Crystal Rain is an impressive debut novel by Tobias Buckell.
Despite severe memory loss that covers most of his life and an arm being replaced by a hook, John deBrun has settled into pleasant a life among the Nanagada. But as the dangerous Azteca people begin attacking his new home, John must embrace skills that he doesn’t know he has. Forced to abandon his wife and son, John begins a northern trek to a mysterious artifact named Ma Wi Jung, which the Nanagada people believe can save them all.
I thought the native Nanagada lingo may begin to bother me. But I read it as just a Caribbean accent (as Buckell successfully incorporated), and after a while, I barely noticed. Though the story begins at a slow pace, the action picks up with a climactic ending and more than a few surprises. John deBrun’s mysterious past is slowly and only partially revealed. A few men claim to have knowledge about John’s past. But who are friends and who are spies for the deadly Azteca?
With unique creatures, characters, and advanced technology; Crystal Rain blends plenty of action, suspense, culture, and science fiction. Buckell has created an interesting world that I’m looking forward to reading more about in his sequel Ragamuffin.
Glad to see your take on this too. It’s such a fun book. I too expected to be driven insane by the lingo—lingo is almost always a bad idea—but it’s so well-done that honestly the book wouldn’t have been as good without it.
Got the shirt btw; thank you!
Wow, that was fast! I just mailed them all Friday!
I’ve heard several good things about this series and the author himself seems to be a genuinely good guy based on interviews I’ve read on various sites.
Carl, I’ve emailed the author a couple of times over minor stuff, and he seems like a really nice guy. Very appreciative of people who take the time review his books.
This book looks interesting, I will have to see if the bookstore has it.
OOh that sounds great. That’s a for sure on my TBR.
I’m sorry. This is completely unrelated to the book, but whenever I read the title of the blog entry I can’t help but think of Chocolate Rain.
And now the song won’t leave my head! 🙂
Kailana – He may still have review copies left. You may want to check out his site and try contacting him!
Billy – That’s okay.. I keep thinking of the Prince song “Purple Rain.”
I like the cover art.
I keep seeing really great reviews of tobias buckell’s books. Looks like I need to jump on the bandwagon and try to find a copy!
We must be near a hub, because we have quick postal delivery times. On the other hand we have the delivery guy who breaks packages by shoving them into our mailbox when they don’t fit, and who throws other packages at the side of our house so hard I think someone’s breaking in, so I guess it evens out or something…