Hella

Starred review from April 27, 2020
Hugo and Nebula Award–winner Gerrold (The Martian Child) showcases his powerful storytelling skills with this outstanding tale of interstellar intrigue. Hella is a planet of extremes, so named because its oxygen-rich atmosphere causes everything from the trees to the leviathans that inhabit it to grow “hella big.” The barely self-sufficient human colonists who call Hella home flee its blistering summers and harsh arctic winters in a biannual migration. Among these colonists is Kyle, a neuroatypical 13-year-old with a chip implant meant to regulate his emotions. This brain chip, which he calls “the noise,” allows him direct access to the colony’s vast computer database of information. As the colony prepares for a new crop of colonists to arrive from the ravaged remnants of Earth, Kyle’s outsider status and special access to the database lands him in the middle of a political conflict that threatens the future of the struggling colony. The worldbuilding is masterful, with hard scientific explanations for Hella’s many abnormalities and rich descriptions sure to keep the attention of even the most casual reader. The effortlessly diverse cast, complex political machinations, and heartfelt coming-of-age themes combine to create a fleshed-out vision of the future that is intense, emotional, and immersive while still maintaining a sense of rollicking fun. Sci-fi readers should snap this up.

Starred review from June 1, 2020
"Meticulous and methodical" has served the settlers of Hella well as a mantra for their first 40 years on a distant world. The 7,300 colonists migrate between heavily fortified stations to escape extreme seasons and to protect themselves from the native flora and fauna. The lower gravity and oxygen-rich atmosphere mean everything is bigger. Hella bigger, as the colonists say. Teenager Kyle has an implanted chip that allows him to access the colony's computer network and helps him compensate for his neuroatypicality; while brilliant, he has issues with empathy and managing his emotions. When his brother Jaime is injured, Kyle is given an exciting?and challenging?assignment. As the colonists prepare for the next migration, an additional 1,200 colonist arrive, adding stress to an already stressed system as the colony works toward self-sufficiency. Gerrold (The Involuntary Human, 2007) has created a vibrant world with a creative exploration of colonization and alien ecology that also smoothly touches on polyamory, gender confirmation, and queer relationships. Hella does what science fiction does best: it uses classic sf tropes to ask important questions about contemporary society. It is also an entertaining tale of adolescence, exploration, colonization, and choosing personal desires over the collective good.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)