Intervention - And thus the Saga begins... (Intervention - Julian May)

Member Name: Redhead23

Product:	Intervention - Julian May
Date:	30/06/01 (448 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great read, intelligently written, thrilling, there are 3 more books after this

Disadvantages: None

If you have previously read Julian May's brilliant 'Saga of the Exiles', or even if you have just read my Op on it, then you may know that there is much more to the story than just the first four books, 'The Many-Coloured Land', 'The Golden Torc', 'The Nonborn King' and 'The Adversary'.

While the 'Saga of the Exiles' is an excellent fantasy/Sci-Fi story that can be happily read on its own, it does leave quite a few storylines open, both in the Beginning and in the End - and for anyone eager to find out the truth, 'Intervention' is the next step in the line.

Although during the follow-up 'Galactic Milieu Trilogy' the story does return to the beginning of the 'Saga of the Exiles' (and thus it is fine to start the epic with 'Intervention' rather than 'The Many-Coloured Land'), I would recommend reading them in the order they were published, i.e. 'The Saga of the Exiles', 'Intervention' and then the 'Galactic Milieu Trilogy', to get the most out of the intricate and clever storyline.

'Intervention' was initially published as two separate books: 'The Surveillance' and 'The Metaconcert', but is now mostly sold as one book. The 668 pages strong Sci-Fi novel (~£6, Pan Publishing Ltd.) takes up where 'The Saga of the Exiles' left, but at the same time it tells the story of the events that led up to the situation 'The Saga of the Exiles' starts with.

Confused? Well, it's a bit like a snake biting its own tail - While both halves (The Saga of the Exiles vs. Intervention and the Galactic Milieu Trilogy) make perfect sense on their own, neither of them could have happened without the other. The full story is only possible through the loop that covers the 6 million years between the two halves, it has no beginning and it has no end.

But you, as the reader, must start SOMEWHERE,
and even though 'Intervention' is set closest to the 'here and now', the twentieth and twenty-first century, you would lose out on the more interesting twists in the storyline if you started here. Things like the Family Ghost 'mystery' and the Great Carbuncle just won't make sense to you if you haven't read the 'Saga of the Exiles' - while both 'halves' sort of contain hints about what happens in the other half, the books seem clearly laid out to give straightforward information in the Exile books (about what the Milieu is and about the Metapsychic Rebellion), while you may have trouble getting your head round 'Intervention' without having read the 'Saga of the Exiles' first.

So unless you don't care for these most interesting twists, don't read 'Intervention' before you've worked your way through the 'Saga of the Exiles' - you'll thank me for it some day ;-)


^^^^^^ Working up to the Story ^^^^^^

It's February in the year 2113, Hanover, New Hampshire, Earth. Meet Rogatien Remillard, 'Uncle Rogi' to just about anyone, who has the so-called 'immortality gene' that allows his body to repair and rejuvenate itself. (This trait has been inherited by many members of the Remillard Clan)

Uncle Rogi is a member of the famous Remillard family, whose most feared and most infamous member is Marc Remillard, Abadonn, Angel of the Abyss (oh, and he's also 'The Adversary' mentioned in the book with the same name), whom we met in the 'Saga of the Exiles'; thanks to the immortality gene Rogi had the chance to observe (and influence, as we shall see) most of the events that led up to the alien Intervention and later to the Metapsychic Rebellion and the escape of the desperados through the time gate in France in the year 2110.

Rogatien Remillard, proprietor of the second-hand Sci-Fi bookstore 'The E
loquent Page', has locked up his store to enjoy the annual winter carnival and is very much looking forward to the fireworks. He is huddled in a mass of people on the streets along with members of alien races like the bird-like (and sex-obsessed) Gi, the ghastly giant Krondaku, the reptilian (and slime-dribbling) Simbiari and the small, purple-skinned Poltroyans who are the only humanoid race in the Galactic Milieu (other than the humans, that is).

But of course the entity calling itself 'The Family Ghost' can't let him enjoy the spectacle in peace, oh no, the Ghost, who has been guiding (and bugging) Rogi since his early childhood and has coerced him into meddling with history uncounted times in Rogi's long life, has another task for Rogi - it wants him to write down the story of the Remillard Family from his very own unique perspective.

Although Rogi is not entirely convinced of the existence of the Family Ghost (he still thinks he might just be a figment of his own imagination, a manifestation of his subconscious), he reluctantly agrees after challenging the Ghost, who also claims to be a Lylmik (an alien race with no true physical manifestation), to reveal its true nature to him. The Ghost denies Rogi's wish but reveals its former self, which is enough to get Rogi going with his memoirs.

At this point I already had an inkling who or what the Ghost might be, and my suspicion was confirmed at the end of the book, but I'll leave you to do the guessing for yourself (any ideas can be sent to my E-Mail addy) - it isn't too hard if you've read the 'Saga of the Exiles', but that's all I'm going to say!


^^^^^^ The What's, Why's and When's ^^^^^^

Rogi's memoirs, which also include information from other perspectives, start on August 9th, 1945, the day that 'Fat Man' (named after Winston Churchill), the second A-bomb ever used in a war, was detonate
d over the Japanese city Nagasaki after the first bomb (Little Boy or Thin Man, named after Roosevelt) had devastated Hiroshima three days earlier.

The surveyors on the spaceship in orbit around Earth, comprising of a team of alien entities lead by the Simbiari, official proctors of Earth for the past 60'000 years, are devastated.
The Simbiari's task over this time, under orders of the Lylmik, oldest race and founders of the Galactic Milieu, had been to secretly observe and guide the planet Earth and its inhabitants to determine the suitable time for an alien Intervention.

The Lylmik guides regularly assign the Milieu member races planets to observe, and any races that survive the results of their technical advantage and move on to a higher level of social evolution at the same time as developing their metapsychic abilities, are then taken into the Galactic Milieu through the Intervention, where the alien entities reveal their presence, assign the planet an official proctorship and after a probation period the planet is given full membership in the Milieu.

Although the odds were stacked highly against Earth's population surviving the fruits of their own technological and scientific advancements, the Lylmik (and in particular their leader Atoning Unifex) had insisted to continue Earth's surveillance and even reduce the conditions for Earth's membership in the Milieu. But this last event, the use of atomic weapons against thousands of human beings, has convinced the surveyors that Earth is a lost cause. Still, the Lylmik insist that Earth must be supervised further, and that the future holds great things for the apparently doomed humans.

Rogi's own story starts in Berlin, New Hampshire, where he and his twin brother Donatien (Don for short) are born three days after the second fateful atomic explosion. Both boys have metapsychic abilities, but at that point mankind is still unaware of the real nature of t
hese faculties and both Rogi and Don, who discover their abilities when Rogi gets lost in the woods, are scared of revealing them to others.

It is during this adventure, at the tender age of 5, that Rogi has his first encounter with the Family Ghost, le fantôme familier who guides him back to the rest of his family. He doesn't tell anyone about the Ghost, and the two brothers reluctantly continue to explore their new-found talents.

During this time, in the late Forties and early Fifties, scientist all over the world and in particular the Scot Jamie McGregor, start discovering evidence of the existence of the metafaculties (the metapsychic abilities) among more and more humans, which seem particularly strong in humans with Celtic and Franco-Canadian origin.
(Those who have read 'The Saga of the Exiles' will know why)

The story goes on to tell of the further metapsychic experiments, the continued surveillance of Earth and how Rogi and Don grow up to become two entirely different personalities - Rogi is shy and has more or less come to terms with his talents, while Don denies his abilities, has an aggressive personality and is slipping off into alcoholism.

When Don goes on to marry Rogi's girlfriend Sunny, Rogi is overly tempted to abuse Don's drunken state on his stag night and plans to kill him out of jealousy, but the Ghost appears and forbids the crime, insisting that Don and Sunny got married and had children.

Rogi distances himself from Don and it is only after their first son Denis is born that Rogi gets back into contact with the young couple. Rogi had been rendered sterile after a bout with measles in his childhood, but the newborn baby Denis bonds telepathically with Rogi at his christening and Rogi goes on to educate the child in his metapsychic abilities, which are far superior to those of either Rogi and Don.

Don dedicates all his time to his second son Victor, who secretly ha
rbours his own powerful metapsychic abilities, and while Denis grows up to become a scientist specialising in the study of the metafaculties, Victor has inherited his father's aggressive temper and violent personality and abuses them to manipulate his younger siblings and later business partners.

Under the guidance (or rather: orders) of the Family Ghost, Rogi moves to Hanover and opens his bookstore, where he is given a ruby talisman, the 'Great Carbuncle' as Denis comes to call it.
(Again, readers of the 'Saga of the Exiles' might have a suspicion at this point)

The story continues to describe the devastating fate of mankind as unease over the newly discovered metapsychic 'superhumans' and political unrest threaten to lead to WW III, while Victor is working to suppress his own brother's success as a representative of the metapsychic movement.

As the unrest comes to a climax during the annual metapsychic congress, the Lylmik are preparing the alien surveyors for the Great Intervention, which will change the future of mankind...


^^^^^^ My Impressions ^^^^^^

Although the 'Saga of the Exiles' was set in the same 'universe', 'Intervention' replaces the fantasy aspects of the first four books with a delicate dose of Sci-Fi at the same time as still staying very close to the 'here and how', and pretty realistically draws a picture of a present and future human society.

Just like in the Exile books, Julian May manages to draw an extremely realistic picture of the main characters and reveals just the right amount of information to satisfy the reader's curiosity without spoiling any of the plot. Throughout 'Intervention' and the follow-ups 'Jack the Bodiless', 'Diamond Mask' and 'Magnificat', May kept me at the edge of the chair, revealing the beautiful storyline bit by bit while still holding back just enough to
keep my brain going wild with new ideas and suspicions.

The storyline is fluent (although it often hops from place to place when events occur at the same time) and makes perfect sense not only within the book but also with the events described in the Exile books and the following 'Galactic Milieu Trilogy'.

The autobiographic nature of the book makes it easy to identify with the secret hero Rogi and at the same time makes it a great read even for people who do not normally enjoy Science Fiction, and the book is so brilliantly written that it can be read on its own even without the background knowledge from the Exile books.

Personally, I feel that 'Intervention' and the Milieu trilogy are even better than the 'Saga of the Exiles', but that may just be because I don't normally care much for Fantasy literature and prefer Science Fiction.

All in all, Intervention is a fantastic read both on its own and as a part of the whole 'May Universe', in particular for those who have read the Exile saga and now want to know more about the fate of the Exile protagonists as well as the events that lead to the Great Intervention and later to the integration into the Galactic Milieu that was so deeply despised by most of the Exile-Seekers.

If you like Sci-Fi then this is a definite must, and if you have previously read the 'Saga of the Exiles' there is absolutely no excuse for NOT wanting to know more about the story.

So why don't you get off your PC and get round those bookstores (or even better: second-hand bookstores, they often have all copies of a May series available, as most people end up buying them all at the same time and don't just sell one of them) and get your hands on this brilliant piece of Sci-Fi? Go on, Rogi really is a nice chap and once you've met him, you'll be gagging for more of his memoirs!

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