Customer Reviews

Adversary (Saga of the Exiles, Book 4)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My Dad has had the first three books in The Saga of the Exiles hanging around for as long as I can remember and I finally got around to reading them about 2 weeks ago. And I ate them up, hoo boy. The first three were a literary feast and by the time I finished The Non-Born King I NEEDED to read The Adversary and I finally found it in the library at my university. And let me tell you, folks, this book is the crowning glory on the best achievement in sci-fi writing to date. What an amazing culmination of all May's talents- her wonderful, evocative prose, the flawless creation of her characters, the twisting, thrilling plot, to name a few.
The Adversary details the lead up to the Grand Tourney, Aiken Drum's substitute for the Grand Combat, the contest itself and its repercussions. And what repercussions. I'm not gonna tell you, you'll have to read the book ;). Such a short summary is hardly worthy of the novel itself, but to go into more detail would be to ruin May's carefully crafted work- and by the time you finish the last page, you'll be astounded by the depth and breadth of her vision.
Before I read The Saga of the Exiles, my favourite fantasy/sci-fi series was Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun- but I found Julian May's Saga infinitely more gripping, confronting and so much more entertaining. I've heard criticisms of the series, none of which I agree with, the two foremost that 1. it's difficult to understand a lot of her language without a dictionary by your side, but to this I say: even if it's so for you, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T BE PUT OFF. You'll never find a series more rewarding than this one.
The second criticism I've heard was 2. that it's clear cut good vs. evil. I've never heard anything sillier in my life. One of the main things I loved about the Saga was its ambiguity in terms of where the reader's loyalty can lie- I wanted EVERYONE to win at some point, `elfin' Tanu, `demonic' Firvulag, Lowlife humans; and I've heard a lot of people express their love for Marc Remillard, the infamous Adversary himself.
All I can leave you with is this: wow. What a beautiful series. The Adversary- what a BRILLIANT bloody ending. So satisfying. Oh. God. I think I'm going to go start The Many-Coloured Land again and read the whole series a second time. How fabulous. Oh. Wow.

The breathtaking conclusion to the Saga of Pliocene Exile,
we are confronted by three principals-- King Aiken Drum, former misfit; Elizabeth Orme, former psychic, now ohmbudsperson of the Many Colored Land; and Marc Remillard, felled leader of a Rebellion against a 22nd century galaxtic civilizatio.

I cannot emphasize my admiration for May's writing. Her style is vivid, smooth, alive. In this book, Remillard takes center stage, the most provocative character in sci-fi. He is Milton's fallen Lucifer-- brilliant, driven, obsessed to the point of cruelty-- ultimately noble, self-sacrificing-- in this way he is reborn

But don't think that May ignores her other characters. They continue to evolve, gaining substance, soul. I never found myself saying "No, that doesn't fit"-- she makes this incredibly complex work while remaining true to the personalities of her characters and the scenario she has created.

The tension in this book is less about epic battles with armies of thousands (although there is that here), as in Nonborn King, and more about a war of wills, manipulations of chess pieces on a board by the principals. Somehow, the story gets still deeper, then comes to a satisfying, appropriate conclusion.

IMO, the best sci-fi series ever written.

The end is nigh, Night is about to Fall. The ogreish Firvulag plot amongst themselves, eager to fight the Final Battle and defeat their Foe once and for all. The elfin Tanu, finally united under their new Golden King, are rapidly changing traditions that have stood for millenia. The scattered Lowlives, once renegade humans hiding in the woods, are forming a third power block, using technology smuggled from the future and the deadly bloodmetal, fatal to the alien races. And high above them all, in her self imposed isolation, reluctant planetary guardian Elizabeth Orm bears the burdens of three races on her tired shoulders.

The signs are all around, the portents fulfilled, the NightFall war is coming, and with it, the Adversary - Marc Remillard, Paramount Grand Master Psychic. Rebel. Monster. He was one of the most powerful minds in the future, before he turned against everyone he loved, and led thousands in a war against the peaceful Galactic Milleu. His actions caused the deaths of millions, and he fled through the time gate, hoping to restart his plans with a six million year head start. The Tanu and Firvulag call him The Adversary, but his own people know him as Abaddon - the Angel of the Abyss.

His dreams for humanities future led him into its past, and know he stands on the brink of the abyss, torn between his humanity and his destiny mistaken about both.

Like most readers, I read the Exile quartet before the other Galactic Milieu books, and after Adversary, I was hungry for more. I don't believe there is another blend of sf/fantasy quite like May's sweeping vision, and I have read all 9 books in the series several times. I wonder why Hollywood hasn't gotten its blood soaked hands on this saga yet...

What I really want to do is review the whole series. It seems to me that it really is impossible to talk about one of the nine books separately, far much more than in other series. Common complaints in the other reviews are lack of full explanation, lack of sufficient denouement. But in this case, I don't think that applies. This is a NON-LINEAR series! The denouement for the Adversary, for example, is scattered through the Galactic Milieu trilogy, especially Magnificat. Conversely, much of the denouement of Magnificat can be gleaned by reading bits of the Pliocene Saga which talk about what is thought of the Rebellion twenty-seven years after. To fully appreciate these books, you have to read them all, then go back and look through them again, examining Rogi's conversations with the 'Family Ghost' and other places. These books don't follow one after the ot! her in a neat orderly manner. It's an unusual way to write a series, but if you've read some interviews with Julian May, you'll know she didn't write the books in a chronological manner, but kind of planned all nine at once.

One reading will never do these books justice. I would suggest reading the Pliocene Saga as a sequel to the Galactic Milieu books, because that really is what they are. May just happened to publish them first. Since I read the Milieu first, I cannot imagine how anyone can fully appreciate Nonborn King and the Adversary without knowing about Marc Remillard first.

That reminds me . . . there is one area where the cross-referencing lets me down. I want to know more about Marc and Elizabeth's work in Duat, more about that not-insignificant gap of six million years we have missing out of Marc's life! But I think at this late date I have to give up hope.

The human Grand Master operants are a focus of this book. Elizabeth is a grand master farsensor, and she realises Marc Remillard is in the Pliocene, and who he is, and asks for his help in curing a Tanu baby. Some of them reject the Torc and will die, in general, but Elizabeth and Marc know techniques that may help, and lead the Tanu to operancy, something the Firvulag already enjoy.

As Marc and Elizabeth grow closer, he must deal with his own rebellion, as the number of Milie rebels dwindle, and his children don't want to participate in his breeding plans for them, and his Mental Man project. The children want to return to the Milieu.

A stubborn conservative part of Tanu and Firvulag society still wants to bring about their own Armaggeddon, the Nightfall War.

book was a gift to out son-in-law. He had all of the other books in the saga and was very pleased with finally getting this one to complete his set.

What can I say about this final book (though not the end)in a wonderfully creative series, I am amazed at Julian Mays ability to create such a rich and complex world ! the characters are unique, well defined and feel real, you are able to immerse yourself in their world so easily that you are thankfully distracted from your own very mundane exsistance!

There is so much to this series that it is difficult to summarise adequately the sheer originality and creativity that went into this scifi/fantasy classic! I shall instead leave that up to you, to follow the misfits of Human society and dare to travel to the Earths distant past and be part of an adventure like none other, this series is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, you wont regret making this a fine addition to your collection! SIMPLY BRILLIANT!

Hi, The Exile series is a great burst vision and creativity and originality. I originally read the series 10 years ago when i started uni. I didn't get it. But now it makes sense, i can appreciate the genius. Especially with "magic" being replaced with metaphysics, it updated the tolken genre for recent times. I would rate the Phillip jose pharmer "World of tiers series", as slightly better, but Mays writing style and originality are awesome.

Also, I have been experimenting with lucid dreaming, so i can appreciate the various "meta" powers first hand!

I look forward to the milieu series. I can be contacted on grassom@smartchat.net.au for any comments, and btw where is the julian may web site?

I liked this book a lot. I put off reading anything else until I finished this series. My only singular complaint is the order in which they were published in relation to the Galactic Milieu. I made the mistake of reading Jack the Bodiless a couple of years ago and subsequenlty forgot the tittle and author. I then read the Saga of the Pliocence Exile on the prompting of a friend. I found myself vaugely remembering the name Marc Remillard. It took me weeks to figure out what this was all about, and by then I had finished the Pliocene Exile without realizing it might have been easier just to have read Galatic Mileu first so I could figure out what was up with Marc. I just satrted re-reading Jack the Bodiless and plan to then read the Pliocene exile again so I can sort it all out. It is much easier to read them in order of the events taking place than the order of the publication date.