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The Company Wars #5
Hellburner
A futuristic tale of governmental coverups, betrayal, and murder follows the belter Pollard as he tries to determine if his partner's space flight training accident was a mishap or attempted murder.
393 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
12 people are currently reading
1003 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
293 books3,582 followersCurrently resident in Spokane, Washington, C.J. Cherryh has won four Hugos and is one of the best-selling and most critically acclaimed authors in the science fiction and fantasy field. She is the author of more than forty novels. Her hobbies include travel, photography, reef culture, Mariners baseball, and, a late passion, figure skating: she intends to compete in the adult USFSA track. She began with the modest ambition to learn to skate backwards and now is working on jumps. She sketches, occasionally, cooks fairly well, and hates house work; she loves the outdoors, animals wild and tame, is a hobbyist geologist, adores dinosaurs, and has academic specialties in Roman constitutional law and bronze age Greek ethnography. She has written science fiction since she was ten, spent ten years of her life teaching Latin and Ancient History on the high school level, before retiring to full time writing, and now does not have enough hours in the day to pursue all her interests. Her studies include planetary geology, weather systems, and natural and man-made catastrophes, civilizations, and cosmology…in fact, there's very little that doesn't interest her. A loom is gathering dust and needs rethreading, a wooden ship model awaits construction, and the cats demand their own time much more urgently. She works constantly, researches mostly on the internet, and has books stacked up and waiting to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 83 reviews
June 21, 2024
Another fascinating, compelling, densely imagined, claustrophobic novel from the remarkably prolific CJ Cherryh. I wasn’t as transported or moved by this one as I have been by her best work, but as always, I remain thoroughly impressed by her confident approach, her commitment to creating believably damaged and complex characters, and her refusal to give away anything in a pandering or obvious manner.
July 16, 2023
I almost gave this one 5 stars but held back just a little because, like its predecessor Heavy Time, I found it a bit too claustrophobic. As mentioned in my review of that previous book, I think it is undeniable that the Belters of The Expanse (Leviathan Wakes and all the other books and TV shows in this series) came from Cherryh's excellent descriptions of their language, their unique culture, their difficulties with gravity, etc. Besides that, there is the idea of FTL travel depending on a few humans with non-genetically modified reflexes (done here via simulator and drugs - see Cyteen for the alternative, it is mentioned a LOT in this book).
We are at a crossroads in the war between the Earth and the Merchanters that occupies much of the books in this Cherryh universe. I liked Dekker a lot as well as Meg, Ben, and Sal. I loved how their characters were developed and the relative equilibrium between males and females in their teams. The command structure in MilSciFi is of course almost exclusively masculine, but we also clearly see the limits to that narrow mindset in the consequences of this book. I would start with Downbelow Station and then read Heavy Time and this one if I were first delving into Cherryh's universe for the first time. I was not a huge Cyteen fan so probably will need to reread it to find more value there.
We are at a crossroads in the war between the Earth and the Merchanters that occupies much of the books in this Cherryh universe. I liked Dekker a lot as well as Meg, Ben, and Sal. I loved how their characters were developed and the relative equilibrium between males and females in their teams. The command structure in MilSciFi is of course almost exclusively masculine, but we also clearly see the limits to that narrow mindset in the consequences of this book. I would start with Downbelow Station and then read Heavy Time and this one if I were first delving into Cherryh's universe for the first time. I was not a huge Cyteen fan so probably will need to reread it to find more value there.
September 3, 2020
Highway to the danger zone ...
When last we left our heroes (at the end of Heavy Time), it had become obvious that continuing on as belt miners would have been a Bad Idea, so while Meg & Sal decided to stay on as crew of the Shepherd ship Hamilton, Paul Dekker was "invited" to join a very secret, very select military program and, much to his surprise, Ben Pollard found himself also rushing to enlist.
Fast-forward a bit. Ben is on Sol 1 Station, part of the Earth defense force and working his way to a challenging but nonetheless cushy (and well out of potential line of fire) position with some tech company or other, when he receives unexpected orders that put him (much against his will) onto a shuttle for Sol 2 Station: Dekker, in his top-secret military program, has suffered an accident (or had an "accident" inflicted upon him), and the Powers-That-Be need Ben to get Dekkard back onto the straight & narrow, both to figure out what happened and (much more importantly) to save the program, which, after a disastrous and fatal first live test (pro tip: If you're going .5c, don't clip a buoy) is in severe jeopardy. Needless to say, Ben is Not Happy about this ... (And does this mean that Ben might be putting on a flight suit himself, and that the Fleet might be shipping Sal & Meg in to join in the fun, putting the band back together, as it were?)
More backstory to the Company Wars. Remember in Downbelow Station how there were all these carriers that launched riders? This is the story of how they got the rider ships and their crews operational in spite of all manner of technical SNAFUs, bureaucratic infighting, politics, micromanagement and downright sabotage. As with Heavy Time, it's tense and almost claustrophobic and really quite compelling -- Cherryh doing what she does best.
When last we left our heroes (at the end of Heavy Time), it had become obvious that continuing on as belt miners would have been a Bad Idea, so while Meg & Sal decided to stay on as crew of the Shepherd ship Hamilton, Paul Dekker was "invited" to join a very secret, very select military program and, much to his surprise, Ben Pollard found himself also rushing to enlist.
Fast-forward a bit. Ben is on Sol 1 Station, part of the Earth defense force and working his way to a challenging but nonetheless cushy (and well out of potential line of fire) position with some tech company or other, when he receives unexpected orders that put him (much against his will) onto a shuttle for Sol 2 Station: Dekker, in his top-secret military program, has suffered an accident (or had an "accident" inflicted upon him), and the Powers-That-Be need Ben to get Dekkard back onto the straight & narrow, both to figure out what happened and (much more importantly) to save the program, which, after a disastrous and fatal first live test (pro tip: If you're going .5c, don't clip a buoy) is in severe jeopardy. Needless to say, Ben is Not Happy about this ... (And does this mean that Ben might be putting on a flight suit himself, and that the Fleet might be shipping Sal & Meg in to join in the fun, putting the band back together, as it were?)
More backstory to the Company Wars. Remember in Downbelow Station how there were all these carriers that launched riders? This is the story of how they got the rider ships and their crews operational in spite of all manner of technical SNAFUs, bureaucratic infighting, politics, micromanagement and downright sabotage. As with Heavy Time, it's tense and almost claustrophobic and really quite compelling -- Cherryh doing what she does best.
February 26, 2018
Various mini-series like "Chanur" or "Faded Suns" aside, Cherryh has never struck me as someone completely interested in direct sequels to her novels, even if most of them take place in the Alliance-Union timeline and are thus telling stories about different points in history (although I've got the sequel to "Cyteen" coming up in the next month or so, so maybe that theory is already shot to hell). But of all the novels she could write sequels to, "Heavy Time" would not have been the one I'd chosen. A decent novel featuring one of her more opaque plots and a cast of characters that were somewhat difficult to relate to, there wasn't much about any of them that I felt needed revisiting. But Cherryh did, obviously, and honestly the shift in setting makes the characters work much better, although amusingly you need the context of the first novel to really let them sink in, like friends of your friends that you keep being told are super cool despite very little evidence to suggest that's true.
This one brings back our favorite "oh get a room already you two" couple in Ben Pollard and that magnet for trouble Paul Dekker. At the end of the last book the two of them had left the Belter life and entered the military. When the book opens they haven't seen each other for over a year and Pollard is about to land his dream job, a cushy programming gig on Earth where he'll get to roll around on beaches and eat real food and most importantly not get blown up in space. All that goes out the window when he gets a summons from the Fleet that Dekker has been in an accident with mysterious circumstances and has listed him as the next of kin, requiring his presence to see if he can get through to Dekker to figure out what's happened. Pollard, as you can imagine, doesn't take this well.
The early chapters, despite the inherent odd couple comedy, are somewhat rough going as they seem at times to repeat the setup of "Heavy Time" when a crazed Dekker and Pollard were trapped in a ship for a month heading back to base. Pollard hasn't lost any of his abrasiveness (heightened by his desperation to have the problem solved fast before he loses his soft landing) and the initial encounters are almost carbon copies of the first go-round . . . Dekker yelling incoherent stuff over and over while Pollard screams back at him in an increasingly unhinged manner and comes close to inflicting bodily harm on him. You know, like the news every night.
Yet while that was most of the plot for "Heavy Time" Cherryh actually does something interesting and goes way deeper here. The accident that hurt Dekker was in a simulation that the authorities assume was a suicide attempt because his entire time was killed after his position was swapped out but in that timeless tradition of "A Few Good Men" it becomes clear very quickly that what happened might not have been an accident and even if no one ordered the Code Red its possible people have reasons to be less than friendly.
I think a lot of people were disappointed with how little action there is in this one (beyond some punches being thrown) but to me this is Cherryh at her most intoxicating . . . while spaceship fights are nice, what fascinates me about her universe is all the political maneuvering and we have that in spades here, as we follow another Fleet soldier Lieutenant Graff as he tries to hold off his UDC counterpart and deal with the shifting Earth politics that both straitjacket him and give him very little guidance at all. Cherryh has a way of writing military conversations like every single one is a sparring match between two people who aren't moving at all, making every encounter feel like the participants are not just playing with fire but have soaked their hands in gasoline first. At stake is a new weapons project that require intensely trained teams and that everyone seems to want a piece of. Graff has to protect his men and deal with the constantly changing situation, weaving his way through hearings and confrontations while striving to keep the program on track and the various troop factions from going for each other's throats.
Her best novels for me are chamber operas, intensely packed situations unfolding in confined spaces and this is where her clipped and super narrow third person style shines, for Graff and Pollard and Dekker especially you get into these people, you feel their frustrations and hopes and all the places where their own flaws are going to trip them up. The addition of some other cast members from "Heavy Time" form a core team and what's interesting is watching everyone pulling around Dekker despite him not wanting friends at all. He doesn't want anyone to stay but they do (even Pollard) out of a sense of loyalty and maybe duty and a desire not to see him thrown to the wolves and sacrificed.
But its the wider jockeying that gives this the feel of a thriller and what's amazing is how lived in it feels, how natural the interactions between Fleet and UDC come across, shaped by years of events that we haven't even seen, and how she can depict people at the mercy of politics all the way down on Earth that there aren't even privy to except in rumors and edited dispatches. It feels like a world that breathes, where all the parts are jammed so close together that even the smallest twitch sends ripples across the surface.
Is it mostly talk? Oh heck yes. But its the kind of talk where its important to follow what people say versus what they mean, where everyone has to choose their words with a careful precision lest they start a trouble they don't want, where even the spaces between words and the silences locked inside are just as crucial as the back and forth.
She gets people, or more specifically these people, and every conversation, every gesture, the weight of every act is informed by how they think and all the history that they've experienced to bring them here. There's a toughness to it that only comes from pure desperation, where you believe in what you're doing and you believe in the dire consequences of failure and how they'll hurt people who aren't you, and it sings across every page.
I wasn't a big fan of these people when I first them in "Heavy Time" but the time this was over I wouldn't have minded spending another hundred pages with them. If the book has any flaw (other than the slow beginning) its that she has the lens focused so narrowly that few of the characters (and thus us) understand the big picture and how they've affected it but that's something to be expected in her books and frankly, its a minor flaw indeed. She creates a world where the list of things the people who live there can control are far outweighed by the list of what they can't, and the only way to live with the imbalance and not go mad is to rely on each other.
This one brings back our favorite "oh get a room already you two" couple in Ben Pollard and that magnet for trouble Paul Dekker. At the end of the last book the two of them had left the Belter life and entered the military. When the book opens they haven't seen each other for over a year and Pollard is about to land his dream job, a cushy programming gig on Earth where he'll get to roll around on beaches and eat real food and most importantly not get blown up in space. All that goes out the window when he gets a summons from the Fleet that Dekker has been in an accident with mysterious circumstances and has listed him as the next of kin, requiring his presence to see if he can get through to Dekker to figure out what's happened. Pollard, as you can imagine, doesn't take this well.
The early chapters, despite the inherent odd couple comedy, are somewhat rough going as they seem at times to repeat the setup of "Heavy Time" when a crazed Dekker and Pollard were trapped in a ship for a month heading back to base. Pollard hasn't lost any of his abrasiveness (heightened by his desperation to have the problem solved fast before he loses his soft landing) and the initial encounters are almost carbon copies of the first go-round . . . Dekker yelling incoherent stuff over and over while Pollard screams back at him in an increasingly unhinged manner and comes close to inflicting bodily harm on him. You know, like the news every night.
Yet while that was most of the plot for "Heavy Time" Cherryh actually does something interesting and goes way deeper here. The accident that hurt Dekker was in a simulation that the authorities assume was a suicide attempt because his entire time was killed after his position was swapped out but in that timeless tradition of "A Few Good Men" it becomes clear very quickly that what happened might not have been an accident and even if no one ordered the Code Red its possible people have reasons to be less than friendly.
I think a lot of people were disappointed with how little action there is in this one (beyond some punches being thrown) but to me this is Cherryh at her most intoxicating . . . while spaceship fights are nice, what fascinates me about her universe is all the political maneuvering and we have that in spades here, as we follow another Fleet soldier Lieutenant Graff as he tries to hold off his UDC counterpart and deal with the shifting Earth politics that both straitjacket him and give him very little guidance at all. Cherryh has a way of writing military conversations like every single one is a sparring match between two people who aren't moving at all, making every encounter feel like the participants are not just playing with fire but have soaked their hands in gasoline first. At stake is a new weapons project that require intensely trained teams and that everyone seems to want a piece of. Graff has to protect his men and deal with the constantly changing situation, weaving his way through hearings and confrontations while striving to keep the program on track and the various troop factions from going for each other's throats.
Her best novels for me are chamber operas, intensely packed situations unfolding in confined spaces and this is where her clipped and super narrow third person style shines, for Graff and Pollard and Dekker especially you get into these people, you feel their frustrations and hopes and all the places where their own flaws are going to trip them up. The addition of some other cast members from "Heavy Time" form a core team and what's interesting is watching everyone pulling around Dekker despite him not wanting friends at all. He doesn't want anyone to stay but they do (even Pollard) out of a sense of loyalty and maybe duty and a desire not to see him thrown to the wolves and sacrificed.
But its the wider jockeying that gives this the feel of a thriller and what's amazing is how lived in it feels, how natural the interactions between Fleet and UDC come across, shaped by years of events that we haven't even seen, and how she can depict people at the mercy of politics all the way down on Earth that there aren't even privy to except in rumors and edited dispatches. It feels like a world that breathes, where all the parts are jammed so close together that even the smallest twitch sends ripples across the surface.
Is it mostly talk? Oh heck yes. But its the kind of talk where its important to follow what people say versus what they mean, where everyone has to choose their words with a careful precision lest they start a trouble they don't want, where even the spaces between words and the silences locked inside are just as crucial as the back and forth.
She gets people, or more specifically these people, and every conversation, every gesture, the weight of every act is informed by how they think and all the history that they've experienced to bring them here. There's a toughness to it that only comes from pure desperation, where you believe in what you're doing and you believe in the dire consequences of failure and how they'll hurt people who aren't you, and it sings across every page.
I wasn't a big fan of these people when I first them in "Heavy Time" but the time this was over I wouldn't have minded spending another hundred pages with them. If the book has any flaw (other than the slow beginning) its that she has the lens focused so narrowly that few of the characters (and thus us) understand the big picture and how they've affected it but that's something to be expected in her books and frankly, its a minor flaw indeed. She creates a world where the list of things the people who live there can control are far outweighed by the list of what they can't, and the only way to live with the imbalance and not go mad is to rely on each other.
August 4, 2022
While most of Cherryh's Company Wars novels can be read as stand alones, Hellburner is a direct sequel to Heavy Time and employs many of the same characters. Once again, we are in Sol space and Cherryh further develops the byzantine politics animating that space. Nations on Earth (and Mars) have their own agendas, but are 'united' under the United Nations. Nonetheless, Earth Company, a corporate behemoth, has its sticky fingers in many government pies. We also have the Fleet, which is tasked to keep the space ways open for commerce/trade and also an armed force dedicated to protect Earth and the two armed forces are rivals at least.
Hellburner is a complicated novel with all kinds of political intrigue and a deep look into the mentalities of the various populations-- Earthers (bluesky folk), the folks on Sol station (millions), Martians, belters and even deep black merchanters, e.g., those who actually ply the space ways. The Earthers are beset by many divisions; some just want isolation from the former space colonies, various religions abound, and some are terrified of the Union-- former colonies that now contest the space ways and utilize cloning and other techniques to create 'mindless' soldiers and seemingly bend on taking over all of humanity.
Into this mix, the Fleet has managed to get Earth to cough up the dough to build a massive fleet of 50 carriers, replete with advanced military hardware and such. Each carrier is gigantic, as large as some space stations, and carry a crew of thousands. Part of their 'package' are 'hellburners', experimental space craft (riders) that carry lots of guns and fly super fast, four of which are attached to each carrier. Dekker, one of the main characters from Heavy Time, is being trained as a pilot on a hellburner, as are many belters. His past refuses to let go, however, and soon more of his former comrades from the belt are brought into the story after he has an 'accident' and they are brought in to support him...
Interesting story, but very heavy on the politics and factions, perhaps too heavy. The complex factions moving behind the scenes becomes almost overwhelming at times. So, on the one hand, this is the story of getting a sophisticated piece of military hardware operational, with all its trials and tribulations. On the other hand, this is deep plunge into the politics and such animating Sol space, with various factions pushing for the new hellburners and others seemingly determined to sabotage the project. Intriguing to be sure, but pretty heavy lifting. 3 burning stars!!
Hellburner is a complicated novel with all kinds of political intrigue and a deep look into the mentalities of the various populations-- Earthers (bluesky folk), the folks on Sol station (millions), Martians, belters and even deep black merchanters, e.g., those who actually ply the space ways. The Earthers are beset by many divisions; some just want isolation from the former space colonies, various religions abound, and some are terrified of the Union-- former colonies that now contest the space ways and utilize cloning and other techniques to create 'mindless' soldiers and seemingly bend on taking over all of humanity.
Into this mix, the Fleet has managed to get Earth to cough up the dough to build a massive fleet of 50 carriers, replete with advanced military hardware and such. Each carrier is gigantic, as large as some space stations, and carry a crew of thousands. Part of their 'package' are 'hellburners', experimental space craft (riders) that carry lots of guns and fly super fast, four of which are attached to each carrier. Dekker, one of the main characters from Heavy Time, is being trained as a pilot on a hellburner, as are many belters. His past refuses to let go, however, and soon more of his former comrades from the belt are brought into the story after he has an 'accident' and they are brought in to support him...
Interesting story, but very heavy on the politics and factions, perhaps too heavy. The complex factions moving behind the scenes becomes almost overwhelming at times. So, on the one hand, this is the story of getting a sophisticated piece of military hardware operational, with all its trials and tribulations. On the other hand, this is deep plunge into the politics and such animating Sol space, with various factions pushing for the new hellburners and others seemingly determined to sabotage the project. Intriguing to be sure, but pretty heavy lifting. 3 burning stars!!
March 20, 2013
Cherryh's books can be hard to rate. This one for example. It's tech-heavy, frequently hard to understand, full of internalised angst and labyrinthine politics. Plus which I hadn't read the book before this one, which meant I was playing catch-up a lot of the time.
But ... the human stories inside all that stuff are gripping. That's why I keep reading her, even when it means not knowing what's going on half the time. She does space opera like no one else, with all the complex humanity and bitter divisions that dog our species no matter where we go.
In this particular novel, the story of the pilot who has lost touch with reality, and the friends who have been brought in to haul him back, while inter-planetary politics implode and the test program of a new ship unwinds around them, is deeply satisfying.
But ... the human stories inside all that stuff are gripping. That's why I keep reading her, even when it means not knowing what's going on half the time. She does space opera like no one else, with all the complex humanity and bitter divisions that dog our species no matter where we go.
In this particular novel, the story of the pilot who has lost touch with reality, and the friends who have been brought in to haul him back, while inter-planetary politics implode and the test program of a new ship unwinds around them, is deeply satisfying.
September 14, 2022
This took me forever to read- partially due to work n holidays, but also to get back into Cherryh’s particular way of writing and putting myself back into the Union/Cyteen/ Merchenter world. I’m awed by the way she demonstrates the complexities of the politics- whether local or within the Sol system. Not easy and not my favorite but glad I read it. I think it’d be better to read these books closer together to get the full impact.
September 9, 2013
In the sequel to 'Heavy Time' and prequel to the Hugo award-winning 'Downbelow Station', Paul Dekker is a skilled pilot with the Earth Company Fleet - a new militia being under construction and tasked with suppressing the colony uprising on the planet Cyteen. Dekker is a part of the Hellburner program, a high-speed piloted weapons platform designed to protect its home carrier and deliver ordnance. A joint program between the Fleet and Earth's United Defense Command it's a political hot-potato and accusations of wrong-doing toward Dekker by his late partner's mother, an influential MarsCorp executive, are causing headaches for all involved including Lt j.g. Jurgen Graff, Dekker's superior. After an attempt on Dekker's life, UDC Lt. Ben Pollard, Dekker's associate from Refinery 2 and one of his original rescuers from an accident in the Belt, is brought in for support along with his girls Friday, Meg Kady and Sal Aboujib. Meanwhile Graff, a Fleet loyalist, is butting heads with Col. Tanzer, the program's UDC R&D director over whether the Hellburner platform should even be piloted.
The second prequel to 'Downbelow Station', 'Hellburner' sets up several of the players who will appear in the series' first published novel including Graff, who becomes Signy Mallory's XO, and Edmund Porey, the captain of the Earth Company Ship Africa. The story is political power play and CJ Cherryh's writing is so crisp that courtroom hearings over munitions requests become engrossing. Like all the 'Company Wars' novels before, there are very few 'good guys' and 'bad guys' - only loyalties and history. While the Fleet in earlier novels is portrayed as a glorified pirate force, at this stage of history they're the line between the vat-grown Cyteen rebel forces and Earth.
If you've read 'Heavy Time' I highly recommend the sequel.
The second prequel to 'Downbelow Station', 'Hellburner' sets up several of the players who will appear in the series' first published novel including Graff, who becomes Signy Mallory's XO, and Edmund Porey, the captain of the Earth Company Ship Africa. The story is political power play and CJ Cherryh's writing is so crisp that courtroom hearings over munitions requests become engrossing. Like all the 'Company Wars' novels before, there are very few 'good guys' and 'bad guys' - only loyalties and history. While the Fleet in earlier novels is portrayed as a glorified pirate force, at this stage of history they're the line between the vat-grown Cyteen rebel forces and Earth.
If you've read 'Heavy Time' I highly recommend the sequel.
June 27, 2018
Having just completed Heavy Time I decided to return to Hellburner, Ms. Cherryh’s sequel to Heavy Time. Have to say a very favorable book, pushing the well past 4.5 stars. Where Heavy Time dragged to get us to feel the character we now know the main chapters Ben and Decker and any new characters or recurring chapters that weren’t developed are easier to accept due to not being lost in the chatter/thoughts of the main characters. Rising to main character levels is Leiutenant JG Graff, future 1st officer of ECS 5 (Norway. Btw, for those interested there’s another name listed from Heavy Time/Hellburner/Devil to the Belt, Almarshad. Feel free to look it up, interesting with the listing). Others of interest include Porey (future Captain of Africa), Mitch, and Tanser. As with many of Ms Cherryh’s books Hellburner continues Heavy Time’s people coming together with the main characters being non-conformist. Ms. Cherryh does an excellent job blending this in since there are really three cultures being blended at once (Blue Skyers, near spacers (Belters and Shepard’s), and deep spacers. These cultures have similarities but differences forced to be together due to the ultra extreme of Union.
Because of Ms. Cherryhs blending of cultures, story telling, and doing a good job of showing projects in trouble and the interactions there in I’ll raise this on to 5 stars. I’ll also say that readers of this review should consider Devil to the Belt since I believe Ms. Cherryh intended Heavy Time and Hellburner to be one story, all be it a longer one (she’s never been afraid of a bigger book). I’ll row down one more time on James S.A. Corey (Mr Franck and Mr Abraham) for leveraging a lot of their depiction of Belters from Ms. Cherryh, to many similarities gents.
Because of Ms. Cherryhs blending of cultures, story telling, and doing a good job of showing projects in trouble and the interactions there in I’ll raise this on to 5 stars. I’ll also say that readers of this review should consider Devil to the Belt since I believe Ms. Cherryh intended Heavy Time and Hellburner to be one story, all be it a longer one (she’s never been afraid of a bigger book). I’ll row down one more time on James S.A. Corey (Mr Franck and Mr Abraham) for leveraging a lot of their depiction of Belters from Ms. Cherryh, to many similarities gents.
May 10, 2009
This is science fiction at its best. It contains lots of futuristic technologies and uses scientific terms without losing you. Cherryh has a masterful way of weaving together social commentry and attacks on corruption into her stories. This book, its direct predecessor Heavy Time, and the next chronologically - Downbelow Station all are set against the earth clinging to its old ideas as being the centre of the universe and how more advanced colonies are throwing off this yoke. While all this is going on private companies and power mad individuals are still playing their own provate power games thinking no further than the end of their nose. Sound familiar?
The main character of this book is Paul Dekker who has suffered traumas in the previous book, and has again suffered trauma while as a test pilot for the top secret hellburner. His associates and friends from the previous book are brought in to help him get over the trauma. One of the members of this group, Ben Pollard, does not really like Paul and sees him as a threat to his plans. This antoganism between the two characters is interesting and adds a dimension to the story as there is not only conflict against hidden antagonists.
Power games, and political abuse always gets me wound. It shows how good at weaving this type of story Cherryh is as it got me as wound up as it does when I see politicians abusing their power and misusing public funds for their own good.
I don't think this is as good as Downbelow Station which at this time I think is her finest work, but is definitely excellent and worth reading.
The main character of this book is Paul Dekker who has suffered traumas in the previous book, and has again suffered trauma while as a test pilot for the top secret hellburner. His associates and friends from the previous book are brought in to help him get over the trauma. One of the members of this group, Ben Pollard, does not really like Paul and sees him as a threat to his plans. This antoganism between the two characters is interesting and adds a dimension to the story as there is not only conflict against hidden antagonists.
Power games, and political abuse always gets me wound. It shows how good at weaving this type of story Cherryh is as it got me as wound up as it does when I see politicians abusing their power and misusing public funds for their own good.
I don't think this is as good as Downbelow Station which at this time I think is her finest work, but is definitely excellent and worth reading.
July 24, 2009
This is the second book in the series, and you do need to have read the previous book Heavy Time.
Another paranoid, claustrophobic dystopian book, following very closely on the previous one, with the same characters, in a different situation.
The start of the Company/Union split, with the Fleet shown as becoming the Mazianni and showing the possibility of why and how they did so - although Downbelow Station shows it in actuality, and so does Merchanter's Luck.
First appearance of rider ships, first (I think) mention of tape and how Union train their troops.
I've just thought while typing this out - if you read it in order the first time you read it, you see nothing from Union pov for quite a few books, but they're being built up into a big evil baddy who mess with people's minds, and I can't remember the first book where they appear in pov other than in Downbelow Station and that's a small bit or Merchanter's Luck and that's merchanters so I don't think it counts. I'm looking forward to the first one - it's been so long since I last read the series I can't remember any details at all.
Another paranoid, claustrophobic dystopian book, following very closely on the previous one, with the same characters, in a different situation.
The start of the Company/Union split, with the Fleet shown as becoming the Mazianni and showing the possibility of why and how they did so - although Downbelow Station shows it in actuality, and so does Merchanter's Luck.
First appearance of rider ships, first (I think) mention of tape and how Union train their troops.
I've just thought while typing this out - if you read it in order the first time you read it, you see nothing from Union pov for quite a few books, but they're being built up into a big evil baddy who mess with people's minds, and I can't remember the first book where they appear in pov other than in Downbelow Station and that's a small bit or Merchanter's Luck and that's merchanters so I don't think it counts. I'm looking forward to the first one - it's been so long since I last read the series I can't remember any details at all.
March 26, 2019
I’m not generally one to say “don’t read the summary,” but for the sake of your sanity Don’t Read The Summary. I already knew I liked Cherryh and the Alliance/Union books, and the book jacket still sent my eyebrows to my hairline.
Some years after Heavy Time, Ben Pollard has finally got his life together. He’s signed up with the UTC, put in the time, finagled connections, passed all the tests and is on track for a high security clearance position in Stockholm. That’s right, this Belter is going places.
Obviously, this isn’t going to last. At the last second, Pollard finds out that he’s been named next-of-kin to Paul Decker, and is being transferred to a secret installation elsewhere to see if he can help pull the man together. (Yes, that Paul Decker. The punching bag of the universe that Ben spent three months trapped in a ship with and the man at the center of the ensuing chaos that completely upended the politics in the Belt. Surprise-surprise, things have gone wrong for him again.)
Ben, of course, has Plans. He doesn’t want to be stuck with Decker. He has a Position waiting for him. He just wants to proceed with his perfectly mapped career in Stockholm. He deserves Stockholm.
Unfortunately, no one cares what Ben wants.
What follows is a tightly-focused story of political maneuvering, conspiracy, sabotage, and stress. Decker’s traumatized self ought not be anywhere near a pilot’s seat, but the establishment doesn’t care. He’s the best they’ve got, so they’re going to do whatever it takes to build a crew and make their super special program work. Superficially, this is the story of how those Rider Ships in Downbelow Station came to be, but it’s mostly about the human drama, and drama there is.
I spent most of Heavy Time wanting to strangle Ben Pollard. He was very good at his job, but he was also a self-serving snake of a man more concerned with profit and advantage than any kind of human sympathy. Somewhere at the end of that book he got a clue and figured out how to use his powers for good (or that might have just been survival instinct, hard to say.) Fast forward to Hellburner, and Ben has suddenly become much more sympathetic. I don’t mean to imply he had a personality transplant or anything (far from it), but the context has shifted. Instead of trying to screw somebody else over for his own advantage, he’s really just trying to stick to The Plan… and it’s just not working out for him.
Another reviewer likened Pollard and Decker’s interactions to Odd Couple comedy; I’d say that’s accurate. There’s a lot of darkly hilarious dialogue in the midst of Decker being totally off his head and Pollard being 100% Done with the entire situation. (Decker himself spends most of this book reenacting the last one. Don’t expect much development from him.)
Ben is not the only one who gets hauled out to work on the project. Meg and Sal, our Space Diva Belt Miners from the last book, are also back. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much attention is given to Meg’s PoV. Being in her mid-40s, with an injury that slowed reflexes on one side, she’s at a disadvantage. Her relationship with the much younger Decker, her past and future work as a pilot, and her political perspective as one of the old Rab give insight that the younger cast members (except perhaps Graff) lack. At the end of the day, Meg Kady is probably one of my favorite characters.
Sadly, Sal’s perspective is virtually nonexistent. She didn’t get much PoV input in Heavy Time either, but with Hellburner giving so much narrative space to Meg, it stands out. While Ben and Meg and Graff all expand as characters, Sal falls to the sidelines. (Decker, of course, is still 90% a narrative object. Things happen to him, and everything spirals from there.)
Some things don’t age well. The weirdest thing is probably the implication that Sal is the only black person on the station, and one of a scant minority in near-Earth space at all, but Meg and Sal both also face rampant and overt sexism in the program, which can be hard to swallow in this future-setting. And as I’ve noted before, the mental health departments are… shall we say unhelpful at best. But most of insystem politics and policies seem a bit backdated, and I remain on the fence as to whether Cherryh is making A Statement™ or if her writing just hasn’t aged well. (Given current politics, I’m inclined to go with the former; some things don’t change but superficially.)
I’ve waffled back and forth on the rating, because I’m a sucker for the human drama that Cherryh specializes in, but I think I’m settling at a hair over 3*. There’s a sense of rehashing Heavy Time throughout Hellburner’s pages, and watching people get ground up and tossed around in a bureaucratic machine is interesting but not always entertaining.
Some years after Heavy Time, Ben Pollard has finally got his life together. He’s signed up with the UTC, put in the time, finagled connections, passed all the tests and is on track for a high security clearance position in Stockholm. That’s right, this Belter is going places.
Obviously, this isn’t going to last. At the last second, Pollard finds out that he’s been named next-of-kin to Paul Decker, and is being transferred to a secret installation elsewhere to see if he can help pull the man together. (Yes, that Paul Decker. The punching bag of the universe that Ben spent three months trapped in a ship with and the man at the center of the ensuing chaos that completely upended the politics in the Belt. Surprise-surprise, things have gone wrong for him again.)
Ben, of course, has Plans. He doesn’t want to be stuck with Decker. He has a Position waiting for him. He just wants to proceed with his perfectly mapped career in Stockholm. He deserves Stockholm.
Unfortunately, no one cares what Ben wants.
What follows is a tightly-focused story of political maneuvering, conspiracy, sabotage, and stress. Decker’s traumatized self ought not be anywhere near a pilot’s seat, but the establishment doesn’t care. He’s the best they’ve got, so they’re going to do whatever it takes to build a crew and make their super special program work. Superficially, this is the story of how those Rider Ships in Downbelow Station came to be, but it’s mostly about the human drama, and drama there is.
I spent most of Heavy Time wanting to strangle Ben Pollard. He was very good at his job, but he was also a self-serving snake of a man more concerned with profit and advantage than any kind of human sympathy. Somewhere at the end of that book he got a clue and figured out how to use his powers for good (or that might have just been survival instinct, hard to say.) Fast forward to Hellburner, and Ben has suddenly become much more sympathetic. I don’t mean to imply he had a personality transplant or anything (far from it), but the context has shifted. Instead of trying to screw somebody else over for his own advantage, he’s really just trying to stick to The Plan… and it’s just not working out for him.
Another reviewer likened Pollard and Decker’s interactions to Odd Couple comedy; I’d say that’s accurate. There’s a lot of darkly hilarious dialogue in the midst of Decker being totally off his head and Pollard being 100% Done with the entire situation. (Decker himself spends most of this book reenacting the last one. Don’t expect much development from him.)
Ben is not the only one who gets hauled out to work on the project. Meg and Sal, our Space Diva Belt Miners from the last book, are also back. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much attention is given to Meg’s PoV. Being in her mid-40s, with an injury that slowed reflexes on one side, she’s at a disadvantage. Her relationship with the much younger Decker, her past and future work as a pilot, and her political perspective as one of the old Rab give insight that the younger cast members (except perhaps Graff) lack. At the end of the day, Meg Kady is probably one of my favorite characters.
Sadly, Sal’s perspective is virtually nonexistent. She didn’t get much PoV input in Heavy Time either, but with Hellburner giving so much narrative space to Meg, it stands out. While Ben and Meg and Graff all expand as characters, Sal falls to the sidelines. (Decker, of course, is still 90% a narrative object. Things happen to him, and everything spirals from there.)
Some things don’t age well. The weirdest thing is probably the implication that Sal is the only black person on the station, and one of a scant minority in near-Earth space at all, but Meg and Sal both also face rampant and overt sexism in the program, which can be hard to swallow in this future-setting. And as I’ve noted before, the mental health departments are… shall we say unhelpful at best. But most of insystem politics and policies seem a bit backdated, and I remain on the fence as to whether Cherryh is making A Statement™ or if her writing just hasn’t aged well. (Given current politics, I’m inclined to go with the former; some things don’t change but superficially.)
I’ve waffled back and forth on the rating, because I’m a sucker for the human drama that Cherryh specializes in, but I think I’m settling at a hair over 3*. There’s a sense of rehashing Heavy Time throughout Hellburner’s pages, and watching people get ground up and tossed around in a bureaucratic machine is interesting but not always entertaining.
September 19, 2023
Suivant les évènements du livre précédent, il doit être déterminé si un accident sur un entraînement de vol était un accident, ou une tentative de meurtre.
Comme à chaque fois que je découvre un nouveau livre de cet univers, je suis happée par le délire. C’est fun, hyper rythmé, une fois que t’es lancée c’est juste impossible de poser le bouquin, même quand t’es dans une humeur un peu bizarre comme la mienne en ce moment. Diablement efficace et bien foutu.
Comme à chaque fois que je découvre un nouveau livre de cet univers, je suis happée par le délire. C’est fun, hyper rythmé, une fois que t’es lancée c’est juste impossible de poser le bouquin, même quand t’es dans une humeur un peu bizarre comme la mienne en ce moment. Diablement efficace et bien foutu.
May 15, 2011
4.5 stars. A hell of a ride. As usual, Cherryh reveals the story up close and personal, showing us what's happening from the points of view of four or five main characters, in bits and pieces, building tension and suspense, despairing of a good outcome, until finally the whole jigsaw comes together in a complete whole. Cherryh writes fantastic science fiction from a very human perspective, with all the realities of politics, lies, sweat, insanity, and incredible pressure. What a writer.
July 11, 2025
"Every stupid decision they ever compromised their way into created this war, but the fact is something very foreign is coming here, that's the point. They're worried about tape-training off a rab model because the rab movement is foreign? The rab isn't azi. The rab isn't designed personalities. The rab isn't an expansion into space so remote we don't know what may come out of it or what in hell they're going to provoke...Belters are foreign? They should worry about me, Com. I'm foreign. I'm more alien than anything they've ever met!"
"Maybe they do worry. Maybe that's what that mob in Geneva is really saying. Give us back our control over things. Make it stop. Make it the way we always thought is was."
It never was. Not for one moment was the universe the way they imagined."
C.J. Cherryh's Hellburner is another foray into her Alliance-Union universe--and it's not her best. While the novel explores some fascinating topics, the details in political intrigues and sparring service branches are confusing and tedious. The pacing is poor. We spend way too many pages repeating thoughts and actions. For example, Ben is on the cusp of receiving a cush assignment on Earth but is called out to babysit an acquaintance who has almost died in a simulator accident. For one hundred pages, all we really have are Ben's thoughts about getting back and his fear of losing his golden opportunity. Over and over.
This novel was published after the sprawling epic Cyteen, where Cherryh focused her microscope on the inner-workings of Union. Hellburner turns her perspective to the military in Alliance space, trying to develop a way to counter Union's use of azi, programmable, genetically-engineered slaves. Within the expanse of this universe and its evolving conflicts, Hellburner is one little piece in the overall tapestry. It adds to the nuance, and proves there's few SF writers who can match Cherryh's ability to create whole universes. But, in the end, the novel focuses on aspects of the Alliance-Union universe which could best be summed up in one paragraph and not three hundred pages. Starting this book was like sitting down to watch The Phantom Menace for the first time: Trade negotiations? Political intrigue? Where the hell's the action and magic we expect?
This novel is for hard-core Cherryh fans only. If you're interested in dipping your toes into Cherryh's world, avoid this one. Look to Downbelow Station, where Cherryh describes the history and conflicts of the Alliance-Union universe concisely and clearly before regaling the reader with an intriguing tale of action and suspense.
"Listen, Moonbeam, you don't need to know where the hell you are, that's Meg's department. You don't need to wonder what's coming, that's Sal's. You don't need to know a damn thing but where the targets are and get me a window, you hear me? Time doesn't mean shit to you, it doesn't ever have to mean shit, you just fuckin' do your job and leave ours to us, you hear me?"
"Maybe they do worry. Maybe that's what that mob in Geneva is really saying. Give us back our control over things. Make it stop. Make it the way we always thought is was."
It never was. Not for one moment was the universe the way they imagined."
C.J. Cherryh's Hellburner is another foray into her Alliance-Union universe--and it's not her best. While the novel explores some fascinating topics, the details in political intrigues and sparring service branches are confusing and tedious. The pacing is poor. We spend way too many pages repeating thoughts and actions. For example, Ben is on the cusp of receiving a cush assignment on Earth but is called out to babysit an acquaintance who has almost died in a simulator accident. For one hundred pages, all we really have are Ben's thoughts about getting back and his fear of losing his golden opportunity. Over and over.
This novel was published after the sprawling epic Cyteen, where Cherryh focused her microscope on the inner-workings of Union. Hellburner turns her perspective to the military in Alliance space, trying to develop a way to counter Union's use of azi, programmable, genetically-engineered slaves. Within the expanse of this universe and its evolving conflicts, Hellburner is one little piece in the overall tapestry. It adds to the nuance, and proves there's few SF writers who can match Cherryh's ability to create whole universes. But, in the end, the novel focuses on aspects of the Alliance-Union universe which could best be summed up in one paragraph and not three hundred pages. Starting this book was like sitting down to watch The Phantom Menace for the first time: Trade negotiations? Political intrigue? Where the hell's the action and magic we expect?
This novel is for hard-core Cherryh fans only. If you're interested in dipping your toes into Cherryh's world, avoid this one. Look to Downbelow Station, where Cherryh describes the history and conflicts of the Alliance-Union universe concisely and clearly before regaling the reader with an intriguing tale of action and suspense.
"Listen, Moonbeam, you don't need to know where the hell you are, that's Meg's department. You don't need to wonder what's coming, that's Sal's. You don't need to know a damn thing but where the targets are and get me a window, you hear me? Time doesn't mean shit to you, it doesn't ever have to mean shit, you just fuckin' do your job and leave ours to us, you hear me?"
November 29, 2017
Storyline: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 4/5
Hellburner is the best Company Wars book since Downbelow Station. That series' first - Downbelow - was perhaps the most approachable and conventional book of the series. It had a bigger scope and cast than most of the others, more action and subplots. The sequels have all had a different character. The plots are clipped, the cast small, the worlds uniform, the writing even more stilted and jagged. In Hellburner Cherryh finally seems to have harnessed some of the mechanics she's been working with, but they're hardly tamed. She paints with dull colors and often in monochrome. There's nothing pretty about the sentences. The jargon is mumbled, the grammar incoherent. Paragraphs, pages even, go by without making sense. It always coalesces later in the book, however. The phrases, the pieces, the impressions and tones all fit together in angular forms that are never beautiful to look at but which bring out a bigger picture. That picture is never dramatic or surprising; one knows before it coheres what is going to come out and how the parts all fit. And I still liked the bigger science picture with this one. This was the most ambitious story since the first in the series, and as it and Heavy Time together serve as a prequel to those events, some of the foreshadowing and backstories give an additional dimension of entertainment. I'm also comfortable with the idea that this is remarkable only because the last three were not - that Cherryh set the bar so low with Merchanter's Luck, Rimrunners, and Heavy Time that even a moderately interesting narrative makes Hellburner exciting in comparison. I think, though, that the more direct engagement with hard science fiction and the more complex plot makes this a good book regardless of the context. One has to suffer Cherryh's writing, of course, but there's something redeemable about that this time.
This and the last book are also all the more noteworthy for how prescient they've proved. The drama generated from the nature of a market economy defense industry is a drama that played out in the United States over the last few years. It is essentially a problem of principle-agent relations, but Cherryh contextualizes it in a way that's not only relevant for the later Cold War era and our present era, but surely for our space future as well. The inner-system/outer-system divided, and especially the gravity/non-gravity divide is a speculative form of discrimination that has been picked up by a contemporary series - one that has gone on for a successful multi-season television series. There's a somber point that we - humanity - are never going to move past discrimination; we're just going to adjust the targets. The use of "tapes" aside, this all makes for a book that still reads as visionary.
Characters: 3/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 4/5
Hellburner is the best Company Wars book since Downbelow Station. That series' first - Downbelow - was perhaps the most approachable and conventional book of the series. It had a bigger scope and cast than most of the others, more action and subplots. The sequels have all had a different character. The plots are clipped, the cast small, the worlds uniform, the writing even more stilted and jagged. In Hellburner Cherryh finally seems to have harnessed some of the mechanics she's been working with, but they're hardly tamed. She paints with dull colors and often in monochrome. There's nothing pretty about the sentences. The jargon is mumbled, the grammar incoherent. Paragraphs, pages even, go by without making sense. It always coalesces later in the book, however. The phrases, the pieces, the impressions and tones all fit together in angular forms that are never beautiful to look at but which bring out a bigger picture. That picture is never dramatic or surprising; one knows before it coheres what is going to come out and how the parts all fit. And I still liked the bigger science picture with this one. This was the most ambitious story since the first in the series, and as it and Heavy Time together serve as a prequel to those events, some of the foreshadowing and backstories give an additional dimension of entertainment. I'm also comfortable with the idea that this is remarkable only because the last three were not - that Cherryh set the bar so low with Merchanter's Luck, Rimrunners, and Heavy Time that even a moderately interesting narrative makes Hellburner exciting in comparison. I think, though, that the more direct engagement with hard science fiction and the more complex plot makes this a good book regardless of the context. One has to suffer Cherryh's writing, of course, but there's something redeemable about that this time.
This and the last book are also all the more noteworthy for how prescient they've proved. The drama generated from the nature of a market economy defense industry is a drama that played out in the United States over the last few years. It is essentially a problem of principle-agent relations, but Cherryh contextualizes it in a way that's not only relevant for the later Cold War era and our present era, but surely for our space future as well. The inner-system/outer-system divided, and especially the gravity/non-gravity divide is a speculative form of discrimination that has been picked up by a contemporary series - one that has gone on for a successful multi-season television series. There's a somber point that we - humanity - are never going to move past discrimination; we're just going to adjust the targets. The use of "tapes" aside, this all makes for a book that still reads as visionary.
March 13, 2025
This the first Alliance-Union book that I feel a bit meh about. The beginning was sorta redundant (pretty much the same happened at one point in Heavy Time), the middle got interesting when things got moving, but the ending was uneventful again. I think the problem is that I don't really connect with the protagonists, which is a first for a Cherryh book. Also a first for a Cherryh book (as far as I have noticed) is blatant misogyny. I wonder if this is deliberate because of the proximity to Earth. Maybe the author wants to convey that the further we venture out into space the more we leave these things behind? But I still thought it unnecessary in a story set 300 years in the future.
I do appreciate the new setting, Sol Station - we've never been this close to Earth - and the historic components of the story within the context of Cherryh's established universe. It was fascinating to see familiar characters at a different point in their lives, especially certain members of Mazians Fleet who we've met about 30 years later in the events of Downbelow Station. I would have liked to have a bit more of that and a bit less of Belter-speak bickering. It didn't bother me in Heavy Time but there was just one too many "jeune fils" in here.
I'm looking forward to the next books in the Company Wars series, I have Tripoint and Finity's End lined up.
I do appreciate the new setting, Sol Station - we've never been this close to Earth - and the historic components of the story within the context of Cherryh's established universe. It was fascinating to see familiar characters at a different point in their lives, especially certain members of Mazians Fleet who we've met about 30 years later in the events of Downbelow Station. I would have liked to have a bit more of that and a bit less of Belter-speak bickering. It didn't bother me in Heavy Time but there was just one too many "jeune fils" in here.
I'm looking forward to the next books in the Company Wars series, I have Tripoint and Finity's End lined up.
January 23, 2018
This was really very good. It happens to be the one exception to the fact that you can read the books in the Company Wars in any order and on their own. In this sole case, you should read Heavy Time before Hellburner.
December 29, 2024
Wish there was more with these characters
November 17, 2017
A great sequel to Heavy Time! I would highly recommend reading Heavy Time before Hellburner to get introduced to the characters.
I thought the buildup to the end was done well. The intensity was great and, as always, I like that Cherryh doesn't explain everything to dumb the story down.
Sometimes it is hard to understand the world Cherryh has created. There's a lot of lingo and references to things that are barely explained. Although I think the world would be richer if she had went into more detail, I like that her focus is on the characters completely.
Although Ben can be annoying, I didn't dislike him in Hellburner. I liked him more than Heavy Time, which surprised me, because at first I wasn't so enthralled with him narrating much of the storyline in the beginning. I think I was able to understand his pov better. He had his reasons for wanting to avoid Dekker. Not everyone can be a saint.
Dekker seemed toned down since the last novel. Sal and Meg were the same, although they get a bit more character development in Hellburner.
I liked how the characters are kept within their bounds of knowledge and experiences. No one is making incredible leaps of logic, but instead, they struggle with their questions, while trying to not crumble under pressure.
I thought the buildup to the end was done well. The intensity was great and, as always, I like that Cherryh doesn't explain everything to dumb the story down.
Sometimes it is hard to understand the world Cherryh has created. There's a lot of lingo and references to things that are barely explained. Although I think the world would be richer if she had went into more detail, I like that her focus is on the characters completely.
Although Ben can be annoying, I didn't dislike him in Hellburner. I liked him more than Heavy Time, which surprised me, because at first I wasn't so enthralled with him narrating much of the storyline in the beginning. I think I was able to understand his pov better. He had his reasons for wanting to avoid Dekker. Not everyone can be a saint.
Dekker seemed toned down since the last novel. Sal and Meg were the same, although they get a bit more character development in Hellburner.
I liked how the characters are kept within their bounds of knowledge and experiences. No one is making incredible leaps of logic, but instead, they struggle with their questions, while trying to not crumble under pressure.
July 20, 2019
Cherryh, C. J. Hellburner. Company Wars No. 5. Warner 1992.
Hellburner is the sequel to Heavy Time (1991). We are at the beginning of the Company Wars when the technology of the Fleet is still being developed. The Hellburners are the riderships (think fighter aircraft) with a crew of four that protect the large carriers that are the mainstays of the fleet. At issue is the nature of the human-AI interface. Should crews be genetically engineered (Union’s solution), replaced totally by computers--or should they be run by hypnotically trained pilots who can profit from the experience of asteroid belt minors and other outer system denizens? Ben Pollard is again reluctantly drawn into rescuing Paul Dekker who is suffering from post-traumatic stress following the sabotage of his training pod and the death of his crewmates. As usual, Cherryh does an excellent job of describing the mixed motives of her characters and the political nuances and cultural diversity of her world.
Hellburner is the sequel to Heavy Time (1991). We are at the beginning of the Company Wars when the technology of the Fleet is still being developed. The Hellburners are the riderships (think fighter aircraft) with a crew of four that protect the large carriers that are the mainstays of the fleet. At issue is the nature of the human-AI interface. Should crews be genetically engineered (Union’s solution), replaced totally by computers--or should they be run by hypnotically trained pilots who can profit from the experience of asteroid belt minors and other outer system denizens? Ben Pollard is again reluctantly drawn into rescuing Paul Dekker who is suffering from post-traumatic stress following the sabotage of his training pod and the death of his crewmates. As usual, Cherryh does an excellent job of describing the mixed motives of her characters and the political nuances and cultural diversity of her world.
July 2, 2015
See updates. I liked the characters and situations in this book a lot, the technology and political structures and conflict. However, as stated before there is way too much "should I, shouldn’t I" internal thought conflict for the characters. Not my favourite two books of CJ Cherryh, but worth reading.
For Cherryh, the Alliance-Union universe books are (mostly) fantastic -
* In order to read:
Downbelow Station (1981) - Superb!!
Merchanter's Luck (1982) - Perhaps her best ever!
Rimrunners (1989) – Very good!
Heavy Time (1991) - good, but long winded
Hellburner (1992) - good, but long winded
Tripoint (1994) - very good
Finity's End (1997) – Superb
Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) - good but uneven, important for Cyteen and Regenesis
Cyteen (1988) – Superb
Regenesis (2009) - Superb
For Cherryh, the Alliance-Union universe books are (mostly) fantastic -
* In order to read:
Downbelow Station (1981) - Superb!!
Merchanter's Luck (1982) - Perhaps her best ever!
Rimrunners (1989) – Very good!
Heavy Time (1991) - good, but long winded
Hellburner (1992) - good, but long winded
Tripoint (1994) - very good
Finity's End (1997) – Superb
Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) - good but uneven, important for Cyteen and Regenesis
Cyteen (1988) – Superb
Regenesis (2009) - Superb
March 31, 2021
At first I was convinced this was just Heavy Time 2.0. Very similar premise, one character undergoes almost the same character arc he did last time. However, big names in the setting are introduced, and the intricacies of Earth politics become more clear. No one is a mustache-twirling villain, antagonists just have different goals, or sometimes, even the same exact goal, they just want to reach it in a way the protagonists don't agree with. Once again, human greed, arrogance, and ignorance proves to be a greater enemy than anything else. The fear (and perhaps misunderstanding) of Cyteen is omnipresent as well, painting the picture of a chilling but distant foe never seen. It's an atmospheric book.
December 20, 2014
This is a rather disappointing follow-up to the prequel "Heavy Time." It lacks the intensity and momentum of the first book, and expends most of its energy detailing the mental state of a somewhat unbalanced test pilot.
July 24, 2011
It's okay, but not Cherryh at her best. The plot and themes just aren't compelling.
September 16, 2021
Good mysterious SF novel about treachery and distrust between the earth and people who live outside of earth with the backdrop of war. Fascinating.
November 11, 2021
C.J. Cherryh possesses the clever ability to drop her readers into the middle of an existing universe - complete with its own behavioral rules, social groups, unique language, etc. - and actually have it make some sort of sense. When I start a Cherryh book, I often feel like I'm playing catch-up, trying to learn the lingo, the players, and the power dynamics. I think that that's because she credits her reader with being intelligent enough to learn what they need to know, on the fly.
Hellburner provides a great case in point. Although a direct sequel to Heavy Time, featuring some of the same characters, the reader lands in the book like a spacer coming out of Jump, disoriented and still moving very, very fast. Ben Pollard, one of the main characters in the previous book, is now a Lieutenant for the Earth's United Defense Command. Having just completed his training as a computer expert, he has high hopes for being appointed a cushy, Earth-based job, far from any dangerous action. Unexpectedly, Pollard receives orders to temporarily report to Sol II station instead. An old acquaintance of his, Paul Dekker, has had an accident while working on an experimental ship, and is recuperating in a hospital on the station; Dekker lists Pollard as next of kin. The news proves distressing and perplexing to Pollard, who hasn't seen Dekker in several years and never really liked him in the first place. Why is he being called in to speak with Pollard? And will this jeopardize his potential posting on Earth?
As usual in a Cherryh novel, there are wheels within wheels. The future of the experimental program hangs in the balance of Dekker's recovery; he is one of only a handful of pilots capable of piloting the ultra-fast ship. Several military services compete over whether the project will move forward and also over who will get credit if it succeeds. Meanwhile, an investigation must be run into the nature of Dekker's accident, which looks suspiciously like foul play. The powers that be ask Pollard to try to glean information from Dekker on what really happened. Eventually Meg Kady and Sal Aboujib, Pollard and Dekker's occasional lovers - and pilots in their own rights - are coerced to Sol II as well, leading to a strange reunion and the formation of an even stranger team.
Cherryh handles the inter-service rivalry and the other military aspects of the story exceptionally well. I sometimes had to scan back a short ways to make sure I understood who was angry at whom, and who was now in charge of the station or the flight program, but the emotions and the social interactions feel like they're made of whole cloth. Despite the claustrophobic setting, this is a complete world. We can feel the larger ecosystem to which these people belong, hanging around the edges of the story.
Hellburner feels a touch slighter than some of Cherryh's other novels. It doesn't have the scope of Downbelow Station or the emotional resonance of some of the merchanter stories. Instead, it's more like a tightly wound, barely contained, coil of electrical cable - a tale with a satisfying, but ultimately minor victory at the end. One wonders if it would have played better as a novella.
Still, Cherryh at her weakest still outshines a lot of other science fiction novelists. This is a taut, tense, psychological nail-biter and one that her fans will undoubtedly still enjoy.
Hellburner provides a great case in point. Although a direct sequel to Heavy Time, featuring some of the same characters, the reader lands in the book like a spacer coming out of Jump, disoriented and still moving very, very fast. Ben Pollard, one of the main characters in the previous book, is now a Lieutenant for the Earth's United Defense Command. Having just completed his training as a computer expert, he has high hopes for being appointed a cushy, Earth-based job, far from any dangerous action. Unexpectedly, Pollard receives orders to temporarily report to Sol II station instead. An old acquaintance of his, Paul Dekker, has had an accident while working on an experimental ship, and is recuperating in a hospital on the station; Dekker lists Pollard as next of kin. The news proves distressing and perplexing to Pollard, who hasn't seen Dekker in several years and never really liked him in the first place. Why is he being called in to speak with Pollard? And will this jeopardize his potential posting on Earth?
As usual in a Cherryh novel, there are wheels within wheels. The future of the experimental program hangs in the balance of Dekker's recovery; he is one of only a handful of pilots capable of piloting the ultra-fast ship. Several military services compete over whether the project will move forward and also over who will get credit if it succeeds. Meanwhile, an investigation must be run into the nature of Dekker's accident, which looks suspiciously like foul play. The powers that be ask Pollard to try to glean information from Dekker on what really happened. Eventually Meg Kady and Sal Aboujib, Pollard and Dekker's occasional lovers - and pilots in their own rights - are coerced to Sol II as well, leading to a strange reunion and the formation of an even stranger team.
Cherryh handles the inter-service rivalry and the other military aspects of the story exceptionally well. I sometimes had to scan back a short ways to make sure I understood who was angry at whom, and who was now in charge of the station or the flight program, but the emotions and the social interactions feel like they're made of whole cloth. Despite the claustrophobic setting, this is a complete world. We can feel the larger ecosystem to which these people belong, hanging around the edges of the story.
Hellburner feels a touch slighter than some of Cherryh's other novels. It doesn't have the scope of Downbelow Station or the emotional resonance of some of the merchanter stories. Instead, it's more like a tightly wound, barely contained, coil of electrical cable - a tale with a satisfying, but ultimately minor victory at the end. One wonders if it would have played better as a novella.
Still, Cherryh at her weakest still outshines a lot of other science fiction novelists. This is a taut, tense, psychological nail-biter and one that her fans will undoubtedly still enjoy.
December 19, 2024
The accomplished and award-winning Hard-SF writer C.J. Cherryh (the second ‘h’ is silent) writes novels in a believable future history in which humanity has begun to colonise nearby star systems. I read one of these, Downbelow Station, a long time ago, but remember rather little about it. The action of Hellburner is set in the 24th Century when the Earth is at war with the Union, a group of humans long used to colonising outer space. By ‘believable’, action and adventure are repeatedly waylaid by the frustrations of political intrigue, and the very real — and well-portrayed — misunderstandings and prejudices that might result from culture clashes between a complex society based on a planetary surface and a much simpler one based entirely in space. The plot centres on a program by Earth to fly Hellburners — human-piloted spacecraft that fly at sizeable fractions of the speed of light, and the challenges that this will pose for a human crew. Automation is shunned, as this is the strategy likely adopted by the Union, so Earth-based AI stratagems will be second-guessed by the enemy. Such problems are repeatedly discussed in great detail: one is as likely to find oneself in a congressional hearing as a space battle. The title promised me the latter — but I got was the former, and it’s a hard read. As someone once said on viewing Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace, the Trade Federation is a poor substitute for Han Solo. To be fair, Hellburner is a sequel to another novel, Heavy Time, and meant to be read as such — but Wikipedia is great at supplying plot summaries, so I didn’t feel left out. The language has a density which, frankly, takes no prisoners. Here is an example:
I can appreciate the artistry that went into this, but it made my head ache. Oh, and for some reason, some of the spacers speak a kind of Franglais. Et pourquoi pas?
Carrier was outputting now, making EM noise in a wavefront an enemy would eventually intercept in increasing Doppler effect, and to confuse their longscan they were going to pull a pulse, half up to FTL and abort the bubble, on a heading for the intercept zone — that was the scary part. That was the time, all sims aside, that the theoretical high v became real, .332 light, true hellride, with herself for the com-node that integrated the whole picture.
I can appreciate the artistry that went into this, but it made my head ache. Oh, and for some reason, some of the spacers speak a kind of Franglais. Et pourquoi pas?
February 13, 2026
The stories of Heavy Time and Hellburner take place long before Downbelow Station, however, I would suggest reading Downbelow Station first, as it gives the reader a clearer picture of the Alliance-Union universe.
Even though this is a military sci-fi book, it focuses more on the political side of things and the struggles of small people.
Cherryh is brilliant at telling stories of people at the bottom of the social hierarchy from their narrow third-person perspective, while slowly revealing the larger political machinations of the universe she created. Her books do not hold readers' hands. She does not do pages and pages of info dumps, instead, she introduces the technological, sociological and economic concepts of the universe to the readers. The readers find themselves initially clueless in her established universe, and that is something I absolutely love about them. It feels very rewarding to read her novels. The book contains a lot of technical explanations, but somehow Cherryh manages to do it without having readers bogged down in details. The characters we get to know here are complex. They are not heroes, and just managing to get by in the harsh reality of corporate politics that do not care about such people and see them as expendable for profit.
My one issue was that the pacing of the book was uneven. Some parts dragged too much. The build-up was very slow and took a long while, and the story was wrapped up quickly in the end.
The world-building is superb. On one side, we have various factions with their own interests taking a seat in the political power play, some obvious, some pulling the strings behind the scenes. The rivalries between Earth Company and MarsCorp, the companies and the independent shipowners, Unified Defence Command and the Fleet, the Earthers and the Belters (and later the Union)... On the other side, we have (sometimes semi-decent) people trying to find a place in the universe. Slowly unravelling the web of relationships between the factions is very satisfying. I am also impressed by how well she does this in claustrophobic spaces, in small mining ships, and in space stations.
I really cannot wait to read more Alliance-Union books, and luckily, there are a lot of them.
Even though this is a military sci-fi book, it focuses more on the political side of things and the struggles of small people.
Cherryh is brilliant at telling stories of people at the bottom of the social hierarchy from their narrow third-person perspective, while slowly revealing the larger political machinations of the universe she created. Her books do not hold readers' hands. She does not do pages and pages of info dumps, instead, she introduces the technological, sociological and economic concepts of the universe to the readers. The readers find themselves initially clueless in her established universe, and that is something I absolutely love about them. It feels very rewarding to read her novels. The book contains a lot of technical explanations, but somehow Cherryh manages to do it without having readers bogged down in details. The characters we get to know here are complex. They are not heroes, and just managing to get by in the harsh reality of corporate politics that do not care about such people and see them as expendable for profit.
My one issue was that the pacing of the book was uneven. Some parts dragged too much. The build-up was very slow and took a long while, and the story was wrapped up quickly in the end.
The world-building is superb. On one side, we have various factions with their own interests taking a seat in the political power play, some obvious, some pulling the strings behind the scenes. The rivalries between Earth Company and MarsCorp, the companies and the independent shipowners, Unified Defence Command and the Fleet, the Earthers and the Belters (and later the Union)... On the other side, we have (sometimes semi-decent) people trying to find a place in the universe. Slowly unravelling the web of relationships between the factions is very satisfying. I am also impressed by how well she does this in claustrophobic spaces, in small mining ships, and in space stations.
I really cannot wait to read more Alliance-Union books, and luckily, there are a lot of them.
November 19, 2018
Thus far, as I have been reading Cherryh’s Company Wars books, they have overlapped slightly (mentions of Pell and its inhabitants occur in pretty much every book, for example). But this is the first time that I would call a book a sequel. Hellburner seems to me very much to be a sequel to Heavy Time, as we follow the further association between Paul Dekker and Ben Pollard.
If you have ever felt manipulated at work, you will feel great sympathy for Paul & Ben. They are frenemies, both trying to find their way in the universe. Ben thinks that he has finally landed a cushy spot for himself on Earth, far from the wars ongoing in space. This is a big achievement for a boy who grew up in the asteroid belt and who had never seen the ocean! He really doesn’t understand Earthers (OMG, they think that they have the right to air and water, how misguided are they?) but to find a peaceful work environment, he is willing to try.
Paul Dekker is Ben’s mirror image, a kid who grew up on and around Sol and who escaped an uncertain and unpromising future in Earth orbit by going to the asteroid belt. In the process, he has made himself some powerful enemies and has undergone a lot of mental disturbance. Still, he has awesome piloting skills and he’s a valuable commodity if his enemies can be dealt with.
Ben had hoped to never, ever see Dekker again. He is on the cusp of getting his ideal job when he is called away as Dekker’s “next of kin,” when Dekker is experiencing mental problems again, having been left to die in a flight simulator. Ben considers simply beating Dek to death and returning to Earth.
Instead, they are rejoined by their partners in crime from Heavy Time, Meg Kady and Sal Aboujib, and they set out to conquer the new experimental ship, the Hellburner, that no one else has been able to run successfully. Can Dekker hang onto his sanity long enough to do this? Can Ben rein in his temper? Can Meg and Sal make the cut?
As a person struggling with a new computer system at work, one which no one seems to want to provide training for, I have great sympathy for this team.
Book number 299 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
If you have ever felt manipulated at work, you will feel great sympathy for Paul & Ben. They are frenemies, both trying to find their way in the universe. Ben thinks that he has finally landed a cushy spot for himself on Earth, far from the wars ongoing in space. This is a big achievement for a boy who grew up in the asteroid belt and who had never seen the ocean! He really doesn’t understand Earthers (OMG, they think that they have the right to air and water, how misguided are they?) but to find a peaceful work environment, he is willing to try.
Paul Dekker is Ben’s mirror image, a kid who grew up on and around Sol and who escaped an uncertain and unpromising future in Earth orbit by going to the asteroid belt. In the process, he has made himself some powerful enemies and has undergone a lot of mental disturbance. Still, he has awesome piloting skills and he’s a valuable commodity if his enemies can be dealt with.
Ben had hoped to never, ever see Dekker again. He is on the cusp of getting his ideal job when he is called away as Dekker’s “next of kin,” when Dekker is experiencing mental problems again, having been left to die in a flight simulator. Ben considers simply beating Dek to death and returning to Earth.
Instead, they are rejoined by their partners in crime from Heavy Time, Meg Kady and Sal Aboujib, and they set out to conquer the new experimental ship, the Hellburner, that no one else has been able to run successfully. Can Dekker hang onto his sanity long enough to do this? Can Ben rein in his temper? Can Meg and Sal make the cut?
As a person struggling with a new computer system at work, one which no one seems to want to provide training for, I have great sympathy for this team.
Book number 299 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.
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