Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson – review

Rebellion, conflict, love, survival against all odds, action, and adventure in spades herald Hellhole, the latest and greatest collaboration yet by science fiction icons Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. There’s no Death Star in this novel, the first in the Hellhole series, and no planet (as yet) that is quite as realized as that of Arrakis in Frank Herbert’s brilliant classic Dune, but Hallholme–or Hellhole, as it’s better known as–is the next best thing, and if this introduction to the series is any indication, perhaps one day Hellhole will become as famous to science fiction fans as Dune.

Hallholme is the planet that General Tiber Maximilian Adolphus has been exiled to following an unsuccessful rebellion he led against the Diadem Michella Duchenet, a person who would make Machiavelli’s ideal of a prince seem tame by comparison. It was named after Commodore Percival Hallholme, the same person who “defeats” Adolphus, which leads to his exile (in lieu of a death sentence). The Diadem purposefully sees to it that the shipments of provisions and other supplies that the DZ (Deep Zone) world of Hellhole receives are not enough to sustain the colony. She means for the exile to be one in name only–for it to amount to a death sentence. She can thus seem to be merciful, while in reality acting ruthlessly towards Adolphus.

Comparisons to Dune’s Arrakis, are inevitable. Do Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson display world-building skills on par with those of Frank Herbert, Brian’s father and the author of Dune? I’d say the duo comes close, because they also depict several other unified worlds, primarily the capital planet Sonjeera, where the Diadem Michella Duchenet resides, and some of its 20 Crown Jewel planets and the fifty or so DZ planets. Together, they’re referred to as the Constellation. I wouldn’t say that the novel depicts Hellhole as thoroughly as Frank Herbert did with Arrakis, but I am guessing that it will be to a much greater extent in the future novels of the proposed trilogy. It’s a largely unexplored and unsettled planet (though it once was inhabited by an advanced alien civilization), so that’s why I think that it’s reasonable to assume that Hellhole will be eventually described in far greater detail in the second and third books of the trilogy.

There is a large cast of characters in this epic novel, and tons of political intrigues and plots involving primary and secondary members of the ruling Royal families. There’s also the unbowed and unbroken General Tiber Maximilian Adolphus’ plans to one day utilize the vast unknown and undeclared resources of Hellhole to once again ignite a system-wide rebellion. The only reason that the first attempt proved to be unsuccessful is that Hallholme packed his battle ships with thousands of the relatives of Adolphus and his followers, and threatened that any attack on his ships would result in their deaths. Adolphus blinked, and believed that it would be immoral to open fire, but Hallholme and his forces didn’t hesitate, and destroyed several of Adolphus’s ships before finally capturing him and many of the other leaders of the rebellion.

One of the most interesting aspects about the world of Hellhole is that it is the only DZ planet of the system that once had an advanced civilization of its own. It was wiped out when Hellhole was hit by an asteroid, centuries ago. But underneath the soil many artifacts from that civilization still remain, buried and waiting to be discovered. Adolphus owns a few, but he desires to recover as many as he can, because he’s fascinated with both the ancient culture and the idea of using any lost knowledge and weapons to further his plans to one day be victorious against the Diadem’s forces. Some reviewers have compared the novel favorably to the Stargate universe, and I’d have to also agree that comparison is an apt one.

One of the most-sought after and expensive substances the novel mentions is something called “iperion.” It is difficult to mine, and the supplies are drying up, and if protective equipment isn’t worn when it is mined, breathing in the resultant dust is deadly. It’s necessary to make interstellar voyages quicker and easier, by marking signal paths for the spaceships that allow ships to travel faster between the worlds. One of the DZ planets that become allied with Adolphus is the beautiful world Candela. It is ruled by Tanja Hu, one of my favorite characters in the novel. It also has vast veins of iperion, which are unknown to the Diadem, and Hu has been providing that and other supplies to Hellhole for a long time. Her assistance is primarily what has kept Adolphus and the other settlers of Hellhole alive, until Adolphus found out how to grow crops there and exploit the planet’s resources.

One of the other main characters that I really liked in the novel is another person who has a lot of power and say in how Hellhole is ran. Her name is Sophie Vence. She and her now eighteen-year-old son, Devon, came to the colony after a painful divorce. She operates an important business on Hellhole, and is Adolphus’s lover. She and her son experiment with plants and try to establish them on Hellhole. They also seek out animal embryos that might have the best luck at surviving the planet’s harsh conditions, which include daily–often intense and lengthy–alkaline storms.

Hellhole is literally a helluva good book, and the world of Hellhole is one that will be remembered as one of the most memorable ever by science fiction fans. For my money, it’s the best collaboration so far by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson. They don’t get into much more than a surface development of some of the characters, but I suspect that they will be much further developed in the subsequent books of the trilogy. I will warn you, though, that the ending of the book is a cliffhanger, and the next novel in the series isn’t expected out until September 2012. I highly recommend Hellhole. If you love reading action-packed science fiction filled with political intrigue and revenge, check out Hellhole by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson!