Uniqueness can be a difficult thing to find in fantasy literature, as most novels follow the general archetypes. The medieval English setting established in the Sir Thomas Malory’s classic “Le Morte d’Arthur” has been grossly overused in the genre. So it is immensely refreshing to discover a fantasy/sci-fi novel that revolves around a Caribbean/South American type of setting. Creativity is a wonderful thing.“Crystal Rain”, the strong debut novel by Tobias S. Buckell, is a unique hybrid that attempts to be something special. And in making such an ambitious attempt, the novel distinguishes itself. You likely will not forget a novel that is a hybrid of fantasy and science fiction elements, where the characters talk like Caribbean islanders, alien gods patrol the land, and the Azteca are the invading force. (And if you do forget it, I want your reading list.) Buckell is to be commended for not playing it safe, and rehashing the same tired fantasy genre clichés.The novel is set in the Caribbean-styled Nanagada, a peninsula protected by a mountain range, the Wicked Highs, on the landed side. Almost immediately, the brutal Azteca have invaded Nanagada, seeking blood and human sacrifice to satiate their gods. John deBrun lives with his wife Shanta and son Jerome outside of the town of Brungstun in the shadow of the Wicked Highs. Soon they find themselves caught in the battle with the Azteca, becoming separated from each other in the confusion. John, who has no memory of his life prior to arriving in Nanagada twenty-seven years earlier, is saved from being a sacrifical lamb by the Aztecan mongoose man, Oaxyctl. Together they travel to Capitol City, the governmental and major population center of Nanagada, meager steps ahead of the advancing Azteca army. Meanwhile, John’s son Jerome is saved by the mysterious Pepper, a dreadlocked badass who is searching for John, claiming to be an old friend. Pepper oozes more violence and menace than the evening news. On reaching Capitol City, John discovers he is an instrumental part in the plan to stop the Azteca invasion. Somewhere within John’s forgotten memories, he has knowledge of the Ma Wi Jung, an artifact that may save the Nanagadans. Can John regain his lost memories and save the Nanagadans? And who is Pepper and what is his interest in John? What is Oaxyctl’s real agenda?The pacing of “Crystal Rain” is swift with the majority of the chapters only being a few pages long. The story mainly evolves through action, drawing the reader quickly through novel. The biggest negative to this lightning-fast pace is a lack of more extensive cultural information about the world; the world-building is unfortunately minimal other than a moderate amount of physical description of Nanagada. There are so many interesting cultural and religious aspects about the Nanagadans and the Azteca that could have been further explored by Buckell. But he misses the opportunity. This is a fantasy setting that screams for a more extensive examination. Sacrificing the pace for a more complete Nanagada would have been worth it. Considering the novel’s pacing, the characters are well-drawn. Pepper really jumps off the page; the mystery surround him being one of the most intriguing aspects of “Crystal Rain”. He was the one character I most wanted to read about, not only in this book but in future books. The uniqueness of “Crystal Rain” makes it a strong debut for Buckell, but it could have been special if the pacing had been sacrificed for more world-building. When you create a setting this amazing, it is natural for the to want to explore it more thoroughly. And it is in wanting more from this novel that makes “Crystal Rain” an overall success.Last Word:“Crystal Rain” is a worthy read, filled with a unique setting and fresh creativity. Fast paced action and short chapters will have the reader ripping through the story, but a lack of in-depth world-building keeps the book from achieving more. Ultimately, “Crystal Rain” is oozing with potential. And my sincere hope of Buckell eventually fulfilling that potential has me eagerly anticipating his next novel even more.
It took me a long time to get to writing this review after finishing the book because I am feeling a bit conflicted about it. In the words of Enigo Montoya, "Let me 'spain."Overall, I found the idea intriguing and the science of it all fascinating. On the other hand, the supposed Jamaican dialect and the lack of pacing made me want to abandon the book many times.So, let's look at each of the parts of this in turn.Setting: Truly, a unique and interesting setting with lots of potential for conflict and description. Tobias revealed the setting rather slowly throughout the book, opting to have the reader discover how this civilization came to be and evolve rather than give any narrative exposition. This method can definitely work, but, for me, it did not in this case because I was often left wondering what was being talked about and why. In other words, even the setting was confusing to me until about half-way through the book when it all started coming together. This is just too long for most readers to stay connected to a story that confuses them (yes, I'm a masochist reader).Character: The idea of two peoples sharing a planet and in constant conflict is certainly interesting, especially with the Azteca sacrificing and seeming savagery. And there were some interesting characters as well. Especially the Azteca double-spy who had to face his "god's" mortality. And John deBrun's son was also quite interesting, having to come to terms with his own youth and inability to do anything about it and the idea of who his father really is. Other than these two, I didn't find many other characters that I found very interesting. The whole memory loss routine for John got boring after the first ten pages, and although he learns who he is, I didn't feel like he actually learned or changes in any way. Nor does he have to struggle with that. In fact, I liked him better before he got his memory back. I will also acknowledge that I found Pepper, at least, to be a delightfully complex character.Plot: Again, very interesting idea here. The details of it stood out well in the story. I felt that pacing through the first half of the book was off, but the second half kept me much more riveted. Of course, this may have been more a factor of my lack of interest in the characters and my confusing on what was happening and why than because of the plot itself.Conflict: Again, lots of good conflict, particularly through the last half of the book. The first half could have used a bit more.Text: I am not a fan of using idiom in dialogue to mark speech patterns, particularly when the listener does not notice that there is anything abnormal about it. So, I was constantly thrown out of the story as I read. Perhaps the reason that the second half went so smoothly was that we had more of Pepper and John talking and so it was not as noticeable.
Do You like book Crystal Rain (2006)?
3.5 stars, really. There are plenty of good ideas here, and some interesting characters. As a first novel, it's very good. But something about it wasn't quite right. Perhaps it's that despite the unique ideas, large parts of what followed from each idea seemed predictable. "John, you have to go north." "Don't wanna." Ha. As if there was ever any chance that he wouldn't. Perhaps - and this is not Buckell's fault - I have had enough of "We're surrounded by a vastly superior force! We're doomed! We
—Tim Hicks
This book was so much fun to read. Imagine another planet inhabited by Caribbean people and Aztecs. Imagine “gods” that require blood sacrifices. Imagine a world settled by humans who get cut off from the rest of humanity and have lost most of their technology and whose origins are the stuff of myth and legend. This is the setting of "Crystal Rain" by Tobias Buckell. When you read as much genre fiction as I do, you start recognizing the formulas and get pretty good at determining where the story is going. In science fiction and fantasy, you get quite used to having everything explained to you in lengthy exposition. With "Crystal Rain", there were surprises at every turn. The planet’s history was revealed slowly, not all at once. Whatever the characters took for granted, I took for granted. It’s obvious that Buckell had a completely envisioned world and society. But, instead of hitting the reader over the head, he hands out details in bits and pieces. His characters are fully realized and come alive on the page. I highly recommend "Crystal Rain" for any reader of science fiction (or fantasy) that wants something fresh and exciting, yet accessible. The one thing Crystal Rain is not is weird for weirdness sake. The characters are people we can recognize and their world is not too terribly different from our own, although it is wilder. This book won’t change your life or make you a better person, but it will entertain you without making you feel like you’ve read it before. By the way, although there is some violence (and human sacrifice), I put this in my "Sharing with my middle-school son" shelf because it was a great adventure, not too weird and it had no graphic sex in it like so many science fiction novels do. The violence was a necessary part of the story and it was handled seriously, not as fun-and-games.
—Sandi
I've been hearing about Tobias S. Buckell's Xenowealth series for years and finally got around to it last month. My schedule made reading time difficult to find, so it probably suffered somewhat from that, but overall, I really enjoyed Crystal Rain, book 1 in the Xenowealth series.John DeBrun has no memory of his past, but there are a few odd things he's realized about himself, such as the fact that he doesn't seem to age or get sick (unbreakable!). We find him established with a wife and son and living in a Caribbean-esque world that leans toward the steampunk. In this Caribbean-style world, just about everyone talks in dialect. As far as a unique world, I haven't come across this yet and I thought it was interesting ... at first. Then, it got frustrating and difficult to read after a while. It really threw me off and I never got used to it even by the end. Kudos to putting it in there and diversifying the genre, nonetheless.The Caribbeans are attacked by the neighboring culture who live across the Wicket High mountain range and who are intent on domination. Again, the actual reasons behind the attack (and the interesting surprises) are much more than one country ruling another and has more to do with who is pulling the strings as we learn as the story progresses.I don't want to spoil too much, but the payoff in the end is really great after the mysteries finally start to unfold. I blazed through the last hundred pages and it helped I actually found that mysterious reading time I was looking for.Again, I fear spoiling too much, but this is a brilliant mix of fantasy and science fiction that started off slowly, but really built to a great ending. I did have some problems, but overall I highly enjoyed Crystal Rain and I'm looking forward to the sequels. The reveals were worth the minor difficulties and I think going into the next book, those hiccups will be overcome.3.5 out of 5 Stars (recommended)
—seak
