Galaxy Blues

February 25, 2008
This grand interstellar adventure exemplifies Hugo-winner Steele's skill with near-future tech and struggle with human interactions. Kicked out of the Western Hemisphere Union Astronautica space fleet, 20-ish Jules Truffaut cleverly stows away on the Robert E. Lee
, bound for the Coyote Federation, where he intends to defect. Circumstances force him to accept a mysterious job as shuttle pilot for billionaire Morgan Goldstein, who's plotting to corner trade with the alien hjadd. Steele (Spindrift
) makes in-flight technicalities almost tangible, and he equips his hissing, grunting, slithering aliens with convincing motivations. He's less adept at portraying the human crew who accompany Truffaut to a vast space city, where the interstellar coalition called the Talus must decide whether to allow humans to join. Subplots such as Jules's attraction to sexy crew member Rain Thompson and Goldstein's predictable big-boss machinations are tepid, even stereotypical, but a rousing climax rescues the crew and the novel from boredom.

April 15, 2008
In Steeles new Coyote-universe yarn, spaceman Jules Truffaut has been grounded, unjustly, he feels. So he stows away on a starship to Coyote, arriving via a crash landing in a stolen lifeboat. To avoid deportation back to Earth and prison, he joins an expedition to the aliens of Rho Coronae Borealis, with whom a swashbuckling billionaire wants to establish trade relations. Managing to offend aliens and employers alike, Truffaut is tapped to pilot a mission to a rampaging black hole. Truffauts bad luck rouses speculation about his competence, but his determination and lack of self-pity make him a pleasure to tag along with.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)