Conference noted::sf

1206.0. "Helen M. Hoover" by VERGA::KLAES (Quo vadimus?) Fri Jan 07 1994 14:50

Article: 470
From: [email protected] (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Unnumbered Reviews #6: H.M. Hoover
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 03 Jan 94 05:38:36 GMT
 
		Unnumbered Reviews #6:  H.M. Hoover
 
Helen M. Hoover is one of the better writers of sf juveniles.  Her books
tend to be set in dystopian futures -- exceedingly dystopian in some
cases, but more commonly in futures which aren't repellent, so much as
lacking.  Many of the books feature technocratic societies which aren't
oppressive, but don't have a great deal of heart, or much room for nature
or art.
 
In a way that's a trap for an author, especially a writer of juveniles,
because it's too easy to generate reader identification by making the main
character a young person who doesn't fit in, and whose values are better
suited to our own society.  Hoover tends to lean less heavily upon this
short cut in her better novels.  Among those are 
 
"The Rains of Eridan" (*** on an uncalibrated four-point scale).  This
novel has what is almost the default Hoover setting -- a corporation-
sponsored scientific expedition on a new world.  Something has gone
wrong with the Eridan expedition, however, and members are gripped by a
growing and irrational panic that culminates in mutiny.  Theo Leslie, a
Xenobiologist, is out in the field at the time, and witnesses the murder
of two of the expedition leaders, and the escape of their daughter, Karen
Orlov.  Typically for Hoover, that's almost the last we hear of the
mutiny, except in passing.  The rest of the book follows Theo and Leslie 
as they pursue the scientific mystery of the panic, and as they come to
appreciate Eridan for its beauty and wonder, and not just for its profit
potential. 
 
"Return to Earth" (***) also follows the pattern of showing a young
protagonist from the viewpoint of an older one.  The latter, in this case,
is Galen Innes, governor of one of the major space habitats, who wishes to
retire on backwater Earth.  The former is Samara Lloyd.  When Samara's
mother is assassinated, she inherits the directorship of Continental Lloyd
Corporation.  (In practical terms, this means she inherits North America.)
She also inherits the enmity of the Dolmen -- the cult leader probably
responsible for the assassination.  The book follows her initial clashes
with the Dolmen, and her effort to bring him down.  It leaves unanswered
the question of whether she can cure the cultural malaise that allowed him
to come to prominence in the first place.
 
"The Delikon" (***-) is set in a future in which the casual exploitation
of other worlds backfired.  The Delikon, a technologically advanced and
quite alien species, got fed up, conquered Earth, and set about to
reeducate humanity their way.  Their way isn't particularly onerous --
when you're that powerful there's no need for cruelty -- and in part it
involves bringing up the human children who will be humanity's next
generation of leaders.  This training is most successfully conducted by
Delikon children -- adapted to a humanoid form capable of surviving on
Earth.  Varina is the best of these trainers, which is why she's had the
job for as many decades or centuries as she has.  Yet, after all this
time, the Delikon have still not succeeded in bringing Humanity around to
Delikon norms -- a failure which is brought home when Varina finds herself
in the middle of an uprising against the Delikon.
 
A couple of other books could have been as good if Hoover had been able to
resist the temptation to write down to her readers.  "Another Heaven,
Another Earth" (**+) takes place on a dying colony.  After five centuries,
time has done away with most of the colony's higher technology, the
planet's heavy metals have reduced fertility and life expectancy, and each
generation is smaller than the one before it.  Then a new expedition comes
to the planet -- arrogant, condescending, offering a rescue the colonists
never sought.  "The Lost Star" (**+) features another failed colony -- in
this case that of an alien species which human researchers don't even
recognize as sentient.  The intelligence which was to have guided that 
colony takes a chance and uses the last of its power in a gamble that a 
young human might be able to make a difference.
 
Writing down is Hoover's besetting literary sin.  Her blacks are too
black, her whites are too white, her settings have no depth, her stories
have simplistic morals -- and she likes to make *sure* the reader will
understand the moral of the story.  (Authors like Duane and Jones stand as
proof that a book can clearly be a juvenile and still not be written
down.)  Engaging characters, an avoidance (usually) of unnecessary
melodrama, and a focus upon the human, rather than the technical side of
her projected futures make Hoover's better novels worth reading, but she
has yet to make the jump from good to excellent. 
 
Disclaimer:  Don't think of this as a review series.  It's just unnumbered
to help me keep track.
 
%A  Hoover, H.M.
%T  The Rains of Eridan
%T  Return to Earth
%T  The Delikon
%I  Avon (paperback reprints)
 
-----
Dani Zweig
[email protected]
 
  The surface of the strange, forbidden planet was roughly textured and green,
  much like cottage cheese gets way after the date on the lid says it is all 
  right to buy it.--Scott Jones