Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have long been a great fan of CJ Cherryh's science fiction, though not of her fantasy. This book is supposed to be science fiction but the amount of science fiction in it is minimal. Eighty percent of the book is devoted to painfully detailed descriptions of primitive tribesmen crossing a desert. The continual drone of the 'voices' in the head of the main character quickly becomes extremely irritating. The only positive thing to say about the book is that the quality of the prose is good. The main problems are: flat, uninteresting characters; political correctness; no humor; an ending that is totally predictable from halfway through the book; and holes in the plot (what there is of it). Long before the end of the book, I found myself looking again and again to see how many more pages I had to wade through. By the time the caravan of tribesmen had crossed the same desert for the third time, with a day-by-day account of their journey, I only wished that the hammer would fall on the lot of them. This is definitely not another Downbelow Station or Tripoint.
Rating: 
Summary: It Didn't Fail By All That Much...
Review: I must confess I have a love-hate relationship with C.J. Cherryh. I either really like her books or I can't even get through them. Favorites include the Morgaine Cycle, Faded Sun Trilogy, her Rusalka books, Cyteen, the Fortress quartet and Foreigner series. This book won't be a favorite but it intrigued me enough to finish it. Her writing was elegant and understandable in this offering which is important. Sometimes I find her writing rhythem strange, and I have to concentrate extra hard to follow the story. This means I have to be in the right mood to tackle Cherryh, and her accessible writing in this book allowed me to finish it and have a more positive opinion of it overall.I thought the plot was solid and intriguing. The idea of having two women fight a galaxy-spanning war with their own brand of nanotechnology whose outcome affects an entire planet's people and ecology that is fought on the intimate battleground one man's body was especially novel. Sometimes a single battle can prove to be the winning or losing of an entire war and no where is this more true than in this book. I also enjoyed Cherry's exploration of a hero who is a warrior and a disinherited son and is also considered a mad-man by the very people he is charged with saving. Marak's problems make him seem all the more human and accessible. You can't help liking and rooting for him to succeed. Unfortunately, I found his viewpoint too limiting to effectively convey the entire scope of the story. He lacked the education and experience to flesh out the galactic and scientific themes that Cherryh hints at through the warring women, the Ila and Luz. They themselves are kept in the background throughout the story even though they propel the action. They never explain much, even to Marak, perferring to keep him (and thus the reader) in the dark. Obviously one can draw conclusions about the Ondalet and what means they used to inflict the hammerfall, but I think the story could have expanded on this some more and been the better for it. My other problems were with the details and pacing of the story. There IS a lot of riding around on camels - and Cherryh doesn't make much of an effort to distinguish or dress the Beshti up, they are basically camels. Nor does she elaborate about the 'vermin' in any great detail which makes their threat ring rather hollow. I guess I thought there would be more close calls and more struggles for Marak in doing what appears to be an impossible task. I also expected the Ila, Marak's main foe and power on the planet, to be more of an antagonistic to him and the subplot about his father didn't do anything for the story, especially since he was a two-dimensional villain at best. Overall the story lacked a certain grandeur and melancholy I would have expected in an epic about a dying planet and one man's effort to save an entire people. I am of two minds about the book and therefore can only suggest you borrow a copy. Cherryh fans will probably want to check it out and newcomers, unless the story sounds particularly intriguing, might do well to try something else of hers first. Meanwhile I'll be waiting for Defender.
Rating:
Summary: A hard slog across the desert
Review: I was eager to like this book, which was my introduction to Cherryh's work. Instead I found myself bored, impatient for some movement in the story that didn't involve endless crossings of the oh, so dangerous desert. The scifi element of the plot finally kicks in but it's too late and too lame for this reader.
Rating: 
Summary: 80% wandering, 20% action
Review: I wish this story went somewhere. I read quite a few of this author's books but this one got lost in the desert, both literally and literarily. She creates a plausible scenario in a desert-planet that is undergoing a secret nano-war between an estranged alien who settled here earlier and "infected" the globe with her mites versus some police/do-gooders of her race who have come with their own nanites to correct things, all under pressure of a third race who is bombing the planet with ice and iron meteors to take back the globe that was theirs. Lost yet? Well that's what the protagonist continually is, one of a legion of desert tribes forever at war (gee, how timely!). The story is one of zig-zagging back and forth and forth and back across the g**-forsaken desert. The "action" is mostly one desert storm after another, first due to the natural environment and then to the effects of the falling meteors (the "hammer"). I usually devour a good sci-fi novel in a matter of days, buts taken me weeks to slog through this depressing mess. The only person going anywhere in connection to this tale is the author: to the bank to cash in on her (declining) reputation. Thumbs down.
Rating: 
Summary: Solid entry from an industry veteran.
Review: I'm a little curious why so many people seem to hate this book. I didn't think that it was Cherryh's best work, but even her so-so work is better than that of a number of other writers. I will admit that the endless backing-and-forthing across the desert got a little bit tedious, but I found it a compelling vision of life eking itself out in a hostile environment. I won't run to read the next one in the series, but I probably will read it. This book wasn't a waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: A tease, incomplete and not quite satisfying.
Review: In reading this book I always had the feeling that I was somewhere in the middle of the story not at the beginning. From the jacket blurb it looks as though this is the beginning of yet another long series. (As an aside, can't anyone just write a single book now days? Sheesh.) I won't bother with the plot summary, you can get that by scrolling up and reading what the publisher has to say. This book has a lot of potential but fails in one main area. It doesn't provide enough explanation of the underlying background conflict that drives the main story of the epic quest over the desert. The main characters are pawns in a much greater game and at the mercy of forces beyond their control but very little of that background is explained. Without that knowledge the story becomes an average tale about race against time in the face of adversity. I am assuming that most of the larger story will come out in later books in the series but this book suffers from its lack. The bottom line for me is that this book doesn't stand on its own very well. It wasn't engaging enough for me to want to buy any more in this series.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and enjoyable SF
Review: In this novel, Cherryh takes on the theme of nanotech and the changing of worlds. It's a theme generally done very badly. She handles it well, keeping the focus of the story on realistic human beings and avoiding unbelievable extrapolation. Hard-SF fanatics may find that the nanotech is kept too much in the background for their preference. Nearly all the story takes place during journeys. Some reviewers have complained about that, though I'm not sure why. The travelling is clearly relevant to the plot and takes place between well-defined points and for vividly stated reasons. Essentially, the world as the characters know it is going to end, and Marak, the main character, must try to save whomever he can. The book starts a little slowly, but the tension soon ratchets up exponentially. Along with the threat of utter destruction from the skies, Marak faces personal challenges in dealing with the people around him, including his murderous father. The desert tribespeople are not Cherryh's most detailed or dramatic culture, considering that she is one of the best creators of sociological SF currently writing. But they are realistic and human. The flaw that I found with this book was that I wanted more of the cataclysm, when it comes. An entire ecology is destroyed, as well as all the former lands and villages of the characters, and I wanted to see more of that. This is an intelligently written book and I would certainly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Cherryh is back!
Review: Marak has suffered with visions all his life & when he staggers into his destiny on the other side of his world, he must face the strangers in the towers he has seen in his visions & face one more mission - to muster warring villagers, priests, the young & the old to follow him on an epic trek before the hammer of their foe falls from the sky above. What can I possibly say about C. J. Cherryh that hasn't already been said by deeper minds than mine? Her imagination & creativity weaves into whole cloth worlds that are truly believable. Marak is a being that when shown his destiny reaches out & grabs it with both hands & refuses to let go. I like that in any character of fiction & with that grip firmly in place, takes with him those around him including an entire world. I'm so glad that Cherryh has once again found herself back on the hard science fiction side of this genre. I suggest you not only search out HAMMERFALL but also her far-ranging THE GENE WARS series.
Rating:
Summary: Like a soap operate without the action
Review: Marak Marak Marak. This might have been an interesting story if she had combined all volumes in the trilogy-in-progress into one volume and gotten some editing. Marak Marak Marak. That's not what happened here. Marak Marak Marak. Maybe the publisher is paying by the word. Marak Marak Marak. Maybe she decided that you can't make a trilogy out of 200 page volumes so she had to add some padding. Marak Marak Marak. Either way, be prepared to skim pages and skip lots of pages to keep up with the story line without falling asleep. Marak Marak Marak. I've liked lots of her work, but this one was a big disappointment. Marak Marak Marak.
Rating:
Summary: none
Review: One of Cherryh's best and innovative new world's to come along in a good many years. HAMMERFALL is fraught with intrigue and wonder; a compelling read that is sure to delight her fans and stun new ones... Gary S. Potter Author/Poet
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