I don’t remember how I stumbled across Tobias Buckell’s website, the web’s funny that way, but I’m glad I started to post on his comments — he’s kind and likes to engage with his readers.
So I’m really glad I liked his first novel, Crystal Rain.
I read the first third of it on his website before cracking upon the hardcover I found earlier this year. It was another book that had been on my must read list, although I can’t remember why. I found the hard cover during those few months of scarcity before the paperback came out.
So, did I mention it would be a quick review? Because I didn’t think yesterday’s review of Red Thunder turned out to be all that quick.
Buckell writes a nice tight book that’s well plotted and full of two-fisted (well, one fist, one hook) pulp action. The characterization also works very well and he really knows how to drive a reader’s curiosity — you want to read more about this rich, rich world he’s built.
And what a world he’s made. Like the amnesiac protaganist, John DeBrun we’re a bit lost and confused, at first, trying to piece this world together, but it only makes the journey that much better. What led to a lost post-apocolyptic planet full of Carribean refugees, bloody-minded neo-Aztec warriors and strange squishy gods? It’s an intriguing world where nanotech, biotech and steamtech all collide in with satisfying logic. Aside from my fever dreams, where else can we see an immortal with a hook for a hand fight Aztec(a)s in airships high above the jungle?
These reviews can be all cheerleading, though (apologies in advance if Toby actually stumbles across this review). The subplots tended to meander. I didn’t really end up caring as much about the protaganist’s son’s journey as Buckell wanted me to and the politics of Capitol City could have either been more crucial to the overall plot or dropped entirely, by my account.
I’m mixed about one character, Pepper, a figure from the DeBrun’s past. Amoral killing machines are fun, really, but do they all need trenchcoats? (To be fair, I don’t have the book in front of me, but I managed to picture Pepper as a bit of the long-coated asskicking type.)
I can’t complain about the science too much, since the plot depends on fantastic technology and wormholes. The planet itself seemed plausible, but I wonder if Buckell glided over the fact that there seems to be only two types of climate: cold and tropical.
But when Buckell stretched, he succeeded. His universe is brilliantly conceived, and I look forward to reading the sequel, Ragamuffin. And I thought I would get annoyed or distracted by the Carribean dialect in which the characters speak, but I really didn’t.
The verdict: Read it.