Customer Reviews

Sly Mongoose

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sly Mongoose is set several generations after Ragamuffin, and our old friend Pepper is back in the middle of the latest crisis. As always the alien machinery inside of him has caused him to outlast and outlive everyone around him, so he's the only character you'll remember from previous books. The descendants of the Azteca fled New Anegada and their alien masters, and now live in floating cities set about a deadly planet called Chilo.

One of the things I love about Buckell's work is that his books in this series have enough similarity of style, exploration, themes, etc. (not to mention the fantastic character of Pepper!) to satisfy someone who's looking for more of 'the same'. However, each one is also quite different from the previous books, so you certainly won't feel bored with the material! Each book takes place some time after the previous one, in this case several generations later. Each book explores a different part of the universe, although at the same time it takes on the consequences of previous plots. So there's a ton of new material while also a few familiar threads to hold onto. This also means that the books can stand alone, although you'll have an easier time following some things if you know what came before.

The characters are complex and interesting. As usual it could be argued that Pepper is actually not the main character, although perhaps he is more so in Sly Mongoose than in the last two books. This is a great approach, because Pepper's certainly not your standard hero, nor even your standard anti-hero, and it's often both useful and important to see events through other people's eyes as well.

In many ways Buckell's books hearken back to an earlier style of hard SF that drops you straight into highly alien situations and lets you absorb it all, rather than starting from something familiar. They also contain a strong element of exploration with regard to alien sentience, societal and governmental structures, and so on. Most refreshingly, he explores all sorts of positive and negative aspects of these things without holding up a sharp agenda. It's writing that makes you think, not writing that preaches. He also writes with an incredibly unique flavor that I've not seen in any other author's books, so if you're looking for something new, his books are a great bet!

An intense debate over how to deal with illegal aliens... a virus corrupting the results of electronic voting... a runaway greenhouse effect... This would sound like something out of current headlines, if not for the zombies. Everything is better with zombies.

Buckell returns to the universe of his previous 2 novels and humanity is still misplacing it's resentment toward its (now former) alien overlords by finding new and exciting ways of killing each other. The setting is what initially sets this book apart from your average adventure filled science fiction yarn. The caustic Venus like atmosphere of Chilo offers us a dizzying array of floating cities, air ships, clockwork dragons, but the people that choose to live on Chilo give the story its soul.

If you've read the Crystal rain, you'll recognize the Azteca. If you've read Ragamuffin you'll recognize the Consensus as an extrapolation of democracy enabled by the Lamina technology. If you've read either, you'll love seeing Pepper in action. If this is the first book you read by Buckell, it'll definitely entice you to read the previous books.

The reason this book is still on my mind is that it shows the pros and cons of the opposites of democratic choice. On the one hand are the Aeolians who vote on absolutely everything, all the time. On the other are the Yatapekians who use a more traditional patriachal structure to get things done. But when an imminent threat arrives both people drag their feet trying to figure out what to do about it. That part of the plot struck me as insightful. Even in the face of clear and present danger some people dither around.

So the plot was good but the book is full of chiches, as others have pointed out. I leave you with two things: the main bad-ass character actually acts like a bad-ass and often sacrifices others, or others' opinions of him, to get to a positive solution for the whole. To the point of quickly killing someone when he could have probably just restrained them during a fight. He's totally a take-no-prisoners kind of guy. If there is no point in keeping a threat alive, he doesn't. On the downside, when the ragamuffin-types talk using pidgin (broken English) it's annoying. I know the author is from the Caribbean but it's annoying down there too. And it seems like the "talk" slipped a few times into the editing of the regular paragraph descriptions. And THAT is one of my biggest pet peeves: bad editing.

Still, it's a fun, easy read. I probably would have loved it as a 13 or 14-year-old. Now as a 30 something, it's a decent way to pass a few nights instead of watching bad T.V.

I recently became aware of Buckell's work by reading Ragamuffin, which led me to his other books. Sly Mongoose fits in his mongoose-men series, and Pepper, the protagonist, is an interesting character. An engineered warrior who starts the book being crippled by dropping out of orbit (spacesuit sans parachute) into the aerial cities of a Venus-like world, he's an action hero who deals with challenging ethical problems. While his pragmatic solutions seem "right", the other side of the coin is clearly visible. I consider this to be a hallmark of good space opera today -- enjoyable action, but with the consequences of those actions visible and not always desirable. Pepper is a tough character, and I'm enjoying reading his saga.

Space zombies. Floating cities. And Pepper leaping out of a spaceship and riding a heatshield down, sans parachute. What else do I really need to say about this one?

Sly Mongoose is Tobias Buckell's third novel, set in the same universe as Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, but Pepper is the only character from the earlier books. As with Ragamuffin, this isn't a direct sequel, though it does continue the larger story Buckell is creating about humans struggling to survive and find their place as they discover just how dangerous a place this universe can be.

Sly Mongoose is set primarily on the planet of Chilo, a loosely Venus-like planet with crushing gravity, a corrosive atmosphere ... generally not a pleasant place to live. The inhabitants live in floating cities, descending to the surface to maintain the outdated and unreliable mining equipment. It's a hard life, and when Pepper drops in, it gets a lot harder. The Swarm (space zombies!) is coming, searching for a secret hidden on Chilo's surface, and they're prepared to kill anyone and everyone in their way.

Buckell does a lot of cool things in this book. For starters, Chilo's inhabitants are the descendants of the Azteca from Crystal Rain. One complaint I had about Crystal Rain was that the Aztecs came across as fairly straightforward villains without as much depth as I wanted. Sly Mongoose develops them into fully fleshed out people, still struggling to live down the shame of their ancestors' actions back on New Anegada.

Sly Mongoose leaves me curious where Buckell is going with this series. He's setting up a very dangerous and violent universe, one in which humanity will either need to unite and work together, or face extinction. Behind the obvious threat of the Swarm lies another enemy, and further in the shadows an even larger threat could be lurking.

The young miner Timas is a good character, but Pepper steals the book. Pepper is a highly practical, survival-oriented warrior. He's an interesting one ... long-lived, and having survived enough wars to warp any man. There are times he seems to be running on automatic, more machine than human, and throughout the book you see Timas and others trying to break through to that kernel of humanity. Sometimes they seem to reach him. Other times, Pepper just lets them think so, because it suits Pepper's plans at that particular moment. Definitely not a nice man, but a fascinating one, and a useful guy to have around in a war.

Overall, I'd say this is the best of the three books, an action-filled page-turner that left me eager to read number four.

I liked this book a lot, but what's with the Kindle price? Way too high, IMO.

Anyway, here's my review:

Buckell wastes no time throwing us into the story: Pepper, our titular character, is free-falling from orbit through Chilo's atmosphere with only a heatshield protecting him from the 2,000 degree, friction-induced heat. Pepper is no ordinary person, though. He's a Mongoose Man, a cyborg-like, elite soldier whose primary duty is the preservation of the human race (kicking ass is his other priority).

Therein lies one of the main complexities of Pepper's character. He's extremely resourceful, intelligent, and experienced, having lived hundreds of years thanks to his cyborg implants, but he's also pragmatic to the extreme, and not above sacrificing innocents if that's what it takes for him to live to fight another day. If those less equipped to save themselves must be sacrificed, so be it. This dilemma lies at the heart of many conflicts for Pepper; it should go without saying that it also plays a part in the unfolding of events in Sly Mongoose.

In contrast to Pepper's seemingly unlimited resourcefulness is Timas, a teenage resident of the floating city of Yatapek (which Pepper is falling to in the opening scene) on Chilo. Like Pepper, Timas belongs to an elite group, though not a military one. Timas is a xocoyotzin, a person specially chosen to service a mining machine that prowls Chilo's surface looking for raw materials. Yatapek is not a wealthy city, and much of their technology has become outdated and fallen into disrepair. The environmental suits the xocoyotzin must wear to survive conditions on the surface are only large enough for younger people to wear, so that as one gets older eventually one becomes too big for the suit. For Timas, serving his city is a privilege and an honor, and so he fights to prolong his ability to serve in that role by ritually expunging himself of any food he eats. It's a terrible burden to place on one so young; we learn a lot about Timas's character and courage in those scenes alone.

There is more.

Pepper crash lands in Yatapek, and we soon learn exactly why he was de-orbiting with only a heatshield between him and certain death. You see, he was trying to get away from something, and it's not long before that something follows him down. Other cities are alerted to the threat. One such city sends an emissary, a girl roughly Timas's age named Katerina, who possesses an eye that all of her people are able to see through. Both her and Timas have pre-conceived notions of the other, notions that change as they gradually bond with one another. There is adventure, and action, and harrowing encounters... Like I noted above, no spoilers, but let's just say that Pepper, Timas, and Katerina find the entire world of Chilo at risk and are thrust into the role of saviors.

Buckell draws from his Caribbean upbringing, so imagining a mech-warrior-like soldier with dreadlocks or distinctly futuristic, island-like cultures is not far from reality. I found this injection of originality refreshing, though I have to admit to some reluctance to embrace it at first if only because it's not what I'm used to. I went with it, though, and Buckell makes it work. The author's style is fast-paced: chapters are generally short and he wastes nearly zero time pontificating or throwing "info dumps" at the reader. His characters are engaging as well. I perhaps liked Pepper the best, but Timas is the true underdog here given his situation. I genuinely wanted to see him both fulfill his duty and save himself at the same time.

The only character I did not become engaged with was Katerina, who has sacrificed much of her individuality to serve as a speaker for her collected people. Perhaps it is that aspect of her make-up which has stolen part of her humanity and therefore disengages the reader from her. In any case, I think her role was greatly overshadowed by Pepper and Timas to the point of irrelevance at times. But that in itself takes nothing from the enjoyment of the story.

SLY MONGOOSE is based in the same universe as his previous two novels, Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin. But don't let that make you worry. Each book is written as a stand-alone based against a larger backdrop.

The story takes place on the planet of Chilo. Pepper, the sly mongoose man from the earlier books, has just returned to the region of space controlled by the human faction based on the planet New Anegada. He had ventured out of the space to witness the execution of what was believed to be the last of the Satraps--a repressive alien species that has subjugated humans and other species for quite a while. Unfortunately, one satrap has escaped the purge of their one-time subjects and is hiding on Chilo. So its former subjects have sent a weapon to destroy their former dark overlord. And it's a virus that turns people into zombies (quite literally).

Pepper finds himself fighting off the zombies, trying to save the inhabitants of Chilo from death. He's assisted by two teens, Timas and Katerina, who are from two very different cultures. Timas is from a group who are very technologically backwards and xenophobic (for good reason), and Katerina is a living avatar of the ultimate democracy. They don't live on the planet, per se, but rather above it. See, Chilo's uninhabitable on the surface due to severe heat, pressure, and a poisonous atmosphere. So its citizens live in scientifically plausible floating cities. The two teens work with Pepper to convince their clashing cultures to work together to defeat the zombie horde. It's a thrill ride filled with sword fights, air ships, pirates, blood, guts, and ichor.

But the neatest thing about SLY MONGOOSE is the fact that it isn't just a top notch action novel. It's also a very thoughtful novel that deals with such topics as gender relationships, the formation of governing bodies, personal freedom, and eating disorders, specifically, bulimia. Buckell strives to deliver a book that is both profoundly entertaining and deeply thought provoking--an ideal more entertainers should work for. And the great thing is he succeeds. It's very easy to read Sly Mongoose on just a pure adventure-novel level and then put down to find yourself thinking about really serious and pertinent topics, which is what great fiction should do.

Tobias Buckell's third entry in his Xenowealth series is arguably the tightest and most accessible of them all, and might even be a better starting point for new readers than Crystal Rain/Ragamuffin. From the intense nail-biter of a opening scene to its very satisfying conclusion, Buckell puts one of his best characters, Pepper, in a thrilling, high stakes situation that includes floating cities, political intrigue, intergalactic war, and zombies. Yes, zombies! Two kinds, actually; both subtly imaginative spins on the concept that work.

In the midst of an exciting story filled with engaging characters, Buckell also flexes his impressive world-building muscles to further flesh out the fascinating Xenowealth setting, and of the three books, this one offers the best foundation for a movie that would expose Avatar for the shallow, hamfisted hackery it was. Recommended.

This was fun. I have read all 3 of Buckell's Xenowealth novels, and this was the best. I enjoyed the first 2, but each had their problems from my view. In _Chrystal Rain_ I did not connect with or care about any of the characters enough. This changed in _Ragamuffin_, which had a good protagonist, but it lost me when 2 thirds of the way through the book we moved away from her and back to characters from _Chrystal Rain_. _Sly Mongoose_ has a potent mix of cool tech, over-the-top action, and Pepper. Pepper is in the first two books, but we didn't get enough of his perspective for me to latch on to him. He anchors this book, and is a character worth following. Specific cool stuff: atmospheric re-entry without a ship, cloud cities, semi-sentient air ships, and the Swarm, which is a version of zombies with distributed systems thrown in.

In summary,_Sly Mongoose_ is an effective mix of cool ideas and a character that is worth following.

What can I say about Sly Mongoose that begins to express my excitement regarding the future of the Xenowealth saga? Well, first of all, let me say that it has my absolute favorite all-time novel beginning. Rather than ruin it by mere summary, I'd instead recommend that you check it out in this 1/3 sample of the book on Buckell's website. Absolutely stunning, and perfectly suits the non-stop action pace of the rest of the book.

Confident in the inspiration instilled in him by Geoff Landis - a NASA scientist whom Buckell credits for the planet Chilo, the primary setting for this half-space opera, half-steampunk adventure story -- Buckell set out to craft the funnest, yet most serious novel of his career yet. While Crystal Rain`s tone is one of adventure and nostalgia, and Ragamuffin`s is one of action and ideas, Sly Mongoose is easily the most daring and reflective of Buckell's longer works. Though there are some surprisingly absurd steampunk and dark fantasy elements in the book - such as the mostly traditional zombies unleashed upon Chilo and its inhabitants, and also the Strandbeests, which are basically handcrafted automatons that scavenge the planet's airships and cities for spare parts -- the overall tone of the book is pretty serious.

The story arc is more or less a "character story," finally giving the reader a deeper look into the character of mongoose-men founder Pepper, the dreadlock-sporting badass that helped launch Buckell's career in "The Fish Merchant." While Pepper was a fairly static character, and seemingly invincible, in previous novels, Sly Mongoose gives readers a very different view of the aging, centuries-old warrior. We see him bleed (more than usual), lose limbs, lament the deaths of innocent humans, and show sincere concern for those around him, despite the facade of pragmatism that the hardened warrior generally exhibits.

Not only does Pepper stretch his muscles (the ones that don't get severed in the course of the book) in this effort, but Buckell does as well. While Crystal Rain was a vessel of Buckell's imaginary universe as inspired by his Caribbean upbringing, and Ragamuffin a vessel for all his far-future ideas, Sly Mongoose is the first work in which Buckell really starts throwing in a palpable tinge of his philosophical beliefs in addition to the more abstract themes common of his fiction.

The colonialism aspect that is so key to his short fiction, for example, comes up quite a lot in Pepper's pondering of the nature of the mysterious alien Satrapy -- which is more or less in shambles following the events of Ragamuffin. Also, there are a few somewhat overt political messages laced throughout the work -- the idea that true democracy would offer action, whereas current national democratic governments are hindered by poor judicial processes; and also the idea that humanity could best serve its kind by joining together, looking beyond nationalism and cultural differences in favor of global improvement and a greater quality of civilization. Perhaps Buckell's political views are yet another reason why his fiction resonates with me as much as it does. That, and the fact that he is an expert storyteller who knows how to craft honest, sympathetic characters that live within a hauntingly believable far-future space opera universe.

While the fourth book in the "Xenowealth" saga, Duppy Conqueror, is reportedly on hold at this time, I feel that I can sleep soundly with the assumption that it will in time be written and released once Buckell's audience and reputation has widened. The fact that he's written, and contributed to, two Halo tie-in books, at least one of which was made a New York Times Bestseller, leads me to believe that he'll do just fine in that regard. His short fiction certainly shows no sign of a decline in quality -- "A Jar of Goodwill" is likely the most successful, most widely acclaimed piece of short fiction published by speculative fiction e-zine Clarkesworld; and Lightspeed Magazine has recently given him wider recognition by reprinting one of his older works, along with an author spotlight interview. I imagine there are few readers of science fiction at this time who have not yet heard of, or enjoyed, the work of Tobias S. Buckell.