Surveillance

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: A brilliant story set in the near future and charting through several generations the emergence of psychic ability in mankind and how these gifted individuals choose to use their talents. The whole series is linked tenuously to the earlier Pliocene Saga, a series I found very poor but many find equally good. I find it hard to believe that the same author wrote both series and would ask that anyone who shares my poor view of the 'Pliocene' saga not be put off reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: A good read-- prequel to the Pliocene Exile Series
Review: I found it interesting that Julian May viewed her Galactic Milieu Trilogy as her tour de force. She thought about it for years according to her interviews. She wrote the Pliocene Series as a means of introducing the reader to many of the concepts she thought might be difficult to digest without it. According to her, she wrote the first two books of the Pliocene Saga in like two months! Unbelievable!

That being said, I thought Intervention and the Galactic Milieu series were a touch below the Pliocene. There was less of what I loved-- vivid, textured imagery evoked by her silky smooth prose. Despite being set in a 22nd century universe controlled by psychics, the setting of these books were more mundane than the Saga. While some of her descriptive prose was lovely, it didn't dominate as in other books. I almost got the sense that May felt like there was too much to convey, too much to write, without enough space. What was planned as a Trilogy became Intervention plus Galactic Milieu. And even then there was so much to cover.

I also felt that for the events that changed the face of humanity, she could have come up with better antagonists. Pliocene always had an epic sense-- this one didn't even though the fate of humanity was at stake. I still very much enjoyed May's characters-- but somehow they lacked the soul that I was used to from her earlier works. In fact, the only character I felt I knew as well as any of the major protagonists from Pliocene was Uncle Rogi-- and while lovable, he owns a bookstore... he has none of the angst that many of May's characters from Pliocene had that made them so dramatic.

Still, May is one of the best in the business, and she creates a fascinating, creative universe in Intervention-- the beginnings of the Galactic Milieu.

Rating:
Summary: A good read-- prequel to the Pliocene Exile Series
Review: I found it interesting that Julian May viewed her Galactic Milieu Trilogy as her tour de force. She thought about it for years according to her interviews. She wrote the Pliocene Series as a means of introducing the reader to many of the concepts she thought might be difficult to digest without it. According to her, she wrote the first two books of the Pliocene Saga in like two months! Unbelievable!

That being said, I thought Intervention and the Galactic Milieu series were a touch below the Pliocene. There was less of what I loved-- vivid, textured imagery evoked by her silky smooth prose. Despite being set in a 22nd century universe controlled by psychics, the setting of these books were more mundane than the Saga. While some of her descriptive prose was lovely, it didn't dominate as in other books. I almost got the sense that May felt like there was too much to convey, too much to write, without enough space. What was planned as a Trilogy became Intervention plus Galactic Milieu. And even then there was so much to cover.

I also felt that for the events that changed the face of humanity, she could have come up with better antagonists. Pliocene always had an epic sense-- this one didn't even though the fate of humanity was at stake. I still very much enjoyed May's characters-- but somehow they lacked the soul that I was used to from her earlier works. In fact, the only character I felt I knew as well as any of the major protagonists from Pliocene was Uncle Rogi-- and while lovable, he owns a bookstore... he has none of the angst that many of May's characters from Pliocene had that made them so dramatic.

Still, May is one of the best in the business, and she creates a fascinating, creative universe in Intervention-- the beginnings of the Galactic Milieu.

Rating:
Summary: Excellence in alternate reality
Review: Julian May sets the scene for The Exiles Saga, describing the evolution of human minds to operancy, and the coming of Unity. It is a thought provoking book with both humour and horror, but please read The Exile Saga first (the many coloured land, the golden torc, the non-born king and the adversary).

Rating:
Summary: Essential reading for Exile fans but read Exiles first
Review: Julian May sets the scene for The Exiles Saga, describing the evolution of human minds to operancy, and the coming of Unity. It is a thought provoking book with both humour and horror, but please read The Exile Saga first (the many coloured land, the golden torc, the non-born king and the adversary).

Rating:
Summary: The awakening of the human Mind
Review: Long before George Lucas thought of making a prequel to Star wars, Julian May revisited the universe of her Pliocene Exile to tell us the origins of the story, though with a time line like this, the word origin is meaningless.

Meet Rogatien Remillard (Rogi for short - pronounced Rogue He) and his twin brother Donatien (Don). Born in late 1945, just months after Hiroshima, the two have a relatively normal childhood. Normal, that is, except for their developing mental powers and Rogi's regular visits from a mysterious, benevolent, invisible entity he dubs Le Phantome Familier - The Family Ghost.

As the twins mature, they take very diferent paths. Rogi, sterilised in his youth by the measels, acts as defacto father for his nephew Denis, raising him with love and teaching him to use his awesome mental gifts. Denis' father Don, scared by his sons potential takes to the bottle, and eventually learns to use his own mental abiliies for personal gain. Then, offended by his brothers "theft" of his firstborn, Don takes over the rearing of his second son Victor, teaching him all the malitious mental tricks he has perfected.

Denis, raised in love by his uncle, protected from his own fathers malice by his indomitable mental strength, becomes a paragon to psychics everywhere, devoting his life to further understanding humanities mental potential. Victor, corrupted from birth by his father, becomes a truly dark individual, wielding his awesome mental coercion for his own benefit, infiltrating the mafia, and eventually threatening the world. The two brothers carry the contrast between Rogi and Don to the next generation, and to the next level of mental ability.

Carefully observing it all, as they have for millenia, the pacifist psychic aliens of the Galactic Milieu await the maturation of the Human Mind, knowing as they do that it will be the most glorious Mind in the Glalaxy, and will enrich the Milieu fantastically. But nothing is certain, and humanity may follow the path of thousands of other races who failed - into self - annihilation.

Mankinds potential for Good, is matched only by its potential for Evil.

Rating:
Summary: She's..... wondferful!!!
Review: Reading this book shocked me into remembering how much I'd loved the Saga of the Exiles. This continuation is just as good, if not better. Rogi is a loveable main character, and the viewpoint is magnificent. Julian May weaves sucha full web, you are never left without something to read. THIS is how the future could have been, THIS is how it could still be.

Rating:
Summary: Excellence in alternate reality
Review: This is my favorite of the survallence series. Rogi is finally introduced, and is also on of the most important humans ever born (catspaw of the Lymlik). I love the way modern life is blended into the Sci-Fi epic, especially Denis's "60-minutes" interview when he shocks the world with metaphysic power.