Hammerfall (novel)

Lore & Background

The novel takes place on an unspecified planet where the Ila, believed to be a god and immortal, rules the Lakht desert from the holy city of Oburan. Villagers afflicted with a 'madness' of voices and visions are outcast, but the Ila orders them rounded up. She singles out Marak, an abjorian fighter who led an unsuccessful rebellion, and sends him east across the desert to find the source of the madness. Marak leads the other 'mad' to a silver tower where he meets Luz, who appears as another deity. Luz explains that the 'mad' have nanoceles in their blood, released by her to draw them to her. She reveals that the Ila arrived over 500 years ago and used her own makers to modify life on the planet, angering the ondat, an alien species that fears a rekindling of the Gene Wars. Luz's people negotiated with the ondat to undo the Ila's makers, but the thirty-year deadline has expired, and the ondat have begun bombarding the Lakht with asteroids. Luz instructs Marak to return to Oburan and persuade the Ila and survivors to come to her Refuge. Marak reaches Oburan in ruins, finds the Ila, and convinces her to return. The caravan barely reaches the Refuge before the final hammerfall destroys the Lakht. An uneasy truce forms between the Ila and Luz; the Ila's makers are overwhelmed by Luz's, and the climate changes to cold and snow. Marak, made immortal by his makers, begins inspections of the transformed Lakht.

Reader's Guide

Hammerfall is significant as the opening volume of Cherryh's Gene Wars series, exploring themes of nanotechnology, ecological conflict, and cultural clash between low-tech and high-tech societies. The novel received mixed critical reception: Publishers Weekly praised its 'blend of gorgeous, slightly knotty prose, deeply conflicted heroes, desperate action and nicely observed cultural details,' while Kirkus Reviews called it 'very disappointing,' citing no recognizable plot. John Clute described it as 'a most extraordinary text' but found it exhausting, calling the desert treks 'Idiot-Plot circumbendibus.' Elisabeth Carey noted it reads like fantasy from Marak's perspective and criticized Luz's characterization as 'difficult and obscure.' The novel was nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award in 2002, placing third. Its sequel, Forge of Heaven, was published in June 2004.

Did You Know?

• Hammerfall was serialized in two parts in the Italian science fiction magazine Urania as Ribelle Genetico (October 2001) and Il Pianeta del Deserto (January 2002).
• The novel was nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel in 2002 and was a third-place runner-up.
• The story involves an alien race called the ondat, who threaten to destroy the planet because of unauthorized nanotechnology releases.
• The protagonist Marak becomes immortal due to the nanoceles in his blood.