The Beginning of the most amazing Sci-Fi Epic - Ever (Saga of the Exiles - Julian May in general)

Member Name: Redhead23

Product:	Saga of the Exiles - Julian May in general
Date:	16/06/01 (710 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thrilling, Addictive, Intricate Storyline, There are many more Books to follow

Disadvantages: Can be a bit slow at times

When I read an excellent DooYoo opinion on 'The Many-Coloured Land' by Julian May a while ago, I suddenly remembered that my other half was in possession of not only this book, but also of the rest of the sci-fi and fantasy-inspired epic 'Saga of the Exiles' as well as the follow-ups 'Intervention', 'Jack the Bodiless', 'Diamond Mask' and 'Magnificat'.

So, after being persuaded of the quality of these books not only by my other half, but also by DooYoo, I started reading... and reading... and reading. Now, only a few weeks down the line, I have finished the four books of the 'Saga of the Exiles' and, after devouring the 668 pages long 'Intervention' in just a few days, I have just started reading the first book of 'The Galactic Milieu Trilogy', 'Jack the Bodiless'.

The mere fact that I am still reading (and that I went through them so quickly!) probably tells you that I have become rather fond of Julian May's writing. But it's not just that - I am one of those people who sort of get really upset after finishing a very good book.

After spending several days (or sometimes weeks) engulfed in a new 'universe', in a different world and in other peoples' lives, finishing a good book always tends to leave me feeling a bit empty and lost. It feels like your best friend has just left the country forever and all that's left are your memories, so to say. Either that, or any existing follow-ups lack the bite of the original and don't manage to keep my attention and I lose interest in the story altogether.

This was not so with the 'Saga of the Exiles' and if your reading habits are anything like mine, you may want to have a look at these books yourself.


..: What are these books all about then? :..

The 'Saga of the Exiles' comprises of four books: 'The Many-Coloured Land', 'The Golden
Torc', 'The Nonborn King' and 'The Adversary', written by Julian May between 1981 and 1984 and published in the UK by Pan Books Ltd. According to the back sleeve, 'Julian May is a writer of perception and Power' (Jean Aurel), and that indeed she is - While the 'Saga of the Exiles' may not always be fully 'realistic' (it IS sci-fi after all!), it is still a portrait of humanity and history as it is, may have been and as it may become one day. Human emotions and characteristics are brilliantly mixed with new and fantastic ideas, and the storyline is both clever and gripping - just the kind of science fiction I like!

The storyline is intricate and by no means linear and only after a considerable amount of brain-racking and reading the follow-ups 'Intervention' and 'The Galactic Milieu Trilogy' you will finally come to understand the beauty of it. Step by step, things start making more and more sense and while some of your initial 'theories' (yes, you will start to come up with new theories and speculations) will be smashed to pieces, others will make you jump up and down shouting 'I knew it, I KNEW it!' after finding them confirmed at points where you least expected them.

The books start out in the year 2110 in the 'Galactic Milieu', a union of six races that have developed metapsychic abilities and have acquired a mental 'Union' that allows them to communicate without words and live peacefully around each other. Earth was the sixth planet to join the Milieu, following the alien 'Intervention' in 2013, just before humanity was ready to destroy itself through civil and world-wide wars and unrests caused by 'normals' fearing the expanding numbers of 'Metas' (humans born with metapsychic abilities) that started to 'come out' towards the end of the 20th century.

Overall, the alien 'Intervention' (instigated by the
oldest race in the Milieu, the Lylmik) has been very beneficial for mankind - new technologies helped reverse the effects of pollution and global warming, suitable colonial worlds of all possible kinds are opened to humans and 'regen tanks' allow even ordinary mortals to attain eternal youth and beauty. Life is sweet and comfortable, every possible quirk is catered for and the motifs of the alien races are entirely beneficial - Unity is satisfying and fulfilling, many sub-operant metapsychics (People who have the abilities but can't use them consciously) can bring their powers to operancy and even 'normals' and latent 'metas' find fulfilment among the Milieu races, so everybody should be happy with it, right?

Unfortunately, that is not so. There are those who feel uncomfortable with the presence of alien beings, those who long for the simple life of yesteryear or simply those who want to be free of the laws and regulations of the Milieu. There doesn't seem to be any way escape from the Milieu - alien beings are everywhere and the stronger metapsychics gain more and more power over the 'normals' and 'latents' who are by now a minority because the long-dormant metapsychic genes in the human gene pool have finally been activated. Science and sociology are evolving fast, and any 'old-fashioned' settings - even whole planets dedicated to a specific era or environment - are only artificial and infiltrated and regulated by the Milieu.

But there is one way out - in 2034, the French scientist Prof. Guderian discovered the 'Time Gate', a device that allows matter to be transported 6 million years into the past, to Earth's Pliocene epoch, and it works only in the confined area of France's Rhône River Valley. There is a little catch though - the journey only works one way! The project is dismissed as a scientific quirk and the Gate seems forgotten until the death of the old professor in 20
41.

Suddenly, 'desperados' from all over the world and the colonies, unhappy in the Galactic Milieu and longing for a simple life, start knocking on Mme Guderian's door begging her to let them through the Gate. Sceptical at first, Mme Guderian slowly realises that the Time Gate could be her ticket to wealth and she opens 'L'Auberge du Portail', a profitable guest house that prepares the exile-seekers for the rough life in the Pliocene and obliges them to spend a few days in the hotel before passing through the gate.

Initial worries about possible changes to history caused by the time-travellers are soon dismissed - after all, several scientific theories confirmed that it was impossible to change the past, what's happened in the past has ALREADY made the present the way it is, whatever happens to the time-travellers is already part of history. Just to be sure, Mme Guderian implies some rules on the time-travellers - women have to revoke their fertility through a simple procedure and no operant metapsychics are allowed through the time-gate. Only very few items are allowed to be taken through the gate, candidates have to fit a certain psychological profile and no sophisticated weapons are allowed.

She also equipped some of the time-travellers with amber plaques (the only material that survives the journey back through the gate) asking to send information about the well-being of the time-travellers to the future - not a single message was received. Albeit wealthy and rejuvenated, Mme Guderian's conscience is eating her alive, she feels responsible for whatever fate the travellers encountered 'on the other side' and finally she departs through the gate herself.

The operation of the gate is continued in spite of Madame's departure, and in 2110 we meet 'Group Green', another collection of desperados who seek refuge from the Milieu in the beneficial and calm climate of the Pliocene. An
xious about the Pliocene society that awaits them on the other side, the time-travellers meet up for the first time at the Auberge and are prepared for their adventure with a short survival course and a package of standard rations and survival tools.

Will the people who went through the Gate in the previous years take advantage of the provision-laden new arrivals, or have the first time travellers managed to create the peaceful and happy society they were hoping to find?


..: The Main Characters :..

Group Green consists of eight people, all of whom have their own reasons for seeking Exile.

Claude Majewski is a 133 year old paleontologist whose wife and work colleague refused a second rejuvenation and died, leaving him feel empty and lonely. He is weary of life and sees Exile as a worthwhile fulfilment of his lifetime work - after all, he would be able to see all the animals whose bones he studied for so long 'in the flesh'! Claude takes his late wife's ashes with him so he can bury them in the Pliocene soil - the only appropriate burial for the beloved who shared his passion in paleontology.

It was his late wife's nurse, Sister Amérie Roccaro, who told him about her plans of going through the gate following his wife's death, which gave Claude the final push towards his decision - Amérie is tired and worn-out after spending most of her life consoling the dying in a religious hospice and wants to go to the Pliocene to live as a hermit, hoping to find enlightenment in a solitary life with God. Claude insists on accompanying her as a protector, and she reluctantly agrees when he promises to stay in the background and leave her to meditate in confined solidarity.

Felice Landry is a latent metapsychic who has turned her sadomasochistic tendencies into a profitable career as a gladiator. People in the Milieu fear her for her violent temper and she is made to feel more and more like an inhuman out
cast - Exile is the only choice for her, as her bloodthirst and passion for violence would make her an excellent huntress.

Elizabeth Orme, once a powerful Metapsychic Grand Master, has lost her amazing healing power after a tragic accident and feels lost and lonely without the comfort and enlightenment that the Unity used to give her. Frustrated with the loss, she sees Exile as a last hope for fulfilment. Learning the art of ballooning at the Gateway House, she intends on travelling and observing Pliocene Earth on her own.

Richard Vorhees is an interstellar ship captain and merchant whose passionate xenophobia cost him his shipping license. He turns his back to the Milieu hoping to find a world where humans - and not aliens - are in power and he is looking forward to a life free of alien influence.

Bryan Grenfell is an anthropologist whose beloved, Mercy Lamballe, went through the gate while he was on a business journey. While he is aware that she is unable to commit to him, he still feels compelled to follow the mystical young woman who stole his heart and bewitched him. In search of Mercy, he joins the others in Exile.

Aiken Drum is, like Felice, a latent (and very powerful at that) metapsychic. He is a nonborn - a 'test-tube baby' - and has been nothing but trouble for his mentors. A villain and mischief-maker, he faces the choice of forced rehabilitation, incarceration or death - he convinces the Milieu to let him pass through the Gate and they gladly agree, happy to be rid of him.

Last in the group is Stein Oleson, a crust-driller who is fed up with the 'fake' scenarios in the Milieu and wishes to live a simple life in the Pliocene, following his Viking roots.

Throughout the books, we also meet Marc Remillard. Also called the 'Dark Angel' or 'Abadonn', he was the instigator of the Metapsychic Rebellion that cost the lives of thousands of Milieu citizens. Marc has his own visio
n of 'Mental Man' and never agreed with the way the Milieu dealt with the metapsychic abilities of mankind - after his rebel party suffered great losses, he and his group forced their way through the time gate 27 years before Group Green arrived, taking numerous pieces of technical equipment with them. The group - all of them operant metapsychics - settled in North America, far away from the rest of the 100'000 humans who passed through the Time Gate since its opening.

Marc is in possession of a cerebro-enhancer suit, machinery that increases his own metapsychic abilities and allows him to scan the skies of Pliocene Earth for any signs of the 'World Mind', an early form of the Milieu's Unity, which he hopes would fulfil his dream. His search is desperately unsuccessful and both his rebels and the younger generation (including Marc's children Hagen and Cloud) are getting fed up with their leaders' unsuccessful and apparently doomed dream of 'Mental Man'. Having been rendered sterile himself, he intends to include his own children's DNA (carriers of the extraordinary Remillard genes for superb metafaculties and self-repair) in a breeding scheme to help the evolution of 'Mental Man'.

Other (human) characters that Group Green meet in the Pliocene Exile are Sukey Davies, who was born on a colonial satellite and came to the Pliocene looking for the mysterious ancient race that 'lives inside Earth' (an old myth on the satellite) and Raimo Hakkinen; both of them are latent metapsychics.

..: The Fate of the Exiles :..

(Don't read if you don't want any spoilers at all, although most of this information is already given on the back sleeve of the first book)

Of course nothing in their Pliocene adventure turns out the way you expect it to - would Julian May have been able to fill 4 books waffling on about an idealistic Pliocene society? I think not.
The first few
pages of 'The Many-Coloured Land' already give an interesting insight into what expects the time-travellers in the Pliocene - it starts out with a dying 'organic' ship that, along with the ship's spouse Brede, transports members of an alien race to a planet empty of intelligent life.
The crew escape in separate vessels while the ship explodes over the 'Many-Coloured Land' (as the aliens come to call their new home world), which soon turns out to be Pliocene Earth.

The vessels return to the ship's grave and their crews settle in Pliocene Europe. The humanoid aliens are from a planet far away, a double race consisting of the tall and 'faerie'-like Tanu, who look very much like Nordic humans and the shorter Firvulag who have the appearance of trolls. Since ancient times, the two races had lived in a ritual battle-society; the Tanu having a sophisticated society in the warmer regions of their home world and the Firvulag inhabiting the cold and rough polar regions, they never mingle and meet up once a year to celebrate the Tourney, a great fight between the two races.

Their reasons for coming to Pliocene Earth are strikingly similar to those of the human time-travellers. While the metapsychically latent Tanu have profited from the technology of the Golden Torcs, a mechanism that brings them to operancy that was given to them by their own version of the Galactic Milieu, several members of both races are less than happy about the other implications that this organisation has put upon them - the two races are expected to abandon their battle society and interbreed in order to raise their offspring to metapsychic operancy.

The aliens continue their ancient traditions in Pliocene Europe, and when the first human time-travellers arrive in the Rhône Valley, the Tanu are quick to make use of them. Modified versions of the torcs are used to mind-control the metapsychically untalented humans and the pleasure-p
ain feedback of the mechanism allows them to turn them into humble servants, much more useful than the 'Ramas' (Ramapithecines, mankind's ancestors) who are now only used for simple household duties. With the help of educated human time-travellers, the Tanu build a society where humans serve them as slaves wearing grey torcs (or none, if they are willing to obey their masters), while metapsychically talented humans receive silver torcs and a few exceptional specimens are later taken up into Tanu society as full citizens, wearing their own gold torcs.

By the time the members of 'Group Green' arrive in the Pliocene, the Tanu have included human operants in their breeding schemes (their DNA is compatible and a human gynaecologist shared her knowledge to reverse the sterilisation) because their own women are very susceptible to the natural radiation of the planet and are barely able to conceive. Children of pure Tanus also often end up as Firvulag 'throwbacks' (their genes are intertwined and they really are 'once race'), and in spite of the long life expectancy of the Tanu (several thousand years), the humans are their only hope if they ever want to be a majority over the Foe (The Firvulag) who do not have the same reproduction problems.

The site of the Time Gate has been turned into 'Castle Gateway', where newly arriving human time-travellers are sorted out according to their metapsychic abilities. When Group Green arrive at the castle, they are initially confused and it takes them a while until they realise who the mysterious Arian strangers really are. While Elizabeth (whose powers were restored by the passage through the Gate) and the other latent operants in the group are given silver torcs and sent off to the Tanu capital Finiah, Felice manages to avoid the tests and manages to break her group of non-operants free during a transport to Roniah, another major Tanu city.

Throughout the four boo
ks, we follow the fate of the members of Group Green, in a fight between the two alien races and a race for the opening of a second Time Gate to take the human time travellers (including Marc Remillards' children, who instigated the project) and some weary Tanu folk back to the Milieu. While Elizabeth takes over the role of Grand Master and replaces Brede Shipspouse, Aiken Drum aspires to become king of the Many-Coloured Land and Marc Remillard, the Angel of the Abyss, tries desperately to stop his children's escape and thus avoid the destruction of his 'Mental Man' project.


..: So why should I read them? :..

Don't let the more fantastic concepts (psychic powers, alien races, faeries etc.) put you off reading this, because somehow Julian May makes the most abstract ideas feel plausible and acceptable. The transition from a possible futuristic human society to the fairy-tale world of the 'Many Coloured Land' is made so smoothly that even the most die-hard fantasy haters (and I myself am not particularly fond of pure fantasy novels) will come to love the books.

The story is extremely well written and researched - while the basic ideas are sometimes a bit too fantastic to believe (as a scientific theory that is, the saga itself makes perfect sense), it all makes sense as a whole and Julian May has cleverly managed to weave scientific theories (10 dimensional space-time etc.) and geographical facts into the story.

Although at times the reading is a little slow (especially where previously briefly described stories are told in detail), the characters and the clever storyline more than make up for it.

The books also contain useful additional information, such as maps of Pliocene Earth, notes on scientific implications and summaries of the previous books in case you haven't read them all.

If you need help in understanding the story, there is a guide available - 'The Pliocene Co
mpanion' by Julian May. Unfortunately, it is out of print but I have seen it on several auction sites from between $5 and $130 (I guess those are signed hardback copies).

A little word of warning though: Once you've worked your way through the 'Saga of the Exiles', you will definitely want more - and there are four more books to satisfy that need, in my opinion they are even better than the first four!

Many of the books are also available in second hand bookstores, so you won't have to splash out all that much to get your hands on all of them!

All in all the 'Saga of the Exiles' books are a definite 'thumbs up' - If you like science fiction and/or fantasy, then this is definitely one for you!

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