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Helm by Steven Gould
After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge. Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth. But Leland de Laal, the youngest son of one of Agatsu's greatest leaders, has climbed the forbidden rock spire where the Helm is kept and donned it, unaware that its knowledge has a terrible price. To an unprepared mind, it brings madness, agony, and even death.
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First published January 1, 1998
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About the author
Steven Gould
51 books1,147 followersSteven Charles Gould is an American science fiction author. His novels tend to have protagonists fighting to rid government of corrupt antagonists. The struggle against corruption is the focus, rather than the technology.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
January 16, 2012
Some possible subtitles:
How Aikido Saved a Kingdom
I Hope You Like Aikido!
Got Aikido?
Lots Of Long Descriptions of How Awesome Aikido Is
The Author is Really Into Aikido
How Aikido Saved a Kingdom
I Hope You Like Aikido!
Got Aikido?
Lots Of Long Descriptions of How Awesome Aikido Is
The Author is Really Into Aikido
March 20, 2010
I read this book after reading and enjoying a few other books from the same author. It's a sci-fi / fantasy novel, similar to his other books. Unfortunately, it's missing the best part of his other writing, and accentuates the worst.
The book starts off on a dying world. We learn that the people are recovering from religious leaders that used advanced technology to brainwash large numbers of people into supporting them blindly, which of course starting giant religious wars. The remaining people decide to send a spaceship to a distant planet, many generations away, using the technology to make sure that their descendants that eventually land on the planet will have the benefit of some of their civilization.
The book then jumps to the main part of the novel, which takes place on the distant planet. By this time, some sort of technologically primitive society has formed. The vast majority of the book focuses on a young character that gets "programmed" using one of the old devices, and winds up leading a group of soldiers in battle against some nefarious invaders. His cleverness -- along with the information gained from the programming -- helps him succeed despite terrible odds.
Gould's characters tend to be pretty one-dimensional. The main character is always a little better than normal, in every way: stronger, smarter, wiser, etc. Other characters have a role to fill, and they don't deviate. This book doesn't break that pattern: if anything, it strengthens it considerably. In addition, it ends up feeling like a mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy cliches: instead of exploring new genres or taking the best parts of both, the book starts off with spaceships and mind control, but then once that has succeeding in explaining a device that's basically used as magic in the rest of the book, we're done with everything about that place. The later part of the book feels like it's trying to invoke the feel of epic medieval battles, heroes and villains, but instead I just didn't care much about any of the characters. The bad guys were bad in all of the expected ways. The heroes were heroic. The love interest didn't fall into the wilting flower cliche: she fell into the brash, contrarian, self-sufficient person who eventually breaks down and gets won over cliche.
The writing itself is very readable and easy to get through. The book isn't really as bad as I make it out above -- it's just that I liked the author's previous books, in spite of a few flaws, and I was disappointed when he deflated my hopes that he would build on the best part of his writing and overcome the deficiencies.
The book starts off on a dying world. We learn that the people are recovering from religious leaders that used advanced technology to brainwash large numbers of people into supporting them blindly, which of course starting giant religious wars. The remaining people decide to send a spaceship to a distant planet, many generations away, using the technology to make sure that their descendants that eventually land on the planet will have the benefit of some of their civilization.
The book then jumps to the main part of the novel, which takes place on the distant planet. By this time, some sort of technologically primitive society has formed. The vast majority of the book focuses on a young character that gets "programmed" using one of the old devices, and winds up leading a group of soldiers in battle against some nefarious invaders. His cleverness -- along with the information gained from the programming -- helps him succeed despite terrible odds.
Gould's characters tend to be pretty one-dimensional. The main character is always a little better than normal, in every way: stronger, smarter, wiser, etc. Other characters have a role to fill, and they don't deviate. This book doesn't break that pattern: if anything, it strengthens it considerably. In addition, it ends up feeling like a mish-mash of sci-fi and fantasy cliches: instead of exploring new genres or taking the best parts of both, the book starts off with spaceships and mind control, but then once that has succeeding in explaining a device that's basically used as magic in the rest of the book, we're done with everything about that place. The later part of the book feels like it's trying to invoke the feel of epic medieval battles, heroes and villains, but instead I just didn't care much about any of the characters. The bad guys were bad in all of the expected ways. The heroes were heroic. The love interest didn't fall into the wilting flower cliche: she fell into the brash, contrarian, self-sufficient person who eventually breaks down and gets won over cliche.
The writing itself is very readable and easy to get through. The book isn't really as bad as I make it out above -- it's just that I liked the author's previous books, in spite of a few flaws, and I was disappointed when he deflated my hopes that he would build on the best part of his writing and overcome the deficiencies.
October 19, 2020
3.5 stars, Metaphorosis Reviews
Summary
On a world colonized long ago, the youngest son of a local ruler takes it upon himself to don an ancient hi-tech helmet. While's he's dealing with unexpected new skills (and internal voices), treachery grows in the larger empire.
Review
I knew of Steven Gould primarily from his juvenile novels – Jumper, Wildside, etc. I was pleased when he finally brought his clear, accessible voice to a more adult book, and I remember Helm with some fondness, though it does tend to run together for me with Larry Niven’s Destiny Road, which appeared around the same time, had a vaguely similar backstory, and also had a yellowish cover.
What I had forgotten, apparently was just how aikido-focused Helm is. Unfortunately, I’m not really interested in martial arts, and this comes across, more than anything, like the work of a fan who’s keen to tell the world all about his new passion. It’s a bit tedious, in particular because I just don’t find battle scenes interesting, and here we get all the hand-to-hand detail an aikido aficionado could hope for. More to the point, though, all the aikido gets in the way of the story. The characters are developed, and are, in fact, somewhat more mature than Gould’s others up until then. But the story is largely a vehicle to get them from one fight scene to another. The story’s at its best when Gould can’t find a way to shoehorn physical conflict into the scene (or not too much, anyway).
It’s not as good a book as I recall, but it’s still fairly good. Gould’s prose is still clear, the characters still engaging. And, if you’re a martial arts fan, it’s probably all gravy. If you couldn’t care less about sensei and uke, there’s still a good story to be found here. Just be prepared to skim the play-by-play.
Summary
On a world colonized long ago, the youngest son of a local ruler takes it upon himself to don an ancient hi-tech helmet. While's he's dealing with unexpected new skills (and internal voices), treachery grows in the larger empire.
Review
I knew of Steven Gould primarily from his juvenile novels – Jumper, Wildside, etc. I was pleased when he finally brought his clear, accessible voice to a more adult book, and I remember Helm with some fondness, though it does tend to run together for me with Larry Niven’s Destiny Road, which appeared around the same time, had a vaguely similar backstory, and also had a yellowish cover.
What I had forgotten, apparently was just how aikido-focused Helm is. Unfortunately, I’m not really interested in martial arts, and this comes across, more than anything, like the work of a fan who’s keen to tell the world all about his new passion. It’s a bit tedious, in particular because I just don’t find battle scenes interesting, and here we get all the hand-to-hand detail an aikido aficionado could hope for. More to the point, though, all the aikido gets in the way of the story. The characters are developed, and are, in fact, somewhat more mature than Gould’s others up until then. But the story is largely a vehicle to get them from one fight scene to another. The story’s at its best when Gould can’t find a way to shoehorn physical conflict into the scene (or not too much, anyway).
It’s not as good a book as I recall, but it’s still fairly good. Gould’s prose is still clear, the characters still engaging. And, if you’re a martial arts fan, it’s probably all gravy. If you couldn’t care less about sensei and uke, there’s still a good story to be found here. Just be prepared to skim the play-by-play.
June 20, 2008
Sometimes trashy sci-fi can be the best kind of fun. Helm is a fun, cool, fast-paced adventure story. Here's the book's description (snagged from the back cover):
"After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting devices: glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge.
Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth. But Leland de Laal, the youngest son of one of Agatsu's greatest leaders, has climbed the forbidden rock spire where the Helm is kept and donned it, unaware that its knowledge has a terrible price. To an unprepared mind, it brings madness, agony, and even death."
One of the coolest consequences of Leland's premature imprinting is that he's picked up knowledge of aikido. With further training he hones his martial arts skill and the fighting in the story is filled with slick descriptions of it. This story is filled with chases, battles, double-crossing, betrayal, dark dealings, and many fights with sword, staff, and arrow. Although set in the far-future, Agatsu's society is medieval. Makes for a very fun tale.
"After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting devices: glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge.
Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth. But Leland de Laal, the youngest son of one of Agatsu's greatest leaders, has climbed the forbidden rock spire where the Helm is kept and donned it, unaware that its knowledge has a terrible price. To an unprepared mind, it brings madness, agony, and even death."
One of the coolest consequences of Leland's premature imprinting is that he's picked up knowledge of aikido. With further training he hones his martial arts skill and the fighting in the story is filled with slick descriptions of it. This story is filled with chases, battles, double-crossing, betrayal, dark dealings, and many fights with sword, staff, and arrow. Although set in the far-future, Agatsu's society is medieval. Makes for a very fun tale.
May 8, 2018
I've read this like seven times. It's one of my favorite stories. A bookworm disobeys his father and king and climbs a forbidden spire discovering an ancient mind altering device meant for his brother and downloads all the knowledge... Like all of it... Plus the voice and personality of one of the ancient founders so he's also battling insanity during this mess. He spends the rest of the book surviving his punishment, training in aikido, discovering what knowing EVERYTHING means, growing up, falling in love, leading his men into war and strategizing his way out of numerous messes. It's just a fun ride. Love it.
May 29, 2008
Not Gould's best book; it drags a little, and I don't think he does an very good job of explaining the mythology and tradition built up around the "helms", so that the reader is even more in the dark than the characters in the beginning. It all comes out in the end, but I can see where a lot of readers wouldn't get that far.
May 7, 2018
Great read.
Good escapist read from the author of Jumper. The only complaint I had was I read this in a kindle and could really have used a map to help me understand the world he created
Good escapist read from the author of Jumper. The only complaint I had was I read this in a kindle and could really have used a map to help me understand the world he created
April 24, 2024
Why Gould is just Better than most
Helm (and 7th Sigma) are the kind of adolescent to adult books we need more of, both in terms of character development and dealing with the intense emotions of maturing
Helm (and 7th Sigma) are the kind of adolescent to adult books we need more of, both in terms of character development and dealing with the intense emotions of maturing
May 9, 2018
One of my favorite books.
Combines elements of Dickson, Pournelle, the family issues of Amber. I'd love to see more books like this and 6th Sigma rathervthsn more Jump novels.
Combines elements of Dickson, Pournelle, the family issues of Amber. I'd love to see more books like this and 6th Sigma rathervthsn more Jump novels.
December 27, 2019
Always a fun read
Read
May 29, 2020What a great book. I loved the ending and the whole concept in general.
April 7, 2015
Helm (1998) 468 pages by Steven Gould.
The back cover said post apocalyptic Earth. That almost kept me from reading it, but every other Gould book that I've read has been fantastic. After the prologue it's a new colony on a far off planet book. Because of what happened on Earth the colonists were given an imprinter, a tool to help the colonists keep them literate and healthy, but the imprinter was used on Earth for bad things.
Agasta needed some terraforming and the fertile areas of the world are interspersed with barren areas. The fertile areas were settled and have grown into different stewardships. Laal is a province of Noram. Laal is the most successful province, having lower taxes to its constituents even so pays double tithes to Noramland. This relationship was built up while William de Noram was steward of Noram. Now the son Arthur de Noram isn't really happy with the situation. Here he is leader of all of Noram, and all the respect of the people is going to either his father, or to Dulan de Laal, the leader of one of the several provinces of Noram. So his idea is to let Cotswold overrun Laal, get rid of the de Laal family, and after Cotswold plunders Laal and retreats back to their land, Arthur can be a hero to Laal.
Siegfried Montrose high steward of Cotswold uses Arthur's betrayal but has greater plans than just plundering Laal.
That is what's happening behind the scenes as we follow Leland de Laal, the fourth and youngest son of Dulan de Laal. Leland climbed the needle and put on the glass helm that had been recharging for two decades. What they call the helm is the last remaining imprinter left by the founders, and it filled Leland's head with knowledge which was mostly inaccessible. After a one month recovery from climbing the needle and the shock of the helm, the punishment (training?) from his father starts.
I haven't mentioned the martial arts or the romance, but throw those in along with the deception and Siegfried trying to take over the world, and it's another excellent Gould novel.
The back cover said post apocalyptic Earth. That almost kept me from reading it, but every other Gould book that I've read has been fantastic. After the prologue it's a new colony on a far off planet book. Because of what happened on Earth the colonists were given an imprinter, a tool to help the colonists keep them literate and healthy, but the imprinter was used on Earth for bad things.
Agasta needed some terraforming and the fertile areas of the world are interspersed with barren areas. The fertile areas were settled and have grown into different stewardships. Laal is a province of Noram. Laal is the most successful province, having lower taxes to its constituents even so pays double tithes to Noramland. This relationship was built up while William de Noram was steward of Noram. Now the son Arthur de Noram isn't really happy with the situation. Here he is leader of all of Noram, and all the respect of the people is going to either his father, or to Dulan de Laal, the leader of one of the several provinces of Noram. So his idea is to let Cotswold overrun Laal, get rid of the de Laal family, and after Cotswold plunders Laal and retreats back to their land, Arthur can be a hero to Laal.
Siegfried Montrose high steward of Cotswold uses Arthur's betrayal but has greater plans than just plundering Laal.
That is what's happening behind the scenes as we follow Leland de Laal, the fourth and youngest son of Dulan de Laal. Leland climbed the needle and put on the glass helm that had been recharging for two decades. What they call the helm is the last remaining imprinter left by the founders, and it filled Leland's head with knowledge which was mostly inaccessible. After a one month recovery from climbing the needle and the shock of the helm, the punishment (training?) from his father starts.
I haven't mentioned the martial arts or the romance, but throw those in along with the deception and Siegfried trying to take over the world, and it's another excellent Gould novel.
February 28, 2012
Helm was a Steven Gould book that I bought because I like his other books (Wildside and Reflex especially), but kept putting off reading because the description on the book was a little off-putting.
Now I wish I'd read it much sooner.
Leland de Laal is the son of the Steward of Laal station on a planet terraformed and settled by the few survivors of Earth's devestation that managed to make it there. In order to send as many of the survivors as possible, tools to allow a high-tech society were sacrificed. Remnants of that time include nearly indestructible books, the shells of the transports, and the Glass Helm.
The last is one of the few surviving imprinters which were used to make the settlers nearly fanatical about cleanliness, nutrition, and literacy, in order to give them the best chance of survival. This imprinter, though, holds the memories and life experience of one person.
Leland breaks his fathers rule to climb a rock spire called the Needle, where he finds the Helm and puts it on, which sets him on an unexpected path, since there are people outside of Laal who will do anything to get the Helm and use it for other purposes. He has to learn to deal with the knowledge he's been given, and adapt it to life as it is.
Oh yeah, and win the girl.
But now that I've read the book, I want the other half of the story. I'm a big fan of disaster movies/books, so I want the full story of what happened to Earth, and the survivors on the moon who couldn't get on the ship to this new world. I really hope that Mr. Gould goes there someday.
Now I wish I'd read it much sooner.
Leland de Laal is the son of the Steward of Laal station on a planet terraformed and settled by the few survivors of Earth's devestation that managed to make it there. In order to send as many of the survivors as possible, tools to allow a high-tech society were sacrificed. Remnants of that time include nearly indestructible books, the shells of the transports, and the Glass Helm.
The last is one of the few surviving imprinters which were used to make the settlers nearly fanatical about cleanliness, nutrition, and literacy, in order to give them the best chance of survival. This imprinter, though, holds the memories and life experience of one person.
Leland breaks his fathers rule to climb a rock spire called the Needle, where he finds the Helm and puts it on, which sets him on an unexpected path, since there are people outside of Laal who will do anything to get the Helm and use it for other purposes. He has to learn to deal with the knowledge he's been given, and adapt it to life as it is.
Oh yeah, and win the girl.
But now that I've read the book, I want the other half of the story. I'm a big fan of disaster movies/books, so I want the full story of what happened to Earth, and the survivors on the moon who couldn't get on the ship to this new world. I really hope that Mr. Gould goes there someday.
January 3, 2017
Although the first bit of this felt a bit rushed, once things got started it was an excellent read with well-developed characters and lots of action. Right from the start there are references to Aikido, and this grows stronger as the main character, Leland, begins to learn it.
As someone who practices Aikido, I loved this component of the book and was able to follow the action pretty well. I appreciated the descriptions of the techniques Leland was using in combat as it made it easy to picture and more intense. However, for someone who has never practiced Aikido these descriptions may get in the way at times - some of the descriptions are really hard to follow even for someone familiar with the techniques. Even so, this book is not all Aikido - aikido is simply a component woven into the framework of a much bigger story - and this is a book that I think worth reading even if you aren't a fan of aikido.
It's filled with some pretty intense themes that get you thinking about ethics and the nature of our race at the same time that you get to enjoy reading about battles, back-room plotting, double crosses, bids for survival, and even a bit of humour.
As someone who practices Aikido, I loved this component of the book and was able to follow the action pretty well. I appreciated the descriptions of the techniques Leland was using in combat as it made it easy to picture and more intense. However, for someone who has never practiced Aikido these descriptions may get in the way at times - some of the descriptions are really hard to follow even for someone familiar with the techniques. Even so, this book is not all Aikido - aikido is simply a component woven into the framework of a much bigger story - and this is a book that I think worth reading even if you aren't a fan of aikido.
It's filled with some pretty intense themes that get you thinking about ethics and the nature of our race at the same time that you get to enjoy reading about battles, back-room plotting, double crosses, bids for survival, and even a bit of humour.
Read
March 22, 2016Steven Gould has been my favorite Science Fiction author for awhile and finally getting around to reading Helm has not changed that. One of the only bad things I would say about this story is there wasn't enough of it. In a world where we have world-building series like Game of Thrones and Ringworld, I feel like this book was setting up a series to expand on the ideas. At the same time the story of Leland and his family was complete, and continuing that without a great reason could rob from the charm of this book.
Another thing I would have liked more context for was what were Leland's motivations for climbing The Needle to put on the Helm. My impression was that he was the brains of his family, at least more so than his brothers, and that made him so jealous of his oldest brother Dillan being the heir to the Helm, that he just chose to steal that.
Other than those few points, I loved this story. The fight scenes were as descriptive as any of Gould's books. I really enjoyed the Aikido training chapters which were somewhat missing from 7th Sigma.
Another thing I would have liked more context for was what were Leland's motivations for climbing The Needle to put on the Helm. My impression was that he was the brains of his family, at least more so than his brothers, and that made him so jealous of his oldest brother Dillan being the heir to the Helm, that he just chose to steal that.
Other than those few points, I loved this story. The fight scenes were as descriptive as any of Gould's books. I really enjoyed the Aikido training chapters which were somewhat missing from 7th Sigma.
December 13, 2011
Book Description:
After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting devices: glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge.
Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth. But Leland de Laal, the youngest son of one of Agatsu's greatest leaders, has climbed the forbidden rock spire where the Helm is kept and donned it, unaware that its knowledge has a terrible price. To an unprepared mind, it brings madness, agony, and even death.
-A fast paced futuristic thrill ride. I grabbed this at B & N one day on a lark and struck author gold!
After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting devices: glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge.
Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth. But Leland de Laal, the youngest son of one of Agatsu's greatest leaders, has climbed the forbidden rock spire where the Helm is kept and donned it, unaware that its knowledge has a terrible price. To an unprepared mind, it brings madness, agony, and even death.
-A fast paced futuristic thrill ride. I grabbed this at B & N one day on a lark and struck author gold!
February 6, 2016
This one I would easily pick up again. I like the characters. I like the story at it's core about knowledge for your mind and body. I appreciate the attempts at writing material that is consistent for everyone with a legitimate feminist influence. There's this wonderful moment in the final push where the protagonist just let's everyone be themselves and it speaks volumes. It doesn't even seem forced or faked because you have gotten to know all the players and you understand that everyone is capable of handling themselves and it's nice without shoving anything down your throat. Damn even talking about it makes it seem bigger than it is but really it's very refreshing and I don't seen enough in books where people are supposed to be working as a team but "the team" isn't fully realized. Now that I am sure I have the complete book on my phone I will be keeping there for re-reads in the future. On to the next one.
May 28, 2008
After a bit of a slow start, the book is pretty absorbing. The plot moves pretty quickly and was entertaining. There are a few really nice heroic moments as well.
However, the book itself is just okay. It's a bit predictable, and the characters aren't really all that interesting. The inevitable traitor is predictable as are most of the developments.
Aikido plays an important role in the book, which is a mixed blessing. The author's descriptions of Aikido are very good, and he describes training well. However, at other times, Aikido comes across as a little too superhuman or super special, and felt a little cheesy to me.
However, the book itself is just okay. It's a bit predictable, and the characters aren't really all that interesting. The inevitable traitor is predictable as are most of the developments.
Aikido plays an important role in the book, which is a mixed blessing. The author's descriptions of Aikido are very good, and he describes training well. However, at other times, Aikido comes across as a little too superhuman or super special, and felt a little cheesy to me.
February 3, 2010
Interesting ideas. I liked that nearly all of the book is set in a kind of medieval times (complete with kings, stewards, mounted cavalry, archers, sword fighting, etc.) with just a hint of sci-fi (mainly in with regards to the helm). Other reviewers have suggested that the helm is similar in function to the TV show Chuck, but I think it's more like how dolls are imprinted in Dollhouse, albeit in a more passive way (the helm's personality doesn't take over the wearer but just augments/supplements it). Good read. Clean. Lots of fun aikido fight sequences. The ending was a little weak but all-in-all worth the trip.
April 21, 2008
It was okay. It was recommended to me as a post-apocalyptic book which was, but only in the loosest sense. The feudal society was interesting but there was way too much focus on Aikido. It was almost like a religion. Gould used a lot of technical terms that I'm sure would be familiar to practitioners of Aikido but weren't really explained very well in the book so I had to infer their meaning. The descriptions of the moves were confusing and not particular interesting to read.
The actual story was interesting though.
The actual story was interesting though.
September 20, 2013
Steven Gould is a reliably good read and delivers. He's good at creating likable, smart characters and has reasonably fast-paced plots without too much angst.
The beginning is slow (a fair amount of unnecessarily long aikido stuff) but once the book gets going, it's a fun read. It should get 3.5 stars, but I rounded down because of the sloooow beginning.
The beginning is slow (a fair amount of unnecessarily long aikido stuff) but once the book gets going, it's a fun read. It should get 3.5 stars, but I rounded down because of the sloooow beginning.
February 22, 2013
It was a good book. Clever premise, and it did a good job of holding my attention. I get that Gould is interested in martial arts, but I have no interest in this topic, and he spends way too much time on this.
September 19, 2012
I picked this book up because of Jumper and Reflex. Starting out, I really loved this book. But there was no suspense. Some books do a good job of making the protagonist seem vulnerable. This one made him seem god-like. The action with aikido was pretty cool, though.
July 24, 2007
Steven Gould's grown-up masterwork. This book is fantastic, sweeping, thought-provoking speculative fiction and it's a shame it's not more well-known than it is.
July 29, 2009
My book of choice for infecting people with the Aikido bug.
April 7, 2010
Basic test [yes/no:]: Would I recommend you read this book or not. Was it worth the few hours spent reading it? Am I pleased that I spent the time reading it? --- Yes ---
September 8, 2010
Im actually not reading this version but the crowdsouce proofreading ebook version. so far its great!
June 5, 2013
Really dragged, didn't even finish it.
Supposedly sci-fi, but more medieval society still a little bit of tech.
Supposedly sci-fi, but more medieval society still a little bit of tech.
September 9, 2014
Definitely not Gould's best writing, but still enjoyable at parts... Like his other books better tho!
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews