Coyote: A Novel of Interstellar Exploration

by Allen Steele

An interstellar adventure of earthborn people seeking freedom from tyranny on another world from a Hugo Award–winning author.
The totalitarian United Republic of America rose from the ashes of a nation that once represented democratic liberty on Earth. Its rulers wish to expand their ideological ambitions to the stars where they will establish a new colony on an inhabitable moon known as Coyote.
The crew and colonists aboard the Alabama undertaking this mission are not representatives of the Republic. They are those who have suffered under its cruelty and seek the free life that has long been denied them.
More than two hundred years have passed since these intrepid rebels stole the starship and left Earth. The colonists have endured tragedies during their journey and struggle to survive with scant resources on an alien world with dangerous life forms to make Coyote their home.
But those still living on the despotic planet they left behind have not forgotten them . . .
"Full of pleasant surprises." —The New York Times Book Review
"One of the best space-exploration novels." —Rocky Mountain News
"An homage to wonder, hope and determination . . . Steele has constructed this glorious tale of a new starflung Mayflower from the legacies of Heinlein, Twain, Hemingway and others—and he has founded it on the essence of America." —Stephen Baxter, multi-award–winning author

452 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 16, 2025

Reviews

[Dorothy Piper]

This was a hard story to read because it was single-spaced, with poor punctuation, and I found myself going over the text several times, trying to work out where a sentence started. I liked the story. At times it engrossed me, and I stayed up late to read more, even though I did not like what was happening to the colonists who ventured forty-six light years away from Earth. I read the beginning of a follow-up and am seriously considering whether to buy it or not. If the follow up is also presented in single-spacing, I doubt that I will. There was another quirk. This is the first book I have read where the prologue comes after everything else.

[LaDonna Sepers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great adventure read

I am partial to stories about people who bravely step into the unknown, and then the unknown pushes back. Despite some disconcerting typos this book is well written, with engaging and complex characters. No moments of abject stupidity on the part of any character for the sake of the plot. I am so looking forward to book 2!

[Michael S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely enjoyed. first sci-fi I've said that about for quite a while. might read the next in the series