A new Sci-Fi series that shows potential, despite some flaws
Only the most desperate would ever dare to make a new home on Hellhole, a planet ravaged by natural disasters. The planet is a dumping ground for undesirables, misfits and charlatans. But its location out on the wild frontiers of the Constellation, among the Deep Zone worlds, makes it the final refuge for those fleeing from the rule of tyrant, Diadem Michella Duchenet.
General Adolphus, the military leader of a failed rebellion, is exiled to Hellhole, which he is determined to transform into a place of opportunity. While colonists work to develop the planet, the General forges secret alliances with leaders of the other Deep Zone worlds. He dreams of turning his prison into the centre of a new coalition of planets free from the Diadem’s iron grip.
On the decadent capital planet, Sonjeera, surrounded by corruption and consumed by the plots and feuds of the old guard nobles, Diadem Michella is confident that the General has been neutralized.
The planet Hellhole, though damaged and volatile, hides secrets of historic magnitude. Lurking beneath the surface are the remnants of an obliterated alien civilization, detailing an unrecorded past, which, if unearthed, could tear the fragile human civilization apart.
I had high hopes for this novel, co-authored as it is by Kevin J Anderson, an author whose novels have thus far never failed to entertain. With Hellhole, however, I was left a little less entertained and gripped than usual. It’s a solid premise, imaginatively drawn, but the execution is a little inconsistent, and there are too many voices for a first volume.
