Outlaw Planet

I loved this book. A continuation of Carey's Pandominion duology, it's very much its own thing, a futuristic western. And at his center is an unforgettable character, Elizabeth Indigo Sandpiper, who came to be known as the outlaw Dog-Bitch Bess.

It probably isn't necessary to have read the first two books before reading this, but it would help a lot, especially in understanding the various sentient species that share this particular planet. The Pandominion worlds are essentially alternate Earths, each with its own dominate sentient species.

Bess leaves her home in the north for a teaching job in a small southern city, where she is when war breaks out, a parallel of the US's Civil War. Tragic events sent Bess hunting for revenge, aided by show more a high-tech, AI-powered gun known as Wakeful Slim that dates from the planet's distant past. The backstory unfolds slowly as Bess comes to learn the truth of her world's origins.

Carey is a wonderful writer and he keeps the story moving at a compelling pace, building suspense to the satisfying climax and conclusion. I felt almost as if I was sitting at a campfire while someone told me the story of Dog-Bitch Bess. I hope Carey continues to write in this universe. show less

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the ranch in this case being a world cut off from the rest of the Pandominium by a bunch of guys who want the old Pandominium restored. Not only is it cut off, it's working in all sorts of weird ways as part of a nasty experiment, with two sides perpetually returning to a state of conflict with heavy echoes of the US Civil War. So it's a sc fi western, and if I had to guess I'd say it's a sci fi Outlaw Josey Wales, with an ornery rebel bandit and her talking gun riding the vengeance trail all through the war while on the losing side, then hunted through the deserts and the mountains and over the rivers, while an ancient plan to bring the whole thing down struggles to come in to fruition. It's very good, show more very entertaining, wildly enjoyable. show less

Having really enjoyed Carey's previous books about the fall of the "Pandominion," an imperialist enterprise based on playing the concept of the multi-verse to the hilt, I was delighted to discover that there was a new novel in that setting.

However, much of your enjoyment of this novel is going to be based on how much you like pastiches of "Westerns." I generally don't, and so while this novel isn't bad, it really didn't grab my imagination. Eventually, the pastiche merges with the story about the overthrow of the effort to bring back the Pandominion, but that happened too late in the story to alter my opinion. Your mileage may differ.

Fun scifi Western. Good connections with the other books, some things still left unanswered