Helliconia Winter (Paperback)

by Brian Aldiss (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The final installment of the British sf grandmaster's sweeping, enormously impressive trilogy about Helliconia, a planet with two suns - where the notably severe seasons last for centuries. Now, as the long, frigid winter rapidly approaches, Helliconian lifeforms are undergoing an abrupt transition from heat to cold adaptation; the phagors, shaggy, minotaur-like, sapient rivals of humanity, are emerging from their summer retreat to challenge human supremacy. Ironically, the dangerous phagors are essential to human survival: they host ticks which carry the Fat Death, a virus that transforms the hot-weather humans into barrel-shaped, cold-resistant types. But the harsh, unseen Oligarch of Sibornal, pursuing personal power instead of species survival, has decreed that all phagors must be killed and the Fat Death kept as bay by any means. And meanwhile, in didactic and rather distracting interludes, we learn that the inhabitants of the orbiting satellite Avernus (which televises the proceedings back to vastly distant Earth) have degenerated into a grotesque barbarism - as Earth itself, devastated by nuclear war, gives rise to new orders of being: the enigmatic, polyhedral geonauts; and a new, highly empathic, non-violent strain of humanity. Aldiss has taken particular pains to make this wrap-up entry more accessible - adding careful explanations, cutting down on subplots and jargon. So, despite the pedagogic baggage (grim philosophizing) and uneven drama, this is another brilliantly inventive, splendidly thought-out effort: the superior finale to an awesome and fascinating spectacle. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millennia of Earth time: cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter.

The centuries-long winter of the Great Year on Helliconia is upon us, and the Oligarch is taking harsh measures to ensure the survival of the people of the bleak Northern continent of Sibornal. Behind the battle with which the novel opens lies an act of unparalleled treachery. But the plague is coming on the wings of winter and the Oligarch's will is set against it-and against the phagors, humanity's ancient enemies, who carry the plague with them.

This is the concluding volume of the Helliconia Trilogy-a monumental saga that goes beyond anything yet created by this master among today's imaginative writers. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ace (May 15, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0441326293
• ISBN-13: 978-0441326297
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,166,657 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fitting ending, March 5, 1999

By	Michael Battaglia - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Helliconia Winter (Helliconia, 3) (Hardcover)

Just as the series began with everything waking up with spring, so it ends with the world once again falling asleep for winter. Definitely ranking as one of the best series of all time, Aldiss finishes weaving his masterful plot, somehow making a book that is in the vein of the others and yet completely different. The matter of Earth is finally clarified and he ties in the destiny of us with Helliconia and shows that the two planets aren't all that different after all. Brilliant stuff and stuff that deserves wide reading, but as I keep saying, some publisher has let this series go out of print. Criminal, I tell you. Someone get this series into the right hands where it belongs! A classic.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre End to an Excellent Series, July 16, 2007

By	Patrick F. Gano "Pertinax" (Millersville, Pa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Helliconia Winter (The Helliconia Trilogy, Book 3) (Paperback)

When I first purchased Helliconia Spring (The First Book in Brian Aldiss' Trilogy) I'll admit that it took me about a month to get past the first chapter. Generally I was disappointed because this book was not science fiction as I had previously viewed the genre. In my mind I expected a plethora of exotic aliens, high technology, and space ships- the basic stock of most science fiction. Aldiss however, had a different goal in mind. Instead of traditional sci-fi imagery Helliconia Spring followed the primitive lives of pre-industrial humans on the planet Helliconia.

My initial disappointment was replaced by the need to read a good book of any variety, so I again picked up Helliconia Spring only to be blown away by Aldiss' description of a primitive alien world that somehow didn't seem quite as foreign as you might expect.

I loved the first two Helliconia books, Spring and Summer for a number of reasons which I won't describe now. However, I must say that Helliconia Winter was somewhat of a disapointment. As a story it wasn't bad, in fact it was entertaining if a bit slow paced. What troubled me was that the book ended with a caution against nuclear weapons, war, and if I'm not mistaken, the human desire to possess, whether that meant a desire for territory, goods, power, or even love. As the whole trilogy is written somewhat from the perspective of humans observing the Helliconians from an orbital space station the caution against greed, war, and "abusive" technology seemed somewhat self-defeating because, as the Terran characters philosophize at one point, it would have been impossible to ever find Helliconia and observe it had their ancestors not been obsessed with power and trying to possess worlds beyond the confines of earth. Aldiss' moral "lesson" cheapened the novel because it seemed more tacked on rather than thought out.

5.0 out of 5 stars A genuine classic, April 22, 2009

By	Gareth Power - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Helliconia Winter (The Helliconia Trilogy, Book 3) (Paperback)

This is a proper literary novel for grown-ups. The prose is beautiful, the characters memorable and nuanced, and the portrait of the cultures of Sibornal convincing and rich.

Really, it's astounding that the Helliconia trilogy is not held in higher regard. It is one of the very best things that's ever come out of science fiction.

The best book in the series is probably Summer, but this is a close second. My main gripe is that I wish it had been longer.

Abro hakmo astab to all detractors!