Hellburner (Questar Book) [Hardcover]

C. J. Cherryh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1992 | Series: Questar Book

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. 15,000 first printing. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

SF veteran Cherryh's view of the future is unrelentingly cynical, and her protagonists are often ordinary people caught between corrupt corporations and self-serving politicians. In this sequel to Heavy Time , the heroes (and antiheroes) manage a few small victories, but the larger battle continues. All the major characters who survived Heavy Time are back, taking part in a top-secret test pilot program for the military. When Paul Dekker, probably the most trouble-prone character in SF, is seriously injured in a suspicious accident, his surly former partner Ben Pollard is called in as next of kin. While Ben investigates, rival military factions fight for control of the program, with the pilots caught in the middle. Cherryh, who evokes more tension and danger in one verbal confrontation than most writers can manage in a dozen space battles, maintains a fast pace throughout. Her abundant use of technoslang makes her prose style rather heavy going, but this excellent novel is well worth the effort. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This sequel to Heavy Time ( LJ 6/15/91) features the continuing adventures of "belters" Dekker and Pollard as the duo become involved in the complicated and deadly corporate politics of space. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/92.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First Edition edition (September 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446516171
• ISBN-13: 978-0446516174
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,883,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've written sf and fantasy for publication since 1975...but I've written a lot longer than that. I have a background in Mediterranean archaeology, Latin, Greek, that sort of thing; my hobbies are travel, photography, planetary geology, physics, pond-building for koi...I run a marine tank, can plumb most anything, and I figure-skate.

I believe in the future: I'm an optimist for good reason---I've studied a lot of history, in which, yes, there is climate change, and our species has been through it. We've never faced it fully armed with what we now know, and if we play our cards right, we'll use it as a technological springboard and carry on in very interesting ways.

I also believe a writer owes a reader a book that has more than general despair to spread about: I write about clever, determined people who don't put up with situations, not for long, anyway: people who find solutions inspire me.

My personal websites and blog: http://www.cherryh.com
http://www.cherryh.com/WaveWithoutAShore
http://www.closed-circle.net

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Cherryh's Best, June 15, 1998

By 

Mark Snegg (Boone, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hellburner (Mass Market Paperback)

Hellburner is one of my favorite Cherryh books, and a rare example of a sequel which is better than the original. If you like subtle humor, great characterization, and a complex plot, you'll enjoy this book If you enjoy anything to do with flying, test pilots, fighter aircraft, and the 'right stuff' you'll love it. But if you're looking for a book with good guys, bad guys and lots of shooting, try something else.

The humor is the best in any of Cherryh's books. I don't often find myself laughing out loud while reading, but I found myself doing so again and again with Hellburner, even on a rereading. Particularly the first few chapters are very, very funny indeed. It's delicate, out-of-your-face humor, though, and I imagine that there are a substantial number of readers who wouldn't find it funny at all.

The plot concerns the development of the rider ships which operate from larger warships in Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. It's set in the early years of the war, and younger versions of several characters from Downbelow Station appear. Four of the five main characters from Heavy Time are back, and end up as test pilots. Most of the book takes place at a military research establishment on a space station in Earth's solar system. There are vast, complex intrigues and sinister plots, as different factions of the military, the politicians, and the large corporations working on the project try to influence the design of the powerful new ships. There is also a dire mystery to be solved, but as is often the case with Cherryh, the solution is not satisfying. However, the development of the characters, especially that of Ben Pollard, the humor, the powerful verbal clashes, and the satisfyingly consistent complexity make it well worth reading. If you enjoyed Downbelow Station, Tripoint, and Finity's End, try Hellburner.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Training the 'Right Stuff', August 20, 2002

By 

Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hellburner

There are very few sequels that measure up to the quality of the first item, let alone exceed it, but this is one of them. As a direct continuation of the story begun in Heavy Time, we meet Pollard, Dekker, Sal, and Meg again, now involved in the prototype testing of the first of the rider ships that figure prominently in later stories about the Alliance/Union war.

But, like most Cherryh novels, very little happens in a simple, straightforward way. Instead of proper, objective testing, with each test run's results carefully and scientifically analyzed and appropriate changes made, we find ourselves in the middle of a horrendously complicated multi-corner battle between the designing corporations, Senatorial committees, two competing military factions, and near social war between Earth-born test pilots and those raised in the asteroid belt, each of whom is driving their own point of view of how the equipment should be configured and the pilots trained. And just to throw in a further complication, we start the book with Dekker back in the hospital after a disastrous simulator accident which may be no accident at all, but rather attempted murder. But Dekker can't remember how or who put him in the simulator. The problems of the 'Hellburner' itself, of how you handle an attack ship moving at significant fractions of the speed of light, where your targets must be described in terms of probability arcs, of vector changes and millisecond decisions even with major computer help, are fascinating in their own right, an excellent setting around which to weave her plot.

How Cherry resolves all the plot complications is exemplary, and along the way she makes some striking points about bureaucracies, military organizations, graft, political 'influence', leadership qualities and styles, and the beginnings of the ethical morass of the 'azi' clones that she covered so well in Cyteen. Her ending is not telegraphed, and ties up all the loose ends while setting up the situation and people of her later books of this universe. About the only real disappointment was her solution to Dekker's 'accident', as it did not tie directly to any of the major players or points of the novel.

Characterization is very strong. Pollard, only partially developed in Heavy Time, here becomes a real, believable person that is easy to identify with. Lt. Graff (an important player in later stories) is easily recognizable to anyone who has ever served in the military, and even Dekker emerges from amnesiac cipher-hood to become the embodiment of the pilot with the 'right stuff'.

Once again, though, readers unfamiliar with Cherryh's style may have a very rough time getting into this book, with her clipped, abbreviated, and incomplete sentences riddled with abbreviations and alphabet-soup acronyms. For this reason I'd highly recommend reading Heavy Time directly prior to this novel, though it is not absolutely required, as then the reader will start this book with both the background to this story and familiarity with this style.

One of her better books, on par with Downbelow Station, though not quite up to the brilliance of Cyteen, and an excellent introduction to her entire Alliance/Union universe.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best SF books I've ever read., August 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hellburner (Mass Market Paperback)

The magic of this book--as with just about all of Cherryh's novels is the development of the characters.

It isn't a book about good vs evil--but rather about what happens when everyday people are caught up in hopeless, dangerous and ludicrous situations.

The reader will almost be able to see the characters in the flesh because they are so believable.

For sf hardware fanatics--they will not be disappointed. Cherry does an excellent job in portrayting believable and realistic weapons and spacecraft.

This is a must read for fans of the Alliance-Union universe. It gives the reader a look at the beginning of the Mazianni. Cherry takes the 'pirates' of "Rimmrunners", "Tripoint", and "Merchanter's Luck"...and puts a human face on them.

Cherryh is unique amongst SF authors.