Hellbot: Battle Planet

by Michel Savage

Tranquility was one of those out of the way planets in a system far out of reach from the normal space lanes. Loners, dreamers ...whoever they were, chose to colonize this world. Thirty cycles ago something went terribly wrong. It was rumored their terraformer reactor went critical, and few escaped the chain reaction that clouded the atmosphere with a planet-wide sand storm. A decade of hard labor evaporated overnight. What wasn't buried under the ocean of sand was left to fry under the twin suns. Human explorers began to wander back into the forgotten zone. No one knew of the machines that had evolved, or the war that raged beyond the edge of the universe ...where mankind did not belong.

242 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2010

Reviews

[Willow Croft · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes, when I'm subbing, I tell the students that writing comes first, and to turn off their inner critic. Especially when it comes to maintaining perfect grammar. "The writing comes first, and is the most important--worry about grammar later." and many more variations on that thought.

However, when a book is published, I do have certain expectations in that it's relatively error-free. This book has a lot of errors. The cover art, as well, put me off, but I checked it out from the library anyway, even though it had the stereotypical "sci-fi babe" who navigates her next planetary-scavenging job in nothing more than a wee bikini bottom and a skimpy top. (Note: the book edition I read had a different cover then the one attached to this review.) The cover girl's top is apparently a piece of mesh fabric that the author, by way of a weak plot point insertion, has the character use to cover up her nakedness after she regains consciousness via a mysterious attack and abduction.

Now for this review's twist--for which I'll quote that old adage; "Never judge a book by its cover". Or its many typographical and spelling errors. Or even for that weak "let's get the woman naked" plot point that was very awkwardly inserted.

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the feminist slant to the story and to the main character, Ala. Despite her skimpy garb, Ala turned out to be not at all trope-y (though I do wish the author had gotten a little more creative with her name!). The unexpected planetary residents and society she encounters is also very interesting. And, best of all, there was the underlying environmental critique of human society to help round out the book. And the ending was great, and totally supported the message/thread of the entire book.

So, as I tell my kids. Grammar and spelling aren't everything, though I hope that if the author re-releases another edition of the book, they hire an editor to fix things such as changing the word "meddle" to the right one--"mettle".

So, like I did, don't judge this book by its cover, and give it a chance to win you over. I hope to add this book to my collection someday!