Revolutionary

Hostile Takeover #3

by S. Andrew Swann

The planet Bakunin has always been the perfect refuge for the galaxy's rebels, criminals, and corrupt supercorporations. But now it's been slated for a hostile takeover by key factions of the Confederacy of Worlds. Bakunin should be an easy target--except that its natives don't understand the meaning of the word surrender!

Genres: Science Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

S. Andrew Swann is the primary pseudonym of Steven Swiniarski, who also writes as S.A. Swiniarski, Steven Krane, and S.A. Swann.

Reviews

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The conclusion to the Hostile Takeover trilogy wraps things up nicely, tying up all the various story arcs/threads with a bow. This review is for Revolutionary and the series as a whole. While I would not exactly call this cyberpunk, it definitely had a whiff of that, especially with Tetsami being genetically able to 'ride the wire' via grown implants. From the first book in the series, we know that the Terran Confederacy-- the 'rulers' of the the human diaspora in space-- has some political intrigue going on. The leader of the intelligence branch of the Confederacy, the TEC, which is more like a combination of secret police and CIA, is gearing up for the once in a decade political congress where things like planet voting rights are established.

The Confederacy is constituted of five 'arms' if you will comprised of various ethic groups who led the colonization efforts. For a long time, actually, since the founding of the Confederacy over 100 years ago, the European 'arm' has held a de facto majority, but a very slim one. All of the planets colonized have a seat at the table except Bakunin as it does not have a central government. Bakunin seems to be the last place for rebels, idealists and anarchists and readily serves the black markets of all the arms of the Confederacy, especially as it is located near the center of it.

We now know that the head of the TEC has put Klaus Dacham, Dom's brother, in charge of an mission to bring Bakunin under one government and then ally with the European arm; this plan started in the first book and by the start of the third, Klaus and friends have managed to buy every mercenary on Bakunin and basically encircle/lay siege to all the cities on the planet. Klaus wants the cities to surrender and hopes to starve them out; he wants the infrastructure intact after all. Dom and friends are scattered and feeling increasingly hopeless. Finally, Dom realizes that the only way to resolve the situation is to go to Earth to plead his case before congress...

I guess you could call this military science fiction, although there is not much fighting. Swann keeps teasing us with a long lost civilization that left a variety of relics scattered around, including on Mars. Swann also ups the mind-fuck aspect here with a bit of time travel. Earth first colonized space via one-way worm holes; you went through on and objective time would pass, but not subjective. This also works in reverse, although Earth had a standing policy to shot any 'ghosts' that came back the worm holes. Now people utilize a FTL tech to get around in space, but the worm holes definitely play a role in the series. I liked the surprises at the end and the super ending as well. This is also a trilogy set in a universe with many other books and I am looking forward to checking more of them out. I give the series 3.5 stars and the finale was the best of the lot. If only we did not have the cheesy romance between Dom and Tetsami I would have ranked this higher.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It feels like I have a little more of a grip on the characters and series with the conclusion. I can second guess Swann's decisions as far as character development and story from here to Tau Ceti, and you know something-

It's not worth it. There will be those who disagree with me about what is right and wrong with this series, but I liked his Moreau quartet more, and I'll leave the follow-up to that and this series in the TBR pile for a little while. And, that's not unusual for me. When I've binged through an author's series (Tamora Pierce, Lois McMAster Bujold, ST: New Frontier, or Wild Cards) I've needed a little break before taking on the next series.

By the end of this threesome I came to view this more as social science fiction, and I mean that in a good way. The books arguably ask questions about what is heretical technology/science, economics, and government. In a way a question that is asked, and arguably answered, is can democracy survive its own faults?

As to the characters I think Dominic finally gets fleshed out to the point where he is more engaging/relatable in this volume.

This is not a series to read if you're looking for happy endings. There's a couple, but for the most this is like life. Decisions are made, consequences are dealt with, and not everyone will be happy.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the series, but it wasn't special. It didn't live up to the grandiose ideas the author was trying to convey. It would have been better if he scaled down the political and economic lessons a bit and let the characters and action speak for themselves. But overall I did like the characters and story.

[Bradley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Planet on the brink of revolution. Blah. Blah. The only interesting part I liked was the alien AI programmed to use social upheaval as its weapon. Very entertaining. Otherwise similiar to many other.. lone planet against the universe kind of stories. I do not really recommend this one. It was a mild disappointment.