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The Gene Wars #2
Forge of Heaven
From C.J. Cherryh, one of science fiction′s greatest writers and a 3-time Hugo Award "Best Novel" winner, comes the exciting and long-awaited follow-up to Hammerfall, the second novel of the Gene Wars, now in mass market.
In the second volume of "The Gene Wars," C. J. Cherryh further explores the captivating new universe where two interstellar empires, scarred by nanotechnology weaponry, hover in an uneasy detente. Perched at the edge of the galaxy, tiny Concord Station holds the balance of the universe within its carefully regulated worlds. For, created to carefully monitor the crucial desert planet below, it lies in the tenuous intersection between the territories of Earth and the alien Ondat.
Marak Trin Tain has saved a planet′s people from total destruction, when the implacable ondat sent down a hammerfall to destroy the planet and keep its deadly nanoceles from changing life and evolution forever. But the regrowing planet is fragile, and a deadly cataclysm could destroy Marak--and with him, the hope for peace within the universe.
Meanwhile, on Concord, an unexpected ship from Earth disrupts the uneasy truces between human and alien, and the consequences could restart the terrible Gene Wars that once destroyed most of humanity.
In the second volume of "The Gene Wars," C. J. Cherryh further explores the captivating new universe where two interstellar empires, scarred by nanotechnology weaponry, hover in an uneasy detente. Perched at the edge of the galaxy, tiny Concord Station holds the balance of the universe within its carefully regulated worlds. For, created to carefully monitor the crucial desert planet below, it lies in the tenuous intersection between the territories of Earth and the alien Ondat.
Marak Trin Tain has saved a planet′s people from total destruction, when the implacable ondat sent down a hammerfall to destroy the planet and keep its deadly nanoceles from changing life and evolution forever. But the regrowing planet is fragile, and a deadly cataclysm could destroy Marak--and with him, the hope for peace within the universe.
Meanwhile, on Concord, an unexpected ship from Earth disrupts the uneasy truces between human and alien, and the consequences could restart the terrible Gene Wars that once destroyed most of humanity.
439 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
81 people are currently reading
481 people want to read
About the author
C.J. Cherryh
292 books3,564 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 39 reviews
March 24, 2009
Where I found Hammerfall fairly difficult to get into, this is Cherryh on form, moving between the planet below and the station above, the tech and the politics that affect each, and the fragile alliances that people (and aliens!) build in uncertain situations.
If you're not a fan of Cherryh's highly political books, you won't like this one. I love the way she writes complex machinations, so I was thrilled! It does have her standard "character who gets into water way too deep for him and then has to figure it out," this time in the persona of one of Marak's watchers, who started out a little annoying and got considerably less so as the plot heated up.
I guess the best way to sum this up is that it in no way is an *unusual* book for her. If you've read a lot of her station-based sf, then you will have an idea of the sorts of maneuverings that go on, enlivened by a bunch of biotech. That's an observation, not a criticism -- most of Cherryh's *bad* work stands head and shoulders above the rest of the genre. It's an enjoyable, well-paced, thoughtful political thriller in the vein of some of her others.
If you're not a fan of Cherryh's highly political books, you won't like this one. I love the way she writes complex machinations, so I was thrilled! It does have her standard "character who gets into water way too deep for him and then has to figure it out," this time in the persona of one of Marak's watchers, who started out a little annoying and got considerably less so as the plot heated up.
I guess the best way to sum this up is that it in no way is an *unusual* book for her. If you've read a lot of her station-based sf, then you will have an idea of the sorts of maneuverings that go on, enlivened by a bunch of biotech. That's an observation, not a criticism -- most of Cherryh's *bad* work stands head and shoulders above the rest of the genre. It's an enjoyable, well-paced, thoughtful political thriller in the vein of some of her others.
January 28, 2015
Marak deserves to die; Procyon doesn’t.
Only my previous good experiences with Cherryh impelled me through the first half of the book. Boring, repetitive navel gazing by half a dozen characters about whom the reader cares less as they introduce themselves more fully. The story begins about page 200.
And a good story it is, told with plenty of introspection and emotion (How does introspection differ from navel-gazing? The skill of the writer.) Two excellent, believable "worlds" and a complex, engaging cast. Only three stars because Cherryh could have done better.
This is the second novel recently that I’ve read the second of a series first. Usually the second and subsequent episodes are laden with so much back story that the discerning reader bails. Having significant time elapse between episodes helps.
Marak and Procyon? The first is an immortal idiot who endangers himself paying too much attention to a secondary purpose; the latter a very mortal innocent endangered by forces beyond his understanding or control. I’ll leave you to discover whether either dies.
Only my previous good experiences with Cherryh impelled me through the first half of the book. Boring, repetitive navel gazing by half a dozen characters about whom the reader cares less as they introduce themselves more fully. The story begins about page 200.
And a good story it is, told with plenty of introspection and emotion (How does introspection differ from navel-gazing? The skill of the writer.) Two excellent, believable "worlds" and a complex, engaging cast. Only three stars because Cherryh could have done better.
This is the second novel recently that I’ve read the second of a series first. Usually the second and subsequent episodes are laden with so much back story that the discerning reader bails. Having significant time elapse between episodes helps.
Marak and Procyon? The first is an immortal idiot who endangers himself paying too much attention to a secondary purpose; the latter a very mortal innocent endangered by forces beyond his understanding or control. I’ll leave you to discover whether either dies.
December 20, 2017
Cherryh's Gene Wars series is made up of "Hammerfall" and "Forge of Heaven". It is a universe updated due to scientific changes since the creation of her Alliance-Union construct, however, it is still very indebted to the original concepts of Stationer culture. What has changed is gene engineering and alien contact.
"Hammerfall" is basically a cross between Lawrence of Arabia, Dune, and the Exodus. The author explores a desert based culture with a deus ex machina embedded in the genetic substrate. A harsh and isolated culture dominated by its environment thrown into turmoil by extraplanetary agents. It is a sparse but vivid world that one cannot question its veracity while immersed in the story.
"Forge of Heaven" takes the series into the realm of Robinson's "Red Mars" and Herbert's "God-Emperor of Dune" but only on a superficial level. In reality, it is a good old fashion Stationer action story. It explores multiple levels of society encapsulated in the Concord Station orbiting the planetary setting of "Hammerfall". While the first novel is an experiment, "Forge" is the well-known ground of the author's success. What she adds to her body of work is the impact of a thoroughly wired world and a cosmetic genetically enhancement society. The sequel delivers the goods.
Both books produce the excitement and action Cherryh fans have come to know and love from this veteran SF author. You won't be disappointed.
"Hammerfall" is basically a cross between Lawrence of Arabia, Dune, and the Exodus. The author explores a desert based culture with a deus ex machina embedded in the genetic substrate. A harsh and isolated culture dominated by its environment thrown into turmoil by extraplanetary agents. It is a sparse but vivid world that one cannot question its veracity while immersed in the story.
"Forge of Heaven" takes the series into the realm of Robinson's "Red Mars" and Herbert's "God-Emperor of Dune" but only on a superficial level. In reality, it is a good old fashion Stationer action story. It explores multiple levels of society encapsulated in the Concord Station orbiting the planetary setting of "Hammerfall". While the first novel is an experiment, "Forge" is the well-known ground of the author's success. What she adds to her body of work is the impact of a thoroughly wired world and a cosmetic genetically enhancement society. The sequel delivers the goods.
Both books produce the excitement and action Cherryh fans have come to know and love from this veteran SF author. You won't be disappointed.
December 22, 2016
Forge of Heaven Set in Ms. Cherryh's Gene Wars universe, Forge of Heaven is filled with political intrigue, betrayal, and, in the end, perhaps a tiny hint of hope.
The plot and theme of this story is well conceived and delivered. In a nutshell, Earth and the Inner Worlds claim to have evidence that banned First Movement nanotechnology may have escaped from the last outpost known to possess it, an unnamed world monitored and proscribed by Concord Station because the last survivors of the First Movement—humans who are essentially immortal because of the complex nanoceles that inhabit their bodies—still survive there.
That world and its attendant station are inside the alien ondat space, and the station is unique in that it is the only one that has both human and ondat observers, and their mission is to ensure that the last vestige of First Movement technology never again escapes the planet's gravity well. An Earth ship's unscheduled visit and secretive mission is the cause of the all of the ensuing intrigue and turmoil.
A huge plus for this book is that the characters are just as interestingly delivered as the storyline.
Marak trin Tain – Immortal human survivor of the Hammerfall (see first book in the series), considered by the ondat to be the only honest Man.
Procyon [nee: Jeremy Stafford] – Youngest of Marak's three taps (monitors), and stated subject of Earth's investigation.
Ardath [nee: Arden Stafford] – Procyon's sister and leader of the Stylists who inhabit the Trend.
Antonio Brazis – Head of the Planetary Office and administrator of the Outsider section of Concord Station.
Setha Reaux - Earth appointed governor of Concord Station, he manages the earther sections of it.
and
Kekellen – Alien ondat observer of everyone and everything.
Of all the interesting characters in this book, my favorite is the alien ondat known as Kekellen, a mysterious presence who is never physically described and is only seen once by Procyon [Jeremy Strafford], and that during a pain-fueled fugue.
Kekellen sends robotic minions into the human sections of Concord Station to collect, among other things: orange juice; table salt; live lettuce; eight canisters of liquid chlorine; and a sculpture. While (s)he/it is supposed to only be in contact with station officials, he occasionally sends queries to regular Joes; ie – a plumber on deck three and Procyon (to say hello). While there is a hot-line of official translators for such people to consult when this happens, the person is expected to answer in his/her own name or Kekellen will continue sending the inquiries that jam the system and disrupt all station business until (s)he/it gets an answer.
Forge of Heaven is an interesting, enjoyable, and, in my opinion, much more fun sequel to Hammerfall. This is not to imply that Hammerfall is bad or boring or uninteresting - it is none of those things. It is, in fact, a necessary read if you want the full history of Earth and the Inner Worlds, the Outsiders and the ondat. It's just that I like Forge of Heaven better than the first Gene Wars book. My only regret is that Forge of Heaven is the last (so far) entry in her [Ms. Cherryh's] Gene Wars universe.
R S L
The plot and theme of this story is well conceived and delivered. In a nutshell, Earth and the Inner Worlds claim to have evidence that banned First Movement nanotechnology may have escaped from the last outpost known to possess it, an unnamed world monitored and proscribed by Concord Station because the last survivors of the First Movement—humans who are essentially immortal because of the complex nanoceles that inhabit their bodies—still survive there.
That world and its attendant station are inside the alien ondat space, and the station is unique in that it is the only one that has both human and ondat observers, and their mission is to ensure that the last vestige of First Movement technology never again escapes the planet's gravity well. An Earth ship's unscheduled visit and secretive mission is the cause of the all of the ensuing intrigue and turmoil.
A huge plus for this book is that the characters are just as interestingly delivered as the storyline.
Marak trin Tain – Immortal human survivor of the Hammerfall (see first book in the series), considered by the ondat to be the only honest Man.
Procyon [nee: Jeremy Stafford] – Youngest of Marak's three taps (monitors), and stated subject of Earth's investigation.
Ardath [nee: Arden Stafford] – Procyon's sister and leader of the Stylists who inhabit the Trend.
Antonio Brazis – Head of the Planetary Office and administrator of the Outsider section of Concord Station.
Setha Reaux - Earth appointed governor of Concord Station, he manages the earther sections of it.
and
Kekellen – Alien ondat observer of everyone and everything.
Of all the interesting characters in this book, my favorite is the alien ondat known as Kekellen, a mysterious presence who is never physically described and is only seen once by Procyon [Jeremy Strafford], and that during a pain-fueled fugue.
Kekellen sends robotic minions into the human sections of Concord Station to collect, among other things: orange juice; table salt; live lettuce; eight canisters of liquid chlorine; and a sculpture. While (s)he/it is supposed to only be in contact with station officials, he occasionally sends queries to regular Joes; ie – a plumber on deck three and Procyon (to say hello). While there is a hot-line of official translators for such people to consult when this happens, the person is expected to answer in his/her own name or Kekellen will continue sending the inquiries that jam the system and disrupt all station business until (s)he/it gets an answer.
Forge of Heaven is an interesting, enjoyable, and, in my opinion, much more fun sequel to Hammerfall. This is not to imply that Hammerfall is bad or boring or uninteresting - it is none of those things. It is, in fact, a necessary read if you want the full history of Earth and the Inner Worlds, the Outsiders and the ondat. It's just that I like Forge of Heaven better than the first Gene Wars book. My only regret is that Forge of Heaven is the last (so far) entry in her [Ms. Cherryh's] Gene Wars universe.
R S L
January 19, 2015
Forge of Heaven is a sequel to the book Hammerfall, although it could be read without first reading Hammerfall. I found it to be an engaging and enjoyable book. C.J. Cherryh is a skilled storyteller, with vivid characters and a fascinating world. In this case, the characters eclipsed the plot of the book. The plot of the story was rather like life -- murky, complicated, and not fully clear when it's over. I still enjoyed the book, since the journey was so colorful and entertaining. My biggest problem with the book is the complete absence of Norit. She was one of Marak's wives in Hammerfall, but gets no mention at all in this book. Perhaps she died in the intervening time, but without any reference, I felt disoriented, like the world of Forge of Heaven is not quite the same world as that of Hammerfall.
May 31, 2012
Good story! Didn't follow from the first as I thought but was very enjoyable. Leaves the reader feeling like there is more to come so hopefully after 8 years there will be another installment soon. Now next time I see Ms. Cherryh around town I'll have something to ask!
June 4, 2010
This sequel to Hammerfall is a mind-numbing, bone-crunching gallop through the lives of the races involved in the newest battle of the Gene Wars. It starts out deceptively slow, but in truth is just positioning the dominos. It's a wild, fast-paced ride.
May 28, 2022
This is very much typical of Cherryh's science fiction output, I would say. Most of the book is set on a space station; there are a bunch of different human factions all maneuvering for advantage, plus the aliens with whom communication is only barely possible and whose motivations are deeply obscure; our hapless protagonist holds the secret to making sure that everything is ok, but finds himself bounced from one harrowing predicament to the next. Cherryh does it all well enough: political intrigue and aliens who can't quite be understood are both specialties of hers, and there are some clever touches, such as the obsessive purity of the Earthborn, who are desperately afraid of any sort of nanotech contamination, the nanotech-enabled taps that allow the non-Earthborn to communicate telepathically, and the way that politics and fashion blend together. Still, in the end I didn't really care as much about the protagonist as I probably needed to: he's supposed to be just an ordinary guy trying to do his job, but Cherryh leans on that a little too much. One of the questions that animates the politicking is "why was this guy picked to be one of three people watching Marak Trin Tain and thus by extension maintaining the peace that ended the Gene Wars?", and by the end of the book I didn't really feel that there was a good answer. Also, the book ends with a whimper rather than a bang: all the careful maneuvering, the tension, and the mistrust being, essentially, a big misunderstanding. There's one real bad guy, who shows up for about 5 seconds before being killed; there's the Ila, who's making mischief because she's immortal and bored; and there's the head of the station's nagging harpy of a wife (his family situation gets a lot more time than I felt that it needed). I always enjoy Cherryh, but there's nothing here that she didn't do better in the Alliance/Union, Chanur, or Foreigner books.
December 27, 2019
Pretty unsatisfying, really. There is a good story in here, once it gets going, and characters major (ie, Procyon) and lesser (ie, Reaux) that are fleshed-out and sympathetic. The intrigue is complex and interesting, when it gets going. The alien ondat Kekellen remains inscrutable and pivotal, a nice, familiar Cherryh touch. The last act is nicely pulled off, if a bit tidy.
But this could have been a novella. Should have been. The first 200 or so pages wallow in banality; Reaux's family life reads like a bad '60s movie and the "street scene" is equally dated and limited. Why did CJC even include Procyon's parents if they were to be given nothing at all to say or do? Worse, the bulk of planetside activity throughout is trivial and dull. Marak and Hati haven't survived for centuries, they've fossilized along with their dialect.
The previous novel in the Gene Wars sequence, Hammerfall, is somewhat unconventional for SFF in its perspective, pace, and in its telling. It's different and I enjoyed that. FOH is terribly conventional in form and narration, but bloated with filler. Very disappointing.
But this could have been a novella. Should have been. The first 200 or so pages wallow in banality; Reaux's family life reads like a bad '60s movie and the "street scene" is equally dated and limited. Why did CJC even include Procyon's parents if they were to be given nothing at all to say or do? Worse, the bulk of planetside activity throughout is trivial and dull. Marak and Hati haven't survived for centuries, they've fossilized along with their dialect.
The previous novel in the Gene Wars sequence, Hammerfall, is somewhat unconventional for SFF in its perspective, pace, and in its telling. It's different and I enjoyed that. FOH is terribly conventional in form and narration, but bloated with filler. Very disappointing.
October 24, 2023
I just wanted it to end.
I found this book to be as thin and dry as cardboard. First, it has *nothing* to do with Hammer fall. Her editor clearly asked her to refer to the characters of Hammerfall a few times, for the humor of her readers. Do you know what Marak and Hati spent the book doing? Chasing their camels. You need to decide if that's interesting to you.
Nothing happens in the rest of the book either. The main character, a person whose job is to chat with Marak (?), but who never spends a minute of the book doing so. Instead, he travels to an interview and then tries to get home. (No spoilers.)
That's it. That's the whole book.
There was some hint at discovered intelligent life, but nothing came of it. There were some interesting supporting characters, who amounted to nothing.
What a waste of ink.
I found this book to be as thin and dry as cardboard. First, it has *nothing* to do with Hammer fall. Her editor clearly asked her to refer to the characters of Hammerfall a few times, for the humor of her readers. Do you know what Marak and Hati spent the book doing? Chasing their camels. You need to decide if that's interesting to you.
Nothing happens in the rest of the book either. The main character, a person whose job is to chat with Marak (?), but who never spends a minute of the book doing so. Instead, he travels to an interview and then tries to get home. (No spoilers.)
That's it. That's the whole book.
There was some hint at discovered intelligent life, but nothing came of it. There were some interesting supporting characters, who amounted to nothing.
What a waste of ink.
May 18, 2018
I recall enjoying this book significantly more than I did on this read through. As always Cherryh's world building is fantastic, but I think this suffers from a lack of characterization. It's also feels a little muddled in terms of the plot, and a bit like really it should be a part of a larger overall story (since some of the premise is that there are characters who live for tens of thousands of years).
February 21, 2020
2 Stars only because I finished it and I have been in awe of her storytelling skills...until now. I was actually getting p*ssed off as I progressed through the novel and found all these annoying people taking up page space. The plot meandered and never really made any sense. I was really disappointed as her other books I have read have been amazing. Not this one, I was bored and glad to be done with it.
January 24, 2024
I didn't enjoy the first book - Hammerfall. I read the first chapter, skimmed through the book, and read the last couple of pages. Then I read the Wikipedia entry and found out I hadn't missed anything.
Forge of Heaven was more interesting. I enjoyed the scenes on the space station but I found myself again skimming through the planetside scenes. At the end, I would have liked to read more about the people on the space station but there was no sequel.
Forge of Heaven was more interesting. I enjoyed the scenes on the space station but I found myself again skimming through the planetside scenes. At the end, I would have liked to read more about the people on the space station but there was no sequel.
March 15, 2022
Cherryh casually demonstrating she can write a better sequel to her Dune than Frank Herbert could, but not many people will fight me on that assertion. Falls apart a little at the end and feels like it begs a sequel to truly resolve, but pure Cherryh all the way through: clear, cogent politics and eerily well-realized characters blunder their way toward a sudden spike in tension.
February 19, 2020
Excellent SciFi with a great plot and development of characters.
Highly recommended.
Kept my interest from the getgo. Left me thinking about the story line even after I finished reading it.
Highly recommended.
Kept my interest from the getgo. Left me thinking about the story line even after I finished reading it.
November 25, 2020
Wonderful, full of politics and diplomacy and terror and secrecy ... and characters and places. She has a way of creating situations and aliens that are just unique. You can see the issues that grew into the subsequent long Foreigner series.
March 24, 2020
Interesting sequel to Hammerfall
An intricate tale of a complex human and alien relationship with a long ago violent history caused by a rogue human group. Ingenious.l
An intricate tale of a complex human and alien relationship with a long ago violent history caused by a rogue human group. Ingenious.l
April 13, 2020
Excellent follow up to Hammerfall, a must read if you wondered about what was going on in Hammerfall.
September 9, 2020
Very good read. Have to keep track of characters but that just makes it more interesting.
August 5, 2022
Really not her best work. I was very surprised indeed!
August 24, 2022
Slow start and read for me, this sequel is a very different but good read - than the first.
September 18, 2023
Recommended for sff fans.
February 27, 2019
I am trying, I am really trying to love C.J. Cherryh. I adore space opera. I love all the other authors that are so often compared to her. But so far I just can't get into any of her books. I'll keep trying, but I was glad when this one was over.
August 11, 2020
Forge of Heaven takes place hundreds of years after the events of Hammerfall, and takes place on a space station above “Marak’s World,” a planet being “remediated” after having been bombarded from space in an effort to destroy extremely dangerous “First Movement” nanotechnology. The political and social situation in the satellite is extremely complicated, a delicate balance of three governments and two species. Our Hero is Jeremy Stafford, who prefers the name Procyon. He has a very secret, very classified job–he is one of the “taps” who communicate with the inhabitants of the planet. Specifically, he is the youngest and newest of Marak’s taps.
Procyon’s life becomes unnecessarily complicated when an Ambassador from Earth turns up, wanting to investigate possible leaks of information from Marak’s World. It turns out that Procyon is a potential suspect for the leaks because he once belonged to a radical political group known as Freethinkers. (Procyon is no longer a member of the group because of incidents that caused him to become disenchanted with the group’s philosophy.) It eventually turns out that there is a valid concern, but Procyon is not the one responsible.
Meanwhile, the governor of the station must deal with the political situation from his end while also mediating an ongoing conflict between his teenaged daughter and his wife. This leads to a situation where his daughter accidentally gets tangled with the outskirts of the political situation when she decides to skip school with her friends. (One of the things I like about Cherryh is that she writes some great family squabbles, especially those involving family members who have no concept of priorities. The wife and daughter are kind of oblivious to the larger problems that the governor is dealing with, which was both horrifying and funny.)
Then we have Marak, who is on a field trip with his wife and a group of young men setting up communication arrays. This trip is pretty much an excuse to head out to a distant location to watch an extremely dramatic geological event take place. Unfortunately, a minor disaster strikes the group, resulting in Marak and his wife Hati having to go after their strayed pack animals. On top of that, Marak is extremely displeased to discover that his youngest tap has been sent off on another task.
This book is an engaging tangle of interactions that leads up to an ending that is slightly surreal. (The day is saved by fashion model/ fashion designers known as Stylists. No one expects the Stylist Investigation. Least of all the official law enforcement types who were attempting to find out where the terrorists/radicals were hiding.) I really liked this book, the character interactions and the dialog.
Procyon’s life becomes unnecessarily complicated when an Ambassador from Earth turns up, wanting to investigate possible leaks of information from Marak’s World. It turns out that Procyon is a potential suspect for the leaks because he once belonged to a radical political group known as Freethinkers. (Procyon is no longer a member of the group because of incidents that caused him to become disenchanted with the group’s philosophy.) It eventually turns out that there is a valid concern, but Procyon is not the one responsible.
Meanwhile, the governor of the station must deal with the political situation from his end while also mediating an ongoing conflict between his teenaged daughter and his wife. This leads to a situation where his daughter accidentally gets tangled with the outskirts of the political situation when she decides to skip school with her friends. (One of the things I like about Cherryh is that she writes some great family squabbles, especially those involving family members who have no concept of priorities. The wife and daughter are kind of oblivious to the larger problems that the governor is dealing with, which was both horrifying and funny.)
Then we have Marak, who is on a field trip with his wife and a group of young men setting up communication arrays. This trip is pretty much an excuse to head out to a distant location to watch an extremely dramatic geological event take place. Unfortunately, a minor disaster strikes the group, resulting in Marak and his wife Hati having to go after their strayed pack animals. On top of that, Marak is extremely displeased to discover that his youngest tap has been sent off on another task.
This book is an engaging tangle of interactions that leads up to an ending that is slightly surreal. (The day is saved by fashion model/ fashion designers known as Stylists. No one expects the Stylist Investigation. Least of all the official law enforcement types who were attempting to find out where the terrorists/radicals were hiding.) I really liked this book, the character interactions and the dialog.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2014
Marak’s world is renewing itself after the Ondat Hammerfall, but are the circumstances that led to Hammerfall renewing themselves as well? Determining this is the mission of Concord Station and the watchers who live there. Procyon, a smart young project tap, assigned to the immortal Marak likes his simple life and steady job as a watcher. Little does he know that as the planet below enters a new phase of geological upheaval he is about to become the epicenter of a political upheaval of equal proportion.
Not all life aboard Concord swirls around the events playing out on the planets surface. In fact most of the population is oblivious to it, more concerned with their jobs in the operation and governance of the station or in the latest social trends of the stylists who transform themselves into genetic works of art. But the unscheduled arrival of an Earth ship disturbs the delicate balance in ways no one can ignore; including the mysterious Ondat alien sequestered in his own section of Concord.
This book reminded me a lot of Asimov’s Second Foundation. The political one-upmanship is never ending. The book opens with an historical review of Hammerfall and I almost bailed out. (I don't like a large dose of lore right up front.) Even if this is your first Cherryh book, I recommend skipping the history and coming back to it as a reference when needed. The body of the book is well written and engaging with a constellation of interesting characters embedded in a cluster of lesser ones, all stirred up in an ongoing political escalation. Cherry has created the most alien alien I have ever found in Science Fiction, which I found terrific.
The biological science is interesting but the geological events are not as believable. In Earth geology, when the Atlantic most recently broke through the Pillars of Hercules, it took an estimated 30 years to replace the North African salt flats with the new Mediterranean Sea. Similarly when the Bosporus was cut, the Black Sea took much more than three days to fill as Cherryh has her new sea doing in this book. Science subjugated for the sake of plot is no original sin. There are no great clashes of arms or revelations in technology in this book but I found it enjoyable as a political adventure. I recommend it for readers who enjoy human drama and politics more than for those interested in space age action.
Not all life aboard Concord swirls around the events playing out on the planets surface. In fact most of the population is oblivious to it, more concerned with their jobs in the operation and governance of the station or in the latest social trends of the stylists who transform themselves into genetic works of art. But the unscheduled arrival of an Earth ship disturbs the delicate balance in ways no one can ignore; including the mysterious Ondat alien sequestered in his own section of Concord.
This book reminded me a lot of Asimov’s Second Foundation. The political one-upmanship is never ending. The book opens with an historical review of Hammerfall and I almost bailed out. (I don't like a large dose of lore right up front.) Even if this is your first Cherryh book, I recommend skipping the history and coming back to it as a reference when needed. The body of the book is well written and engaging with a constellation of interesting characters embedded in a cluster of lesser ones, all stirred up in an ongoing political escalation. Cherry has created the most alien alien I have ever found in Science Fiction, which I found terrific.
The biological science is interesting but the geological events are not as believable. In Earth geology, when the Atlantic most recently broke through the Pillars of Hercules, it took an estimated 30 years to replace the North African salt flats with the new Mediterranean Sea. Similarly when the Bosporus was cut, the Black Sea took much more than three days to fill as Cherryh has her new sea doing in this book. Science subjugated for the sake of plot is no original sin. There are no great clashes of arms or revelations in technology in this book but I found it enjoyable as a political adventure. I recommend it for readers who enjoy human drama and politics more than for those interested in space age action.
April 12, 2016
Forge of Heaven, by C.J. Cherryh, follows, primarily, a young man in a prestigious, yet secretive position. He is a watcher in the heavens. The story revolves around Concord, a space station above a destroyed world. On board the station are three factions, the Earth representative, the Outsider representative (a human faction of outer worlds), and the Ondat, a mysterious alien race. There is a lot of back story to the entire situation, but the station is above this ruined world to watch a group of modified, and thus immortal, humans as the world evolves. There has been relative peace for some time, when an unscheduled Earth ship shows up. The inevitable chaos ensues.
I liked this book, but it did have some flaws. One minor flaw that I would first like to get out of the way is that it seemed to be lacking in some basic editing. I found numerous, at least enough to mention, grammatical errors, such as weird double words, missing words, or other oddities. It wasn't so bad that it stopped me from reading, but it did tend to cause a hiccup.
There were so many characters in this book, that hardly any of them really seemed fully fleshed out. None of the individual character stories were very deep; which is unfortunate, because I did like most of the characters.
The first half of the book was a little slow, a little dry, as it was all leading up to the intense climax. It was indeed intense, as everything had been building and building and then it literally exploded with an attack on the Earth ambassador. The climax lasted 75 pages or so and then suddenly ended. I found the ending rather rushed, though it was fairly cleaned up in the last 10 pages or so.
This book may have been better if I had read the preceding books in the series. That way I would have understood better the relations between the Outsiders, Earth, and the Ondat. The Ondat, in fact, were only lightly spoken of in this book, even though their role is seen as vital to the station. There is a handy reference in the beginning of the book, though not necessary. I would have preferred it be at the end, as it acts more as an index, rather than a prologue.
I liked this book, but it did have some flaws. One minor flaw that I would first like to get out of the way is that it seemed to be lacking in some basic editing. I found numerous, at least enough to mention, grammatical errors, such as weird double words, missing words, or other oddities. It wasn't so bad that it stopped me from reading, but it did tend to cause a hiccup.
There were so many characters in this book, that hardly any of them really seemed fully fleshed out. None of the individual character stories were very deep; which is unfortunate, because I did like most of the characters.
The first half of the book was a little slow, a little dry, as it was all leading up to the intense climax. It was indeed intense, as everything had been building and building and then it literally exploded with an attack on the Earth ambassador. The climax lasted 75 pages or so and then suddenly ended. I found the ending rather rushed, though it was fairly cleaned up in the last 10 pages or so.
This book may have been better if I had read the preceding books in the series. That way I would have understood better the relations between the Outsiders, Earth, and the Ondat. The Ondat, in fact, were only lightly spoken of in this book, even though their role is seen as vital to the station. There is a handy reference in the beginning of the book, though not necessary. I would have preferred it be at the end, as it acts more as an index, rather than a prologue.
February 17, 2019
I feel as if the books in the duology came from two different series. Hammerfall has the same feel as the Mri Wars series, whereas Forge of Heaven feels very much like the Company Wars books. In this book, Marak and Hati, Luz and Ian and the Ila have all lived on for centuries, thanks to the work of the nano biotech in their systems. They monitor the evolution of the planet since the ondat broke the world in order to stop the Ila's biocreation. Now Concord station revolves around the planet, constantly monitoring the people who survived the hammerfall. There is a whole section in the beginning which gives a synopsis of the Gene Wars and their political fallout. Earthers, who shun any modification, and Outsiders, who allow carefully controlled modification both live on the station along with an ondat ambassadorial presence. Each of the "immortals" on planet have 24-hour mind-to-mind links with specially selected "taps" on the station. A ship from Earth arrives with Andreas Gide, a representative of the Treaty Board, who is there to investigate illegal export of biological modification nanisms. Everyone has an agenda and spies are everywhere. On planet, a new sea is about to form when a major geologic cataclysm occurs and Marak and Hati are in danger. There's plenty of suspense, politics, and mysteries to unravel in this volume. It's too bad that the author wasn't able to pursue stories set in this universe as it is particularly interesting in light of the actual genetic science that is part of our society now.
October 29, 2008
not a lot of plot it goes along slowly until the end with nothing but dry politics, I was not impressed by it. The Idea of the story has a lot of potential. there is a world that is being watched to see if the inhabitance can recover from a nanite plague. the station on board is run by a tense agreement between three different factions. the earth and inner world, the outsiders, who are all of the humans outside of earths tight circle and then the only alien race known to man. this story could have been done so much better and by the end nothing is left accomplished.
February 11, 2011
I loved the characterizations of Procyon, Marak, and the governor and administrator for Concord Station. I liked the political setup and the churning sea of powers eating each other. But the plot proved thinner than I wanted, really, the choices of Procyon and Marak both mattering less to the outcome than I would have liked. I did enjoy the elements of culture and dependence between races and cultures was as sweet as many Cherryh books contain.
July 11, 2016
Very different from Hammerfall, this book is a tightly plotted tense political drama between the various spheres of power on the space station that monitors Marak's planet. Well drawn characters, including the secondary characters, a nicely drawn multifaceted culture aboard the station. In many ways, I think "Forge of Heaven" is the better of the two & shows a masterful skill on world-building & the handling of multiple characters.
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