Review

“Helliconia Summer” by Brian Aldiss is the second book in the series about the planet of Helliconia. As the title describes, yet another season has begun on Helliconia and this time it is the blistering summer of the Great Year. Humanity has progressed to a time of growth and expansion, which of course brings conflict between nations and religion.

Somehow, the book itelf felt strangely relevant for this time of year, with the blistering temperatures of this year on Earth, reading about a distant planet, which experiences a great increase in temperature in a short period of time is a thought-provoking experience. Also strangely relevant, is the battle between truth and belief that exists throughout the book. I can’t quite seem to find what the aim of the book is, somehow it feels as though Mr. Aldiss has created a fictional lab consisting of an entire solar system, placed humanity on it and is quietly watching things unfold as a distant observer. Perhaps, this is what makes the book seem directionless, because there kind of is no direction or aim rather than pure experimentation.

The comparison to “Star Maker” by Olaf Stapledon becomes more accurate in this second book, as it becomes clear that the book is not really about what happens on Helliconia as much as what happens to Helliconia and by extension to its inhabitants. The comparison to Ursula K. Le Guin still feels relevant in terms of style. The world-building of “Dune” by Frank Herbert is also still comparable. What however can be said is that, while this book is somehow a mixture of the ones mentioned here, in my opition, they individually solved the task they set out to in a more complete manner.

Score: 7/10

I find that there is little point to change the final paragraph or even score much from the previous post, as the findings unfortunately still stand, albeit in a slightly shortened version.

Brian Aldiss is a very solid writer and he has in this case set out on a mission. What he does well is to make a simple change to a planet and see where it takes him. As a reader it is a very interesting to journey. I do miss that the book is a bit more clear-cut in terms of discussions of different view points.

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