Rating: 
Summary: Just finished reading it
Review: Cherryh is a master story teller, excelling at character development. I had never been disappointed and spent many a sleepless night reading her books.Until Hammerfall. What a disappointment. While reading this book I had the impression that she used her leftover notes from the Faded Sun trilogy, stirred a bit, came up with the psyche war motiv and threw it in at the very end to justify the trek. It's still good reading for those who want to learn survival skills for the desert.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not a bad book
Review: From the reviews I'd read for this book I went in not expecting to find it very enjoyable, but I was pleasently surprized. This is not a bad book. It may not be on a level with Cherryh's best work, but it is a good read. Cherryh is know for her complex plots, and well drawn aliens, this book does not have either but it does not miss them. It is a simple straight forward story with a simple almost everyman hero. It pulls you into it's world and makes you care what happens next. It was a nice change of pace from the huge complex multi volume sagas that seem to be dominating the genera lately.
Rating: 
Summary: A sand-covered trek to nowhere
Review: Hammerfall is not what I was expecting. This book has none of fun, helter-skelter pace of her Chanur novels, nor the philosophical and political depths of her Cyteen, nor even the fascinating alien cultures of her Faded Sun books. Instead, we are treated to three separate treks across a desert, with a culture that could be lifted directly from the Bedouins of Arabia, complete with clearly recognizable camels and nomadic tribes. The elements of the story that could be interesting, the vermin, the city culture of the Ila, the nano-technology itself, the actual picture of the destruction of the hammerfall itself, are all off in the deep background, beyond the real understanding of the main character Marak. And there are at least three major logical holes in the plot. The first is the use of the tribesmen, traveling by foot, to convey a simple message between two star-travelling level entities (surely there are faster and more precise methods to communicate). Second is the constant mental 'voices' heard by the 'madmen'. While these voices and visions made a little sense at the beginning, after Marak meets with the Luz, they no longer serve a warning function, but instead become a major interference in allowing Marak to accomplish his given task of leading the world's people to sanctuary. Why would Luz continue this form of 'communication' in the clear face of its detrimental effects? Third, the 'sanctuary' itself. No explanation is offered for how this one area of the world can be kept safe from the climactic events of the hammerfall, which at the least would cloud the atmosphere for years with high level dust, interfering with any crop growing anywhere on the world. This is apparently the first of series of works in a 'Gene Wars' set. Hopefully succeeding books will bring more explication to high-tech cultures behind the founding of the world in Hammerfall, and a return to Cherryh's usual attention to detail and careful plotting.
Rating:
Summary: Madness From the Desert
Review: Hammerfall is the first novel in the Gene Wars series. In the far future, the Earth Commonwealth has spread her colonies into the galaxy, locating waystations in convenient systems along the star lanes. A lucrative cluster of G5 stars located in a circle of mutually reachable systems has attracted extremely heavy colonization along an axis that eventually brings humans into contact with the ondat, an alien society with its own starfaring capabilities. The alien encounter occurred at an unfortunate time, for a social conflict over genetic engineering and nanotechnology has erupted in war among the human worlds. An organization called the Movement secretly settled several planets with bioengineered humans, animals and plants. Earth reacted violently to this intensive use of gengineering and a long war ensued. When ondat ships visiting human worlds became contaminated with Movement nanisms and unsuspectingly carried these infections back to their own home world, they first blamed all of humanity for the damage. However, the ondat eventually distinguished between the Commonwealth and their enemy and developed an ad hoc truce with human forces allied against the Movement. Later, the ondat led Earth ships to a previously unknown world where a single survivor of the Movement, Ila, has ruled for centuries with the help of her genetic and nanotech agents. In this novel, Marak Trin Tain has heard voices in his head for as long as he can remember. As the heir of the powerful Tain Trin Tain, Marak kept his madness secret until he finally fell into a fit as a young man. His father had him taken to the holy city with the other possessed ones. Within the city, Marak is brought to an interview with Ila, his father's enemy, and confesses his aberration. He agrees to lead a caravan into the eastern desert to look for the source of the madness. With sixty-nine beshti, an experienced caravaneer and his men, and forty-one of the mad, Marak leaves the holy city and heads east. As he travels, Marak teaches the villagers among the mad how to ride the beshti, to conserve water, and to survive the storms. He finds a tribeswoman among the mad, Hati, who becomes his second-in-command. They reach Pori and move off the Lakht into the unknown. In this story, Marak finds the tower in the desert and is given a message for Ila. Death is coming from the skies and all must free to a Refugee in the eastern desert; any who remain will be destroyed in the Hammerfall. So Marak returns to lead the exodus. This story has the signature touch of the author, but adds a degree of confusion and illogic beyond that of her other books. Marak is not only unaware of the major factors effecting his world, but is also overwhelmed occasionally by the voices and visions. He walks a narrow road between necessity and frenzy. The overall mood is strange and befuddling and the action is minimal, but Marak begins to insinuate himself into your mind. Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic societies in unusual environments. -Arthur W. Jordin
Rating:
Summary: Madness From the Desert
Review: Hammerfall is the first novel in the Gene Wars series. In the far future, the Earth Commonwealth has spread her colonies into the galaxy, locating waystations in convenient systems along the star lanes. A lucrative cluster of G5 stars located in a circle of mutually reachable systems has attracted extremely heavy colonization along an axis that eventually brings humans into contact with the ondat, an alien society with its own starfaring capabilities. The alien encounter occurred at an unfortunate time, for a social conflict over genetic engineering and nanotechnology has erupted in war among the human worlds. An organization called the Movement secretly settled several planets with bioengineered humans, animals and plants. Earth reacted violently to this intensive use of gengineering and a long war ensued. When ondat ships visiting human worlds became contaminated with Movement nanisms and unsuspectingly carried these infections back to their own home world, they first blamed all of humanity for the damage. However, the ondat eventually distinguished between the Commonwealth and their enemy and developed an ad hoc truce with human forces allied against the Movement. Later, the ondat led Earth ships to a previously unknown world where a single survivor of the Movement, Ila, has ruled for centuries with the help of her genetic and nanotech agents. In this novel, Marak Trin Tain has heard voices in his head for as long as he can remember. As the heir of the powerful Tain Trin Tain, Marak kept his madness secret until he finally fell into a fit as a young man. His father had him taken to the holy city with the other possessed ones. Within the city, Marak is brought to an interview with Ila, his father's enemy, and confesses his aberration. He agrees to lead a caravan into the eastern desert to look for the source of the madness. With sixty-nine beshti, an experienced caravaneer and his men, and forty-one of the mad, Marak leaves the holy city and heads east. As he travels, Marak teaches the villagers among the mad how to ride the beshti, to conserve water, and to survive the storms. He finds a tribeswoman among the mad, Hati, who becomes his second-in-command. They reach Pori and move off the Lakht into the unknown. In this story, Marak finds the tower in the desert and is given a message for Ila. Death is coming from the skies and all must free to a Refugee in the eastern desert; any who remain will be destroyed in the Hammerfall. So Marak returns to lead the exodus. This story has the signature touch of the author, but adds a degree of confusion and illogic beyond that of her other books. Marak is not only unaware of the major factors effecting his world, but is also overwhelmed occasionally by the voices and visions. He walks a narrow road between necessity and frenzy. The overall mood is strange and befuddling and the action is minimal, but Marak begins to insinuate himself into your mind. Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of exotic societies in unusual environments. -Arthur W. Jordin
Rating:
Summary: Reminiscent of "Earth Abides" in style
Review: I am a little curious why so many people seem to hate this book. I agree that it is not the best Cherryh, 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.
This book was not a waste of time. You will not find me running to read the next, but I am sure that I will eventually read it.
Rating: 
Summary: C. J., Tell Me It Isn't So!
Review: I can't believe it. Prior to my reading this novel, I've loved most everything Cherryh has written. This is the first of her works that I haven't at least liked. It started out well: I was fully engrossed in the protagonist's trip through the desert. But then, after that, Cherryh had them travel back (with a probable trip back, again). Half way through that first return trip, I said enough was enough, nothing's happening, and put the book away. Aside from the utter lack of a meaningful plot, I just couldn't fathom WHY this was happening: one group of galactics needs to contact another, apparently fugitive, galactic and they take 30 years to do it via nanobots in the general population who then have to walk across the desert and die in droves to even find out that someone wants someone else to receive a message? Huh? Why didn't those galactics use some equivalent of a radio? At the very least they could have tried walking up to the front door and talking. How about skywriting? Dropping a message capsule on the city? Literally anything would have been more efficient than what they did. I don't know why Cherryh wrote this the way she did, but I hope it's not repeated.
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: 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: 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.
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