The Helliconia Trilogy
by Brian W. Aldiss

Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted January 12, 2025
Edits and Addendum on January 23 & February 3

Book 1: Helliconia Spring / 2. Helliconia Summer / Helliconia Winter

A very ambitious series, worldbuilding on a massive scale, from Grand Master Brian Aldiss (his books in the UK do not include the initial). I first read them in the early to mid-80s shortly after publication as they were available from SFBC. This time around it seemed like a completely new book, with just a few scenes sparking memories, although I was thinking one of those was in the second book. Helliconia is a planet about 1000 light years from Earth. It is in a binary star system, revolving around the lesser star Batalix, which in turn revolves around its much bigger partner, Freyr. Helliconia is slightly larger and denser than Earth, with an equivalent higher gravity, and a 25 hour rotation. Its small year (around Batalix) is 480 of its days long, equivalent to about 518 Earth days. The Great Year around Freyr is more than 2500 Earth years. Since Batalix's orbit is highly elliptical, the time it spends far from Freyr is longer, thus Helliconia experiences very long, very severe winters.

The individual titles are out of print, in the US at least, with no listings at Bookshop. Available for Kindle from Amazon. That link is for the complete trilogy in one file, at a very reasonable price at this time ($4), half the price of the first novel alone ($8). A purchase through that link may earn us a commission. Kobo matches that price for the trilogy, but B&N's Nook price is $30, or $10 for each. If you want them in print it would need to be used, so check eBay, bookfinder.com, or your favorite used bookstore. Amazon in the UK has the trilogy in one trade paperback (1328 pages) from SF Masterworks. We would not earn a commission through that link. When I bought the Kindle bundle I donated my book club hardcovers for a library sale. I cannot recall if they included the appendices that the e-book has, but I would hope so. At least for the first book there is very valuable information in those sections, things just hinted at in the novel, due to the characters being unaware of many aspects of their world.

There are 'humans' on Helliconia, and also humans in orbit around it, in the Earth Observation Station Avernus. Inhabitants of that station came to the system only as DNA samples, gestating in artificial wombs after arrival from Earth. We don't get much information about them in the novel, just a few short sections between action down on Helliconia, but there is more in the appendices. For instance, there were 512 at the start of the mission, but the population has increased to over 6000. All are members of different family groups, each of which concentrates on specific studies. Due to threats of viruses and other pathogens, those on Avernus do not go down to the planet, although it is implied that has happened on occasion, but they could not return to the station. They do not refer to the stars by name, but simply as Star A (Freyr), and Star B. In spite of the first book's title, it is not Spring until the very end, most of the book taking place over a hundred years or so at the tail end of yet another long Winter. There are several characters, or in some cases the memory of them, who comprise the human tale on Helliconia, beginning with Yuli. He is about seven years old when he is separated from his father on a hunt. Remember, the years are longer here, plus the people mature faster. Yuli's age was the equivalent of ten Earth years, and for him it is just before puberty. In addition to the humans, there are animals we are familiar with (pigs, geese, eagles, bats), or at least familiar names are used, which might indicate the story is being written by someone on Avernus. There are also other sentient beings. Yuli's father was captured by phagors, a bipedal, twin-horned, cattle-like species. The first appendix starts with an illustration of a phagor, which looks similar to a minotaur. Yuli knows his father will be either enslaved or eaten. Humans in turn occasionally enslaved phagors, but they never ate them.

The blood of phagors is yellowish-gold, its nature acting somewhat like an anti-freeze for them. They were the dominant species for a very long time, and still are during the winters. One appendix note says Star A originally had a different companion, Star C, which was expelled from the system after Star B was captured. That occurred approximately 8 million years prior to the action in Spring. One thing that is hard to believe is the phagors retained knowledge of that event, referring to it as the Catastrophe. Until the orbit of Batalix settled into its later pattern, Helliconia was bathed in massive doses of radiation from Freyr, causing rapid evolution of many species, including the 'humans,' who derived from an ape-like species. That is why phagors refer to humans as the Sons of Freyr. Over those millions of years human civilizations had risen, very quickly during Spring and Summer, which is comparatively short but brutally hot, but the societies collapsed even before Winter returned. Little knowledge is retained between those cycles. Winters last so long they are considered the norm, with people complaining of rapidly growing grasses impeding their hunts as Spring approaches. But it also brings more game, more crops, including grains they had no memory of. Trade increases between settlements, new inventions are created, new ways of doing things to improve productivity.

As I said above, there are several main characters through most of the story, Yuli's taking up about a fourth of the first book. The second section introduced Shay Tal, who was important up to a point, but others superceded her, and her fate is not even known at the end of the book, although a good guess would be she was captured or killed by phagors. Most of human society is reminiscent of those from ancient Earth, tribal hunter-gatherers, and definitely patriarchal. Women were supposed to work and breed, nothing more, but Shay Tal wanted to learn. She created an academy to teach other women, which was opposed by the male leaders. Laintal Ay was the grandson of Little Yuli, who was the grandson of the first Yuli. After his parents died, Shay Tal became his surrogate mother, and he supported her efforts to learn, but also had to abide by rules set for men. He was a good hunter, and one of his accomplishments was taming wild hockneys (sort of a cross between deer and horse), learning how to ride them the way phagors rode their steeds, the kaidaw. That helped for hunting, as well as raiding other villages, and fighting phagors. Aoz Roon was their leader for a time, after he had murdered his predecessors, two brothers, uncles of Laintal Ay. Aoz Roon's daughter Orye was attracted to Laintal Ay, and vice versa, although neither acted on it for a long time. Orye also supported Shay Tal, but tried to keep that secret (unsuccessfully) from her father. All of these are important to the human side of the story, but more important is the nature of Helliconia and its 'sentinels,' the two suns. Shay Tal was more concerned about esoteric spiritual matters, but one of her students was a true scientist.

Vry Den found a telescope among other treasures from the past, but it might have been used for a different purpose than what she chose, to be observant of the suns, calculating when Batalix, which she knew was nearer to Helliconia, would eclipse Freyr. She knew Freyr was getting closer, that the eclipses would bring changes, even if she was not aware of the full details. The illiterate rabble feared them as omens from their gods. Vry was also the one who figured out one of those gods, Wutra, was actually a phagor god, that the phagors had once ruled the area, and likely would again. There are three continents on Helliconia: Campannlat, Hespagorat, and Sibornal. All of the action in Spring takes place on Campannlat, primarily in the village of Embruddock, home to those I have identified. Some people call it Oldorando, which is what the first Yuli called where he had settled near Lake Dorzin, several miles to the north. There are only myths about the other continents, but stories of Sibornal prompt Shay Tal to leave Embruddock in search of the knowledge she hoped was available in that other land. Laintal Ay thinks she was killed or captured, but we don't know for sure, and at this time I don't remember how much time passes to the start of the second book. The situation looks dire for Embruddock, with a large phagor group on its way to reclaim it, and the bone fever killing many of the humans. I will follow up with thoughts on Helliconia Summer soon.

I don't think anything I've written is a spoiler, and there is so much I left out. Highly recommended, and I hope my fondness for the full series is justified on re-reading. Several award organizations held them in high regard too. Both Spring and Winter won the British Science Fiction Association award for Best Novel, and both were Nebula and Locus finalists. Spring also won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, and the Kurd Laßwitz Preis for its German translation. Summer was a finalist for BSFA and Locus..

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Posted January 23, 2025
Concerning the first book, I mentioned that some characters were only known from history, although I'm not sure if King Denniss was from a time during the previous long winter, or maybe the previous summer. The former more likely, since most knowledge was lost between cycles of the Great Years. There is a longer gap between the two books than I recalled, almost 400 years since the end of Spring. Most of the action is again on the continent of Campannlat, but one character does travel to Sibornal, then back. The Kingdom of Borlien is south of Oldorando, which in turn is south of Pannoval, where the first Yuli spent some time in their underground fortress before moving south. The king of Borlien is JandolAnganol, his queen MyrdemIngalla. Even though she is more popular, referred to as the Queen of Queens, he is more ruthlessly ambitious. He needs an alliance with Oldorando, so he seeks a divorce in order to marry the daughter of the Oldorandan king. At the end of Spring, a phagor army attacked, ransacked, and burned Oldorando, but it had been rebuilt, and is now much bigger than ever. Phagors are now mostly slaves of 'humans,' except JandolAnganol employs many of them in his army, which makes him unpopular in Oldorando. So why did they agree to join with Borlien through marriage? Based on what happens toward the end, it was likely the intention of Oldorando to rule over both kingdoms, with JandolAnganol eliminated.

The prevailing 'human' religion worships Ahkanaba, which like Wutra may actually be from phagor mythology. Other than the frequent mention of how hot it is, there is more emphasis on the character drama rather than the unique astronomical situations, except for how that might tie into the religious history. My memory of the story was again almost non-existent, or skewed toward the Avernus and one of its inhabitants, whereas they were a miniscule part of the plot. The Earth Observation Station had been orbiting Helliconia for more than 3000 years, and through the subsequent generations many were unhappy with the restrictions of not being able to go down to the planet, even though they were well aware that would be a death sentence. A lottery was set up, although it wasn't clear how often it was held, how many had been allowed planetside, but of course they could not return to Avernus. Billy Xiao Pin is the latest winner (loser?), but his time on Helliconia did not match my memory. He comes to the attention of King JandolAnganol, but his story of being from another world is not believed. By the king at least. At least two 'humans' believe him, along with some phagors. The book begins in media res, featuring the death of a person I thought to be Billy, but it was someone else who had come into possession of an artifact of his, a bracelet of sorts, which had three digital clocks, marking the time in reference to Helliconia's years, as well as that of Avernus, and Earth. After that scenario it jumps back to events leading up to it. Most readers might anticipate Billy's story to be more impactful on the inhabitants of Helliconia, but his death is anti-climactic.

It is hard to say what the author's intent was, who we should relate to, the Earth humans aboard Avernus, the 'humans' on Helliconia, or the phagors. The latter were the original dominant species until Batalix was captured by Freyr. For me, the most sympathetic character is MyrdemIngalla, yet she gets short shrift in the plot, and like Shay Tal in the first book, her fate is unknown at the end. Summer is much longer than Spring while covering a shorter period of time. Winter is the shortest of the trilogy, but I don't know how many years it may cover, or how much of a time jump there will be at its beginning. While there were very few characters I cared about, what they did was interesting, similar to many stories of warring kingdoms, devious plots against enemies, even some against supposed allies, everyone operating according to their own agenda. I'll go into the third book with no memory of it either, but I am anxious to read it. Stay tuned..

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Posted February 3, 2025
Again, I remembered next to nothing about this book, but it had been almost 40 years since the first and only time I had read it. I did remember liking it, and am glad to say I still do. It won't appeal to everyone, and I have read quite a few negative comments about it online recently, but I still recommend the complete trilogy. Just remember that the overall world-building, and philosophical ideas presented, outweigh the less-than-sympathetic characters, and occasional clunky prose. Another long time jump, more than 400 years since the end of Summer, new characters in different locations, with only minimal mentions of previous people and events. The main character in Winter is Luterin Shokerandit, a young man whose father is Keeper of the Wheel (more on that later) in Kharnabhar, in the far north of Sibornal, just south of the Polar Circle. We first meet him as he is recovering from a long illness, which may have been more psychological than physical. Toward the end of my comments on the first book I mentioned bone fever, which was generally fatal to the human population. It was spread by contact with phagors, from a tick that was not harmful to them. The tick carried the helico virus, which took another form as winter approached. That was known as the Fat Death. At first I thought that was what had struck Luterin, but it was something else, but he contracted the Fat Death later in the story.

Both bone fever and the Fat Death were somewhat beneficial, to those who survived at least. Bone fever struck at the beginning of Spring, and those who survived were thinner, more adapted to the hot weather to come in Summer. The Fat Death was more easily survived if the victim was cared for properly. They underwent a fever, and a voracious appetite. If kept safe and restrained, and fed regularly, the fever would break in about a week. Left to their own devices they would attack others, even resorting to cannibalism to satiate their enormous appetite. If they survived, and if they had been fed regularly, their body was stockier, with more fat, which would serve them well during the long Winter. Luterin had expected, had even been told he was being groomed for taking over his father's position as Keeper of the Wheel. Instead, his father convinced him to join the Sibornalese army to fight against an incursion from Campannlat, their army moving north through the isthmus of Chalce, which connected the two continents. Luterin proved himself formidable in battle, although his commander used him mainly as fodder, in order to remain safe himself. General Asperamanka, a Priest-Militant in the Church of the Formidable Peace (two of the most obvious oxymorons I've ever encountered), leads the army. Sibornal's supreme leader was the Oligarch, Torkerkanzlag II, although no one knows who that is, has ever seen them, or knows how the line of succession is determined. The invaders were repelled, but when it is learned many in the army have contracted the Fat Death, the Oligarch orders the returning troops be fired upon, to keep the disease from spreading further.

I won't say Luterin had no redeeming qualities, but he was guilty of the prevailing sin of misogyny. He killed the commander of the Borldoranian army (from the combined countries of Borlien and Oldorando), and took his wife as a slave. Luterin learns of the Oligarch's order, and he and a few others escape the bombardment from the guns of the castle in Askitosh. They travel south and meet a trader who is also fleeing his city because of other edicts handed down by the Oligarch. They charter a boat to take them west to the port city of Rivenjk, then sledges north to Kharnabhar, being pursued every step of the way by the Oligarch's security forces. I will skirt around quite a bit of the plot. Luterin discovers the identity of the Oligarch, and kills him, then escapes into the Wheel. Constructed in an underground cave, no telling how many Great Years ago, the Wheel of Kharnabhar was a combination of a celestial clock, and a center for religious contemplation. Priests would enter a cell of the giant stone wheel, then using chains and pulleys, move it in a circle. You could enter the wheel, but not exit it until it had made its full revolution, which took ten years. It was supposed to represent the travel of Helliconia around Batalix, and Batalix around Freyr, so I'm not sure how ten years was significant. During Spring and Summer, and the memory of the last harsh winter dwindled in the minds of the priests, many walked away from their duties at the Wheel, and in order for it to continue turning, prisoners were employed. After ten years when Luterin exited the Wheel, he found his killing of the Oligarch to be considered a good thing, and yet the new Oligarch, and the Master of Kharnabhar, feared what else Luterin might do to upset the status quo. They might not have planned to kill him, more than likely put him back in the Wheel, but he escapes to an old abandoned chapel, one that had been built by, or at least dedicated to JandolAnganol, the long ago king of Borlien.

Things aboard the Earth Observation Station Avernus turn out to be even bleaker than on Helliconia. It had thrived for thousands of years, transmitting data and videos back to Earth, which took 1000 years to arrive. There were originally eight family groups that concentrated on various scientific and sociological disciplines concerning Helliconia. At the time of Billy Xiao Pin's trip down to the planet, there were only six families. Toward the end of the saga, only two. Isolation, the disconnect from Earth, and the fear of attempting a sojourn on Helliconia, had taken its psychological toll. As depicted in a few other science fiction tales about exploratory missions, particularly generation starships, society breaks down, knowledge is lost, infighting begins. Earth had gone through several major transformations too. Wars and destruction, dark times, then a revival. I won't mention something on Earth that may have affected conditions on Helliconia, both not to spoil, and because it is an issue of which I am very skeptical. This is not easy, light reading, but still worth it if you like sprawling epics, political infighting, wars and rumors of war, sacrifice, revenge, and in a very few cases, contrition. It has made me anxious to re-read earlier Aldiss books, but I'm not sure when that will happen. If my memories of those books turn out to be similar to how I felt about Helliconia originally, and now, I can say Brian W. Aldiss deserves the Grand Master title.

 

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