Sly Mongoose

Great follow-up to both "Crystal Rain" and "Ragamuffin"! Buckell has created a very detailed, well organized universe, peopled with intersting characters that are believable and complex. I hope he has more to say in this series.

Though this is the third in a series it stands by itself, Sly Mongoose is fast paced, tight, action packed, and effortlessly complex. Set on an Extrasolar Venus, it combines really inventive and coherent world building with a Swashbuckling story, and a well thought out backstory that reflects a coherent and compelling universe beyond its story. The character of Pepper is far better developed now, and combined with two new youthful characters reminiscent of, but more nuanced than classic Heinlein the story is compelling and addictive. Buckell has really grown as an author and it has all come together, the narrative confusion of Ragamuffin, to which I only gave three stars, is now mastered. Highly recommended

An intense debate over how to deal with illegal aliens... a virus corrupting the results of electronic voting... a runaway greenhouse effect... This would sound like something out of current headlines, if not for the zombies. Everything is better with zombies. Buckell returns to the universe of his previous 2 novels and humanity is still misplacing it's resentment toward its (now former) alien overlords by finding new and exciting ways of killing each other. The setting is what initially sets this book apart from your average adventure filled science fiction yarn. The caustic Venus like atmosphere of Chilo offers us a dizzying array of floating cities, air ships, clockwork dragons, but the people that choose to live on Chilo give the story its soul. If you've read the Crystal rain, you'll recognize the Azteca. If you've read Ragamuffin you'll recognize the Consensus as an extrapolation of democracy enabled by the Lamina technology. If you've read either, you'll love seeing Pepper in action. If this is the first book you read by Buckell, it'll definitely entice you to read the previous books.

Space zombies. Floating cities. And Pepper leaping out of a spaceship and riding a heatshield down, sans parachute. What else do I really need to say about this one? Sly Mongoose is Tobias Buckell's third novel, set in the same universe as Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin, but Pepper is the only character from the earlier books. As with Ragamuffin, this isn't a direct sequel, though it does continue the larger story Buckell is creating about humans struggling to survive and find their place as they discover just how dangerous a place this universe can be. Sly Mongoose is set primarily on the planet of Chilo, a loosely Venus-like planet with crushing gravity, a corrosive atmosphere ... generally not a pleasant place to live. The inhabitants live in floating cities, descending to the surface to maintain the outdated and unreliable mining equipment. It's a hard life, and when Pepper drops in, it gets a lot harder. The Swarm (space zombies!) is coming, searching for a secret hidden on Chilo's surface, and they're prepared to kill anyone and everyone in their way. Buckell does a lot of cool things in this book. For starters, Chilo's inhabitants are the descendants of the Azteca from Crystal Rain. One complaint I had about Crystal Rain was that the Aztecs came across as fairly straightforward villains without as much depth as I wanted. Sly Mongoose develops them into fully fleshed out people, still struggling to live down the shame of their ancestors' actions back on New Anegada. Sly Mongoose leaves me curious where Buckell is going with this series. He's setting up a very dangerous and violent universe, one in which humanity will either need to unite and work together, or face extinction. Behind the obvious threat of the Swarm lies another enemy, and further in the shadows an even larger threat could be lurking. The young miner Timas is a good character, but Pepper steals the book. Pepper is a highly practical, survival-oriented warrior. He's an interesting one ... long-lived, and having survived enough wars to warp any man. There are times he seems to be running on automatic, more machine than human, and throughout the book you see Timas and others trying to break through to that kernel of humanity. Sometimes they seem to reach him. Other times, Pepper just lets them think so, because it suits Pepper's plans at that particular moment. Definitely not a nice man, but a fascinating one, and a useful guy to have around in a war. Overall, I'd say this is the best of the three books, an action-filled page-turner that left me eager to read number four.

Sly Mongoose is set several generations after Ragamuffin, and our old friend Pepper is back in the middle of the latest crisis. As always the alien machinery inside of him has caused him to outlast and outlive everyone around him, so he's the only character you'll remember from previous books. The descendants of the Azteca fled New Anegada and their alien masters, and now live in floating cities set about a deadly planet called Chilo. One of the things I love about Buckell's work is that his books in this series have enough similarity of style, exploration, themes, etc. (not to mention the fantastic character of Pepper!) to satisfy someone who's looking for more of 'the same'. However, each one is also quite different from the previous books, so you certainly won't feel bored with the material! Each book takes place some time after the previous one, in this case several generations later. Each book explores a different part of the universe, although at the same time it takes on the consequences of previous plots. So there's a ton of new material while also a few familiar threads to hold onto. This also means that the books can stand alone, although you'll have an easier time following some things if you know what came before. The characters are complex and interesting. As usual it could be argued that Pepper is actually not the main character, although perhaps he is more so in Sly Mongoose than in the last two books. This is a great approach, because Pepper's certainly not your standard hero, nor even your standard anti-hero, and it's often both useful and important to see events through other people's eyes as well. In many ways Buckell's books hearken back to an earlier style of hard SF that drops you straight into highly alien situations and lets you absorb it all, rather than starting from something familiar. They also contain a strong element of exploration with regard to alien sentience, societal and governmental structures, and so on. Most refreshingly, he explores all sorts of positive and negative aspects of these things without holding up a sharp agenda. It's writing that makes you think, not writing that preaches. He also writes with an incredibly unique flavor that I've not seen in any other author's books, so if you're looking for something new, his books are a great bet!