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Summary: Life and Death Among the Stars
Review: #1 Harriet, of course, has beaten everyone to summarize the book, but I think some other criticisms here aren't fair. I really don't understand the reaction of the previous reviewer to Allen Steele's politics. Yes, a lot of Allen Steele makes me believe he's a pro-union, 1950s, Harry Truman-style Democrat. I doubt Steele and I would agree on much, but his politics are open and clear. He makes a dig at Newt Gingrich and Jesse Helms. So what -- are we Republicans that thin-skinned? I'm not. Secondly, the idea that this is just "Legacy of Heorot" is silly. Legacy... a brilliant book... was a story about a bad alien with stranging mating habits (something Niven himself mentions in the acknowledgments to Legacy. Coyote is a story about -people- colonizing a new world. If there are similiarities from that, it's only because Steele, like the authors of "Legacy" did his homework. I would have loved a tad more of Steele's excellent visual descriptions --- the gas giant around which Coyote orbits is mentioned a handful of times, but I never grew tired of the descriptions. Are his politics distracting to the story? Not at all. Is the story worth reading? Darn tooting! Does this story ring true, does it hang together, is it entertaining? Absolutely.
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Summary: A sci-fi must-read! Memorable characters and predicaments
Review: Adventure, political intrigue, human nature, and space exploration are intertwined in this highly readable, extremely imaginative novel. The characters are believable and likable, the situation not outside the realm of possibility. I couldn't put the book down and felt engaged until the very last page. What does Steele have in store for readers in the sequel?! Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Steele shines again
Review: Alan has struck gold with this Heinleinesque novel of interstellar colonization. It has lots of texture and good characters to make the story a book you don't want to put down. I wish that this one would become a series book. After reading hundreds of Star Trek books; this one is a breath of fresh air in a new and more real universe.
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Summary: Steele broadens his and the reader's horizons
Review: Allen Steele's "Coyote" is actually a collection of stories and novelettes that have appeared in Science Fiction magazines over a 2-3 year period. They are strung together in a cohesive story about a group of rebels who escape the earth, which is now governed by an ultra-Conservative coalition. Ultimately they wind up on a new world called Coyote on which they build a small community they name Liberty. Steele enters new writing territory with this book. He has traditionally written books set on the Moon or on near-Earth venues in the not-so-far off future. This one travels far ahead. One thing I liked about this is Steele's attention to detail. There are plenty of "new world/new colony" Science Fiction novels out there. Many of the ones that I have read just brush over things like building toilets. Steele often discusses the lack of these day-to-day necessities and the impact on the characters. I could not really find one clear lead character although there are plenty of antagonists. Among those are a Colonel loyal to the old government. Deadly flying creatures called boids. The elements of the new world. The inner demons of those haunted by a past way of life. The two characters who have the biggest "parts" are Wendy and Carlos. I find the obscure reference to the trans-gendered synthesizer artist Wendy Carlos almost ironic as this is a person who explored new genres of music. The one flaw is the change in presentation. The first several chapters are written in present tense, which I found distracting at first but easier to follow later. Then half-way through the book it switches to past tense. Generally I found this to be a pretty good read and I am glad that I was able to read it over a few days rather than over three years in various magazines.
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Summary: Solid work by Steele
Review: As a fan of Allen Steele's Near Space series who hasn't read much from the author since the publication of A King of Infinite Space in the late 90's, I was pleasantly surprised to find that his latest book is a return to his most potent subject, that of the human exploration of space. From interviews and personal correspondence with Mr. Steele (yes, he's generous enough to respond if you send him e-mail), I gather that Coyote was originally envisioned as a sequel to A King of Infinite Space, which concludes with the main characters blasting off in a colony ship to a nearby solar system. Instead of continuing the series, though, Steele eventually decided to take the basic idea and create a new universe. The result is Coyote, which is as readable and entertaining as anything Steele has written. As a portrait of humans exploring a new world, it can easily stack up against anything in the Near Space series. Many of the stories, in particular "The Days Between" and "Across the Eastern Divide," show how much Steele has matured as a writer since some of the early stories in Sex and Violence in Zero-G. The novel has two major flaws, though. The first lies in the structure of the novel, which is very episodic. Although this is understandable considering that it originated as a series of short stories, a little more editing could have produced a tighter work. However, it does allow for the inclusion of multiple perspectives and a greater overview of the different people that compose the Liberty community than could be afforded by a traditional focus on one or two main characters. The second flaw is the fact that Steele's personal politics (which seem to be those of an old-school Truman Democrat) occasionally interject themselves a little too nakedly into the text, particularly in the beginning. As a native of South Carolina, I find the idea of a near-future U.S. dominated by right-wing southern fascists a little irritating. However, these are just minor reservations. I recommend Coyote to anyone interested in Allen Steele and look forward to the sequel coming out soon.
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Summary: www.SFReader.com Review
Review: by Lynn Nicole Louis "Coyote" is a compilation of eight previously published stories, including the Hugo-nominated "Stealing Alabama" and "The Days Between." As such, it doesn't read like a traditional novel, since the focus of the segments is on different characters. Too, each story is self-contained; overall they fail to form the traditional arc a reader usually finds in a novel. This is not bad, just different and maybe disorienting to a reader who might be expecting a regular book. It might be better to approach this as a themed anthology, than a novel.
For science fiction fans, this one is a must-read. Lynn Nicole Louis
Read the full review at www.SFReader.com
Rating:
Summary: www.SFReader.com Review
Review: by Lynn Nicole Louis "Coyote" is a compilation of eight previously published stories, including the Hugo-nominated "Stealing Alabama" and "The Days Between." As such, it doesn't read like a traditional novel, since the focus of the segments is on different characters. Too, each story is self-contained; overall they fail to form the traditional arc a reader usually finds in a novel. This is not bad, just different and maybe disorienting to a reader who might be expecting a regular book. It might be better to approach this as a themed anthology, than a novel.
For science fiction fans, this one is a must-read. Lynn Nicole Louis
Read the full review at www.SFReader.com
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Summary: Right wing revolutions and interstellar exploration
Review: Coyote is the fourth moon for a Jovain gas giant orbiting a star 46 lightyears from earth. This is the destination of the colony ship URSS Alabama, and its rather interesting crew of hijackers, soldiers and colonists. Seventy years in the future, the United States has gone through a third revolution and the result is repressive regime that has abrogated all rights except for the party elite. The Alabama is a monument to the new regime. Captain Robert E. Lee (a great great grandson of the CSA General) conspires to launch the Alabama with a slightly different crew than envisioned by the current government. They succeed (with difficulty) and commence a 230 year journey to Coyote. Coyote is both inviting and deadly. This is an adventure story that brings forth the rugged frontier spirit buried in the American soul and the colonists rise to the occaision. Allen Steele just gets better and better and better. Don't miss his latest novel!
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Summary: A Heinlein Tribute
Review: Except for a minor quibble or two, I found this story a pleasure to read. Allen Steele has previously used themes similar to the near space frontier works of Arthur C. Clarke. Coyote, however, echoes several themes in Robert A. Heinlein's works, including the Second American Revolution and the theft of a starship by political refugees. The title says Coyote is a novel of interstellar exploration, but it is really a story of a great trek across 46 light years to settle a planet -- OK, a satellite -- in another solar system. Much of the novel concerns the trials and tribulations of two adolescents: Wendy and Carlos. In this sense, Coyote is a coming of age story much like Heinlein's juveniles. The story starts with the theft of the United Republic Service Ship Alabama by some of its crew and a group of "dissident intellectuals" fired from the Federation Space Agency. Since the ship can cruise at only .2c -- 2/10ths of light speed -- the trip will take 230 years earth time. After the escape, one crew member -- Comtech Leslie Gillis -- is awakened from biostasis and is not allowed by the ship's AI to return to this preserving state. Gillis spends the next 32 years as the only awakened person on the Alabama. Sometimes sane and other times mad, Gillis leaves behind some mural paintings, an epic novel and a mysterious note. Upon reaching Coyote, the crew and passengers are awakened from biostasis, encounter the mural and novel (and note), and are much puzzled. Coyote is habitable, of course, yet greatly different from Earth. The colonist find much strangeness and danger, but are able to adapt. While the science and technology is very much 21st century, the strongest aspect of this novel is character development. Even his villains are believable. Steele deals realistically with teenage sex and pregnancy among his characters, something that Heinlein was not allowed to do until very late in his career. The novel ends with a number of loose strings, so I hope that a sequel is forthcoming.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, in parts.
Review: Have you ever read a book that was, well, pretty good- not great, but pretty good- only to have your willing suspension of disbelief ripped apart by one or mor ereally dumb things the author couldn't resist putting in?
Yeah, it's a lot like that.
This is a pretty good, and pretty imaginative store. It's not a particularly original one; the same story has been told any number of times by other writers, but Steele does a workmanlike job of stiching the various tales togetehr. Unfortunately where he gets original is where he sticks his foot in it.
The story opens in a United States that's come under the control of a repressive dictatorship. Sort of like "It Can't Happen Here", or perhaps bits of the Ender saga, or number of other stories. And who has taken over the country? Libertarians. Yes, those opressive, dangerous Free-Marketeers. Hmm.
So we ignore that and move on to the rocket shuttles, which are names the "George Wallace" and the "Jesse Helms", which are Steels's idea of heroes of the future repressive state. Except both of these former politicians ended up renouncing their former racist views in the later years, and Wallace in particular ended up embarking on a campaign to atone for his earlier sins. It gets worse- and dumber- but I won't mention how as to do so would be to telegraph a major plot development. Not that it really matters as Steele himself telegraphs it less than halfway through the book.
Now it's not an awful book; far from it. There are a great many books far worse out there. It's a reasonably interesting story, and probably ideal for passing time in an airport lounge
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