Rating: 
Summary: A pleasant few hours' diversion
Review: The Gaean trilogy is one of the classics of space operatic adventure. Wizard tries to be more than that. It tries to be a novel of difficult moral questions, of individuals who are at odds with the standards of their society, of individuals that must make decisions that affect everyone in their society for better or for worse. It doesn't do a very good job of that, though. It is a wonderful space opera, but weak as a psychological novel.Varley isn't afraid to sketch complex characters. Every one of the main characters of Wizard is to some extent or another mad. Since the events of Titan, Cirocco Jones has cracked under the weight of serving as Gaea's Wizard and become a depressive alcoholic. Gaby's century of unrequited love for Cirocco has filled her with bitter resignation. And over the course of the novel, Gaea herself no longer looks like the mostly benign, albeit callous deity she was in Titan, but instead is revealed as contemptous of mortal life and absolutely nuts. Of the new protagonists, Chris suffers from bouts of possession by other personalities, while Robin has a genetic epilepsy that has led her to cut herself off from the rest of her culture, a space colony of lesbian witches. But having assembled this motley crew, Varley just writes an imaginitive, but fairly typical, adventure fantasy that revolves around the protagonists repeatedly being almost killed by alien monsters. Their respective psychoses manifest themselves when dramatically convenient and may as well be absent the rest of the time. Most of the inter-character development comes through the characters either jumping in bed with each other or talking about how they would want to jump in bed with each other if only it weren't such a bad idea. Doing these characters proper justice requires more subtlety than Wizard offers. Wizard is good space fantasy adventure, but nothing more.
Rating: 
Summary: Varley is second to none
Review: The only compliment I can give that is worthy to be printed is that this is the only trilogy (Titan, Wizard, Demon) I have ever read where I am still dying to know what happens next!!! Please Mr. Varley....bring them back again!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Rama like.
Review: The Rama like adventure continues. The story is a little more bland then Titan, but the characters are wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Loved the series: Titan, Wizard, Demon
Review: This is a series of books I've read multiple times. They are well-written, nicely plotted and there are many memorable characters in this story who stick with you after you are done reading about them. I'd love to find out more about what happens to Cirocco Jones and her friends after the events described in Demon.
Rating:
Summary: A good book.
Review: This was a good book, a fairly easy to follow. I recommend reading it, as well as Titan and Demon.
Rating:
Summary: With a god like this, who wants heaven?
Review: We were introduced to the alien Gaea in Titan, when our characters came to investigate. Now we get to explore it in a great-circle journey around the rim, visiting almost every region.
John Varley has created an intriguing, unique landscape in this installment of his trilogy. Not only is Gaea a world and a god, but she is also a political being with a sharp eye towards the future. It is only in Demon that we see how shrewd she really is, but for now she presents herself as the benign but not really caring omnipotent who grants cures to people with interesting diseases. The catch is that applicants have to perform an heroic deed first.
We get some fascination candidates; an Earth man and a Witch from an orbiting colony. These two meet our heroes from Titan, and all set out along the river looking for adventure. Our old friends Cirrocco and Gaby who were the first humans to encounter Gaea have an ulterior motive for this little venture though, one that could change Gaea forever.
All the characters here are so well written they become like old friends in a very short time. There are also moments of humor in here that made me giggle uncontrollably, endearing these people to me even more.
Titanides are the most original, interesting and wonderful creatures ever conceived in fiction of any genre, from their instictive ablilty to understand and make music of any kind in existence to the myriad ways and means of conception. They are the most talked-about species in the book, but there are tons of other strange things to see and/or run away from. Blimps, Subs, buzzbombs, angels, sandworms and even King Kong! Readers of scifi will see Varley paying tribute to many other scifi greats along the journey.
So here in Wizard, our little troupe sets off down the river, that flows around the world, that is Gaea, who is not sane. Anything can happen in a place like that, but to find out why, you have to READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: Wizard meets the level of excellent set in "Titan"
Review: Wizard is easily as good as its prequel, Titan; the two are among the best books I have ever read. The fall into alcoholism (and subsequent recovery from it) by the main character, one of my personal role models, is touching. The story is compelling, offering both emotion and action. It is a must-read for all lovers of great writing, whether they are sci-fi fans or not.
Rating:
Summary: What if the Goddess REALLY hated you?
Review: Wizard is the second and best book in the Gaea trilogy, one of the best trilogies ever. It brings back most of the characters from the first book, shakes them up quite a bit, and adds some new ones. Cirocco Jones, the heroine of "Titan" and now officially known as the Wizard, is back - but she's a fairly hopeless drunk. Gaby, very much in love with Cirocco, has a hard time doing Gaea's errands without the magic powers granted to Cirocco, while taking care of Cirocco. Then there are the new characters - Chris, who loses his mind on a regular basis and has zero self-esteem; and Robin, a witch with an extreme condition resembling epilepsy and a major attitude problem. Together, they set out on a journey to visit all of Gaea's "regional brains", the demi-gods who live under Gaea's skin and control the lands surrounding them. From the moment they set out, they are threatened by evil humans and malevolent aliens, including the sinister buzzbombs. Buzzbombs, which are intelligent jet fighters complete with symbiotic heatseeking missiles, are my favourite aliens ever. ""Wizard" is full of wonderful symbolism, imagery borrowed from classic films, and Varley's fantastic imagination. It also features some fairly graphic interspecies sex, and a little extreme violence, so it's not for everyone - Star Trek this is not. But it's a wonderful mix of social exploration, ethics, some of the most imaginative landscapes in the genre, and action that begs for James Cameron to film it.
Rating:
Summary: What if the Goddess REALLY hated you?
Review: Wizard is the second and best book in the Gaea trilogy, one of the best trilogies ever. It brings back most of the characters from the first book, shakes them up quite a bit, and adds some new ones. Cirocco Jones, the heroine of "Titan" and now officially known as the Wizard, is back - but she's a fairly hopeless drunk. Gaby, very much in love with Cirocco, has a hard time doing Gaea's errands without the magic powers granted to Cirocco, while taking care of Cirocco. Then there are the new characters - Chris, who loses his mind on a regular basis and has zero self-esteem; and Robin, a witch with an extreme condition resembling epilepsy and a major attitude problem. Together, they set out on a journey to visit all of Gaea's "regional brains", the demi-gods who live under Gaea's skin and control the lands surrounding them. From the moment they set out, they are threatened by evil humans and malevolent aliens, including the sinister buzzbombs. Buzzbombs, which are intelligent jet fighters complete with symbiotic heatseeking missiles, are my favourite aliens ever. ""Wizard" is full of wonderful symbolism, imagery borrowed from classic films, and Varley's fantastic imagination. It also features some fairly graphic interspecies sex, and a little extreme violence, so it's not for everyone - Star Trek this is not. But it's a wonderful mix of social exploration, ethics, some of the most imaginative landscapes in the genre, and action that begs for James Cameron to film it.
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