Heavy Time

Heavy Time is the second book I have read by CJ Cherryh (the other being the Hugo winning Downbelow Station). This is a nice little character driven space opera, set on an asteroid mining operation. The bad guys are the Corporation that runs the operation and the good guys are a group of five people thrown together by circumstances and common interests in a series of events that lead up to a political crisis.

The strength of the book is the characterization of the five protagonists. Cherryh does a nice job of giving us five very different people, with different values, backgrounds, and aspirations, and letting each of them grow as events unfold. I also appreciated the dark, gritty, dangerous representation of working in space. The world show more building is convincing (or "space" building, as the case may be.) This is a credible future driven by economics, population growth, and technology. Different groups use different slang (which was at times slightly confusing, but wasn't overdone). The ending came together a bit too easily for me, but all in all this was a nice read and I certainly will plan to read more books by this author. show less

Space miners vs The Man!

A prequel to Cherryh’s Downbelow Station showing how earth built their fleet. The Earth Company and independent miners mine out our solar system’s asteroid belt, while the company squeezes every penny and fights for as much control as they can get. Meanwhile two independent miners rescue a stranded ship that was damaged in mysterious circumstances that lead our heroes in over their heads. Really an ensemble cast of 5 characters:

Bird: A veteran miner who’s seen it all. A good man trying to make ends meet while also doing what’s right. He’s the moral compass of the group.

Ben: A young man that’s much more concerned with making money than doing right. Got a real talent for numbers and knows how to work show more the company system.

Meg: A counterculturist with a record. Doesn’t always work entirely within the law, but is probably the most ethical character besides Bird. Wants to take down the man but has seen enough to know it probably won’t happen.

Sal: Meg’s partner but has high connections within the independents. She wants a life beyond mining but the independents want something big from her if they are going to uplift her.

Dekker: the man involved in the aforementioned mysterious accident. The company is trying to convince him he’s insane and he’s not sure they’re wrong.

All the characters are interesting and the world building is top notch. A very realistic look at space mining. This is the fastest moving Cherryh novel I’ve read but by far has the most profanity which was very disappointing. Will not be reading the sequel. show less

Short but gripping. CJC's afterword explains that the story grew out of her initial astronomy interests, looking for, and simulating asteroid paths. While there is no astronomy in it at all, the pervading sense of gravity and a real appreciation of the difficulties of mass and momentum, make this an easily believable tale. Heavy time refers both to when things get serious, and to the time miners have to spend at dock under g (rather than weightless) for health reasons. This is the first of the Alliance Union series; a self-contained story in its own right, the sequel is Hellburner. All the other stories can be read as standalones.

It's set in 2323, around the Asteroid belt near Jupiter. Mankind has spread to the stars and the distant show more colonies are rebelling. Hence there's a Hurry up on the miners looking for iron rich rock to be processed into the first military starships, but the operating company is also under budget constraints, looking for shortcuts. None of this is explicitly mentioned but it all becomes apparent background for the real story.

The story opens with two freerunners (independent miners who sell rock to the company) coming across a rescue signal, and discovering a battered mining ship far from it's operation, with one Paul Dekker, still barely alive inside it. Dek, as he's known, is almost insensible and claims a company ship crashed into him, and killed his partner. the long run back to base is hard on Ben and Bird, as Dekker's ravings don't improve. But Ben is contented with the thought of a salvage claim on Dek's ship - something that grates against Bird's oldtimer blue-sky sensibilities, who feels that they shouldn't exploit someone else's weakness. It's quickly clear that Dek's maybe provable claims of Company malpractice are going to strike sparks in an already charged atmosphere. Belter and Earther, corporate drone, independent operator and the military, who you are, where you came from and what you expect from life are all called into question.

The style isn't yet the single character tight third person that CJC uses in some of her later books, we bounce around a bit between Dek and Ben, and sometimes Bird, which does occasionally get a little confusing until you've worked out who is speaking. The characters are distinct and the politics confusing - for those at the sharp end only their personal lives matter to them. CJC conveys very well the struggle of the workmen against and with the ruling corporate elite.

Well worth (re)reading a great beginning to a great series

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If you have any thoughts or comments on this review, there is a thread to discuss them in Review Discussions show less

Cherryh's books are never really what you expect. This one is mainly about bureaucratic indifference. A pair of independent asteroid miners are in the wrong place at the wrong time, there's an accident, and one of them dies and the other is left adrift in space. The latter miner miraculously survives, but then has to endure a government that wants more than anything to cover this up, and peers who would rather claim salvage rights on his ship than save his life. He's constantly being told that he's crazy (he does appear to have PTSD) and that his version of what happened is a hallucination. One miner actually does want to help him get back on his feet, he's consistently referred to as an "old-timer" whose values don't mesh up with the show more current reality. Thanks to the one unselfish guy in the entire story, as well as a fortuitous political shift on the larger scale, the victimized miner is vindicated and actually has a chance to live out a normal life. show less

An almost dead miner is found out in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter - he says foul play over tagging a good 'find' - a really big rock - but he is also out of his head with grief and exhaustion and fear about the loss of his partner. The big mining company ASTEX is so powerful it's hard for a little independent to fight anything. The two who find him end up taking him on, even after they have claimed his ship as salvage, one willingly and one not. The reader is sure of the foul play, from the start, and the story is in watching how the situation unravels. It's an interesting period too, in the Cherryh universe - when the Earth Company is just building the huge military state-of-the-art starships that play so largely in show more Downbelow and later novels about the Alliance Union. Here we are seeing from the inside the corruption and political chaos from Earth and its environs. It's a gritty read, less 'fun' than other Cherryh's, but an interesting angle. **** show less

This was an excellent read. But I would not rank it among Cherryh's best. Of course, that belongs to Downbelow Station. In addition, I think her Merchanter's Luck and Rimrunners are better-paced novels as are Finity's End and Tripoint. But I enjoyed Heavy Time more than I enjoyed The Fading Sun trilogy or the Cyteen trilogy. I like the galaxy building that Cherryh does with this series of books set in the Alliance-Union universe. She takes the time to develop the politics that results from economics and how those forces trickle down to influence the day-to-day lives of ordinary people that are just trying to make a living based on the rules set down by those pulling the strings. And sometimes that involves individuals judiciously show more cutting certain strings so that they are able to gain an edge in the game. Very enjoyable reading.

I like this rating system by ashleytylerjohn of LibraryThing (https://www.librarything.com/profile/ashleytylerjohn) that I have also adopted:
(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful.) show less

7/10
This book felt disjointed-I had trouble following the story. Well, not the up close story of Dekker, Bird, Ben, Meg, and Sal, but the larger story of miners, Shepards, ‘drivers, “Mama” ASTEX, EcoCorp/EarthCorp. Still, Cherryh has written intriguing characters and only reveals them layer by layer, as she unwinds the plot.
And yet, as I reflect, I find that I really like these SF books of the Company Wars and the way each books shines a spotlight on a particular corner or aspect (station, ship, crew, system) of the overall conflict. Eventually the pieces will, I hope, make a completed picture.