Reviews of Hellburner

This file contains reviews by

Rex Croft

by Rex Croft (ccc_rex@waikato.ac.nz)

Date: 8 Jun 93 21:23:02 GMT

This book is the sequel to "Heavy Time".
I recommend that you read "Heavy Time" before this novel. I had, but had forgotten most of it, and realised the lack.
The novel starts with Ben Pollard being transferred to the orbital Sol II battle station to help the pilot Paul Dekker who is in hospital recovering from an attempt on his life.
Sol II is a joint effort to develop a warship capable of flying at a significant fraction of the speed of light and attacking enemy objects travelling at a similar speed. Hellburner is the name of the warship. One had just crashed in testing, heightening the pressure.
The first half of the novel is slow, with the intrigues and tensions between the different groups being described. Then the action picks up and up until there is a climatic finish.
There isn't much to the plot, but it is the way Cherryh builds the tension that makes the book.
As well as reading "Heavy Time" you may wish to read "Cyteen" since "Hellburner" refers to the azi and Cyteen.

PS: I chose this book from my pile of about 30 unread SF and fantasy books because I had just read "McLendron's Syndrome" and wanted to clear the bad taste out of my mouth (or mind). And I really like Cherryh's Chanur series and buy all her work.