The concept of a mischievous wind is what drew me in, which just sounded so adorable to me and the book really exceeded my expectations.

The books spans human history, with characters being introduced and then left behind. Which isn't normally something I like, however obviously works really well with the story the author was trying to tell here. The wind is everlasting after all, an ancient being that will never fade even when humanity does. The one negative I'd say is that since the MC is the literal wind, its hard to really have any kind of emotional connection here.

This is super experimental and I think pays off very well. Such a unique concept, this is the kind of book that we need more of out there. I'll definitely be reading the authors next book.

Thank you to Mariner Books for the ARC

Sarah Hall is a master of writing about the natural world and how humans interact with it, and Helm is no exception. In this novel she uses the famous Helm Wind in Cumbria as a starting place for myriad stories about the wind itself, its surrounding landscape, and the many years of human life that the wind sees, including prehistoric peoples and their desire to create lasting monuments, an engineer who tries to figure out how the wind is created and channeled, a young woman in love with the wind, a man driven to Christianize the wind, and a research scientist concerned that pollution is killing it. This is a book that deserves and needs sow reading, the savoring of words and ideas and phrasing and character development. It's utterly gorgeous and original and marvelous and thought-provoking,

DNF

I've tried a few times, but I'm just not vibing with this. Apparently, this is inspired by the actual Helm Wind of England, which I knew nothing about before! Helm, as characterized in this book, has a very whimsical personality. It's a very unique voice and style, but not one I liked. There is also a rotating cast of characters through time and interstitial artifacts, which were kind of cool.

In some ways, Helm reminded me of Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, so if you liked Cosmicomics, perhaps give this one a try!

Helm was humorous and fascinating. A surprising book with an even more intriguing premise and an even better writing.

Sarah Hall’s writing is both intricate and distant. The story is fable: weather, given god-like sentience and permanance, and its relationship with humankind.

A commentary on spirituality and humankind’s relationship with nature, this book spans thousands of years and various timelines in a cyclical fashion. It is obvious that Sarah Hall’s prose is intentional, but I found it jarring to switch from timelines and points of view. Each point of view/timeline is telling a unique aspect of humankind’s relationship with Helm, and though they eventually weave a collective commentary, it is slow.

This book is a book that requires deep thought, not passive reading. I believe it will be critically acclaimed and lauded, but also that the general reader will prefer to not finish.

Helm is beautifully written and deeply atmospheric, with Hall’s prose shining throughout. The novel’s complexity can be a bit challenging at times, but it ultimately offers a very rich and rewarding experience. Definitely a compelling read for those who enjoy layered storytelling!

It usually takes me about two days to finish a book. It took me six to finish Helm. The way Sarah Hall plays with words is beautiful and makes for a fun read, but also meant I was rereading sentences to understand their content after being consumed by the way they wove in and out of plot. I was attracted to this book because of its comparisons to North Woods and I agree that the structure is similar, but the writing is not. Overall I enjoyed the experience and would recommend it to anyone considering picking it up.

“Helm” was an immersive journey….a fantastical folklore journey.
The writing style is a tad dismal and elusive, yet grand and epic with a strong setting - language-and atmosphere. It’s very unique… different in the best ways that must be experienced.
It explores the relationship between humans and nature and how often humans try to separate themselves from nature.
With stylistic prose … “Helm” is a remarkable reading adventure.

“In the beginning, there was no Helm. Boring for the world, obviously. There were aeons before Helm arrived.
The necessary arrangements had to be made, on the planet, and in the sky. It would take Ages for Helm to be recognized, let alone named.
During which Helm suffered loneliness, inconsequence, and ignorance - an original and terrible fugue state. Or Helm didn’t care; Helm was just on standby”.

“But in the beginning, nothing else had a name either, or a pronoun, or a preference. There was no godly language. There was no creative designer or clerical administrator. No titler
of the things. It was all serious planetary business. A tremendous collision making Earth and it’s moon. Sun shrinking and getting hotter; everything bilious, oxygenless, not great for living. Earth was hot and cold, hot and cold, et cetera, for billennia. Fevers and chills, blah blah”.

“Then - boom”
“It is when humans evolve that things become interesting. Because humans become interested in Helm”.

Creative, captivating, and driven by curiosity …. inviting us to seek new knowledge…and venture into uncharted territories!

So good!!!

Sarah Hall’s Helm is unlike anything I have read. Both sweeping and specific it imagines the life of a wind as if it were a sentient being with its own long memory, moods, and grudges. Hall gives Helm a mischievous, almost trickster personality, allowing the reader to see the human past and present through the eyes of something far older and more enduring.

The novel unfolds through a series of encounters between Helm and the people who have tried to understand, honor, or control him. We meet a Neolithic tribe building a stone circle to mark the winter solstice, a Dark Age priest attempting to drive Helm away, a Victorian engineer convinced he can trap the wind, and a young farmer’s daughter who loves him fiercely. In the present day, Dr. Selima Sutar studies Helm from a mountaintop station, worried that human pollution may be slowly destroying him. These shifting time periods give the novel a mythic quality.

The hills, skies, and shifting weather of Northern England are as vivid. Helm himself is both amused and skeptical of humanity, fascinated by their rituals and inventions yet doubtful of their wisdom. Through his observations, the novel becomes a commentary on how human ambition, wonder, and short-sightedness intersect with the forces of nature.

Helm is a strange, beautiful, and thought-provoking novel. It is a work for readers who want language that sings, a narrative that spans millennia, and a reminder that the natural world has its own stories to tell and whether or not we choose to listen. #marinerbooks #sarahhall #helm

In this miracle of imagination, Sarah Hall presents her argument against man's effect on the weather. The wind has been anthropomorphized in fable and song (They Call the Wind Maria, the Wayward Wind et al), but here it is given a distinct identity, and the respect granted through millenia is threatened by the effects of climate change. Wonderful perspective.

This novel tells the story of Helm, a mischievous wind, which has been wafting over the terrain of Northern England since time began. The storyline covers the entire history of the world, employing characters representative of various epochs, such as a Neolithic tribe, an early Medieval wizard-priest, a Victorian steam engineer, a farmer's daughter, and a scientist who fears that pollution is destroying Helm. The book explores environmental themes and the relationship between nature and humanity.

I particularly enjoyed the introductory and concluding chapters. The chapters in between could not sustain the same level of momentum. It is written in an unusual style, where the reader must think about what part of history is being covered, which is sometimes difficult since it is not told in chronological order. It contains many characters, most of whom play a small role and disappear quickly. This book falls into the experimental category, which for me, usually means it is difficult to become immersed in it. Such is the case here. It is a book I admired in terms of creativity but did not really love the reading experience.

I had fun with this! I was not expecting a sentient wind being to be so funny, but I loved Helm's sense of humor.

Sarah Hall’s novel Helm presents a sweeping and imaginative history of humankind’s relationship with Helm, the powerful and often very destructive wind that is the only named wind in the British Isles. Making the wind itself the character of greatest interest in the novel, Hall gives Helm a winning personality. Helm makes it clear that even though fascinated and amused by their activities, he is doubtful about the tiny ant-like human beings from the time his attention is first drawn to them. The novel moves from the prehistoric group focussed on building the stone circle now known as Meg and her Daughters, near the original settlement of the village of Eden, through several time periods up to the present day. The latest action of the novel is focussed on a young scientist, stationed near the top of Helm’s mountain, to carry out a research project on the effect of atmospheric polymers on the wind. Each period is focussed on the activities of a main character engaged in an attempt to understand or to control Helm. Only the first human project, a stone circle that will accurately reveal the winter solstice, the time of the coming of more light, is an unqualified success.

I found this beautifully written novel a compelling and enjoyable read and a clear warning of the ultimately destructive effects of human activity on nature. I would recommend it to any reader interested in nature and our often unwitting threat to her continued smooth operation. The Helm wind makes a wonderful representative for all natural forces. (My thanks to Mariner Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC)

This book is a delight. Sarah Hall's use of language is so intelligent, fresh and unique. Several passages made me smile for hours after reading them - nothing terribly profound, just the way the author developed Helm's character (Helm is a wind, yet has an adorable personality). For example, Helm was intrigued by horses the first time he saw them in Britain, and couldn't resist inspecting them: "In the plains beneath the Pennines range there's a herd so large it's as if the wild prehistories have returned. Helm straightens their manes, lifts their tails, incites stampedes." I know publishers don't like early reviewers quoting from books, in case final edits result in changes, but I IMPLORE the editors to leave this alone. This book thrives on whimsey such as this.

I wouldn't be surprised if this book is on the long list for the Booker Prize in a week or so. It's wonderful and I'd love to see it reach the widest possible audience.

Thank you to Mariner Books and NetGalley for this ARC of 'Helm' by Sarah Hall.

This is a wondrous, wonderful, and delightful novel in which the author imbues Cumbria's real-life wind, the Helm, with a history and a personality and makes it the focus of multiple character stories across centuries and timelines - via myth, superstition, religion, science, and everyday life.

Although it's got a very strong thread of humour and lightness throughout, it's also packed with sadness, tragedy, and threats. Threats from the wind against people and, latterly, from the people against the wind.

Kind of indescribable but highly recommended. I really loved this. Superb cover too.

I absolutely loved this book. It felt both timeless and alive, almost like reading a living, breathing myth. Helm — this ferocious, mischievous wind — becomes more than just an elemental force; it feels like a character you can almost reach out and touch.

I loved the way the story weaves through different eras and voices, showing how deeply nature and spirit intertwine with human longing and fear. There’s a wildness and a strange tenderness that lingers in every chapter, pulling you deeper into its foggy, wind-whipped world.

This is a novel that makes you feel small and awed in the best possible way, reminding you that nature is both lover and destroyer, friend and foe. It’s beautifully written and entirely unforgettable.

Highly recommend for anyone who loves folklore, nature’s raw power, and lyrical storytelling that leaves you haunted (in a good way).

Helm is a storm of a novel—wild, cerebral, and strangely intimate. Sarah Hall doesn’t just write the future; she breathes it into being with language that feels both mythic and sharply futuristic. From the first page, I had the sense that I wasn’t just reading a dystopia—I was being submerged in a new kind of world, one that feels eerily plausible and terrifyingly alive.

This book isn’t afraid to be challenging. It asks you to pay attention, to sit in discomfort, to let the narrative shift and pulse like something organic. Hall’s prose is fierce and lyrical, full of grit and poetry. And the central figure—Laf—has a presence that’s magnetic, haunted, and profoundly human, even as the world around her fractures into surveillance, control, and engineered obedience.

What I loved most is how Helm blends the political and the personal, the ecological and the emotional. It’s speculative fiction at its finest—urgent, thought-provoking, and gorgeously strange. You don’t walk away from this book unchanged. It lingers like static in the air.

If you’re drawn to novels that explore power, memory, resistance, and the body—told with language that cuts and soars—Helm is unmissable. A brutal, beautiful triumph.

A force of nature unto itself, this novel speaks to our connection with nature and the damage we are doing to it. It does so in a way that feels present and non preachy but still insistant and urgent. It reminds us that we need each other and the importance of caring for things and whether we trully understands what that means. 5 Stars.