Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Atheneum (New York, 1982). Book club edition (gutter code M24). 435 pages.
Description
The Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author and Science Fiction Grand Master delivers a sweeping epic of a planet suffering deadly conditions of alternating extremes in this Nebula Award finalist Helliconia follows an eccentric orbit around a double-star system with a twenty-six-hundred-year cycle of very long seasons. As spring slowly breaks the brutally long winter, humans emerge from hiding and a long sequence of civilization and growth begins to repeat again, unbeknownst to the participants but watched by an orbiting satellite station, Avernus, created by Earth some centuries ago. Humans free themselves from slavery to the aboriginal Phagors, and religion and science flower and expand. Brian W. Aldiss has, for more than fifty years, continued to challenge readers' minds with literate, thought-provoking, and inventive fiction. Helliconia Spring's prescience with regard to climate change is nothing short of extraordinary.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Eric_the_Hamster
A really hard book to review (and I am not very good at this anyway - I'm the sort of person who says "this is a really good story" - which doesn't really bode too well for a discussion at a book group!).
The first part of a trilogy,covering thousands of years, the eponymous planet is part of a
The three books cover the changes to the seasons and the biological and cultural effects of this, in a multi-layered way which is on a par with Dune (although a completely different book).
As with Dune, this took me several starts to get into it, bt also as with Dune, once started, I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.
The first part of a trilogy,covering thousands of years, the eponymous planet is part of a
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binary star system which gives it a "long year" (governed by its circulation around the furthest, but warmer star). Each season (hence the title) covers millenia. We start the series comingout of a long winter on a par with the worst ice ages of Earth. The tensionof the book is increased by the antagonistic relationship between two sentient species: the "human" types on the planet, and the aggressive (although apparently of bovine origin) phagors. Phagors are in the ascendancy in the long winter, humans in the summer. Throughout, the inhabitants are observed from Earth via a space station orbiting Helliconia.The three books cover the changes to the seasons and the biological and cultural effects of this, in a multi-layered way which is on a par with Dune (although a completely different book).
As with Dune, this took me several starts to get into it, bt also as with Dune, once started, I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member EmScape
As a scientific and sociological experiment about what life on a planet with a binary star system might be like, this book largely succeeds. As a gripping tale with relatable characters and fascinating plot points, it fails.
Helliconia's twin suns, Batalix and Freyr are locked in an
The first section of the book focuses on Yuli and initial upbringing as part of a nomadic hunting tribe followed by his discovery and exploration of an underground society that is more civilized but less connected to the surface. Eventually he leaves this place to return to the surface and is a founding member of a civilization above. Yuli learns and grows in the cruelty of the underground civilization, discovering his unwillingness to join a priesthood of bullies and nurturing his longing for the openness of the sky.
In the second, longer section, the descendants of Yuli deal with issues related to the coming spring as well as the leadership of the settlement. The women want to embrace learning and distance themselves from the slavery of their winter lifestyle. The men are excited to tame and slaughter the local fauna as well as begin conquering other nearby settlements.
There are also many digressions into the scientific study of the planet being done by a space station manned by Earthlings orbiting Helliconia. This seems to have been the only device the author could think of to introduce information about things the planet's natives would have no knowledge of. It can be rather distracting at times, but is also valuable information. And, it's not like the story was in any way so interesting that a scientific diversion is much of an annoyance.
The whole books seems rather plodding and drawn-out, with day-to-day minutiae given as much attention as events which would move the story along. There is no major conflict or resolution or story arc. These people lived, they got a bit warmer, and they died. There is a bit of romance and a bit of infighting, which should serve to characterize or humanize the inhabitants some, but it's difficult to care about any of these characters.
Attention is given to the different religions of the humans and the Phagors and how they have developed in relation to the climate, as well as a concept regarding land octaves and air octaves, which I never really understood. Also, the humans are able to visit deceased ancestors by going into a sort of trance in which their soul sinks underground and can communicate with the dead, who are extremely unpleasant and not very forthcoming with useful information. I wasn't sure of the point of this, either.
There are two more books in this series, but I'm not interested in diving into them any time soon.
Helliconia's twin suns, Batalix and Freyr are locked in an
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inter-relational orbit. The planet's revolution around the nearer and weaker Batalix is similar in length to an Earth year. Freyr is much stronger, but the elliptic path Batalix and Helliconia follow around this sun is much longer and creates a great year in which many centuries are spent experiencing an arctic winter before melting into a near tropical summer. This book begins as spring is beginning to awaken the long-dormant planet. The sentient species have thrived or hibernated according to their respective adaptability to the season. In winter, the shaggy and brutal Phagors reign, with the more human "sons of Freyr" having regressed to a subsistence-level society. As the planet heats, the people rediscover arts such as carpentry, fashion, astronomy and agriculture. The first section of the book focuses on Yuli and initial upbringing as part of a nomadic hunting tribe followed by his discovery and exploration of an underground society that is more civilized but less connected to the surface. Eventually he leaves this place to return to the surface and is a founding member of a civilization above. Yuli learns and grows in the cruelty of the underground civilization, discovering his unwillingness to join a priesthood of bullies and nurturing his longing for the openness of the sky.
In the second, longer section, the descendants of Yuli deal with issues related to the coming spring as well as the leadership of the settlement. The women want to embrace learning and distance themselves from the slavery of their winter lifestyle. The men are excited to tame and slaughter the local fauna as well as begin conquering other nearby settlements.
There are also many digressions into the scientific study of the planet being done by a space station manned by Earthlings orbiting Helliconia. This seems to have been the only device the author could think of to introduce information about things the planet's natives would have no knowledge of. It can be rather distracting at times, but is also valuable information. And, it's not like the story was in any way so interesting that a scientific diversion is much of an annoyance.
The whole books seems rather plodding and drawn-out, with day-to-day minutiae given as much attention as events which would move the story along. There is no major conflict or resolution or story arc. These people lived, they got a bit warmer, and they died. There is a bit of romance and a bit of infighting, which should serve to characterize or humanize the inhabitants some, but it's difficult to care about any of these characters.
Attention is given to the different religions of the humans and the Phagors and how they have developed in relation to the climate, as well as a concept regarding land octaves and air octaves, which I never really understood. Also, the humans are able to visit deceased ancestors by going into a sort of trance in which their soul sinks underground and can communicate with the dead, who are extremely unpleasant and not very forthcoming with useful information. I wasn't sure of the point of this, either.
There are two more books in this series, but I'm not interested in diving into them any time soon.
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LibraryThing member Xleptodactylous
This was written in the style of a Norwich Saga: very little flow and weird sentence structures that day things like "one day this happened" and "after a few days Yuli said this". There was very little dialogue and what there was was just info dumping. Speaking of info dumping, the first couple of
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chapters is basically just one huge info dump. Instead of showing us the author just tells us. We learn nothing of the characters other than what he tells us through info dumping, and even then it's just hugely boring. Too slow; though I quite like the premise of a terribly long Winter. Just executed poorly. A very good example of a sci-fi book from the era left behind that should stay behind. Show Less
LibraryThing member hayesstw
Helliconia is a planet that orbits around two suns, and so has seasons from one sun, and meta-seasons, lasting hundres of years, from the other. This is the first of a trilogy that deals with life and society in such an environment and climate.
LibraryThing member Jasignature
What a brilliant story - a definately good example of taking a reader to 'another world' and what a world it is. Different in its own ways and yet much like our own but in a far more pleasant way. Some days of winter, summer, or spring can seem like 'forever' to a lot of us I'm sure.
I found Aldiss
Aldiss is a Master of Time.
I found Aldiss
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a very, very clever Writer and his Revolving Prison was an absolute masterpeice that will stay with me forever. Genius!Aldiss is a Master of Time.
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LibraryThing member kevinashley
In the 40+ years that I've been reading science fiction, Brian Aldiss has been amongst my favourite authors. This, the first of the Helliconia trilogy, is one of those renowned classics that I've been meaning to read for a very long time. Unfortunately, it proved to be a great disappointment. But
The series is intentionally grand in scope, set on a world with a complex orbit around binary stars which means that it has two types of year and seasons - one which lasts a little longer than a terrestrial year, and one which lasts many thousands of years and has far more dramatic seasonal extremes. The first volume encompasses four or five generations of the human inhabitants of this world (there are other races of varying levels of advancement and longevity.) Aldiss has clearly given a great deal of thought to the setting and done a fair amount of research to ensure that the physics and biology are consistent (the introduction to this edition makes much of this clear.) But the end result demonstrates that scientific plausibility alone is no guarantee of a good story.
One aspect I struggled with was the abundance of almost unpronounceable names, which seemed to occur in unnecessary profusion. This may be to some people's tastes - it's a common characteristic of sword-and-sorcery novels and they seem to sell well enough. If you enjoy reading about characters such as Hrr-Brahl Yprt and Zzhrrk who visit places such as Rukk-Ggrl and Hhryggt then this book may be for you. After a while, I just find it tiresome.
But the real problem for me was that I wasn't engaged with the story. Although many of the characters suffer tragedy and joy, it's difficult to care for any of them and difficult to see a point to the story's telling. As a study - the creation of an imaginary world and the depiction of what life might exist there - the book works, in a slightly dull fashion. But it doesn't work on any other level, as a moral tale, as a plot-driven tale or as an atmospheric piece. (The atmosphere, though, is unremittingly bleak.)
It also felt as if there was just too much book; it would have benefited from some vigorous editing. Whether the rest of the trilogy redeems any of these shortcomings I have yet to find out. At the moment, I'm not to keen to begin that journey, which is not at all what I expected when I acquired this book.
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it's clear that opinions differ on this and the other novels in the trilogy (my own copy is an omnibus volume in a 'science fiction classics' series) so I'll describe the book and my impressions of it for you to make your own mind up.The series is intentionally grand in scope, set on a world with a complex orbit around binary stars which means that it has two types of year and seasons - one which lasts a little longer than a terrestrial year, and one which lasts many thousands of years and has far more dramatic seasonal extremes. The first volume encompasses four or five generations of the human inhabitants of this world (there are other races of varying levels of advancement and longevity.) Aldiss has clearly given a great deal of thought to the setting and done a fair amount of research to ensure that the physics and biology are consistent (the introduction to this edition makes much of this clear.) But the end result demonstrates that scientific plausibility alone is no guarantee of a good story.
One aspect I struggled with was the abundance of almost unpronounceable names, which seemed to occur in unnecessary profusion. This may be to some people's tastes - it's a common characteristic of sword-and-sorcery novels and they seem to sell well enough. If you enjoy reading about characters such as Hrr-Brahl Yprt and Zzhrrk who visit places such as Rukk-Ggrl and Hhryggt then this book may be for you. After a while, I just find it tiresome.
But the real problem for me was that I wasn't engaged with the story. Although many of the characters suffer tragedy and joy, it's difficult to care for any of them and difficult to see a point to the story's telling. As a study - the creation of an imaginary world and the depiction of what life might exist there - the book works, in a slightly dull fashion. But it doesn't work on any other level, as a moral tale, as a plot-driven tale or as an atmospheric piece. (The atmosphere, though, is unremittingly bleak.)
It also felt as if there was just too much book; it would have benefited from some vigorous editing. Whether the rest of the trilogy redeems any of these shortcomings I have yet to find out. At the moment, I'm not to keen to begin that journey, which is not at all what I expected when I acquired this book.
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LibraryThing member brakketh
Brilliantly imagined and comprehensive world that draws you in and keeps you there.
LibraryThing member vladmihaisima
A story that slowly unveils how life works on a planet around a binary star. There are still humanoid creatures, plants and animals but everything is affected by the very long cycles of weather. Different parts of the books track different characters, each showcasing some aspect of life, usually
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the characters being loosely related across a long time period. Captivating to see all the details and problems the humans have and also gives a feeling of how life could have been in some medieval time and place, with lack of knowledge, conflicts and resource management. The characters have both archetypal qualities but some also do have strong personalities and curious journeys. Show Less
Awards
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 1982)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Winner — 1983)
British Science Fiction Association Award (Shortlist — Novel — 1982)
Kurd Laßwitz Preis (Winner — 1984)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
429 p.; 8.1 inches
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