Coyote Frontier: A Novel of Interstellar Colonization

Steele's trilogy about human settlers on an alien planet facing practical and moral challenges comes to a fitting close. The Coyote Federation is a healthy democracy now, but its citizens still depend on the products of Earth's technology. Earth, meanwhile, is sliding into ecological disaster and craves raw materials and room for emigrants. The two sides need each other, but it's unclear whether people have learned enough—or can control themselves well enough—to avoid making selfish little decisions like the ones that devastated humanity's birthplace. Shifting deftly among several characters, Hugo-winner Steele respects the various viewpoints keeping the debate fluid, but he also makes plausible that opposing individuals could grudgingly learn to respect each other enough to modify their rigid plans. As in the first two books in this popular SF series, Coyote and Coyote Rising , another major actor is the mysterious planet itself, which invites people to find new ways to think. (Dec.)