Helm

by Steven Gould

Book Overview

Set on a distant colony planet which has fallen into a new dark age, Helm is the tale of Leland de Laal, the youngest son of a great lord who dares to wear the forbidden Glass Helm--an ancient device... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312864604
• ISBN13: 9780312864606
• Release Date: March 1998
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 382 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Great Book

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!

Great book -- difficult to put down!

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.

Once you start to read Gould's books, you just can't stop!!!

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!

Excellent.

While the novel was not as good as Jumper. Helm is an excellent novel. Gould shows an amazing ability to write interesting, original science fiction. I would definitely recommend Helm, along with two of his other works: Jumper and Wildside, as fun, entertaining and well-crafted tales.

As an Aikido student, this was very happy reading.

Speaking as Aikidoka -- a student of Aikido -- this book brought tears to my eyes. Happy tears, tears of remembrance of my own times on the mat. From the first utterance of "Onaigashimasu..." to the folding of the hakama, this was a complete, exact, and poignantly real depiction of what it is like to study Aikido. As Aikidoka say, this book has Ai-ki, harmonious energy. The philosophy of the martial art is woven delicately yet unswervingly through the plot, and everything balances at the end. A "TV show ending?" I think not. It simply did not bash the bad guys over the head like most stories. Instead, the characters followed the true principles of Aikido, the good guys using the energy of the bad guys to defeat them.Well done, Mr. Gould, if you read this...and I would be honored to practice with you, should you ever come into the dojo where I practice.