Helm

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Different and Imaginative!
Review: "Helm" is one of the better stories I have read in a long time. It is well written, the story line is fresh, new and well thought out. The characters, other than the principal two or three are not so exhaustively deep as to boar or to slow down the work. The principals are well developed, certainly well enough for this story. This is a single self-contained story, no series, no trilogy, a great rarity these days and a welcome one I might add.

It has everything, a little action, a little romance, a little intrigue. There are parts where martial arts practice are describe in some detail and that can drag just a little, but these parts are fairly short and presented well enough to be interesting to most.

I liked this book. I liked it enough to make it part of my permanent collection and that doesn't happen every often anymore. I have found myself rereading it at least half a dozen times.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Different and Imaginative!
Review: "Helm" is one of the better stories I have read in a long time. It is well written, the story line is fresh, new and well thought out. The characters, other than the principal two or three are not so exhaustively deep as to boar or to slow down the work. The principals are well developed, certainly well enough for this story. This is a single self-contained story, no series, no trilogy, a great rarity these days and a welcome one I might add.

It has everything, a little action, a little romance, a little intrigue. There are parts where martial arts practice are describe in some detail and that can drag just a little, but these parts are fairly short and presented well enough to be interesting to most.

I liked this book. I liked it enough to make it part of my permanent collection and that doesn't happen every often anymore. I have found myself rereading it at least half a dozen times.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Great book -- difficult to put down!
Review: After reading 2 of the author's previous books, Jumper and Wildside, and really enjoying them, I had high expectations for Helm -- and fortunately I was not disappointed. Gould drives the plot relentlessly throughout the book. The martial arts parts are highly readable and very entertaining. My only criticisms with the book are 1) as a previous reviewer mentioned, a few of the characters were difficult to delineate from one another early on, but not overly so, and 2) the ending is good, but seems to be lackluster compared to the incredible first 90% of the book. Overall, Helm is a great and fairly quick read.

Rating:
Summary: Great book -- difficult to put down!
Review: After reading 2 of the author's previous books, Jumper and Wildside, and really enjoying them, I had high expectations for Helm -- and fortunately I was not disappointed. Gould drives the plot relentlessly throughout the book. The martial arts parts are highly readable and very entertaining. My only criticisms with the book are 1) as a previous reviewer mentioned, a few of the characters were difficult to delineate from one another early on, but not overly so, and 2) the ending is good, but seems to be lackluster compared to the incredible first 90% of the book. Overall, Helm is a great and fairly quick read.

Rating:
Summary: dissapointing
Review: After reading Gould's first two books, "Jumper" and "Wildside," I couldn't wait to read his third, "Helm." However, I was sorely disappointed with this book. Unlike his first two books, this one was quite boring and just seemed to drag on and on. More of a military strategy novel than science-fiction, the story opens strong and then just develops into a long-winded tale about a young man's "journey" into manhood. Not until the very end of the book does it really get interesting again. If you can hold out that long, the end holds a pretty interesting plot twist.

The premise of the story is as follows: in the future, earth has been decimated to the point that it can no longer sustain life. Therefore, a group of scientists set out to colonize a new planet. Along with the colonists, the send along glass helms that contain the knowledge that living centuries on earth have provided them. However, there are specific dangers to those that wear the helms. Some colonists set out to destroy the helms and proceed to set up colonies that are essentially anti-technology. Only one helm remains in a specific village on top of the tallest mountain in the region.

Fast forward to many more years in the future. Earth is just a legend now. Many colonies have been set up on the new planet and wars break out every so often between the colonies for land occupation and control. The last helm is still on the mountain, but it's been forbidden for anyone to wear it. However, one boy defies the order and sets out to conquer the mountain and wear the helm. This throws into motion a series of events that wil forever change the boys life. Centuries of knowledge are suddenly implanted into his mind and now he must learn how to control it before it controls him.

This sounds like a great premise for a story. However, it quickly becomes "bogged" down in a boring tale that makes it quite hard to even want to finish the novel.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I first met up with Gould's writing in Jumper, and loved it. I then read Wildside, and fell in love with the book. Later, I bought both books, found Helm in the library, read it, loved it, and an hour after I finished the book, I bought it.

What I love about Helm, is that I have to keep telling myself that this is NOT medieval times, but about a millenium in the future. I loved the aikido scenes, and the twisting plot. Out of all of Gould's books, this has to be the most vivid and gigantic in terms of the world that Gould has to explain and forsee. I recommend anyone who even liked Helm, to read Jumper, Wildside, and Blind Waves. I myself now have three out of these books, and am thinking of buying Blind Waves.

Good luck to all, and, Mr.Gould, keep on writing!

Rating:
Summary: i liked it
Review: Once long ago I picked up a ragged looking copy of Jumper from a library sale and decided that I should give that book a chance. I loved it!!! No other auther seems to tell a story like Gould does. Just recently I read HELM and it was great! Just like Gould's other books I did not know what to expect. The fighting scenes were wonderful and seem to paint themselves across my mind. I cannot wait for his next book!

Rating:
Summary: Once you start to read Gould's books, you just can't stop!!!
Review: Once long ago I picked up a ragged looking copy of Jumper from a library sale and decided that I should give that book a chance. I loved it!!! No other auther seems to tell a story like Gould does. Just recently I read HELM and it was great! Just like Gould's other books I did not know what to expect. The fighting scenes were wonderful and seem to paint themselves across my mind. I cannot wait for his next book!

Rating:
Summary: Good Writing, Bad Editing
Review: This novel, while a good story in and of itself, makes your realize the importance of a good editor, or at the least, a good proofreader. Much of it was very good, but its goodness was marred by the countless errors present in the text.

The story itself is an excellent tale of a feudal-style colony of humans descended from those colonists who were sent to this planet after a global catastrophe made earth uninhabitable. Much of the story centers on the politics, interactions and betrayals amongst the nobles, as alliances are formed and broken in the quest to control more of the scant livable land on the planet. The sendentary peoples of the continent prepare for war against the nomadic tribes of Nullarbor, and dark plans are made against friendly nations while their armies are away.

The hero of the story, Leland du Laal, the youngest son of the local ruling noble, has for whatever reason climbed the Needle, a forbidding rock spire, and donned the Helm, which is supposed to be charging in the sun in preparation for Leland's oldest brother to put on. The Helm infuses the wearer with the total of all human knowledge, and was created to help the colonists set up a good colony. After months of punishment, Leland is sent away to study Aikido, and comes back to lead an army against the nomads.

The characters in the story are well drawn out, if not totally believable. The bad guys seem a little too needlessly cruel, in my opinion. Granted, it makes it easier to hate them and root for the good guys, but some of the things they do go beyond simple conquest of a neighboring province. Leland himself is very likeable as a character, as is his second in command, Gahnfeld. The interaction between the two is enjoyable, and most of the sections about Leland's army make the book worth reading.

My main problem with the book came from all the sloppy phrasings and editing errors that were spread throughout the whole book. Twice, two supporting characters change names, as do a couple place names. Typographical errors litter the prose. Several clumsy phrasings jar the otherwise expert writing style, which could have been cleared up with a slight rephrasing. Things like, "He stood up next to the table and put his hands down on the table." Clumsy phrasings that a simple pronoun would fix. Pedantic types might not be able to get past that.

This book might take a little more suspension of disbelief than either of Gould's previous two novels. I'm not quite sure why so many people in the colony world study Aikido, but overlooking that, it's a well-created fictional future Gould has formed for his story. The book is fast-paced, and very hard to put down. I'd say it's worth plodding through the errors. The ending was kind of a disappointment, but ignore the epilogue and it's much better.