![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jun. 19th, 2007 11:42 amI finished reading Toby Buckell's new novel Ragamuffin
last night. It's a very good book.
Buckell lifted a page from John's Scalzi's class in how to write a sequel, and so the book doesn't start anywhere near where Crystal Rain ended. (I am attempting to do the same thing with my WIP sequel to The Mars Run, Space Rescue.) There are a number of advantages to this, the obvious being you can safely buy one without having read the other.
At any rate, in Buckell's world, humanity in particular and sentient life in general are under the thumb of the Satrapy, a sophisticated alien race that's very fond on mind control. It's a heavy thumb. Several human groups, notably the Ragamuffins, descendent from Caribean islanders, and the League of Humanity, are lurking around in the shadows trying to resist. Faster-then-light travel is possible, but only by transiting various artificial wormholes, all controlled by the Satrapy. Otherwise, space travel takes centuries.
Chapter one opens with an operative named Nashara showing up on the human reservation of Pitt's Cross. She's trying to get out, primarily because she's killed one of the alien rulers of the planet, something not done for centuries. She's also trying to get to Nanagada, one of the few human planets free of alien control. The inbound wormhole has also been turned off, primarily to isolate the place.
At any rate, Nashara's journey sets up a true space opera, full of all-out space battles, betrayals and general mayhem. Pepper and John deBrun, stars of Crystal Rain, aren't seen until two-thirds through the book. When they do make their entrance, everybody seems to have escaped from the frying pan into the fire.
I'll write up a more coherent review in the coming days, but Ragamuffin is a great book, and I recommend it highly.
last night. It's a very good book.Buckell lifted a page from John's Scalzi's class in how to write a sequel, and so the book doesn't start anywhere near where Crystal Rain ended. (I am attempting to do the same thing with my WIP sequel to The Mars Run, Space Rescue.) There are a number of advantages to this, the obvious being you can safely buy one without having read the other.
At any rate, in Buckell's world, humanity in particular and sentient life in general are under the thumb of the Satrapy, a sophisticated alien race that's very fond on mind control. It's a heavy thumb. Several human groups, notably the Ragamuffins, descendent from Caribean islanders, and the League of Humanity, are lurking around in the shadows trying to resist. Faster-then-light travel is possible, but only by transiting various artificial wormholes, all controlled by the Satrapy. Otherwise, space travel takes centuries.
Chapter one opens with an operative named Nashara showing up on the human reservation of Pitt's Cross. She's trying to get out, primarily because she's killed one of the alien rulers of the planet, something not done for centuries. She's also trying to get to Nanagada, one of the few human planets free of alien control. The inbound wormhole has also been turned off, primarily to isolate the place.
At any rate, Nashara's journey sets up a true space opera, full of all-out space battles, betrayals and general mayhem. Pepper and John deBrun, stars of Crystal Rain, aren't seen until two-thirds through the book. When they do make their entrance, everybody seems to have escaped from the frying pan into the fire.
I'll write up a more coherent review in the coming days, but Ragamuffin is a great book, and I recommend it highly.