Customer Reviews

Hellstrom's Hive

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
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I love science fiction that proposes "what if..." and takes that "what if" to a logical conclusion. In "Hellstrom's Hive", Herbert asks "what if humans were genetically engineered to be an insect-colony organism?"

This book, written long before genetic manipulation and cloning was a reality, is scarier than ever. The insect-humans in this novel are cunning yet totally without the human reactions we would consider "normal." This makes for some very disgusting scenes in "Hellstrom's Hive" and is possibly why this book has not yet been re-released along with the other Herbert novels that were out of print.

But if you can get past some of the more chilling aspects of "Hellstrom's Hive" you are in for a real thriller. No one can write about smells, sights, tastes, and all aspects of the senses, combined with exciting action better than Frank Herbert. This book will stay with you. If you like a bit of horror in your sci-fi, this is for you.

In this book we see Frank Herbert from his best side. A conflict between two societies - the Outside, which is our society, and the Hive, a human termite hill of gigantic proportions. Herbert lets you see the inside view from both sides in this fundamental battle over human nature, and he presents it so without prejudice that you can truly wonder which society Frank Herbert himself would have preferred.

The human characterizations are wonderful: Herbert lets his characters live through all 5 senses in such a way that you will feel immersed in the universe of this book. You will smell fear, sexual excitement and hopeful wafts of fresh air. He also hits it right with his characters observational abilities in this book, and makes the reader wish to keep his own observations equally keen.

The plot is rich, and the tension escalates all the way through the book. Who will survive? Who will escape? Who will be caught out? A surprise ending has you feel the book end with a spasm of tension rather than the release you would have expected.

This was the second Herbert book I'd ever read - the first being, not surprising, Dune. I was already in love with Herbert's imagination and development as he crafts a story. When I heard about this book - a group of humans with a Hive-insect mentality, I HAD to read it, the mere idea just seemed so cool. As with Dune's "Writings of Princess Irulan", parts of the book are divided by excerpts from characters journals, notes, reports, or what have you. I always thought that was a cool way of doing it. Herbert quite convincingly creates his Hive world, with it's superior technology, emotional stoicism, and hard insect drive for survival, which is neither cruel, nor kind, just based on what it takes to survive. The book is definitely a good read, I love the introduction of "stun wands", although I had read in a previous review of a "surprise twist ending" and man, was I looking forward to it. However, I didn't find the ending to be particularly surprising or even very good really. The whole book was enjoyable, but the ending was a bit of a predictable letdown, I thought.

The concept of humans living as insects is disturbing in and of itself. The hive seeks to eradicate individuality, as they see it as a form of weakness within the whole. Sex orgies, humans modified to serve a specific purpose, the "stumps" (a horrifying concept for any woman)--and the vats, where all go upon death to feed the future generations of the hive.

The book serves two purposes. First, it is an explanation of what such a society as the hive would look like. Humans living as insects have none of the inhibitions that normal humans have. Such inhibitions are contrary to the functioning of such a society. The result of such a group where all minds are directed toward specific purposes has led to some rather startling new technologies that represent a threat to the world.

Second, it is a parallel of the cold war. The hive, with their lack of individuality and the belief that the whole is far more important than any individual, represents communism. The "good guys" are investigating the loss of their agents within the area, upon which they learn of the hive. I place good guys in quotations as the characters in the story belong to a secret ageny that manipulates the USA from behind the scenes (obviously, Herbert had a low opinion of the US as well). Project 40 clearly symbolizes the concept of mutual assured destruction that was central to the cold war.

The book doesn't have much of an ending. Events seemingly come to a halt for no reason with a number of plot points left unresolved. This is acceptable given the nature of the novel. The point of the book is the exploration of this hive society, which is done with great detail. Worth the read if you are into reading about strange (and disturbing) worlds.

Incredible. How imaginative for Frank Herbert to take a popular documentary movie of the late 60's about insects, the famous "Hellstrom's Chronicles", and turn it into a science fiction novel ! In this story, the movie-making lab of Dr. Hellstrom is just a cover for a more sinister plot to overtake the Earth with humans bred with a hive mentality... human insects ! For Dune fans, the connection will be immediate: Dune's Bene Jesserett sisterhood could well have been forming in Frank's mind when he wrote Hellstrom's Hive. The engineering of the human species is the basis for this novel and Dune (not to mention other Herbert novels). I couldn't help but feel that Hellstrom's Hive was the embryonic stages of Dune coming to life. For a true Herbert fan, this book is a blessing. Oh, the ending is not your typical fairy-tale ending either ! Quite scarey actually. Good luck finding a copy.

This novel is written like an onion, the layers peel away as you read on, keeper the readers in suspense at every turn. What are the vats? Are the agents really dead? What is this hive? How deep does it go underground? How big is the hive really? All these questions and more are slowly revealed in a style only Frank Herbert can write.

A very refreshing concept of an underground community of humans mimicking insects in a hive. If you look at when the book was written, it was something new, strange and at the same time, frightening and could only come out from Frank Herbert's mind.

The novel is written with a very clever use of language and wordplay to keep the readers enticed. Frank doesn't insult you by telling you everything, he let's you think, imagine, read between the lines and draw your own conclusions - something every author should do!

A truly amazing and compelling story for a novel written before its time!

Hellstom's Hive is one of my favorite Herbert books. The premise of the story is a human hive that has been in existence in North America for centuries. Its current hive leader is Dr. Hellstrom , hence the name Hellstrom's Hive. Possesing greater technology than ours the hive has been working on a secret weapon, but when the Federal Goverment finds out, all hell breaks loose. Fun and exciting is what Hellstrom's Hive is.

Frank Herbert (1920-1986) wrote his masterpiece "Dune" (1965), generating a recognizable turning point in sci-fi literature.
The variety of themes he touched influenced many genre authors thereafter: ecology, political-religious interaction, genetic manipulation, longevity drugs and secret sisterhoods and brotherhoods.
"Hellstrom's Hive" (aka "Project 40" 1973) is a quite underrated novel from the author nevertheless jam-packed with interesting ideas.

The story is as follows: a couple of agents pertaining to a top secret government organization are investigating an isolated farm. Unknown to them this "farm" is on top of a human-hive.
From this point on a complex intrigue ballet starts involving power struggle in different fronts: Agency's internal, Hive's internal, Agency vs. FBI and Hive vs. Agency. Each of them following diverse patterns and conducting to a final confrontment with unpredictable outcome.

I recommend this rather short book to sci-fi lovers (especially Frank Herbert enthusiasts) and general public too.

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

This would be one of my more favorite of Frank Herbert's oneshot novels, though I do wish that he could have expanded a bit more on Hive-life. This book was a fun and thought-provoking read, and a bold foray into various issues. Overall I felt the story was believable, though the story would definitely have benefited from more background on the Hive and just how these Hive-people came to be.

I also found myself a bit cheesed-off by the ending. It had a 'The Lady or the Tiger' feeling to it, and ended rather abruptly, though I suppose Mr. Herbert wanted to leave the ending to us.

Frank Herbert (1920-1986) wrote his masterpiece "Dune" (1965), generating a recognizable turning point in sci-fi literature.
The variety of themes he touched influenced many genre authors thereafter: ecology, political-religious interaction, genetic manipulation, longevity drugs and secret sisterhoods and brotherhoods.
"Hellstrom's Hive" (aka "Project 40" 1973) is a quite underrated novel from the author nevertheless jam-packed with interesting ideas.

The story is as follows: a couple of agents pertaining to a top secret government organization are investigating an isolated farm. Unknown to them this "farm" is on top of a human-hive.
From this point on a complex intrigue ballet starts involving power struggle in different fronts: Agency's internal, Hive's internal, Agency vs. FBI and Hive vs. Agency. Each of them following diverse patterns and conducting to a final confrontment with unpredictable outcome.

I recommend this rather short book to sci-fi lovers (especially Frank Herbert enthusiasts) and general public too.
Reviewed by Max Yofre.