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Helix #1
Helix
Helix is a fast-paced action adventure novel following the plight of four humans when they crashland on what they think is a desolate, ice-bound planet. Daylight brings the discovery that the planet is one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound about a central sun. They set off to discover a more habitable, Earth-like world and come across strange races of aliens, and life-threatening perils, on their way.
528 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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819 people want to read
About the author
Eric Brown
378 books186 followersEric Brown was a British science fiction author and Guardian critic.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
April 3, 2024
He stood and stared. Something about the arrangement of the distant points of light, the unfamiliarity of the constellations, brought home to him the fact of their isolation.
A pretty straightforward adventure story, with some elements of exploration.
The helix of the title is the big concept here, bigger than Ringworld according to Stephen Baxter (who seems to be a fan). The novel showcases a few different environments, and the aliens that occupy them, as well as the mystery of the helix (who built it and for what reason).
I enjoyed it, in no small part because it reads quickly. There are no real data dumps, so the lack of technical details might be an issue for Hard Science Fiction junkies, especially if you are keen to know more about the Helix and how it works from a scientific point of view.
There are some sense of wonder elements, such as ancient derelict space ships and mysterious tech, which is something that is always welcome.
If you like Science Fiction adventures with a bit of an old school feel, you could do worse than this.
3.5 stars rounded up.
A pretty straightforward adventure story, with some elements of exploration.
The helix of the title is the big concept here, bigger than Ringworld according to Stephen Baxter (who seems to be a fan). The novel showcases a few different environments, and the aliens that occupy them, as well as the mystery of the helix (who built it and for what reason).
I enjoyed it, in no small part because it reads quickly. There are no real data dumps, so the lack of technical details might be an issue for Hard Science Fiction junkies, especially if you are keen to know more about the Helix and how it works from a scientific point of view.
There are some sense of wonder elements, such as ancient derelict space ships and mysterious tech, which is something that is always welcome.
If you like Science Fiction adventures with a bit of an old school feel, you could do worse than this.
3.5 stars rounded up.
June 4, 2012
When I picked this book up, I did so on the promissing appearance of the cover and the blurb on the back. Overall, the story looked, and sounded interesting. Having suffered through this clichéd mess, I realise I should have taken a minute or two to read a few passawges from between the covers as well.
I found this to be a fine example of bottom-of-the-barrel science-fiction. The characters wavered between painfully dull, and painfully stereotypical. And the dialogue was just about unbareable. It was largely forced and unnatural, and more often than not, reading it was like being bludgeoned with words.
There was little (possibly no) subtlety in the story. For most of the book, it felt as though I was either being talked down to, or lectured, depending on whether I was supposed to understand some particular point, or have some suitable emotional response to a revelation, or situation. All I ended up feeling was annoyed and irritated.
I found this to be a fine example of bottom-of-the-barrel science-fiction. The characters wavered between painfully dull, and painfully stereotypical. And the dialogue was just about unbareable. It was largely forced and unnatural, and more often than not, reading it was like being bludgeoned with words.
There was little (possibly no) subtlety in the story. For most of the book, it felt as though I was either being talked down to, or lectured, depending on whether I was supposed to understand some particular point, or have some suitable emotional response to a revelation, or situation. All I ended up feeling was annoyed and irritated.
May 9, 2017
This book is probably for a younger audience because of its simplistic and shallow story.
But first off, this is barely a sci-fi book. This is mostly a book about oppressive religion. Not at all what I expected! Nor what I wanted.
Although some of the ideas in this book could have been great, they are not actually important for the story. That is unfortunate because the story has no real depth, characters are trying too hard to be persons you can feel for and certain major sci-fi-elements suddenly are just there without any motivation.
I think the author was focusing on the entirely wrong things in this book. If the sci-fi parts of this book (namely the helix and its background) had gotten the authors focus, this would have been an entirely different book, and it could have been so great!
For a pre-teen reader, I guess this book might have some thought-provoking ideas, but for an adult reader, it's mostly a waste of time.
But first off, this is barely a sci-fi book. This is mostly a book about oppressive religion. Not at all what I expected! Nor what I wanted.
Although some of the ideas in this book could have been great, they are not actually important for the story. That is unfortunate because the story has no real depth, characters are trying too hard to be persons you can feel for and certain major sci-fi-elements suddenly are just there without any motivation.
I think the author was focusing on the entirely wrong things in this book. If the sci-fi parts of this book (namely the helix and its background) had gotten the authors focus, this would have been an entirely different book, and it could have been so great!
For a pre-teen reader, I guess this book might have some thought-provoking ideas, but for an adult reader, it's mostly a waste of time.
October 17, 2012
Helix starts off with the story I want to read. Colonists going to a new place and establishing a colony. I don't know why I'm drawn to this story - maybe its a lasting impression from my Robinson Crusoe/Swiss Family Robinson days...
And then, like so may before it, it turned left. And it wasn't quite that story. Ultimately, its the story of 4 Humans who crash on a Helix shaped cluster of worlds and must try to find a suitable spot to awaken the sleeping colonists. But instead of Humans vs the Environment, it's Humans vs all of the other races they encounter. And ultimately, they are drawn toward meeting the builders of the Helix on a faraway planet on the top tier. The story is about their interaction with the various aliens, some benign and helpful, some not so benign.
Despite the left turn, I was engaged in the story. Joe Hendry is an accidental protagonist to this story, ashe was a late add to the expedition from earth. His character is likeable and believable. The other four Human characters are a bit less fleshed out, but solid in support roles.
There are a few POV Alien characters who are done well, although the great antagonist in the story is the 'Church' of one of the aliens. This seems less odd when you are reading it than when I include it in a review. (I know others have slighted the book because of it).
The story ends a bit suddenly, with a promising ending, but in the end I didn't get what I was looking for...a story about the colony. Still, I enjoyed the book.
And then, like so may before it, it turned left. And it wasn't quite that story. Ultimately, its the story of 4 Humans who crash on a Helix shaped cluster of worlds and must try to find a suitable spot to awaken the sleeping colonists. But instead of Humans vs the Environment, it's Humans vs all of the other races they encounter. And ultimately, they are drawn toward meeting the builders of the Helix on a faraway planet on the top tier. The story is about their interaction with the various aliens, some benign and helpful, some not so benign.
Despite the left turn, I was engaged in the story. Joe Hendry is an accidental protagonist to this story, ashe was a late add to the expedition from earth. His character is likeable and believable. The other four Human characters are a bit less fleshed out, but solid in support roles.
There are a few POV Alien characters who are done well, although the great antagonist in the story is the 'Church' of one of the aliens. This seems less odd when you are reading it than when I include it in a review. (I know others have slighted the book because of it).
The story ends a bit suddenly, with a promising ending, but in the end I didn't get what I was looking for...a story about the colony. Still, I enjoyed the book.
July 30, 2012
Awful, just completely awful. This book ranges from the laughably implausible (a mega structure of planet-sized DNA strands? A spaceship that crashes into said structure at interstellar speeds and people walk away?) to the badly written (includes one of the most unintentionally hilarious lines ever AND it is a scene where one of the characters is assaulted). The alien species are boring, their cultures paper-thin, their psychologies so obviously human they might as well be Star Trek humanoids with a single facial prostheses. On the plus side (and this is the ONLY plus), the United Colors of Benneton-like cast includes an Alaskan Native character in a completely non-stereotypical (though badly written) role.
November 14, 2022
Helix by Eric Brown was a disappointing book, at least for me. I read it because I have read several of Eric Brown's other novels and enjoyed them greatly. This one never reached its potential as far as I was concerned. It dealt with a group of humans who are forced to flee a dying earth and seek a new home. They crash on an alien construct that is inhabited by various alien species. It deals mostly with the human's interaction with an alien species that is controlled by a repressive religion. It has been compared to "Ringworld" in several blurbs, but nothing could be farther from the truth. There is a second book set in this universe but I will not be reading it.
October 21, 2012
Reads like it was written by a 12 year-old with a thesaurus. Almost unreadable. Didn't get past page 75. Will donate it to the local junior high school. Maybe the 12 year-olds will like it.
February 9, 2022
I think what attracted me to this book was the concept of humans on their own trying to set up a colony on a new world against the odds.
What I enjoyed about the book - I thought the concept of the helix was intriguing and imaginative - providing plenty of scope for a number of over novels. I thought the descriptions of the various worlds visited and the species living on them was nicely done.
What I disliked about the book - the helix and the worlds on it ended up being the main focus - I was hoping for a book about the struggles of a new colony against the odds, however this wasn’t what the book was. The book was the adventures of 4 people exploring new worlds. If it had been a book about founding a colony then the decision to leave all all the colonists in hibernation and head off exploring on day 2 would have been ridiculous …. Far better to have woken up a small proportion of the sleepers first (at least the backup flight crew) and start to get established .. at least to watch over the ship and maintain/repair systems damaged during the crash would have given the colony a far better chance of survival. Especially since they were expecting to be gone for at least 5 years (even without any misfortunes). Who knows what could have happened to the sleeping colonists during that time - it would have been far more likely that they found a suitable world only to return to a ship that had failed and a hold full of dead colonists. This kind of logic throughout the book to explore (and damn the consequences) grated on me quite bit throughout the book coming up again and again in their strange decision making processes.
The concept of an oppressive organization (be it called the “government” or the “firm” or the “church”) as the bad guy is an old trope and while I’m not against it as a plot device (I’ve seen it used well), it did start to grate after a while, especially once it became obvious that there were other worlds outside their own …. But the plot still pounded on about the idea that people of faith will be blind to what they see around them - this got a little wearying. especially when the church had captured, repaired and maintained an alien spaceship for years - that very act showing that they had accepted the concept of other worlds … the plot just seemed a little weak here and since it was such a central theme detracted from my enjoyment of the book.
What I enjoyed about the book - I thought the concept of the helix was intriguing and imaginative - providing plenty of scope for a number of over novels. I thought the descriptions of the various worlds visited and the species living on them was nicely done.
What I disliked about the book - the helix and the worlds on it ended up being the main focus - I was hoping for a book about the struggles of a new colony against the odds, however this wasn’t what the book was. The book was the adventures of 4 people exploring new worlds. If it had been a book about founding a colony then the decision to leave all all the colonists in hibernation and head off exploring on day 2 would have been ridiculous …. Far better to have woken up a small proportion of the sleepers first (at least the backup flight crew) and start to get established .. at least to watch over the ship and maintain/repair systems damaged during the crash would have given the colony a far better chance of survival. Especially since they were expecting to be gone for at least 5 years (even without any misfortunes). Who knows what could have happened to the sleeping colonists during that time - it would have been far more likely that they found a suitable world only to return to a ship that had failed and a hold full of dead colonists. This kind of logic throughout the book to explore (and damn the consequences) grated on me quite bit throughout the book coming up again and again in their strange decision making processes.
The concept of an oppressive organization (be it called the “government” or the “firm” or the “church”) as the bad guy is an old trope and while I’m not against it as a plot device (I’ve seen it used well), it did start to grate after a while, especially once it became obvious that there were other worlds outside their own …. But the plot still pounded on about the idea that people of faith will be blind to what they see around them - this got a little wearying. especially when the church had captured, repaired and maintained an alien spaceship for years - that very act showing that they had accepted the concept of other worlds … the plot just seemed a little weak here and since it was such a central theme detracted from my enjoyment of the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 17, 2013
Helix, Eric Brown (2.5)
At first I thought this book was pretty good – given I found it in the free book section of a cruise ship’s library – and wondered why I had not heard of it before. By the time I completed it, I realized why some Science Fiction is not well known. While the premise was interesting – humans in the future had trashed earth to the point that they were sending a large contingent into deep space to colonize a habitable planet to save the human race and find a very unique structure of planets (oddly all habitable in one form or another) – the implementation was quite faulty. A few of the obvious issues peeled a warning bell loud enough to interrupt the interesting bits. The best part was the parallel story of another species already on the helix and the confluence of them with the humans was interesting. The techniques Mr. Brown used to overcome big issues (communication between aliens and breathability of atmosphere to name two) stretched believability, in my opinion. He also added a couple of story lines that clattered distractingly against the main theme. Why would two main characters, during a very stressful trip outside their ship to a new part of the helix decide it was a good time to have sex? I got the feeling someone told him to spice up the story and this got added. There was also a back-story to one character that was completely out of character and unbelievable. I always like new ideas in Sci-Fi, but the distractions of this book make it hard to recommend.
At first I thought this book was pretty good – given I found it in the free book section of a cruise ship’s library – and wondered why I had not heard of it before. By the time I completed it, I realized why some Science Fiction is not well known. While the premise was interesting – humans in the future had trashed earth to the point that they were sending a large contingent into deep space to colonize a habitable planet to save the human race and find a very unique structure of planets (oddly all habitable in one form or another) – the implementation was quite faulty. A few of the obvious issues peeled a warning bell loud enough to interrupt the interesting bits. The best part was the parallel story of another species already on the helix and the confluence of them with the humans was interesting. The techniques Mr. Brown used to overcome big issues (communication between aliens and breathability of atmosphere to name two) stretched believability, in my opinion. He also added a couple of story lines that clattered distractingly against the main theme. Why would two main characters, during a very stressful trip outside their ship to a new part of the helix decide it was a good time to have sex? I got the feeling someone told him to spice up the story and this got added. There was also a back-story to one character that was completely out of character and unbelievable. I always like new ideas in Sci-Fi, but the distractions of this book make it hard to recommend.
April 26, 2010
This was yet another book that was both full of wonder and frustrating at the same time. Brown writes a fun old-fashioned space fantasy with wildly varied aliens and the adventure of colonizing a new world. The characters were a bit flat, but it was all good fun.
However...
a big however...
yet another sci-fi author who obviously is really bitter about religion and attacks the idea of relgion and faith as if his sole goal is to mock anybody who believes in God as a silly child. And yet again, here is an author who is only allowed to sit around and write such vitriol because of the stable society and tolerant laws that our very religious foundation has created.
Don't get me started. Eric Brown, please try to write with a bit more maturity than a teenager who is mad at God and wants to discredit him.
However...
a big however...
yet another sci-fi author who obviously is really bitter about religion and attacks the idea of relgion and faith as if his sole goal is to mock anybody who believes in God as a silly child. And yet again, here is an author who is only allowed to sit around and write such vitriol because of the stable society and tolerant laws that our very religious foundation has created.
Don't get me started. Eric Brown, please try to write with a bit more maturity than a teenager who is mad at God and wants to discredit him.
August 10, 2009
Kinda like Ringworld, but with less interspecies nookie and more ragging on big organized religion. Not bad. But I still can't figure out the orbital mechanics of the helix.
March 27, 2018
This novel has some really great concepts and I can’t believe that Eric Brown isn’t as well know as I would have thought. Definitely recommend reading this if you’re a an avid reader of science fiction.
March 30, 2021
If you had asked me 65% of the way through, I would have given this book a 4.5. By the time I finished, it was a solid 3.5 if not a 3. I've never been so disappointed in a book.
This review will contain spoilers, but they will be further down and labeled beneath a heading.
At the start, I found the writing compelling. The characters were a bit stereotypical, sometimes to the point of annoyance, but the story was great. I was bummed at the idea of Hendry being left behind, though I suspected his intro meant otherwise, because I kinda liked the guy, though my dislike grew as he fulfilled what was a classic 1960s/70s sf trope - more on that in the spoilers, but it's pretty obvious (though I found myself thinking, nah, surely the author will avoid such a cliche. Nope). I've seen criticism that the book wasn't the colony story suggested by the cover description, but I wasn't super disappointed, honestly.
But then. The author introduces this cool new world concept - Helix - that could literally have been a series unto itself. And then he rushes it. He develops some pretty cool aliens and then just tosses them to the background, appendages to the humans.
And the deus ex machina is amazing in its insanity. We get this improbable linguistic feat that is literally explained as...I mean, it's what 'deus ex machina' was designed for. It's all but an actual god swinging in on a rope to save the day.
We build up a villain, and then defeat him in an admittedly realistic yet remarkably unsatisfying way. Sure, car crashes are more likely ways to die than OK Corral shootouts but c'mon.
And the ending. Wow. Why don't we just put a 'humanity is the center of the universe' crown on it. The author didn't even give humanity a chance to redeem itself from destroying Earth before putting it at the pinnacle of the universe. Humanity is so amazing that other aliens literally beg us to take over and rule them. And then we repeat our mistakes from the bat. Excuse me while I barf.
Finally, there was the language. One of the women is gay, which is great; sf is all about promising open futures. And yet not one but two characters, in separate conversations (so you can't even argue one picked it up from the other) refer to her as a 'dyke'. The Eskimo - aren't we not supposed to use that term anymore? - woman strongly resembles the half-Japanese woman. Um, that seems a little racist. Also, at one point the author had an alien describe how the humans spoke as 'retarded language' which felt a bit off. Now I assume they meant slow, halting, but still. After that, I noticed the word used a few other times in ways that felt off. I'm not sure if it was used before that point. There were a few other language choices that I felt were reaching, as though the author pulled out his trusty thesaurus.
Now on to the spoilers.
I liked so much of the book that the ending just disappointed me more than a bad book would have. Part of me wants to read the sequel and the rest of me is like, no way will I set myself up like that again. So yeah, read only if you want to confirm that humanity is still the center of the universe.
This review will contain spoilers, but they will be further down and labeled beneath a heading.
At the start, I found the writing compelling. The characters were a bit stereotypical, sometimes to the point of annoyance, but the story was great. I was bummed at the idea of Hendry being left behind, though I suspected his intro meant otherwise, because I kinda liked the guy, though my dislike grew as he fulfilled what was a classic 1960s/70s sf trope - more on that in the spoilers, but it's pretty obvious (though I found myself thinking, nah, surely the author will avoid such a cliche. Nope). I've seen criticism that the book wasn't the colony story suggested by the cover description, but I wasn't super disappointed, honestly.
But then. The author introduces this cool new world concept - Helix - that could literally have been a series unto itself. And then he rushes it. He develops some pretty cool aliens and then just tosses them to the background, appendages to the humans.
And the deus ex machina is amazing in its insanity. We get this improbable linguistic feat that is literally explained as...I mean, it's what 'deus ex machina' was designed for. It's all but an actual god swinging in on a rope to save the day.
We build up a villain, and then defeat him in an admittedly realistic yet remarkably unsatisfying way. Sure, car crashes are more likely ways to die than OK Corral shootouts but c'mon.
And the ending. Wow. Why don't we just put a 'humanity is the center of the universe' crown on it. The author didn't even give humanity a chance to redeem itself from destroying Earth before putting it at the pinnacle of the universe. Humanity is so amazing that other aliens literally beg us to take over and rule them. And then we repeat our mistakes from the bat. Excuse me while I barf.
Finally, there was the language. One of the women is gay, which is great; sf is all about promising open futures. And yet not one but two characters, in separate conversations (so you can't even argue one picked it up from the other) refer to her as a 'dyke'. The Eskimo - aren't we not supposed to use that term anymore? - woman strongly resembles the half-Japanese woman. Um, that seems a little racist. Also, at one point the author had an alien describe how the humans spoke as 'retarded language' which felt a bit off. Now I assume they meant slow, halting, but still. After that, I noticed the word used a few other times in ways that felt off. I'm not sure if it was used before that point. There were a few other language choices that I felt were reaching, as though the author pulled out his trusty thesaurus.
Now on to the spoilers.
I liked so much of the book that the ending just disappointed me more than a bad book would have. Part of me wants to read the sequel and the rest of me is like, no way will I set myself up like that again. So yeah, read only if you want to confirm that humanity is still the center of the universe.
October 17, 2017
This is one of them Earth is soon going to succumb to flooding and it's time to send a bunch of highly skilled people off to another world type books. This one does it a little different than other's I have read of late.
It's worth reading. The main characters are likeable, there is a lot that happens to said main characters, including an increase and sadly a decrease. The book does diverse into the fantasy gene, but that can't really be helped because we have no clue what is out there do we? There is also a lot of religion, pious moments, fanatical/devout/enlightened religious characters cropping up. There are also a fair view twists and turns. As I mentioned it differs from other books of this type, to me it works, but then I do like reading fantasy books as well as Sci-fi.
There we're a few um.. moments for me, and the odd raised eyebrow moment. The name of the last race they came across like was oookay... right. I wasn't sure if it was intentional them being called that or part of the language translation type thing. Then there was the differing height descriptions for the same group of aliens of the various races that the humans of the book came across.
Overall, overlooking the minor things that personally bugged me.. and might not bug you, Helix is an enjoyable read. With a nice fuzzy enlightenment moment in the last 100 pages... don't skip to that part though, cause it wont mean a thing unless you have read the first 400 odd pages ;).
It's worth reading. The main characters are likeable, there is a lot that happens to said main characters, including an increase and sadly a decrease. The book does diverse into the fantasy gene, but that can't really be helped because we have no clue what is out there do we? There is also a lot of religion, pious moments, fanatical/devout/enlightened religious characters cropping up. There are also a fair view twists and turns. As I mentioned it differs from other books of this type, to me it works, but then I do like reading fantasy books as well as Sci-fi.
There we're a few um.. moments for me, and the odd raised eyebrow moment. The name of the last race they came across like was oookay... right. I wasn't sure if it was intentional them being called that or part of the language translation type thing. Then there was the differing height descriptions for the same group of aliens of the various races that the humans of the book came across.
Overall, overlooking the minor things that personally bugged me.. and might not bug you, Helix is an enjoyable read. With a nice fuzzy enlightenment moment in the last 100 pages... don't skip to that part though, cause it wont mean a thing unless you have read the first 400 odd pages ;).
June 6, 2015
This is definitely a page-turner and I liked some of the theme, which dealt with some of the problems with organized religion that can crop up, especially when confronted with certain realities dealing with space exploration. Other than that, a lot of the dialogue and progression of events was a bit juvenile for my tastes. Admittedly, though, the book held my interests enough.
If you really enjoy science fiction and can be enthralled enough by the concept of the "great unknown universe" and the like, then this is for you. However, if you're picky about the sophistication of the story and dialogue, then I'd say stay away.
If you really enjoy science fiction and can be enthralled enough by the concept of the "great unknown universe" and the like, then this is for you. However, if you're picky about the sophistication of the story and dialogue, then I'd say stay away.
May 23, 2025
Occasionally clumsy prose, a few issues with the female characters and one of the protagonists definitely needs therapy because he's got something Freudian going on, but one of the most stunning sci-fi concepts I've seen recently
February 22, 2025
I absorbed Helix via audiobook, and I think I may have done the author a disservice by not reading it visually. I found that my mind wandered while I was listening to this book, despite my concerted effort to the contrary. Unfortunately, I think I have a hard time with some of the more fantastical aspects of science fiction and fantasy books when I hear them. I'm not sure why this would be, but I appear to have a harder time suspending disbelief when hearing a story as opposed to reading it.
In addition to this, there was an aspect of this book that really wore on me during my time with it, and that is the reason I lowered the rating of this book slightly, despite and admittedly excellent concept. The concept, without revealing too much, is essentially a series of worlds all on a vast construction in deep space. The author looks at this idea both from a practical standpoint to make it as believable as possible for such a unique setting as well as from a more human aspect, which is shown by the way he clearly makes an effort to make his characters feel real. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the story arc involving planet colonization. I'm a sucker for sci-fi involving a group of intrepid explorers setting foot on a new planet for the first time. For readers who share my love for stories like this, I highly recommend the Coyote series by Allen Steele. This book started out great, and this momentum carries on for about half the novel, all of which was engrossing. Unfortunately, at that point the plot began to wander somewhat, and it felt like settings and characters were flashing by too quickly to have much impact or sense of identity before they were gone. This, I believe, is one of the reasons I started to lose focus on following along with the narrator around this point. The wandering continues right up until the last hour or so of the audiobook, where it tightens up a bit as everything wraps up. Another issue is that it feels as though the resolutions that make up the denouement tie up the plot points too conveniently for believability. Too much was glossed over that felt like it deserved its own fleshing out and thought by the author.
I really like Eric Brown's work, especially the Bengal Station books. I will happily continue to read his work, and I believe sincerely that this book would've gotten a higher score if I had read a physical copy. I think some fans of sci-fi will enjoy this despite its rougher edges.
In addition to this, there was an aspect of this book that really wore on me during my time with it, and that is the reason I lowered the rating of this book slightly, despite and admittedly excellent concept. The concept, without revealing too much, is essentially a series of worlds all on a vast construction in deep space. The author looks at this idea both from a practical standpoint to make it as believable as possible for such a unique setting as well as from a more human aspect, which is shown by the way he clearly makes an effort to make his characters feel real. Another thing I really enjoyed about this book was the story arc involving planet colonization. I'm a sucker for sci-fi involving a group of intrepid explorers setting foot on a new planet for the first time. For readers who share my love for stories like this, I highly recommend the Coyote series by Allen Steele. This book started out great, and this momentum carries on for about half the novel, all of which was engrossing. Unfortunately, at that point the plot began to wander somewhat, and it felt like settings and characters were flashing by too quickly to have much impact or sense of identity before they were gone. This, I believe, is one of the reasons I started to lose focus on following along with the narrator around this point. The wandering continues right up until the last hour or so of the audiobook, where it tightens up a bit as everything wraps up. Another issue is that it feels as though the resolutions that make up the denouement tie up the plot points too conveniently for believability. Too much was glossed over that felt like it deserved its own fleshing out and thought by the author.
I really like Eric Brown's work, especially the Bengal Station books. I will happily continue to read his work, and I believe sincerely that this book would've gotten a higher score if I had read a physical copy. I think some fans of sci-fi will enjoy this despite its rougher edges.
February 26, 2020
WHY HASNT THIS BEEN ADAPTED FOR TV?
An absolute hidden gem of scifi, although the book is massive there is little to no filler everything has a purpose and the different races on the helix are all marvellous and even have different languages between them like that of the people outside agstran speaking a earlier version of the language spoke by the city dwellers (something alot of scifi overlooks is aliens having more than one language even though earth has hundreds) .
The plot twists in the book made me actually go "ohhh" out loud which is rare for me as i usually catch onto what's happening earlier than intended and the characters overall i felt were fleshed out fully on both ends of the spectrum.
The humans, especially hendry, felt realistic and i never felt that the "abilities" we shall call them of the italian medic carrelli felt overused or an easy way to get out of a dilemma, the alien ehrin was a likeable character following a story similar to that of athiests on earth during the height of religious power and the book shows a great depiction how the negative power of religion from an outside perspective and the perspective of people like ehrin stuck in the middle of it.
Finally the diversity in the book was perfect as a lgbt individual the one thing i hate in stories is gay characters having being gay as there only personality trait and Brown does a stellar job of making the sexuality of carrelli just a passing remark which i loved, the other main human characters olembe and Sissy being an African man and a inuit woman never felt whacked on at the end for diversities sake as their places of birth added to the story of themselves and the destruction of earth (olembe states later in the book that racism became more prevalent later on into earths destruction and sissy being from a cold climate helps her detect anomalies in the ice near the beginning of the book).
overall a great read loved every page of it!
An absolute hidden gem of scifi, although the book is massive there is little to no filler everything has a purpose and the different races on the helix are all marvellous and even have different languages between them like that of the people outside agstran speaking a earlier version of the language spoke by the city dwellers (something alot of scifi overlooks is aliens having more than one language even though earth has hundreds) .
The plot twists in the book made me actually go "ohhh" out loud which is rare for me as i usually catch onto what's happening earlier than intended and the characters overall i felt were fleshed out fully on both ends of the spectrum.
The humans, especially hendry, felt realistic and i never felt that the "abilities" we shall call them of the italian medic carrelli felt overused or an easy way to get out of a dilemma, the alien ehrin was a likeable character following a story similar to that of athiests on earth during the height of religious power and the book shows a great depiction how the negative power of religion from an outside perspective and the perspective of people like ehrin stuck in the middle of it.
Finally the diversity in the book was perfect as a lgbt individual the one thing i hate in stories is gay characters having being gay as there only personality trait and Brown does a stellar job of making the sexuality of carrelli just a passing remark which i loved, the other main human characters olembe and Sissy being an African man and a inuit woman never felt whacked on at the end for diversities sake as their places of birth added to the story of themselves and the destruction of earth (olembe states later in the book that racism became more prevalent later on into earths destruction and sissy being from a cold climate helps her detect anomalies in the ice near the beginning of the book).
overall a great read loved every page of it!
April 22, 2022
At the end of the 21st Century, the climate crisis and the resultant wars have made the earth a hellscape. The European Space Agency plans to send a ship on a millennium-long mission. It won't help earth, but it may enable the human race to start over and get it right this time. The ship travels at half the speed of light, and carries four thousand people in suspended animation, An explosion disrupts their trip, and instead of on a planet, they find themselves on a huge artificial metastructure: a vast helix, whose beads are whole worlds.
A fourth of the passengers died in the crash, and all but four remain in suspended animation. Those four find themselves on a cold hostile world, the lowest in the helix, and begin the trip to higher levels, to see if they can find a warmer place where they might survive. Along the way they of course find several alien species, most prominent ones from a theocratic dictatorship, but they continue to try to both find a place to live and to determine what they can about whatever Builders created the helix.
This is a good example of the big dumb object school of SF, the most famous example of which is Larry Niven's Ringworld. The whole thing is well put together and the characters interesting. The aliens are a bit too easy to communicate with (though the end sequence may indicate why that's the case), some of the aliens act a bit too human, and the ending is a bit abrupt. But overall this is a good bit of sense-of-wonder SF.
A fourth of the passengers died in the crash, and all but four remain in suspended animation. Those four find themselves on a cold hostile world, the lowest in the helix, and begin the trip to higher levels, to see if they can find a warmer place where they might survive. Along the way they of course find several alien species, most prominent ones from a theocratic dictatorship, but they continue to try to both find a place to live and to determine what they can about whatever Builders created the helix.
This is a good example of the big dumb object school of SF, the most famous example of which is Larry Niven's Ringworld. The whole thing is well put together and the characters interesting. The aliens are a bit too easy to communicate with (though the end sequence may indicate why that's the case), some of the aliens act a bit too human, and the ending is a bit abrupt. But overall this is a good bit of sense-of-wonder SF.
June 8, 2022
This story reminded me a bit of Larry Niven's Ringworld but I thought that it was much better written with more interesting characters and aliens. Plus the Helix of worlds made much more sense if the engineering could really string a mass of habitable planets together in a necklacelike swirl around the star with enough solar radiation to preserve life on all of them but I digress. The story itself I found compelling as it splits into two tales. One about a desperate plan to ship 4,000 handpicked colonists escaping a dying Earth in a wild gamble to find a habitable solar system and give humanity a second chance. Their ship crash lands on one of the Helix worlds. The second story is about an alien civilization living on one of the Helix's many worlds living under a repressive regime. I enjoyed the writing and the storylines that wind their way to a collision course and hope the author continues with the series as there are hundreds of worlds with species to discover and adventures to undertake.
Naturally in a tale like this the science may be a bit sloppy (but I felt that way with Ringworld as well) but I found the story compelling enough to try some of this author's other works.
Naturally in a tale like this the science may be a bit sloppy (but I felt that way with Ringworld as well) but I found the story compelling enough to try some of this author's other works.
November 17, 2025
3.5 Stars
From page one, Helix reminded my of so many other books, totally in good ways. Helix would fit in with the early 80's works of Greg Bear or Gregory Benford (particularly with Bear's Eon), then it throws a major curve and starts giving off Jack Chalker vibes (Midnight at the Well of Souls), and as much as I loved Chalker back in the day, Eric Brown is a much better writer. And finally, throw in a little Verner Vinge - what a mix.
Helix starts when the Earth is reaching it's final years, and a rescue plan for the human race is out in place with a few thousand sleepers sent into deep space to hopefully find a new home. Things go wrong, it is the human race after all, and at the end of the journey it is up to 5 people to explore a helix shaped universe to find a place for the sleepers to awaken. Of course, the various natives might object.
This was my first Eric Brown, what a great find, with lots of backlist to discover.
From page one, Helix reminded my of so many other books, totally in good ways. Helix would fit in with the early 80's works of Greg Bear or Gregory Benford (particularly with Bear's Eon), then it throws a major curve and starts giving off Jack Chalker vibes (Midnight at the Well of Souls), and as much as I loved Chalker back in the day, Eric Brown is a much better writer. And finally, throw in a little Verner Vinge - what a mix.
Helix starts when the Earth is reaching it's final years, and a rescue plan for the human race is out in place with a few thousand sleepers sent into deep space to hopefully find a new home. Things go wrong, it is the human race after all, and at the end of the journey it is up to 5 people to explore a helix shaped universe to find a place for the sleepers to awaken. Of course, the various natives might object.
This was my first Eric Brown, what a great find, with lots of backlist to discover.
July 21, 2018
This book started out great. Multiple interesting stories and characters. However, not long after the eponymous Helix was reached, a decline started. Needless flirting and love interest... a character who was almost a living deus ex machina in abilities... needlessly hidden details from some characters to others.
Overall, I liked the story. The characters developed (some). I even enjoyed the resolution. Maybe what bothered me was that I feel like the story was truncated. The beginning had so much enjoyable detail that the lack of details as the story moved on and ended was more noticeable.
In honesty, this is probably closer to 3.5 stars. I almost wonder if the author's vision would have been better served by a duology or even a trilogy.
Overall, I liked the story. The characters developed (some). I even enjoyed the resolution. Maybe what bothered me was that I feel like the story was truncated. The beginning had so much enjoyable detail that the lack of details as the story moved on and ended was more noticeable.
In honesty, this is probably closer to 3.5 stars. I almost wonder if the author's vision would have been better served by a duology or even a trilogy.
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February 18, 2024Survive to build another life
i ask who live in high
to return our prayer
our hand high like the tree in mountin
at our soul ask God protect us from ilians
we becom tears of night
our roof of home becum opining to freedom
we paraphan of night
at ungood road
at winter of life
at closed heard
we want to broke a stone
to build in earth
but stone cry
laugh
die
and we build at semphony of dove
we cary gun
we drow tower
we build castle to live
we come with poem of day
we come betwen wind and olive
we want life not just in bed child story
i ask who live in high
to return our prayer
our hand high like the tree in mountin
at our soul ask God protect us from ilians
we becom tears of night
our roof of home becum opining to freedom
we paraphan of night
at ungood road
at winter of life
at closed heard
we want to broke a stone
to build in earth
but stone cry
laugh
die
and we build at semphony of dove
we cary gun
we drow tower
we build castle to live
we come with poem of day
we come betwen wind and olive
we want life not just in bed child story
September 9, 2024
If you don't consume a lot of sci fi, I think you would like this book a lot, but if you are very familiar with sci fi as a genre, it feels overly simplistic. The worldbuilding is superficially cool, but we don't really get much info about it beyond what our heroes directly see as they pass by. The character interactions also felt a bit overly simplistic at times, with things happening or people behaving in certain ways because it's what is most convenient to move the story forward.
If you like the movie Interstellar, you'd probably like this book, and vice versa.
If you like the movie Interstellar, you'd probably like this book, and vice versa.
August 9, 2020
If you Like your syfy “hard” don’t bother. But if you like a science-fiction book that has great character development, human stories, and a vision of worlds beyond, This is the book for you. I don’t understand why people always complain about Eric Brown and how his books aren’t science-fictiony enough. I find his Books always compelling, well written, great character development, and the science fiction is always amazing and thought-provoking. Love EB and his books! My favorite is Kethani.
July 6, 2023
A good read. Nice world building...I enjoyed the Helix construct and the different "aliens". Not sure about the science, but that's okay. I liked the story being told from different viewpoints (humans and other beings), and I would have liked to learn more about some of the characters' back stories. Some small details bugged me (too fast relationships), but all in all, a good sci fi adventure tale.
November 13, 2025
This is going into my DNF pile. I've tried 3 times to get into it but it just got boring, and I didn't make it past about 1/3 of the book. Truthfully, the story lost me when a starship hit a planet at a relativistic speed, and... no one was hurt. Not the crew, and not any creature on the planet it hit. I love me some sci-fi but this just took me out of the narrative. Gotta have more sci for your fi!
November 21, 2020
I like Eric Brown's work when it is based on the planet Earth be it in the past, present or future. Helix starts on Earth but moves away with an ark looking for a new home for humanity. The ark crash lands on a solar system based on a strange helix concept. This was just okay but manages to upset some reviewers when the idea of religion is slagged off. Didn't upset me.
Ray Smillie
Ray Smillie
July 16, 2019
I am a huge fan of scifi, and this book is a perfect example why. It's exciting with action & adventure, it's creative with details of different alien worlds, and it challenges you to think about humanity, our actions, where we're going as a species, and our place in the universe.
April 16, 2020
Dystopia, interplanetary voyage, quest on an inhabited planet, a helical structure around a star housing many different civilisations brought there to save themselves. Interesting and enjoyable but not a re-read for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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