Forty Thousand in Gehenna

For some reason, this book seemed to slide below the notice of the Hugo Award voters when it was first published in 1983. But in the years since, general opinion seems to have come to the conclusion that this one should be ranked with some of the best of her works, and at the very least should be read in conjunction with her Cyteen. It's set in her Alliance/Union universe, but very little of that conflict appears here, mainly providing the background and the main reason why the planet Gehenna was colonized in the first place, with a colonist list of about a thousand `normal' humans, and forty thousand `azi', laboratory-bred clones who receive their instructions, education, orders, and outlook on life from programming tapes. On the planet their only real problem is how to deal with the supposed highest form of life on the planet, the Calibans, who build impressive geometrically shaped mounds but are thought to not truly be intelligent. The book has a very slow start, as the scene is set, and we are given some brief looks at the initial shaping characters for what happens over the course of several generations. However, although slow, it has far less of the abbreviated, clipped style full of acronyms that most of her other books in this universe have, and it provides a solid foundation for what happens later in the book, without leaving the reader feeling lost in a very strange room. About one-third in, though, we settle on single group of characters: a couple of anthropologists and a few of the descendents of the original azi. From this point on we are treated to a true tour-de-force, as Cherryh develops not just a very fascinating alien race with a very different outlook on and approach to life, one so different it truly qualifies as `alien' and not just some rehash of human traits transferred to differently shaped beings, and a culture of humans that in some ways is just as alien as the Calibans. Most of this is viewed through the lens of one of the anthropologists, and her own viewpoints, contrasted with those of the other scientists studying the culture, providing quite an illuminating (and somewhat satirical) view of the high-tech, scientific mindset. By the end of this book, the result is remarkably impressive, and by its clear image of societies and civilizations that are not based on any standard human model, provides a viewpoint from which to view our own society and some of its foibles and quirks. In some ways, this book is kind of prequel to Cyteen, Cherryh's truly great look at the morality and consequences of the azi clone technology, with a set of answers that are not at all the same as that book's. Both of these really should be read to see the full tapestry of the questions, problems, and effects that a cloning technology could have on the human condition. ---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Another really good novel in the universe of Downbelow Station. What would happen if a colony composed of 'true' humans and 'azi'(who are both more than and less than clones of humans) was dumped on an out of the way world in the middle of an inter-galactic war and abandoned. The azi are given a directive about the humans, but with time the drift in the society creates a different mix that is accelerated by the 'dragons' of Gehenna. Want to know what the political fall-out is when the colony is discovered? Read Cyteen. You'll also find out the full reasoning behind the colony in Cyteen. Don't get me wrong; this is a stand alone novel and a darn good one.

"Forty Thousand In Gehenna" is the story of a newly colonized Union planet. There is a twist on the standard colonization theme: the initial population of the colony is a small group of about 450 Union officers who will get the colony set up, using about 40000 'azi'. Azi are cloned humans routinely used as workers or soldiers by Union, indoctrinated to obey authority unquestioningly (see also the brilliant novel "Cyteen"). The novel quickly changes from a colonization story to a chilling study of psychology when authority on the planet breaks down and the azi, for the first time in their lives, find themselves without any guidance. This is Cherryh at her best - gritty, down-to-earth SF, told in a very matter-of-fact, no-frills prose style, uncompromising but very rewarding. This is not the best entry point for the Union/Alliance series but one of the finest and most unique parts of it.

This book just gets better and better as you read it.It starts somewhat slow, as most of Cherryh's books do. I would contend, however, that it only _seems_ slow as you begin to recognize the characters and the plot lines.Cherryh leaves us with an incredibly complex book. The complexity of the book is not in the characters, nor in the plot itself. Rather, she has woven perhaps one of the most complex societies and man:man, man:environment conflicts I've ever read.The continuing question throughout the book is debated by people removed from the situation (I won't go in to details for the sake of the prospective readers), and new details come to life as the story progresses. What really makes this book a shining example of what a good author can do is Cherryh's creation, quite literally of the ground up, of a new race. A new society. And describing that race, and that society, at every step of the way. Not only does she create conflict and strong interactions between characters and groups of characters, but she creates a new morality, a new language, and indeed a new culture.This book shows the talent of one of Science Fiction's most gifted authors. Highly, highly recommended. I buy this book for anyone who will read it.

If anything this is more ambitious than Cyteen, though that novel will remain the greater one because of its scope and depth, the latter of which this novel tends to lack at times, though Cherryh is still better than most science-fiction writers. The events of this novel are referred to in Cyteen and that planet is still a big player during the course of events, but Cyteen was also a big part of Downbelow Station and you didn't need to read Cyteen to understand that one either. What you do need to understand is that this is one strange book, the basic plot is that colonists are sent to Gehenna which has these strange lizards and then they're essentially abandoned there and when people find them again this entirely odd culture that is hard to understand has grown up to live with the lizards. Most of the book is devoted to explaining the way this strange culture arrives at what it is, and that is probably the most fascinating part. The encounters between the scientists and the Gehennans are also classic moments and the characters are all well defined even if because the novel takes place over so many years they tend to pop in and out, so don't get too attached to many of them, because they don't stick around for too long. Overall definitely one of her better novels and on par with both Cyteen and Downbelow Station, it may not have the greatness of the former or the sustained intensity of the latter but in its exploration of culture and how it can be formed, Cherryh shows that she has few peers in the science-fiction world.