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janaroos's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this series.
Aldiss achieved an incredible feat of world-building. Helliconia is detailed and intricate and rich, the ecosystem finely tuned to the specific quirks of the binary star system he imagined. The necrogenic animals, the cycles across the Great and Small Years, the subhuman races and their quirks all blew my mind. The Bone Fever and Fat Death and their use for adapting Helliconia's humans to the changing seasons were just brilliant. The subplot dealing with background developments on Earth was just as well done.
Even though each book dealt with an entirely different set of characters, it was never difficult to empathise and become involved in their struggles. The characters were realistic and human, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The interactions between man and woman across the books (Shay Tal and Aoz Roon, MyrdemInggala and JandolAnganol, Luterin and Toress Lahl) mimicked the themes and progression of each phase of Helliconia so well that I just stand amazed.
This is a world that has not left me since I read Helliconia Spring. It is an immense tapestry of story and world, threads from centuries ago resurfacing for some small relevance in a new setting created by the position of a planet relative to two suns. It is simply genius.
Aldiss achieved an incredible feat of world-building. Helliconia is detailed and intricate and rich, the ecosystem finely tuned to the specific quirks of the binary star system he imagined. The necrogenic animals, the cycles across the Great and Small Years, the subhuman races and their quirks all blew my mind. The Bone Fever and Fat Death and their use for adapting Helliconia's humans to the changing seasons were just brilliant. The subplot dealing with background developments on Earth was just as well done.
Even though each book dealt with an entirely different set of characters, it was never difficult to empathise and become involved in their struggles. The characters were realistic and human, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The interactions between man and woman across the books (Shay Tal and Aoz Roon, MyrdemInggala and JandolAnganol, Luterin and Toress Lahl) mimicked the themes and progression of each phase of Helliconia so well that I just stand amazed.
This is a world that has not left me since I read Helliconia Spring. It is an immense tapestry of story and world, threads from centuries ago resurfacing for some small relevance in a new setting created by the position of a planet relative to two suns. It is simply genius.
ethanpoole's review against another edition
2.0
The premise behind the Helliconia trilogy is interesting and original, but there is very little plot to any of the three books. Aldiss includes detailed notes about the celestial mechanics and the biology of Helliconia, but I wish he would have devoted some of that energy to adding some concrete plot. I found this last book in the trilogy to be the hardest to finish, though it was a great sleep aid.
kdaedwards's review against another edition
2.0
This book took me a long time to read, in part because of lots happening in my life, part because it's been so long since I read the first two books, and part because the story didn't draw me in for more than half the book. The end of the trilogy was more about commentary on our human society than science fiction and made me enjoy it less than the other books.
gullevek's review against another edition
5.0
A crowning end to this fantastic story on the remote planet. Wonderful intertwined with the backstory of earth itself.
Absolutely fantastic trilogy.
Highly recommended.
Absolutely fantastic trilogy.
Highly recommended.
imyerhero's review against another edition
3.0
Out of all the books in this trilogy (I say that like there are more than 3. . . ) this one is my favorite. Granted – all of them were tedious at times to wade through, the names were nearly impossible to pronounce, and the whole Avernus space station thing got a little hairy there at the end. But still, I’m glad I forced myself to read this series in its entirety. I was especially pleased that – while this book followed its forerunners by telling many stories at once – we didn’t skip around through out hundreds of years. No, this book merely covers a decade of Helliconia time. The Earth went through about 8,000 years of history, most of it depressing, through this book. And it got kind of new age-ish at the end of Earth’s tale, which I absolutely detest in sci fi books. But Helliconia itself finally found a tiny little niche in my heart. Even though their situation ended dire-ly (is that a word?) and most of the characters in the final book were very very annoying. I still empathized with them. And if you’ve read/reading/will read this series – you’ll know just how important that is.
jonmhansen's review
4.0
"No sane man would wipe out one of his own armies."
Fashnalgid started to gesticulate.
"You are younger than I. You have less experience. Sane men do the most damage. Do you believe that you live in a world where men behave with reason? What is rationality? Isn't it merely an expectation that others will behave as we do? You can't have been long in the army if you believe the mentalities of all men are alike."
Fashnalgid started to gesticulate.
"You are younger than I. You have less experience. Sane men do the most damage. Do you believe that you live in a world where men behave with reason? What is rationality? Isn't it merely an expectation that others will behave as we do? You can't have been long in the army if you believe the mentalities of all men are alike."
medea_jade's review against another edition
5.0
This was hands down my favourite book in this incredible series. Aldiss created a world so vast and so unfamiliar that reading it is like entering a whole other dimension. I cannot recommend this series enough. If you like science fiction, you must read this series.
souloftherose's review against another edition
2.0
So relieved to have finally finished this trilogy....
metaphorosis's review
3.0
3 stars
Metaphorosis Reviews
In Helliconia Winter, Brian Aldiss finally settles into the human-scale story he approached in Summer. The result is, if not exactly intimate, still substantially more engaging than the previous volumes. Winter is coming, and with it the Fat Death, the plague that kills some and transforms others to prepare them for centuries of cold ahead.
Metaphorosis Reviews
In Helliconia Winter, Brian Aldiss finally settles into the human-scale story he approached in Summer. The result is, if not exactly intimate, still substantially more engaging than the previous volumes. Winter is coming, and with it the Fat Death, the plague that kills some and transforms others to prepare them for centuries of cold ahead.
It's hard to say that any of Helliconia's characters is particularly likeable, but they are, at least, interesting. There's more action and less philosophy here. Enough of the secrets of the world are revealed for the content to be satisfying, though some of the mechanisms lean toward the arbitrary.
To be frank, my reaction on finishing the series was mainly of relief. It's seldom that I find books this slow. Mainly, I think the issue is that Aldiss, lost in the vast scope of his plan, forgot to approach it through characters we could identify with. That gradually improved as the trilogy progressed, but even in this last volume, I didn't care enough about the lead protagonist, Luterin Shokerandit, to have strong feelings about what happened to him. While an improvement on its predecessors, Winter is not a strong book.
To be frank, my reaction on finishing the series was mainly of relief. It's seldom that I find books this slow. Mainly, I think the issue is that Aldiss, lost in the vast scope of his plan, forgot to approach it through characters we could identify with. That gradually improved as the trilogy progressed, but even in this last volume, I didn't care enough about the lead protagonist, Luterin Shokerandit, to have strong feelings about what happened to him. While an improvement on its predecessors, Winter is not a strong book.