The Adversary

My Dad has had the first three books in The Saga of the Exiles hanging around for as long as I can remember and I finally got around to reading them about 2 weeks ago. And I ate them up, hoo boy. The first three were a literary feast and by the time I finished The Non-Born King I NEEDED to read The Adversary and I finally found it in the library at my university. And let me tell you, folks, this book is the crowning glory on the best achievement in sci-fi writing to date. What an amazing culmination of all May's talents- her wonderful, evocative prose, the flawless creation of her characters, the twisting, thrilling plot, to name a few. The Adversary details the lead up to the Grand Tourney, Aiken Drum's substitute for the Grand Combat, the contest itself and its repercussions. And what repercussions. I'm not gonna tell you, you'll have to read the book ;). Such a short summary is hardly worthy of the novel itself, but to go into more detail would be to ruin May's carefully crafted work- and by the time you finish the last page, you'll be astounded by the depth and breadth of her vision. Before I read The Saga of the Exiles, my favourite fantasy/sci-fi series was Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun- but I found Julian May's Saga infinitely more gripping, confronting and so much more entertaining. I've heard criticisms of the series, none of which I agree with, the two foremost that 1. it's difficult to understand a lot of her language without a dictionary by your side, but to this I say: even if it's so for you, PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T BE PUT OFF. You'll never find a series more rewarding than this one. The second criticism I've heard was 2. that it's clear cut good vs. evil. I've never heard anything sillier in my life. One of the main things I loved about the Saga was its ambiguity in terms of where the reader's loyalty can lie- I wanted EVERYONE to win at some point, `elfin' Tanu, `demonic' Firvulag, Lowlife humans; and I've heard a lot of people express their love for Marc Remillard, the infamous Adversary himself. All I can leave you with is this: wow. What a beautiful series. The Adversary- what a BRILLIANT bloody ending. So satisfying. Oh. God. I think I'm going to go start The Many-Coloured Land again and read the whole series a second time. How fabulous. Oh. Wow.

The end is nigh, Night is about to Fall. The ogreish Firvulag plot amongst themselves, eager to fight the Final Battle and defeat their Foe once and for all. The elfin Tanu, finally united under their new Golden King, are rapidly changing traditions that have stood for millenia. The scattered Lowlives, once renegade humans hiding in the woods, are forming a third power block, using technology smuggled from the future and the deadly bloodmetal, fatal to the alien races. And high above them all, in her self imposed isolation, reluctant planetary guardian Elizabeth Orm bears the burdens of three races on her tired shoulders.The signs are all around, the portents fulfilled, the NightFall war is coming, and with it, the Adversary - Marc Remillard, Paramount Grand Master Psychic. Rebel. Monster. He was one of the most powerful minds in the future, before he turned against everyone he loved, and led thousands in a war against the peaceful Galactic Milleu. His actions caused the deaths of millions, and he fled through the time gate, hoping to restart his plans with a six million year head start. The Tanu and Firvulag call him The Adversary, but his own people know him as Abaddon - the Angel of the Abyss.His dreams for humanities future led him into its past, and know he stands on the brink of the abyss, torn between his humanity and his destiny mistaken about both.

This book is the final in the pliocene saga, it deals with the period of time following the subsumation of Mercy and Nodonn, the start of the Nightfall wall (end of the world), the children of the Rebels attempts to escape back to the Milieu. The war between the Firvulag and Tanu has taken on a new focus, an armistice is technically in effect, however the Firvulag are going to war. The time gate back 'home' is possible, the Rebels dreams are threatened by the childrens wish to go the Milieu. Mixed in to all this, Aiken (the King) has problems following the subsumption, there is internal politics making havoc with the whole question. Marc Remillard's role is finally determined and his future role is implied, which then allows the next four books (Intervention, Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask and Magnificat) to make more sense. Either set of four can be read by themselves, and one set seems to prelude the other, but in the end the actual order becomes nebulous. A fantastic read, which ties up all the loose ends, and demonstrates some of the more interesting side effects of the meta-abilities.

Like most readers, I read the Exile quartet before the other Galactic Milieu books, and after Adversary, I was hungry for more. I don't believe there is another blend of sf/fantasy quite like May's sweeping vision, and I have read all 9 books in the series several times. I wonder why Hollywood hasn't gotten its blood soaked hands on this saga yet...

What I really want to do is review the whole series. It seems to me that it really is impossible to talk about one of the nine books separately, far much more than in other series. Common complaints in the other reviews are lack of full explanation, lack of sufficient denouement. But in this case, I don't think that applies. This is a NON-LINEAR series! The denouement for the Adversary, for example, is scattered through the Galactic Milieu trilogy, especially Magnificat. Conversely, much of the denouement of Magnificat can be gleaned by reading bits of the Pliocene Saga which talk about what is thought of the Rebellion twenty-seven years after. To fully appreciate these books, you have to read them all, then go back and look through them again, examining Rogi's conversations with the 'Family Ghost' and other places. These books don't follow one after the ot! her in a neat orderly manner. It's an unusual way to write a series, but if you've read some interviews with Julian May, you'll know she didn't write the books in a chronological manner, but kind of planned all nine at once. One reading will never do these books justice. I would suggest reading the Pliocene Saga as a sequel to the Galactic Milieu books, because that really is what they are. May just happened to publish them first. Since I read the Milieu first, I cannot imagine how anyone can fully appreciate Nonborn King and the Adversary without knowing about Marc Remillard first. That reminds me . . . there is one area where the cross-referencing lets me down. I want to know more about Marc and Elizabeth's work in Duat, more about that not-insignificant gap of six million years we have missing out of Marc's life! But I think at this late date I have to give up hope.