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Sly Mongoose
May. 30th, 2008 10:32 amSince it's up already at TCM Reviews, for your Friday reading pleasure here's my thoughts on Tobias Buckell's new book Sly Mongoose
, out August 19. The short version - it was every bit as good as I hoped.
Sly Mongoose is set in the same universe as Buckell’s previous books, but it’s a number of years later and features a different lead character, so it should be a good start point. Chapter One, available for download on the author’s website, starts out with our lead character, Pepper, re-entering a planet’s atmosphere strapped to the back of an improvised heat shield. The action just gets better from there.
Pepper, a mercenary, is entering the planet Chilo from orbit. Much like our Venus, the surface of Chilo is completely uninhabitable due to crushing pressures and temperatures. However, at an altitude of 100,000 feet, the temperatures and pressures are Earth-normal, and breathable oxygen is buoyant. So the inhabitants live in floating cloud cities, and travel to and fro via airships. (Talk about a sensawunda!)
The novel is an action-packed battle involving several distinct groups of humans, alien species both neutral and actively unfriendly, and zombies used as biological weapons. Buckell has a superb grasp of pacing and the writing of action sequences. He uses his Caribbean background to render dialects sharply, and has a good grasp of characters. But this is not just a space shoot-it-up. Buckell, thanks to his strong world-building, gets in some pointed political and social commentary.
Sly Mongoose is a great book, written by one of the hot new writers on the science fiction scene. I highly recommend it.
Word Count for Space Rescue
Complete (58,374) Goal (80,000)
72.96% complete
Since Last Post = 1,233 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Lt. Kim improvises.
, out August 19. The short version - it was every bit as good as I hoped.Sly Mongoose is set in the same universe as Buckell’s previous books, but it’s a number of years later and features a different lead character, so it should be a good start point. Chapter One, available for download on the author’s website, starts out with our lead character, Pepper, re-entering a planet’s atmosphere strapped to the back of an improvised heat shield. The action just gets better from there.
Pepper, a mercenary, is entering the planet Chilo from orbit. Much like our Venus, the surface of Chilo is completely uninhabitable due to crushing pressures and temperatures. However, at an altitude of 100,000 feet, the temperatures and pressures are Earth-normal, and breathable oxygen is buoyant. So the inhabitants live in floating cloud cities, and travel to and fro via airships. (Talk about a sensawunda!)
The novel is an action-packed battle involving several distinct groups of humans, alien species both neutral and actively unfriendly, and zombies used as biological weapons. Buckell has a superb grasp of pacing and the writing of action sequences. He uses his Caribbean background to render dialects sharply, and has a good grasp of characters. But this is not just a space shoot-it-up. Buckell, thanks to his strong world-building, gets in some pointed political and social commentary.
Sly Mongoose is a great book, written by one of the hot new writers on the science fiction scene. I highly recommend it.
Word Count for Space Rescue
Complete (58,374) Goal (80,000)
72.96% completeSince Last Post = 1,233 words
Things accomplished in fiction: Lt. Kim improvises.
