Helm — Steven Gould

After global devastation, the last remnants of Earth sent a handful of colonists of a distant terraformed world to give humanity one last, desperate chance. Unable to provide the technology required for an advanced civilization, the founders instilled in the colonists a strict code of conduct and gave them a few precious imprinting devices: glass helmets that contain all of Earth's scientific knowledge.

Once in a generation, the heir to the province of Laal begins the arduous training required to survive the imprinting of the Glass Helm and acquire the knowledge of the lost Earth. But Leland de Laal, the youngest son of one of Agatsu's greatest leaders, has climbed the forbidden rock spire where the Helm is kept and donned it, unaware that its knowledge has a terrible price. To an unprepared mind, it brings madness, agony, and even death.


Praise

"A well-handling, often persuasive drama."--Kirkus Reviews


"The martial arts scene are thrillingly crystalline, as the philosophy behind the moves. And the final hundred pages this book, after the point at which Marilyn is kidnapped, is a remarkably sustained populsive climax....What a savvy writer he is, fully competent to wear SF's Glass Helm."--Paul Di Filippo, Science Fiction Age