@RUTGERS.ARPA:Susser.PASA@Xerox.ARPA (01/25/85)
From: Susser.PASA@XEROX.ARPA
<< THE SAGA OF THE PLIOCENE EXILE >> by Julian May
< The Many-Colored Land >
< The Golden Torc >
< The Nonborn King >
< The Adversary >
(pub: Houghton Mifflin - Boston)
Whether you knew it or not, the Saga is what you've been waiting for.
These books are not merely fantastic, but quite wonderfully superlative.
The following review contains a little SPOILER material, but it is stuff
that you find out very early in the first volume.
The Saga begins in the future/present of the 21st/22nd century. By this
time, humans have begun to develop their latent genentic potential for
abilities referred to as Metapsychic functions. Early operants
(metapsychics) send a plea for help (Save us from the Bomb!) to the
stars, and discover that the Galaxy is populated by other races, all
metapsycically operant. Humanity is welcomed by the coadunate races and
nurtured toward metapsychic maturity and Unity.
About the same time, a certain Professor Guderian discovers an obscure
phenomenon that allows him to build a one-way portal to Pliocene Europe,
six million years ago. Many humans, unable to accept life in the
Galactic Milieu, escape to Exile in the idyllic past of the Pliocene.
Exiled humans quickly discover that Pliocene Europe is dominated by the
Tanu, a race of aliens who have fled their galaxy for religious exile on
Earth. The Tanu all wear golden torcs that make them metapsycically
operant. These they give to metapsycically latent humans in return for
... servitude.
These few chapters bring you to the point where the good stuff really
begins.
Julian May provides lovable, hatable, believable and unforgetable
characters. The plot is quite surprising and strangely satisfying. May
adeptly avoids references to "hard science" (where she is not strong),
and so presents a wondrous but believable technology, both of matter and
of mind. Her world is fantastic and dangerous, a place where almost
anything can happen, and usually does.
I highly recommend these books to anyone who can read (or could learn
to). Don't put this off and risk losing your vision in the mean time.
Note: The tales of the Coadunate Galactic Milieu pre-continue in
<< The Milieu Trilogy >>
< Jack the Bodiless >
< Diamond Mask >
< Magnificat >
Enjoy yourselves; I did.
--Josh
"Pain is just God's way of hurting you."preece@ccvaxa.UUCP (01/31/85)
The Many Colored Land series was generally enjoyable, but it was carried on much too long. The third and fourth books were something of a struggle. The first book was a real pleasure. Series tend to go like that, I guess, as the sense of wonder fades, but I think she had to work too hard to keep the plot alive. scott preece gould/csd-urbana ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!preece