HOPE’S WAR

Continuation of Chambers's 2001 debut, Hope's End. On the remote planet Hera, a human colony battles a deteriorating climate, prowling, eerie natives, and its own insecurities. As snow falls unceasingly on the city of Hope, the executive council's “police soldiers” hoard the dwindling food stocks. But rebels, well organized and starving, launch a civil war. Young King Vel learns that he's half Frill, the red-eyed aliens who inhabit ancient tunnels beneath the city. Alone of his councilors, Vel trusts Lord Denon, leader of the Church (the creed combines Nazism and William Blake). Unfortunately, cruel, ruthless Denon is lying to Vel and everyone else in a bid to grab power himself. Meanwhile, the civil war grows bloodier and more merciless, and the army's only prospect of stopping the increasingly bold and desperate rebels is to assemble and use the artillery Vel discovered hidden. But Vel, intending to plead with the Frill for help, enters their tunnels—and finds that half of them want him dead, while the other half venerate him as some sort of messiah. Meanwhile, in a parallel narrative, William Blake's clone foments rebellion and Nazism on 21st century Earth. Finally, “Blakes” achieves supreme power, introducing a sickening reign of terror and extermination—until even his own fanatic followers balk.

Hard to see where all this is going. Still, it's well plotted and often riveting, and withal utterly distasteful: one turns the pages avidly, feeling sullied all the while.