Crystal Rain

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Pepper has been looking to get off of the collapsed human colony world he has been stranded on for a long time. All that stands in his way is an invasion by a revived Aztec empire led by their horrific, blood-seeking gods. Fortunately, Pepper is uniquely qualified to deal with such inconveniences.

I listened to this book as an audiobook and it blew me away. I have been reading science fiction for fifty years. This book brought me back to the science fiction I read in my youth with captivating cultures and strange worlds. The author Tobias Buckell has put together the oddest cultural mash-up imaginable. The colony world seems to have one large habitable continent. The portion north of the “Wicked Highs” is Nanagada. Nanagada is under the control of a culture derived from the islands of the West Indies. This gives a lot of characters a colorful Jamaican accent. Nanagada seems to be a nice place with a lot of diversity and people who enjoy fishing and farming and a reasonable level of technological development.

South of the Wicked Highs, however, is Azteca, where the ancient culture of the Aztecs, with its Flower Wars and human sacrifice, has been reinstituted by “gods” known as the Teotl. The Teotl are aliens who want to conquer Nanagada and kill their ancient enemy in Nanagada, known as the Loa.

The story rips forward from the beginning of the Azteca invasion of Nanagada. We are introduced to John de Brun and his family on the eve of the invasion. The family is separated from each other by the invasion. There are near escapes abounding as John makes his way to Capitol City. In Capitol City, we meet Edward Haidan, who is the chief of the “Mongoose Men,” Nanagada's bush-based military, and Dihana, who is the mayor of Capital City. The duty to defend the last vestige of decent civilization falls to these two. Into the mix we meet the mysterious Pepper, who is simply the most dangerous man in any world.

We gradually come to learn that Nagada is a devolved colony world. There was a war between humans, Teotl and Loa a long time ago. There is technology up for grabs that may determine the outcome of the Azteca invasion, and, maybe, the fate of human civilization beyond Nangada.

From start to finish, the book moves along with energy and excitement, revealing just enough to keep the reader tantalized by what is left unrevealed.

Buckel has done a good job of thinking out things like wormholes and nanotechnology. This is a refreshing bit of Golden Age writing with Jamaican spice. As a lifetime science fiction reader, I recommend this book.

This was ...alright? There was a lot that was well-done - the background/setting, the way it's unfolded throughout the story and reflected in the action of the characters, and the lyrical patois that the Nanagadans speak. However, I couldn't for the life of me find myself caring about John deBrun, his mysterious past, or what happened to him.Given that he's the protagonist, this caused some understandable limitations in my enjoyment of the story.

Crystal Rain, Tobias Buckell's debut novel, is the first book in a series of stand-alone space operas set in the same universe (if it has a series name, I can't find it on Buckell's site or Amazon). It is followed by Ragamuffin, which was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2007, and Sly Mongoose, which just came out a few days ago. These books seem to receive a lot of praise; however, bad writing, lack of strong characterization, and some slow pacing despite a lot of action kept me from enjoying this book.

Complete Review:
http://fantasycafe.blogspot.com/2008/08/review-of-crystal-rain.html