Written by Damien Smith | 02 December 2011

Orbit 2011, ISBN 978-1-84149-944-4

Hell Ship is a stand-alone book from Phillip Palmer, author of the highly successful Debatable Space triptych (Rather than a trilogy – all three books fit together but can be read in any order).

Hell Ship is, naturally, centred around a planetary-scale space faring pirate ship (including the black sails, which are apparently some variation of solar sails), transport of choice of the mysterious and disproportionally cruel Ka’un. The ship travels between stars and between universes waging war and bringing destruction on any civilisations unfortunate enough to attract their attention. The story follows the path of the Hell Ship and is told from three separate but overlapping points of view.

The first is Sharrock; an indomitable warrior amongst his people who returns to his home to find it has been laid waste by an unseen antagonist. He sets off in his ship to seek revenge for the death of his family, quickly finding himself perishing in an unwinnable situation. Sharrock awakens on a mysterious ship and bears witness to his entire planet being destroyed. From here he swears revenge on all who had a hand in his world’s destruction.

The first being Sharrock encounters on the Hell Ship – his new and permanent home – is Sai-ias, the huge Lovecraftian, palindromic creature who has taken it upon herself to stabilise the Hell Ship’s society and integrate new arrivals. New arrivals are inevitably despairing or enraged due to the destruction of their worlds, however it becomes apparent that though they are the sole survivors of their own race, they each is just one amongst thousands of similar souls on the Hell Ship at the utter mercy of the unseen Ka’un.

Sai’ias has been a resident of the ship for untold years and has worked tirelessly to prevent conflict amongst its inhabitants and build a society. Since by some strange force the inhabitants seem unable to die due to a cruel twist of their captors, violence only serves to disable the victims until they can heal. There is no escape from the Hell Ship.

The third point of view is that of an outsider: Jak, spurned by his wife and now part of the Olaran exploring fleet. The Olaran race seek trade with and, as necessary, isolate any civilisation they deem to dangerous to integrate into their universe’s society. They manage this through nearly God-like technology that is unrivalled by any until the appearance of the Hell Ship. After several bloody encounters Jak is forced to integrate himself into his ship’s systems to survive, and sets out on a mission of vengeance of his own.

The character development and interaction in Hell Ship is wonderful; Sharrock seeking destruction and Sai-ias peace, each frustrated at the other’s attitude. We wtach Sai-ias and her interaction with Jak as the story extends across millennia and universes together with the politics and warfare both on the Hell Ship and in assistance to it as warrior-prisoners are forced to battle in the Ka’un’s conquests. Each of the countless strange aliens has a detailed back story which is occasionally glimpsed at and sometimes shared via stories and flashbacks. The author is able to paint a vivid and detailed picture, which at many times left me feeling extremely melancholy due to the great feelings of loss and hopelessness among the inhabitants.

The one major drawback of the book is the ending. Where several hundred pages are spent building the characters and stories to what should be a climactic edge-of-your-seat conclusion, it feels like someone tapped the author on the shoulder and said, 'Quick! You’ve only got ten pages to wrap this thing up!' The ending, whilst bringing about a box-ticking conclusion, is too abrupt and far from satisfactory. There is violence aplenty throughout the book and some magnificent battle scenes, however it is the swearing that occasionally grated for me, becoming almost routine (although often nicely creative). Otherwise, there is very little not to like about this book and I would recommend it to fans of something a bit different.

Palmer's website is http://www.philippalmer.net/ and there you can find news, reviews and book information on past and future works.