Helliconia Spring

Feels alot like [b:To Your Scattered Bodies Go 189147 To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Riverworld, #1) Philip José Farmer https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327657439l/189147.SY75.jpg 3171254] and [b:The Long Earth 13147230 The Long Earth (The Long Earth, #1) Terry Pratchett https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1335532694l/13147230.SY75.jpg 18164154]; interesting concepts but way too slow! Spends alot of time with 1 person, no back ground or intro to the terms, as well as describing the surroundings. No action at all.

World-building is a term that gets tossed around a lot. I think Patrick Rothufuss, N.K. Jemisin, and lots of others are magnificent world-builders. That said, I know of relatively few authors who are both excellent world-builders and planet-builders, which is wha makes Helliconia Spring (and I assume the following two books) such an impressive achievement. The amount of research Aldiss put into the science of his world must have been intense. And yet, the book does not end up as dry science fiction, but a vivid, fantastical tone grounded in hard science. Not an easy marriage.


I was also impressed by how un-dated the book feels. The characters are all interesting and could have been written about at any point. The idea of women founding a scientific academy and working through the scientific method while being repressed by a pre-enlightenment society is an interesting twist on what usually happens to women in traditional SFF. Vry stands out as unique in her independence and thought process, even among her cohorts.

It's an acclaimed series that I'm glad I finally had motivation to read, and I'd highly recommend it to people who like sweeping but still sciency sagas.

UGH. I did not enjoy this book very much at all.

It's one of those sprawling epics that traces the development of civilization from basic hunter-gatherer tribes up to rudimentary trader society. It's very boring.

My original complaint was that the author doesn't describe anything, but that's not true. He does describe a lot of things, but not many things that I am interested in or care about. So, it reads as very flat and dull. The characters are interesting, but the dialogue is stilted and lame. Their inner lives are rather simplistic.

It's clearly setting up for some bigger, galaxy-spanning story, but because this book was so boring, I am not interested in finding out what happens in the next two books.