Julian May - Pliocene Exiles/Galactic Milieu Series

[Lycanthrope]

I first read May's Pliocene Saga when it was first published in the 80's, then the subsequent Intervention book followed by the Galactic Milieu trilogy. I enjoyed them a lot and always wanted to re-read, but a lecturer at university borrowed my Pliocene books and never returned them!

Now in my mid-40's I have them on my iOS devices and after the best part of a year I'm just beginning the final volume, Magnificat.

I have to say that my appreciation of these books is far higher now than it was then. Many reasons for this I think, being older, and hopefully wiser, I understand the social sub-texts much better. My vocabulary is wider and the words I still don't know can be instantly looked up on the iBooks app. The character development is rich too and I find myself relating to the main character, Uncle Rogi, much better than I could as a teenager. Finally, perhaps, it is of course fascinating to see how accurate Lay was in the predictions of the near-future. In this department the book hasn't dated too badly, but of course the concept of the Internet wasn't there and is perhaps the biggest miss.

Compelling,g reading though and utterly believable story. Highly recommended sci-fi/fantasy cross-over series and has to be in my top ten

 

[elvet]

I'd love to read them but they are not available for my Kobo E-reader.

 

[Count Zero]

I'd love to read them but they are not available for my Kobo E-reader.

The Exiles Saga is out on Kindle in the UK and US next week, I believe the Galactic Milieu books are reissued next month.

The Kobo schedule shouldn't be too different to Kindle I would have thought.

 

[elvet]

The Exiles Saga is out on Kindle in the UK and US next week, I believe the Galactic Milieu books are reissued next month.

The Kobo schedule shouldn't be too different to Kindle I would have thought.

I'll keep checking the Kobo store, then.

 

[DrMclony]

I have been hunting for my old paperbacks of these, which I read and loved in my younger days. I have two readers, one a kindle and one able to work with kobo stuff, so I am happy to read that these books are shortly coming to them.

I will buy the ebooks since no family member will admit to having my paperbacks! thanks for the news

 

[Foxbat]

The Saga Of The Exiles is one of my all-time favourites. I agree that they are well worth a read.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I read them soon after they came out, and much enjoyed them. That was a long time ago however. I've read overviews of the series by other readers and commentators that suggest they're rather fannish and perhaps a little unsubtle in places. I still have many memories of the events of the books however, and there's no doubt that the series was sincerely written and presented.

 

[Perpetual Man]

For me to the Saga of the Exiles and the Galactic Milieu trilogy, not forgetting Intervention are some of my favourite books from a time long ago.

When I was first introduced to one I thought it was fantasy, but was soon re-educated as I started to read.

It is one of those series, or group of series that seems to get Time travel just right.

And what is there not to like where you have a series that you can start in one of three places and it still reads as though you are going from beginning to end? (The Many Coloured Land, Intervention or Jack the Bodiless)

There are some classic moments throughout - (I'll avoid spoilers), but my favourite remains Jack the Bodiless. Just reading a story about someone becoming more and more powerful as their body crumbles was handle well and a gripping tale in it's own right, let alone the events it sets in motion.

I've just noticed that the new cover for Intervention has a Vetruvian Man on it. I can see my avatar changing a bit sooner than I intended....

 

[Anne Lyle]

I read the original series (Many-Coloured Land) when it first came out in the 80s and loved it - still have my original paperbacks! Didn't get into the futuristic SF so much - I just loved the faery/SF mashup of the Pliocene novels

However I do remember that the incident with Aiken in the cave, trying to get a lid on his psychic, ahem, "problems", caused some raised eyebrows - especially when a work colleague plucked the book from my hands to find out what I was smirking about!

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Is that the tri-thingy whatsit? (can't remember the word). My most memorable scene remains the Marc character (also can't remember his name) is a suit inside a machine "scanning" the heavens with his mind.

No doubt it was a striking bit of work. It would be interesting to re-read it 30 years later, with all my intermediary reading - and writing - to alter my perceptions...

 

[Anne Lyle]

It was when he was struggling with having absorbed two other characters' psionic powers and suffering, um, unfortunate physical side-effects!

 

[biodroid]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the series about? is it SF or fantasy?

 

[Anne Lyle]

It's technically SF, but the Pliocene books (The Saga of the Exiles tetralogy) have a fantasy vibe - the basic premise being that a bunch of humanoid aliens crash-landed in Pliocene Europe and their descendants gave rise to the Celtic myths of gods and fairies (their "magic" is all based on psionic powers that, owing to cross-breeding, subsequently emerge amongst humans in the 21st century - as described in the other two series).

In The Saga of the Exiles, a bunch of 22nd-century (?) humans choose to go back in time - criminals and misfits being unwelcome in the rather fascist galactic "utopia" of the future - and inadvertently find themselves in the middle of a war between the two main alien races, who are roughly equivalent to the Daoine Sidhe and the Firbolg of Irish myth.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

But why no alien fossils?

Yes, I remember Aiken's problem now - a touch of John Holmes syndrone.

 

[Anne Lyle]

IIRC there weren't actually that many of them - and of real prehistoric animals, the fossils we have are only a minute fraction of the number of individuals that ever lived. /devil's advocate

 

[Montero]

And brand new species are being discovered all the time, and older "classified" fossils are being re-examined and sometimes its "oops, that's really a ..."

 

[Pyan]

Still got all my original p/bs (in fact, my Saga of the Exiles are the first edition Pan Originals)
Still read them all, every couple of years or so. IMHO, one of the best and original series even written.

 

[Mark_Lawrence]

I first read May's Pliocene Saga when it was first published in the 80's, then the subsequent Intervention book followed by the Galactic Milieu trilogy. I enjoyed them a lot and always wanted to re-read, but a lecturer at university borrowed my Pliocene books and never returned them!

Now in my mid-40's I have them on my iOS devices and after the best part of a year I'm just beginning the final volume, Magnificat.

I have to say that my appreciation of these books is far higher now than it was then. Many reasons for this I think, being older, and hopefully wiser, I understand the social sub-texts much better. My vocabulary is wider and the words I still don't know can be instantly looked up on the iBooks app. The character development is rich too and I find myself relating to the main character, Uncle Rogi, much better than I could as a teenager. Finally, perhaps, it is of course fascinating to see how accurate Lay was in the predictions of the near-future. In this department the book hasn't dated too badly, but of course the concept of the Internet wasn't there and is perhaps the biggest miss.

Compelling,g reading though and utterly believable story. Highly recommended sci-fi/fantasy cross-over series and has to be in my top ten

I loved these when they came out and keep saying I'll re-read them. I really hope to find the time one day.

 

[Mischov]

As I've said before, this series is absolutely fantastic and everybody should read it.

Glad to hear it's coming to Kindle.

 

[Lycanthrope]

I loved these when they came out and keep saying I'll re-read them. I really hope to find the time one day.

Trust me, take the time!

Glad to see there are some fans here. Indeed the Pliocene Exiles was more fantasy - even sword & sorcery in many ways with a lot of violence and action. The Galactic Milieu is pure sci-fi with a better evolved story, more sedated pace and a more mature writing style.

Intervention almost reads like an non-genre book, the sci-if parts being relatively subtle, but it's this book I have appreciated the most on re-reading.

I also remember being a bit bored and dissatisfied with Magnificat the first time around, but not now - those long passages where May describes clothing at events or flowers in a garden, well now I enjoy it as opposed to rushing through it to the next psychic manifestation.

Still 350 pages to go and Iain M Banks' latest, The Hydrogen Sonata, lined up next