It's great news that this wonderful trilogy has been republished in Gollancz's SF masterworks series. It's a huge epic, covering hundreds of years in the history of a very different yet familiar world. Along with the history, a whole alien ecology is lovingly created. An unforgettable book to immerse yourself in.

Helliconia Spring ***** A great read. From freezing conditions and a harsh environment a lone boy has to fend for himself after loosing his father. He has a hard life and things are bleak, dark and difficult. Then story line moves into spring, warmth and life! I got swept up in the surroundings and the world of Helliconia. There are a lot of characters at times and the story passes over many generations. Life changes drastically for the people of this world and it was very interesting to go through these changes with the characters and see how they dealt with such a drastic change in life, circumstances and environment. Even how they interact with other people drastically changes. Very creative and well thought out. The world is watched by a space station and studied, people from earth are recording how humans deal with the long seasons and sending the findings back to earth where they are watched with interest. A year lasts for several thousands of normal years and the seaons are so long generations live and die only experiencing 1 type of surrounding. Great idea!! Helliconia Summer *** Not as good as Helliconia Spring. I enjoyed learning more about The Avernus and the people on it. The 'lottery' was a great idea and I enjoyed the story of Billy visiting Helliconia even though he knew he would die from the hellico virus, but just wanting to experience what he had been watching and studying his whole life. A very good story about how civilisation has changed since spring and how a new relationship has been formed between humans and phagors Helliconia Winter **** A great installment to the series. Finding out about earth in the future while learning about the steady decline of Helliconia was interesting. Winter on Helliconia is creeping in and the world is changing, people must learn to deal with the changes of the climate and prepare for the long years ahead. It is a time of great distress and sorrow. Good characters and great ideas.

The SF masterworks series has been excellent in bringing some neglected works back into print and this is a good example. The scale of the work may be intimidating, with three sizeable individual novels packed into one volume, but enter the world of Helliconia and you will find yourself within the rich tapestry of another planet. Due to an enormous orbit around an ernomous sun seasons last for centuries on Helliconia and civilisations rise and fall like the seasons. With a cast of engaging characters, Helliconia is a far more believable world than most in sci-fi and the final decline of human civilisation in the winter is one of the most poignant and philosophical pieces of writing in the entire genre. Brilliant.