THE NONBORN KING

Rating:
Summary: Getting into high gear
Review: With the third volume of her Pliocene Exile series, Julian May kicks things into high gear. With the Tanu weakened from last volume's catastrophe, we are introduced to a new menace in the form of an old menace. This is the volume where May's incredibly rich backstory fully comes into play. In fact, the ideas presented here (and to a limited extent in the previous two volumes) provide fodder for not only this book, but the next six books in the Galactic Milieu universe.

And the imagery! It just doesn't get any better than the description of the battle at the Rio Genil. You can see the action in your mind almost as clearly as if one of May's farspeakers was projecting the image directly into your head. That scene alone is worth the whole series.

In addition, the author manages to get across the weariness and depression of a society that has been mortally wounded but is too proud to just give up. In the previous volumes, the Tanu were painted as more...well, perhaps villainous isn't the right word, but definitely not sympathetic. Here, however, one actually feels for them, despite their history of oppressing humanity and their own Firvulag cousins. It's obvious that the reign of the Tanu is coming to an end, but nobody's quite gotten the message yet and they continue to cling to past glories and hope for revival.

Truly a masterpiece of fiction.