Date: 22 May 2011, 17:33
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Product Description: Helix is a fast-paced action adventure novel following the plight of four humans when they crashland on what they think is a desolate, ice-bound planet. Daylight brings the discovery that the planet is one of thousands arranged in a vast spiral wound about a central sun. They set off to discover a more habitable, Earth-like world and come across strange races of aliens, and life-threatening perils, on their way. There is so much wrong with Helix but there is also much to like. The central conceit of the story - that there is a huge, helical structure that houses thousands of cylindrical worlds - would lead one to expect a 'hard' SF novel but that isn't the case. The titular helix is a feat of imagination and not one of engineering and Brown clearly has no idea (or concern for) how or why it was built or even why the structure is a helix rather than any other shape. His characters are lazy constructions that rely on silly coincidences to generate personalities. The background stories pad out the tale to no effect. Pages of set up regarding Hendry's daughter all come to nought. The Kaluchek/Olembe dynamic is played out over 500 pages and then negates itself when the basis of their conflict is discovered to be false. These are all faults that could have been resolved with some editorial direction and the excision of a hundred or so pages. The curious thing is that, even with all these gripes, Helix is enjoyable. It's fast paced, cinematic and wondrous. The reader is carried along at such a rate that faults are smoothed over due to the sheer speed of the narrative.
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