In winter, the shaggy and brutal Phagors reign, with the more human "sons of Freyr" having regressed to a subsistence-level society. The sentient species have thrived or hibernated according to their respective adaptability to the season. This book begins as spring is beginning to awaken the long-dormant planet. Freyr is much stronger, but the elliptic path Batalix and Helliconia follow around this sun is much longer and creates a great year in which many centuries are spent experiencing an arctic winter before melting into a near tropical summer. The planet's revolution around the nearer and weaker Batalix is similar in length to an Earth year. Helliconia's twin suns, Batalix and Freyr are locked in an inter-relational orbit. As a gripping tale with relatable characters and fascinating plot points, it fails. As a scientific and sociological experiment about what life on a planet with a binary star system might be like, this book largely succeeds.
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