Sly Mongoose [Hardcover]

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!

The reason this book is still on my mind is that it shows the pros and cons of the opposites of democratic choice. On the one hand are the Aeolians who vote on absolutely everything, all the time. On the other are the Yatapekians who use a more traditional patriachal structure to get things done. But when an imminent threat arrives both people drag their feet trying to figure out what to do about it. That part of the plot struck me as insightful. Even in the face of clear and present danger some people dither around.

So the plot was good but the book is full of cliches, as others have pointed out. I leave you with two things: the main bad-ass character actually acts like a bad-ass and often sacrifices others, or others' opinions of him, to get to a positive solution for the whole. To the point of quickly killing someone when he could have probably just restrained them during a fight. He's totally a take-no-prisoners kind of guy. If there is no point in keeping a threat alive, he doesn't. On the downside, when the ragamuffin-types talk using pidgin (broken English) it's annoying. I know the author is from the Caribbean but it's annoying down there too. And it seems like the "talk" slipped a few times into the editing of the regular paragraph descriptions. And THAT is one of my biggest pet peeves: bad editing.

Still, it's a fun, easy read. I probably would have loved it as a 13 or 14-year-old. Now as a 30 something, it's a decent way to pass a few nights instead of watching bad T.V.

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.