I generally enjoy Cherryh's SF, and so it was with some anticipation that I read her latest release. The good news is that it's well-written and polished. The bad news is that the first third of the book is glacially slow, and the characters are bland and uninteresting.
Once things eventually start to move, there is a depth of political intricacy of the kind that Cherryh does so well, and it becomes quite readable, though still slow. However, the first 130 pages could easily have been edited down to 20 pages with no loss of character development, plot, background, or anything else. I found the first third of Forge beyond boring.
The greatest pity is that the characters are so dull - even though characterization has always been Cherryh's greatest talent. I interrupted a third reading of Cherryh's Finity's End to read Forge of Heaven, and the contrast was very noticeable - I actually care about the characters in Finity's End. The books for which Cherryh has won top awards all have strong, memorable characters. The characters in several of her other books are like old friends to me. So I'm sorry to have to say that Forge has the dullest, blandest, silliest bunch of characters I've come across anywhere for a long time.
Procyon, the main character, is a wide-eyed innocent who tries very hard to please everyone. The bad guys are laughably feeble. No one starts or ends any relationship in this book. No one falls in love. No one dies. No one achieves anything notable. No one gains any insight into themselves or others. No one rises or falls in wealth, or status, or happiness. No one changes their mind about anything. The status quo is preserved. It's emotionally flat.
The secret of immortality has been discovered by someone on the planet. A number of people have lived there for many centuries in perfect physical and mental health. The technology works. It's safe. There are no negative side-effects. But gaining immortality doesn't figure in anyone's plans. Even the bad guys are just some kind of anarchists without any well-defined goals. It doesn't bother anyone to have the secret of immortality always in front of them, yet just out of reach.
Forge is set in a high-tech society based on nanotechnology, many thousands of years in the future. However, if you substitute coffee for 'caff', fashion accessories for 'mods', and cell phones for 'taps', the culture is very similar to present-day urban America, except that it's much shallower and more fashion-conscious. There's no feeling of a strange and different society - as in Cyteen for example. Cherryh describes Forge as "tech run amok". Umm... yes. More like "tech taking a gentle Sunday afternoon stroll".
There's a long and pointless sub-plot about how Marak and Hati go looking for some strayed beasties... sorry... 'beshtis'. After much traveling through the countryside they eventually find them. The exciting part is when they have to sit in a tent in a storm. They all get back safely with no major problems. Geological events on the planet mirror political events on the space station. It's a nice idea, but a bit contrived.
I found the later parts of the book mildly enjoyable. Once an event or two actually happens, there is a certain amount of tension and interest. Cherryh writes so well that she almost manages to conceal the essential emptiness of this book.
But in the end I asked myself a few questions: Was I moved? Inspired? Challenged? Well entertained? Did the book have anything interesting to say about human nature or human potential? About nanotechnology? Was there any sense of beauty or wonder? Did I have to think? Was this future world unusual or interesting? Did the plot have any unexpected twists? Did I care about the characters, or about what happened in the end? Will I remember anything about this book in a few months time? The answer to all these questions is unfortunately 'No'. Dire thought, as CJ likes to say.
