I found this novel fairly similar to the first in the series, Coyote, in terms of how much I enjoyed it and the characteristics that limited that enjoyment. Both of them have an inconsistent, ups-and-downs kind of ability to keep me absorbed in the story. The first book, I hear, was actually collected together from short stories; the second reads like it was as well. While I mentally debated whether to give the first book three stars or four here on goodreads, ultimately settling on three, the rating for this novel was never in doubt. I had a strong sense I'd be giving it three stars early in the reading, and it stayed that way throughout.

In my review of Coyote, I commented on the fact that at the end it actually made some concessions to something oft-neglected in science fiction: the fact that science and technology advance over time. It seems like most scifi novels start at a particular level of technological advancement and stay there throughout, even when they span decades. Exceptions primarily seem to include cases where there is one particular advancement central to the plot, or cases of explicit singularity fiction. The hints and minor details of some huge advances that happened off-page, in the far-away environs of Earth's Solar System, made an appearance at the end of Coyote. I found this refreshing, and noted it as a positive factor influencing my overall enjoyment of the book. Unfortunately, the possibilities for further development of that were mostly squandered in Coyote Rising, and the end result was that (unlike its predecessor) this novel mostly had the feel of science fiction that pretty much starts with a particular assumed level of technological advancement and remains stubbornly static in that regard throughout.

One thing for which Steele seems to deserve some notable credit, however, is his ability to produce a great ". . . and the adventure continues!" kind of ending. Both of the first two books in this series offer a good ending of that variety, both granting a sense of closure and firing the imagination in anticipation of what might follow. ( )

Original colonists struggle against colonial governor.

In which the forces of freedom and individuality (represented by the starship hijackers of its predecessor 'Coyote') prevail over the nasty socialist 'Collectivism' of the colonists who arrived at the close of 'Coyote'.

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A worthy novel in the Coyote series. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-of-coyote-rising-by-allen-steele... ( )