Customer Reviews

Crystal Rain

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read stories of the cut-off colony that forgets its roots before, but what makes this one so interesting to me is that most of such tales are set untold centuries after, when no one remembers the way things were or recognizes the bits of mystical ancient machines for the high tech they were. In Crystal Rain, however, there are characters still around from those days, people (and things!) born with the benefit of genetic engineering and biotech, who have lived the 300 or so years since the break with galactic civilization. These are people who have gone on to have children, knowing that the children will be born sans benefit of these technologies, will age and die at the "normal" rate. So you have parents outliving their kids and their grandkids. Maybe its being a relatively new parent at a relatively late age myself, but I find this really poignant and intriguing both. Equally welcome was the much-touted Caribbean culture. Airship battles with Aztec warriors doesn't hurt either. Though it was the quiet moments between the ailing General Hayden and Prime Minister Dihana that were the stand-out bits for me as I look back. This was a high action adventure novel that gave me some new twists on old ideas. Bottom line: Toby can really write! I'm in for the ride on this series (of related stand-alone's it looks like.)

I picked this up with no advance knowledge about the author based on the cover -- the cover evoked some of the old Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff I love so much.

Wow! What a great surprise. I was hooked from the very first chapter. I purchased it, took it home, and almost read it in one sitting. The world and its inhabitants are so well developed and so lovingly described that I was completely involved in the story. And, as its cover suggests, it did in places evoke the best that the pulps had to offer (the airship chase, for example).

First novel? I'm impressed. One of the best books I've ever read, period.

One minor, miniscule complaint: The dialect spoken by the natives of this world was difficult reading for me at first. Early on in the story, I found myself re-reading some of the dialogue to make sure I understood what they were saying.

The book is a great entry point into Science fiction for readers. This is the 2nd or third science fiction book I have read since the likes of Fahrenheit 451 etc back in high school and it was easily one of the most interesting books I have read in the past few years. The new world which was created with internal conflicts and an amazing character differences allowed me to be immersed in the book. As I read the book I felt a connection to the John deBrun. The book is filled with surprises and has many points where it seems the end is imminent only to have John overcome a precarious situation.

I would definitely recommend this read even if you have not enjoyed science fiction in the past, the guns and weaponry of the book are not those of Star wars, real explosions and guns which shoot bullets are abundant, painting a much more dramatic and realistic picture than laser beams zipping across a room.

Crystal Rain, A great story which can be enjoyed by veteran Science Fiction Readers as well as Newcomers to the genre.

For Current SF readers to base some comparison I also enjoy Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves by Cory Doctorow and Accelerando by Charles Stross and Ranger Girl by Tim Pratt

Crystal Rain is an interesting science-fiction novel written with fantasy conceits. The novel starts off very much like a typical fantasy novel introducing a world inhabited mostly by people of Caribbean descent in a peninsula nation called Nanagada. John LeBrun is an amnesiac who washed ashore a couple of decades previously and is quite different than the people he lives with. He is white, speaks differently, and doesn't seem to age. Despite this, he is accepted and marries a local woman and has a teenaged son.

Across a mostly impassable mountain range are the Azteca. The Azteca are an Aztec-derived culture that oddly follows the historical Aztecs to be more than coincidence. The action begins when the Azteca complete a tunnel through the mountain range and invade in the name of their gods. At first, John doesn't want to get involved, he just wants to live his life. When he is separated from his family by the invasion, he starts taking action.

Here is where the twist comes in. The gods of the Azteca are real, but they are aliens. They have created the Azteca as a way to enslave the human race. The humans on this world are colonists. Some of the first colonists, called "Old Fathers" were very powerful and had the "nana" to keep them young. The Nanagada have alien allies called "the Loa," but they are temperamental and mostly stay hidden. One thing I really liked is that Buckell uses advanced technology in the story, but as far as the colonists are concerned it is magic.

Once the Azteca invasion is in full force, John leads a quest to find an ancient weapon left by the Old Fathers to stop the invasion. Typically, this sort of quest would be dull and repetitive and the main character is simply the Chosen One. Buckell dodges this bullet by providing reasons that John needs to take this quest and is the only one that complete it based on previous actions of the character and the character's history. These motivations very much inform the character and explain his actions in the beginning of the book.

I found the novel a good read; however, it is not without problems. The Caribbean descendants of the planet speak in a Caribbean doggerel. Doggerel speech can work well when used sparingly, for example Yoda from the Star Wars movies. On the other hand, it can be used very poorly as witnessed by the horror that was Jar Jar Binks. The Caribbean characters in the book come off somewhere in between. It is my understanding that Buckell has first hand experience with Caribbean cultures and I have no doubt that the dialog is accurate, but it was difficult to read at times.

That said, I enjoyed reading Crystal Rain. How could I not enjoy a novel that ends with one of the characters saying "I am the man your gods will have nightmares about for the next fifty years."

Tobias Buckell's first novel is an awesome science fiction novel, full of: swash-buckling adventure, steam punk, nanotechnology, and even a star ship.

More importantly, the characters have depth, seem plausible, and captivated my interest. And they're not all white! Actually, most are shades of brown (being either Aztec or Afro-Caribbean).

The preface to this book intrigued me, but then the first thirty pages seemed to drag. I started wondering if this was really a fantasy novel, and a bad mish-mash of cultures. I kept reading, however, for the promise of the preface, and was rewarded in spades, as the steam punk kicked in, adventure kicked into gear, and explanations that made sense were provided.

I'm looking forward to reading his second book, Ragamuffin (Sci Fi Essential Books).

I blame my brother. He gave me a copy of "Crystal Rain" for my birthday. Granted, he gave me a copy of CR about 7 months AFTER my birthday, but I still blame him. He used to work with Toby before TB moved on to bigger and better things and thought I might like to read this book.

I had not actually read SF for about a dozen years, focusing primarily on mystery and suspense, the genre I write in.

So did I like it?

You bet. I loved it. Toby is not just a world-builder, but an entire universe-builder; familiar yet strange, exotic yet everyday. He's taken everything he knows--and perhaps everything that he is, Caribbean-born and all--fused it into part adventure, part anthropological study, part sci-fi space battle, and created something that is singular and unique.

And rather wonderful.

I'll be reading Ragamuffin.

And I'll blame my brother for that, too. (Why not? He's my older brother--there's always something we can blame on them.)

Mark Terry
[...]

I said this on the dustjacket, and I'm happy to repeat it here.

There's a nova in the skies: Tobias S. Buckell is a dazzling new voice, and CRYSTAL RAIN is an explosive debut. Read it! -- Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of HOMINIDS

I just finished Crystal Rain, and I have to say that I am finally enthused about speculative fiction for the first time in many years. Most of my recent reads have left me disappointed -- too many authors trying overhard to impress the reader with confusing and self-important plots with characters and storylines that just don't connect. Now, finally, there is a terrific new author who takes sci-fi back to its roots -- a strong story with interesting and unique characters, told in a masterful fashion. The story is a very compelling read with excellent pace and complete abscence of literary sludge. I look forward to Buckell's future work. Hopefully this is the beginning of a resurgence of the genre, with renewed emphasis on great stories related by a master wordsmith.

I passed on this book and its sequel, Ragamuffin, the first time I saw them. But recently I picked up the third book of the series, Sly Mongoose and really liked it. So I went back to read the first two books. The story isn't real original, I've read SF stories before about lost colonies. There is a lot of interesting back story in this, like the old-fathers who originally settled the planet and the war they fought to protect their new world from aliens. And the Caribbean culture of the people added a nice twist (although their dialog took some getting used to). I recommend this and both it's sequels. Read them in order though.

Despite severe memory loss that covers most of his life and an arm being replaced by a hook, John deBrun has settled into pleasant a life among the Nanagada. But as the dangerous Azteca people begin attacking his new home, John must embrace skills that he doesn't know he has. Forced to abandon his wife and son, John begins a northern trek to a mysterious artifact named Ma Wi Jung, which the Nanagada people believe can save them all.

I thought the native Nanagada lingo may begin to bother me. But I read it as just a Caribbean accent (as Buckell successfully incorporated), and after a while, I barely noticed. Though the story begins at a slow pace, the action picks up with a climactic ending and more than a few surprises. John deBrun's mysterious past is slowly and only partially revealed. A few men claim to have knowledge about John's past. But who are friends and who are spies for the deadly Azteca?

With unique creatures, characters, and advanced technology; Crystal Rain blends plenty of action, suspense, culture, and science fiction. Buckell has created an interesting world that I'm looking forward to reading more about in his sequel Ragamuffin.