"Revolutionary War of the future"

For the most part, Earth is uninhabitable and there is no room for the domed cities on the moon and Mars so if mankind is to survive, it needs a new place to call home. In 47 Ursae Majoris, the planet Coyote with a climate similar to Earth was found; the starship Alabama with one hundred people made the voyage but half of those aboard were dissidents who wanted to escape the repressive regime on earth. They founded the settlement of Liberty but when more spaceships were sent from Earth carrying soldiers and colonists, the people of Liberty moved onto an unexplored part of the planet.

The colonial governor, Matriarch Luisa Hernandez rules all but the rebels with an iron grip. New colonists are forced to live in shuttle town, working for menial wages in Liberty while the base has plenty of food and water. Many of the new colonists escape and join the rebels until the Matriarch decreed nobody could leave the areas she controls. The rebel leaders Robert E. Lee and Carlos Montero (aka Rigel Kent) are the rallying points of the revolution that will see Liberty or death.

COYOTE RISING is the Revolutionary War of the future. Men and women are willing to die so that others may live free and Allen Steele does a fantastic job of making the audience see the similarities between two rebellions many centuries and light-years apart. As time passes on Coyote, a new government grows but doesn't take into account the wishes of it's citizens, which is why force is needed to try to remove the ruling party. Allen Steele is the successor to Robert Heinlein.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 28, 2004

Summary

Hugo Award-winning author Allen Steele's critically acclaimed Coyote was a dramatic new departure-"a terrific, break-out book" (Robert J. Sawyer) of "classic science- fiction" (Orlando Sentinel). But if Coyote was a grand novel of interstellar exploration, then Coyote Rising is the bold next step-a novel of interstellar revolution. The crew of the hijacked starship Alabama fled their colony on Coyote after more colonists arrived-along with a new, repressive government and all of Earth's social ills. Now, the iron-fisted colonial governor is building a bridge to exploit the virgin territory where the Alabama's crew are believed to have resettled. But a movement is underway to reclaim Coyote for those who truly love freedom-a full-scale rebellion in which the men and women on both sides of the fight will learn the true price of liberty.