Thursday, August 28, 2014

Helliconia Summer, Brian Aldiss

Helliconia Summer by Brian W. Aldiss is the second in the Helliconia trilogy.

Started: April 5, 2013
Completed: August 28, 2014
Recommendation: This is an interesting trilogy and I can recommend the trilogy to those who aren't wed to characters as each book in the trilogy has hundreds of years between them
Recommended By:    Nobody

Words I looked up:

keratinous -- composed of or resembling keratin; horny
queme -- comely, attractive
scumber -- to void excrement
tatterdemalion -- ragged or disreputable in appearance.
tesserae -- one of the small squares of stone or glass used in making mosaic patterns
traduce -- speak badly of or tell lies about (someone) so as to damage their reputation

Review:

In the "Long Summer" of this binary star system the advantage turns to man and the overall question of whether men should pursue an all-out effort to kill all phagors comes to the fore.  The issue finds different adherents among different religions, in different locations, on Earth, and on the monitoring satellite (about which much more is discovered).  The mild expose and largely damning study of the effects of religion continue, but there is an even-handed component to it as well when one member of an otherwise atheist group comes to realize the value and comfort of religion.  The irony of this trilogy being an allegory is delicious and a much better understanding of the science behind the conflict between man and phagor is exposed.  This is not an "easy" beach read, but it is a well composed, thoughtful examination.

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