lee and Coyote's first explorer, Carlos Montero, the rebels lead a revolution to free Coyote from the new oppressive government. Steele is a talented action scene writer. They unfold at logical points and help move the plot. They aren't there only for the sake of action. He puts you into the minds of the characters and the heat of battle with just enough of the right details.

The novel is chock full of fascinating characters and vivid descriptions of this alien world. However, I did have one small problem. Both novels began as short stories serialized in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. Throughout both novels, it feels like you're reading a series of short stories with a common backdrop. Readers are reintroduced to characters they have met before and some of the previous action is recapped several times --- making redundancy and repetition an issue. However, this is a minor flaw and I still thoroughly enjoyed COYOTE RISING. In fact, on some level it was interesting to see the same event explained from different characters' viewpoints.

I read most of COYOTE RISING in a small Laundromat not far from my apartment in Los Angeles. The novel whisked me away from the dreary setting and transported me to the world of Coyote. I was so completely lost in the story of old characters like Carlos Montero and new characters like prophet Zoltan Shirow that I didn't hear the buzzer when my laundry was done. So if you're looking for a good read that will let you escape this world for a new one, then pick up COYOTE RISING.

--- Reviewed by Sean Doorly

This second installment in the Coyote trilogy was every bit as enjoyable as the first. In "Coyote" Mr. Steele presents the story of the first interstellar colonization, cast in a light similar to that of the American Revolution. The intrepid colonists have managed to escape a repressive right-wing government only to find that they must now defend their freedoms against the efforts of a left-wing government (that has arisen to power in the 200 or so years that have passed on earth) to subjugate the colonists and reap the benefits of the new world via slave labor. Owing to time-dilation inherent in the travel between the stars, Steele is able to have his original colonists face yet another repressive government and he makes excellent use of the themes and characters presented in Coyote.

The Coyote trilogy belongs to the adventure genre rather than that of science-fiction. Sure, there are some elements of science fiction, but this is purely a story of colonization and discovery--discovery not only of geography but of the importance of good government and leadership. Adventure seems to have fallen out of favor. Our world is too well understood to support adventure tales. Honestly, can anyone even get lost anymore? If so, where is your cell phone? No, adventure these days requires either an alternate history, a third-world militaristic setting, or going beyond the moon. Want to go to Everest? Hire a guide and get in line. Want to go to space? Join the crowds. How about the exotic South Pacific--boring, Survivor has been there and done that. Our world has lost the spirit of discovery. We have become more worried about disturbing the local flora and fauna than seeing new sights and paving new trails. Accordingly, we need to get our butts into space and recapture the spirit of the western expansion. But enough philosophizing...

Not only has discovery become passe, we have also forgotten the importance of fighting for what we believe in. In our astonishingly successful economy it has become more important to consume than to discover--more important to celebrate diversity than to seek after truth. Too many have bought into the fallacy that all forms of government are acceptable--as long as our oil remains cheap. In the adventure genre our heroes fight for important things--they take risks and explore new places and ideas. We need much more of this kind of literature.

Coyote Rising picks up where Coyote left off. A new planet being dictated to by a remote by time and distance government has the story potential for rebellion. Steele depicts the different types and personalities of the citizens of the planet and what leads them to making their very personal choice regarding their future. Steele does good characterizations of people you could know and like or despise. I don't feel the book should be read as a stand alone. I would advise you to read Coyote prior to reading Coyote Rising. A good read, I look forward to the end of the trilogy and the ensuing two books that follow it. I recommend the book.

This is a GREAT series. My recommendation is to read them all in a row. In some ways, the Coyote novels are like one of those sweeping old TV series that has too many characters and subplots to easily absorb, but that's the fun. It's like a good puzzle. Steele's writing is easy and direct. His heroes are multi-generational families with lots of history and adventure. There are revolutions and aliens and robots and starships. As a whole, these books are a masterpiece.

Allen Steele's Coyote Rising tells the story of how the original settlers to Coyote are forced into hiding and consequently lead a guerrilla war against the Union Guard. The Guard is the military wing of a repressive government on Earth that has sent thousands of colonists and hundreds of soldiers to occupy (and, at least ostensibly, expand) the original settlement that was founded by those from the Alabama.

Coyote Rising is, indeed, as the cover of the novel says, "a novel of interstellar revolution"...and there are several intense battle scenes to back this up. However, at its heart, Coyote Rising is much more a coming of age story than a story of a war on some distant planet (or, more appropriately, moon). But the novel is not about one particular person coming of age. But, rather, a society, and many of the individuals in it, learn hard lessons that only "growing up" can teach you.

For instance, a woman who has lost much -- and is on the tenuous border of being quite mad -- since coming to Coyote learns to reintegrate into her society through music. In another case, a drifter who has few ties to anyone, gets involved with a religious cult...the result is rather bad (and actually fairly gruesome). But when he comes out on the other side, he is a different person, one that has ties to a community that not only needs him to help survive, but also cares about him.

And then, of course, there are always the original colonists. As they are fighting their guerrilla war to free their society from the Guard, many undergo irrevocable changes...some bad, some good...but always changes that, when they come out on the other side, they have a new, more "grown-up" way of looking at their world.

I enjoyed watching the characters change, develop, and "grow up" in Coyote Rising. The only real quibble I had with the story was that I wished the author had fleshed-out (instead of glossing over) some of the changes in the characters better...it was evident that the characters were changing...but, in some instances, we just didn't get to see that development enough. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to picking up the next tale in Steele's saga soon.

COYOTE RISING is the second book in Steele's "Coyote" trilogy. Like COYOTE, it is made up of a group of shorter stories revolving around a common theme, and originally published separately, that have been combined into a single tale. This setup works better here than in COYOTE, though there is still some disconnect from one section to another, particularly in terms of character focus and perspective. Also, the petty bickering among the original colonists that typified the first book gives way to issues that I found more compelling in this one as the colony is forced to battle against domination by a new wave of colonists from Earth with a political agenda of their own. As a whole, I liked the storyline and the characters. Further, I'm a sucker for new planet exploration stories and, while this planet is more Earthlike than I would like, it's still fun.

Though the characters in COYOTE RISING are generally well drawn and believable, a few (i.e. Zoltan Shirow), while certainly intriguing, are a bit "over the top" and hard to swallow. There are also, as another reviewer has pointed out, inconsistencies in the planetscape presented here (i.e. a waterfall that a river has to flow uphill to make possible). These were relatively minor problems as far as I was concerned, however.

I liked COYOTE RISING. It has some shortcomings, hence the four star rating instead of five, but I think the overall story arc is a good one and Steele generally handles it well. I also think this book is a solid improvement over its predecessor. If you made it through COYOTE, you won't want to miss COYOTE RISING.

Even though I read this book before Coyote, I was able to know right away what was happening. It is full of action and has a great storyline. Others have already said many great things about this book better than I ever could. I would really recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction or reading in general. Just make sure to also read Coyote.

Some time has passed since we were last on Coyote, in the constellation 47 Ursae Majoris, with the original colonists who were suddenly descended upon by thousands of immigrants from a new and oppressive government on Earth. The original colonists fled their settlement of Liberty on the New Florida continent to cross the Great Equatorial River to another continent called Midland, where they started a hidden new settlement named Defiance. Meanwhile, Liberty has been taken over by the newly-arrived government spouting the empty promises of social collectivism, headed by the heartless Matriarch Luisa Hernandez. Under the Matriarch's iron fist, Liberty remains a pleasant frontier town, while on the outskirts, near the shuttle landing field, a tent slum named Shuttlefield springs up.

Shuttlefield is where the story, which is actually a series of short stories, begins. Recent arrival Allegra DiSilvio just wants to find a speck of land to park her secondhand tent and winds up making new friends and reawakening her talent. Ben, a man who's been content to drift along doing odd jobs, finds himself in a nightmare when he agrees to guide a religious cult from Shuttlefield to Midland. During these stories, the original colonists seem mostly like a myth, a dream of freedom removed from the squalor of Shuttlefield, with their own Robin Hood-type character in the form of Rigil Kent, a shadowy figure who conducts raids on the government in Liberty and Shuttlefield. When Ben finally manages to reach the original colonists, the story then opens up to include adventures with the first settlers of Coyote. Underlying it all is the foreboding presence of Matriarch Luisa Hernandez, who ruthlessly uses her political power to build a bridge from New Florida to Midland in an effort to exploit its resources, and to oust the original colonists from their freedom and return them to social collectivism, an ugly blend of imperialism and communism. She does not count on the resourcefulness of those who oppose her, or on the forces of nature, and it isn't long before Coyote faces full-scale war.

Allen Steele's best writing has been on his Coyote novels, proving he earned those Hugos. He manages to smoothly interconnect a series of stories from different points of view into one cohesive story with rich texture. We have small personal dramas playing out against a backdrop of an entire foundling society's biggest dilemma that affects them all. Though not as tense and gripping as the first "Coyote," this book is an excellent follow-up that put me right back on that planet so many light years away. I don't read a lot of sci fi, but I will always read Allen Steele.

A worthy sequel to the first volume. Not mind-blowing, but good fun.