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Title: The Many-Colored Land
ISBN: 0345324447
Author:
Julian May
Publicate Date: 1985-01-12
Publish: 1985-01-12
List Price: $6.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $22.95
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
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1: The start of a brilliant SF/fantasy saga
It appears this book may be out of print, which is a damned shame. Julian May is one of my favorite authors, and The Saga of Pliocene Exile is a brilliant, refreshingly different piece of epic SF/fantasy. You can find the first two books in hardcover as a book club omnibus cleverly entitled "The Many-Colored Land & The Golden Torc." The books continue into at least two more complete series (the Intervention and then the Galactic Mileu stuff). I read this in the early 90's and blew through the first four books, then was excited to see her continue with two more series based in the same universe.
For those of you looking for something to compare it to, I'd say it can be somewhat reminiscent of Joan Vinge's excellent Snow Queen books (please read all 3 of those, and while you're at it, ex-hubby Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep and sequel) but it really is quite original. May is excellent with character development and plotting, and I believe has some science training or background, as the research she has done to write the books is clearly significant. There are stunning plot twists and plenty of characters in the gray. And the way her villians play their parts can be truly terrifying in a deep psychological way. The first book does start off with a lot of character background, but once the time machine comes into play, you're off to the races. The first sequel is called The Golden Torc. Have fun.
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2: Best Damn SciFi series EVER!!!
from the first page to the very last page ending the entire series, i've loved since i acquired the first book. i cannot remember how many times i've read and reread them, even having to replace every single one when they were stolen from me. The whole concept of mental powers have always interested me so seeing a series with that in mind was right up my alley.
Because of this series, i want the intervention to hurry up and happen so i too, can regen myself to my 20's and take off from this planet.
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3: Halfway through the saga, I'm cautiously positive
I have just finished the second book in this four-volume "saga" (which is itself part of of a larger series that encompasses a two-volume middle and a concluding trilogy). I'm generally a sucker for well-done grand operatic series (say, like the first four Dune books, or Dan Simmons' Hyperion novels), so I was excited to recently discover this one that I had somehow overlooked, and all the more so in light of the fairly positive reviews that it had generated here on Amazon. Still, it struck me as curious, perhaps portentous, that May's sprawling series had never been honored with any of the genre's major awards.
Well, now being at the halfway point (of the first set), I think my wariness was partly justified, yet at the same time, I must say that I plan to press on with the others, which says something good is going on, because if something really blows, I have no compunctions about seeking greener reading pastures elsewhere. (As I did, for example, after wading through the first three of Alistair Reynolds' meandering, prolix space operas. A similar fear has kept me away from Peter Hamilton's books to date.)
May is a fine writer. Some people complain about her massive vocabulary, which I find to be a fairly ludicrous objection. (You want basic vocab: read Orson Scott Canard.) Nor do I think that she rhapsodizes in excessive detail over minor incidents (aka, Tolkienitis) to flesh out a thin plot; in fact, major confrontations sometimes seem to zip by almost too quickly. The human characters, esp. the core "Group Green" whose bifurcated adventures we mostly follow, are complex, believable, and interesting; the "exotics" (aliens) only slightly less so, for the most part. However . . . you really do almost need a program to keep up with the huge and ever-growing cast of characters (there is a companion available to the series, but beware of using it, because unsurprisingly, its synopses tend to give away plot points in advance), and sometimes that reeks of complexity for complexity's sake. But my biggest objection, I think, is that too much of the plot revolves around points that seem to me redolent of someone who played a tad too much Dungeons & Dragons in their day. (These books were written in the early 80s.) Both the exotics and the humans are endowed with "metapsychic functions" (shall we just say, superpowers?) of different types and combinations, which come in both "latent" and "operant" varieties. Hmmm. That stuff grates on me after awhile, and reminds me way too much of those stupid role-playing games where such powers and their "levels" (not to mention the acquisition of special uber-weapons, which also play a role herein as well) are determined by dice rolls and other tedious, capricious methods that help make them, overall, quite unbelievable. There's a lot of that sort of deus ex machination in these books, and its resemblance to D&D is exacerbated by the overwhelmingly fantasy (rather than science-fiction) feel to the series, which the publisher then compounded with atrocious cover-art.
Anyway, I'm giving it four stars for now, though three and a half would be more accurate. The plot(s) are engrossing enough that I plan to keep reading, and I also admire the degree to which May has managed to weave a decent amount of technology (the basis of most science-fiction) and social commentary (natch) into her narrative, as opposed to the repressed romantic navel-gazing with which most fantasy fiction is usually associated. I'll keep you anonymous readers posted how I feel about it after I make it through a few more.
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4: Works for me
I've been reading science fiction for a long time and confess to a weakness for space opera. Of all the universes I've visited, this one doesn't let go. I've read all 9 of the books that comprise May's Galactic Milieu universe--at least four times. There are two reasons folks love this universe, particularly the Exile quartet: the delightful mixture of classic sci-fi elements with fantasy, and the fact that the story is circular; that is, questions are answered, stories are completed, and it all is connected.
A group of eight malcontents flee a far-too-orderly, benevolently dictatorial galactic civilization through a gate into the Pliocene, 6 million years in the past. It's a one way trip and they don't know what they'll find when they get there.
What they find: the origins of some of our most deeply felt legends about little people, elves, trolls and others. And space ships. And laser lances. And amazing mind powers. And sex. And violence. Not much rock and roll, though.
No, this isn't Steinbeck, or even Silverberg. May is telling a rip-snorter here, not going all LeGuin on us. That's why I love the books. They're just loads of fun.
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5: Simply one of the best...
As another reviewer mentioned, this is one of the few series of books that I will return to every few years, and enjoy just as much the Nth time around. In my opinion, May is a master: Her plotting is tight, her characters are fun (and flawed), and her dialog is very good (and often funny!) Finally -- and so FEW of her contemporaries seem to be able to do this -- this is not another trite GoooD vs EeevilL tome. That's right, May is capable of creating sympathetic characters on both (even many!) sides of a conflict. In my mind this series is one of the most underrated sci-fi/fantasy series of all time. The series climax, between the "court jester" and the "dark king" is amazing. Buy them, read them, enjoy.
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