Helm is an enjoyable coming of age science fiction/fantasy book.  There is little science fiction in it, but just enough.  In places it is more like Lord of the Rings than like SF.  It is the most fantasy like book that Steven Gould has written  It also has quite a bit of martial arts in it.  It wasn't entirely successful in presenting them.  It required you to actually visualize the movements.  I wasn't very good at it.

The story is quick, though occasionally muddy.  And of course once the young guy gets going he can do nothing wrong.  Unfortunately, green soldiers become battle seasoned without actually going through any battles.

For all its faults, it was an enjoyable read.