Hugo-winner Steele's stirring second entry in the interstellar frontier saga that began with Coyote
(2002) dramatizes the growing tensions between groups of pioneers on Coyote, a recently discovered world in the 47 Ursae Majoris system. Coyote's first settlers fled tyranny on Earth, so they're disconcerted by the arrival of starships full of colonists sent by a different dictatorship. Unavoidable conflict between the people who want to be left alone and those who need to dominate leads to intrigue, raids and eventually full-scale revolt. Perhaps inevitably (since it was first published as a series of stories in Asimov's
), the novel deals with scattered episodes from that struggle, so that characters appear, perform some necessary action, and vanish just as readers have gotten interested in them. However, Steele presents his characters convincingly enough to account for their selfless or calculating behavior, and it makes sense for the story to focus on larger social evolution rather than individuals. In any event, the book's real center is its setting. Coyote offers forests, mountains, prairies, rivers in a panorama strange enough to rouse awe, vast enough to give all manner of humans room to find themselves. Happily, by the end the little war is finished, but this big, wonderful world is still waiting to be explored. Agent, Martha Millard. (Dec. 7)
