Status
Series
Collection
Publication
Description
Lt. Ben Pollard thinks he's traded the perils of the Belt for security as an Earth-based computer jockey for United Defence Command. Then he's forced to perform a mission of mercy - and lands on an isolated, intrigue-riddled space station. In Hellburner, her newest novel, Hugo Award winner C.J. Cherryh returns to the best-selling universe of Heavy Time, Cyteen, and Downbelow Station, and creates a story of multi-global conspiracy, power politics, and military in-fighting. Here the stakes are nothing less than the future of humanity. When Pollard finds himself stranded on the Sol II battle installation without his orders, I.D., and possessions, he discovers something equally disturbing. He's been named next-of-kin to a man he never wanted to even see again: Paul Dekker, a young pilot who attracts crises like dead flesh draws flies. The centerpiece of a top-secret war project, Dekker has just lost his entire crew in a mysterious freak accident and lost his mind to amnesia from an attempted suicide. Or attempted murder. Suddenly two more faces from Dekker and Pollard's past are shanghaied to Sol II: their occasional lovers, renegade pilots Meg Kady and Sal Aboujib. Together they had once smashed the criminal cover-ups of a mining cartel. Now, they're all caught in a shadowy, deadly maze of power-mongering rivalries between UDC and Fleet Strategic Operations, the Senate and Peace Lobby and the corporate lords of both Earth and Mars. In this subtle, dark contest with mysteries that deepen by the hour and rules that change without warning, Pollard, Kady, Aboujib and Dekker must survive kidnapping, sabotage, ambush, riots, kangaroo courts, conspiracy, and treason - only to become lab animals in the frontline of an endless war for humanity's soul. The two couples are being programmed to crew an experimental deathship no one has been able to control. And to escape the quagmire of manipulation, Pollard and his companions must master and wield the awesome power of - Hellburner.… (more)
User reviews
Hellburner takes the characters from Heavy Time and puts them in training for a secret make or break R&D program. It turns out to be the development of the rider ships that are used later in the series by the carriers. Cherryh also re-uses a
Really enjoyed the book, and the characters, the setting was interesting, as was the plot. There was lots of politics and personal conflicts with all the factions, earther, belter, and spacer trying to understand each other and work together.
One of the best of the series. I would be Happy to read more about the four characters at the core of the book, and of course Graff.
The story starts a year after HeavyTime, with Ben Pollard ready to complete his UDC assignments as computer tech and transfer to Earth itself - as a Belter - he's never been there before. However before he leaves the rival Fleet operations requests a 'humanitarian' transfer to the other Sol base, where his old rescuee Paul Dekker is in trouble again. Sal and Meg quickly appear too, their Sheppard ship having been met by an insystem Fleet Carrier. Dek is once more severely 'spooked' unable to track the current time and reliving his experiences from HeavyTime. Ben, Sal and Meg's job is to get Dek back on his feet. Because Fleet has recognised that Dek's piloting ability is well above average and he is possibly the only person who can 'cut the tape' and train other Fleet pilots of the Fleet's newest technology - near c velocity riderships, that accompany the carriers in Earth's war with the clone based colonists of Cyteen. Dek was supposed to have piloted the first serious test run, but he was pulled for political reasons (relating to HeavyTime) at the last minute. Hi substitute crashed the ship, killing all the crew- Dek's teammates. Dek attempted a solo simulation of the ride, and ended up in hospital in the state Ben originally finds him.
Meanwhile politics s happening, the Earth Company and the Fleet are in opposition to peaceniks and local interests unable to comprehend the distances and issues surrounding interspace war. Lieutenant Graff is the Fleet officer left in charge in the (unexplained) absence of Captains Keu. He is the liaison between Fleet and UDC and also between the Sheppard pilots (like Meg) with other officers. And so he becomes the lynchpin when Fleet appoints the officious Commander Porey to get results. Graff is the only character who appears in other Alliance books, and I would have preferred a lot more insight into his development.
The writing remains pure Cherryh, but I never really cared for Ben or Dek in HeavyTime and I don't really care for them here either. Which leaves Meg, Sal and Graff, none of whom get much plot devoted to them. This is perhaps the problem with this book and to some degree with Heavy Tim too; too many characters. Cherryh often writes very tightly focused on one key person. When the dialog and plot is spread over several people, especially in a book this short (just 285 pages) none of them really make an impact or get under the reader’s skin in a way that some of her later books manage. The dialog is better signposted than in Heavy time, and while there are a few occasions when it isn't clear who we are following, they aren't frequent.
There is a very low SF novel, very much about personalities and people and politics, and if you enjoy that sort of thing you'll enjoy this. There is perhaps some thought to be given to the current military-Industrial complex that is such a concern in some areas. Not a favourite.
As usual, the author does a fantastic job with characters and situations, building an intricate yet believable
Don't not read this book, it's very good, but I felt it could have been a bit better (I hold Ms. Cherryh to a very high standard) and a little more of a conclusion at the end would have been nice...or a sequel novel.
As usual, the author does a fantastic job with characters and situations, building an intricate yet believable
Don't not read this book, it's very good, but I felt it could have been a bit better (I hold Ms. Cherryh to a very high standard) and a little more of a conclusion at the end would have been nice...or a sequel novel.