Hellhole

January 3, 2011
Bestselling authors Herbert and Anderson (The Winds of Dune) start a space opera series with a tale quite similar to Frank Herbert's Dune in setting, theme, and conflict. On the dangerous frontier planet Hellhole, defeated and exiled rebel Gen. Tiber Adolphus continues his honorable opposition to the political scheming and selfish machinations of the Crown Jewel worlds and grandmotherly Diadem Michella Duchenet. Adolphus and his companions work in secret to undermine the royal space travel monopoly and form a coalition of Deep Zone planets. Diadem Michella, embroiled in the schemes of the ancient noble families on the decadent capital planet Sonjeera, is too distracted to recognize the danger Adolphus poses. Repeated mentions of minor details bloat the novel's length, characters are one-dimensional, and the tale has an unsatisfying cliffhanger conclusion.

December 15, 2010

A new far-future trilogy from the latter-day Dune wizards (The Winds of Dune, 2009, etc.), bristling with revolution and alien contact.

The inner worlds of the decadent human empire known as the Constellation are ruled by a self-centered and dim-witted aristocracy headed by Diadem Michella Duchenet. Ten years previously, the neglected, impoverished and exploited worlds of the remote Deep Zone staged a desperate rebellion that ultimately failed because its leader, the honorable Gen. Adolphus, refused to sink to the Constellation's level of depravity. With his supporters, Adolphus was exiled to planet Hellhole, devastated five centuries ago by a giant asteroid impact that wiped out most of its life—including a race of advanced aliens. Hellhole became a dumping ground for the rebels, common criminals and other undesirables. After 10 years of hard work, Hellhole is now quite pleasant despite electrical storms, inedible flora and some dangerous fauna that survived the impact. Elsewhere, interstellar travel proceeds via the superfast stringline network whose every route leads through the central empire. Meanwhile, Adolphus secretly builds an alternative decentralized network among the Deep Zone planets. Then one Hellhole colonist falls into a pool of "slickwater"...and acquires a lodger in his brain: the mind of Zairic, the Xayan head honcho. Others soon jump into the slickwater to garner their own alien partners. Unfortunately, the alien aristocrats are as dim and self-absorbed as their human counterparts. The prose is boiler-plate, and nothing here has any real heft.

Ho-hum—it's on to volume two.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 15, 2011

In the distant future, the Constellation controls a core of 20 worlds--the Crown Jewels--and claims dominion over more than 50 peripheral planets in "the Deep Zone." When General Adolphus challenges the corrupt rule of the dowager Diadem Michella Duchenet, his incorruptible integrity leads to his defeat and exile to the inhospitable world of Hallhome, known popularly as "Hellhole." However, Adolphus sees his situation not as imprisonment on a deadly world but as an opportunity to plant the seeds of a true revolution. The coauthors of "Legends of Dune" (The Butlerian Jihad; The Machine Crusade; The Battle of Corrin) and other series set in the Dune universe introduce a new trilogy that combines the best of space opera with galactic intrigue and a cast of memorable characters. VERDICT Fans of David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series and the Star Wars(R) novels should enjoy a new entry into this popular category.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2011
Hellhole is a militaristic sf story of galactic proportions. The underdog, General Tiber Adolphus, had taken on the corrupted Constellation and lost as a direct result of choosing a moral high ground. The ruler of the Constellation, Diadem Michella Duchenet, does not have him executed but, rather, exiled permanently to a planet in the Deep Zone. The diadem is the powerful ruler of a system not unlike that of Louis XVI of France, a feudal system of nobility that tramples the common people for the benefit of the few scheming nobles at the topa system teetering at the end of its useful life. In the time-honored footsteps of story arcs like Star Wars and Dune, Adolphus continues to plan a rebellion from his remote world of exile, hoping to eventually achieve the Deep Zone planets independence from the Constellation. A brilliant strategist, lover of Old Earth history, and castoff of a now-defunct noble line, Adolphus is a Robin Hood for the galaxy to unite behind and support. The characters are easy for the reader to believe in, brought to life through not only their own emotions but also the responses and thoughts of the individuals around them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)