Coyote the First Book of a Good Trilogy

As promised, I am back reviewing books for those who have more to do with their spare time than read. I was lucky to stumble upon Allen Steele's trilogy Coyote and I must admit for summer reading one could do worse. I must admit I enjoy Mr. Steele's style since it is not overly dramatic, and each of the books in the series are an easy read. Mostly a cinematic feel to the first one gives the reader time to learn to either like or hate the main characters.
The premise is that the Liberty party has pretty much turned the United States into a dictator/communistic state where free will has been subjugated and contained. The US government has spent itself into near bankruptcy in building the first interstellar colony ship to the first planet that looks like it could be colonized.

Enter Captain Lee. A direct descendant of the famous General Lee. He has ingratiated himself into the hierarchy of the space program to be the leader of this first expedition. He does however have ulterior motives and is lucky enough to pull off the hijacking of the millennium. With the help of his crew and some moral dissidents that he is able to replace certain crew members and low and behold we have a major space-jacking. Essentially they are starting over in another galaxy.
Not much is given in time spent in transiting to the new planet Coyote, except for a brief interlude where one of the crew is awakened a bit early and must live out his life on board the ship whilst the remaining crew and colonists are in suspended animation. The dialog with the computer alone makes one think that even in the future Microsoft still does the software for NASA.
The meat of the novel comes when the cast of characters arrive on Coyote and begin their initial attempts at colonization. This is where the novel shines and makes you want to read into the wee hours of the night. We are introduced to the local flora and fauna and the biodiversity of the planet is well thought out. This book Coyote reminds me of that half hard half spaceopera blend of SF. The pace is well edited and the even though the characterizations are initial there are some that will get fleshed out the further in the series we go. And that will be our next jaunt.
So if your looking for an easy read with well thought out science and politics that cover the broad spectrum, you could do no wrong with Coyote. I feel this is a good beginning to a well compiled trilogy. I give this one *** out of 5 asteroids.
S