Reviews for Forge of Heaven (Gene Wars Series)

The average rating for Forge of Heaven (Gene Wars Series) based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-09-12 00:00:00 Brian Clark 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.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-03-24 00:00:00 Christopher Miller 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.