Coyote

A Novel of Interstellar Exploration

By: Allen Steele

Narrated by: Peter Ganim, Allen Steele

Coyote marks a dramatic new turn in the career of Allen Steele, Hugo Award-winning author of Chronospace. Epic in scope, passionate in its conviction, and set against a backdrop of plausible events, it tells the brilliant story of Earth's first interstellar colonists - and the mysterious planet that becomes their home...

The crime of the century begins without a hitch. On July 5th, 2070, as it's about to be launched, the starship Alabama is hijacked - by her captain and crew. In defiance of the repressive government of The United Republic of Earth, they replace her handpicked passengers with political dissidents and their families. These become Earth's first pioneers in the exploration of space...

Captain R. E. Lee, their leader. Colonel Gill Reese, the soldier sent to stop Lee. Les Gilles, the senior communications officer, a victim of a mistake that will threaten the entire mission. Crewman Eric Gunther, who has his own agenda for being aboard. His daughter, Wendy, a teenager who will grow up too quickly. Jorge and Rita Montero, ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. And their son Carlos, who will become a hero in spite of himself.

After almost two-and-a-half centuries in cold sleep, they will awaken above their destination: a habitable world named Coyote. A planet that will test their strength, their beliefs, and their very humanity...

In Coyote, Allen Steele delivers a grand novel of galactic adventure - a tale of life on the newest of frontiers.

BONUS AUDIO: Includes an exclusive introduction by author Allen Steele

©2003 Allen Steele (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Could have been much better, if only...

I actually liked the story, but...WOW, the, writer really piled on the political horse poop! It's not even so much the totally needless liberal rants, but the fact that most of it made absolutely no sense. A fascist regime that executes citizens that disagree with them, but holds the 2nd amendment sacred. Wouldn't that put guns in the hands of those they would want to execute? Oh yeah, let us not forget the abortion issue...he even found way to let us know his thoughts on that as well. It appears to make perfect sense to the writer
that a community of 100 people trying to perpetuate the human race on an alien planet would want to ABORT THEIR CHILDREN...oh well, it all ends
well...
******spoiler alert********
Fidel Castro's cyborg avatar comes to Coyote and saves the day by
enlightening the colony with the benefits Socialism/Communism....I AM NOT
JOKING!
Also...
Read in the style of 'Behind The Music', but otherwise, not bad.
In summary...
I'm sure Mr. Steele has other works that are much better, but I will never know.

good book

What made the experience of listening to Coyote the most enjoyable?

The story line was captivating. Always made you want to here the next chapter.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Wendy. She did what she thought was right. And did not take any crapFrom no one. But was smart enough to listen to her would be Mom the Doctor.

Which character – as performed by Peter Ganim and Allen Steele – was your favorite?

Captain Lee, Wendy and Carlos.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I was sad for the crew member that was awakened early.

Any additional comments?

Now hope the second book is as good as the first.

Great science fiction

I liked the story it was worth a second listen. I would recommend it to any one who likes good fiction

Excellent premise about colonizing another planet

Excellent concept, well written. Good listen. Detailed exploration of what colonizing another planet would entail based on today's technology. Well developed characters and plot - sucks you right in.

Allen Steele good write not a reader of books

Great book and good story. Boring monitone by author who tries to read the novel. He has such a monitone that it took me three times to start and be able to listen to the book. He should always allow a professional reader do his stories. If he narrates I will not purchase another of his books. With a proper reader with inflections for characters I would have rated this book a 4.5

Great story and characters.

What made the experience of listening to Coyote the most enjoyable?

The sense of adventure. Once the story began, I could not stop listening.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Peter Ganim and Allen Steele ?

Yes. I have the entire Coyote series on my wish list

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

This story really sparked my sense of adventure. I wanted to be a part of the colony; their struggles and successes. I cannot wait for the next book.

the ending was plain stupid

the story has a lot of slow parts, especially at the beginning. but it picks up when the colony ship gets going.

the biggest problem is with the ending, and the poor planning of the "matriarch" and her plans.
why did her giant ship not come prepared to start a fresh colony of their own? they could not have known for sure that the first colony had survived.

it's a massive plot hole, seemingly created just to add some drama for the ending.

while presented as a logistics issue, on cause of the matriach's comically lack of prepeardness, the conflict could really have been of ideology alone, and still had an ending that amounted to the same outcome.

why needlessly make the matriarch a moron? it weekens her as an antagonist.

Enjoyed in spite of the politics

I thoroughly enjoyed this book in spite of the authors apparent politics. A United Republic of American would be as repugnant to the real people it's places and space shuttles were named after as it is to most readers.

But it's a really fun book, with enough twists and surprises to keep it entertaining. I'll be getting Coyote Rising next month.

Good Story - Poor narration

If you could sum up Coyote in three words, what would they be?

Travel to another world - yup. Spread the human race over several planets to prevent a single world shattering event ending humanity's existence - good idea. Steal a Starship? Okay - suspend reality and biology for a while and then get ready for a really good story.
Pretend that the male narrator reads at speed and with a voice that keeps you engaged (might happen - sigh - but not all the time). It's the story that will keep you there.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator's voice to too low, too slow, and too monotonous to make his contribution worthy. Another reader could have really added a great deal this book. I will avoid his narration in future purchases.

Awesome story

I'm a big fan of frontier stories, and Allen Steele hits a home run with this one. The characters are engaging, the plot is well-paced. The reader is easy on the ears as well. I especially enjoyed the voice he did for Captain Robert Lee, a world-weary sonorous vaguely southern accent, but he did a good job differentiating the voices of the other characters as well. I would definitely recommend this one to any fans of frontier science fiction, or even just fans of good sci-fi.