From rec.arts.sf.written Tue Aug 25 11:01:59 1992 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Path: isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!decwrl!csus.edu!netcom.com!dani From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Julian May: Blood Trillium (spoilers) Message-ID: <0aan-4q.dani@netcom.com> Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 05:53:41 GMT Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest) Lines: 43 "Blood Trillium" is Julian May's sequel to "Black Trillium", which she coauthored with Andre Norton and Marion Zimmer Bradley. It's almost as bad. "Black Trillium" was a dishonest collaboration. Instead of combining their proven skills in hopes of producing something excellent, the three authors produced three virtually independent novellas, plotted so as to require the absolute minimum of coordination and cooperation. Now the authors are producing their independent sequels. May's is first. It's hard to believe that the author of the Pleistocene Saga could produce so incompetent a work as "Blood Trillium". The setup is that most tired of fantasy cliches: The villain who died at the end of the previous book turns out not to be dead and it's all to do over again. The characters run the gamut from the one-dimensional to the two- dimensional. Each of the three sisters who are the major characters may be characterized (and is) by one virtue and one character flaw, and each triumphs by recognizing and overcoming the flaw, once it is properly pointed out. The plot is unconvincing. Each action seems to arise from the author's wish for the plot to go in a certain direction, rather than from the reasonable behavior of the characters in their given situations. Each triumph or failure of magic seems to depend on the requirements of the plot, rather than on any recognizable underlying logic. Four hundred pages of a plot that was old the fiftieth time it was used: The magician who wishes (Lord knows why) to rule the world; his successful theft of the first magical artifact; his eventual success in attaining the second magical artifact; the heroines' realization in the nick of time that in bad fantasies purity of heart matters far more that firepower; and finally the victory of the forces of Good and the setup for the next sequel. I've read worse fantasies. But I don't know why. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com If you're going to write, don't pretend to write down. It's going to be the best you can do, and it's the fact that it's the best you can do that kills you! -- Dorothy Parker From new Thu Jun 16 18:52:02 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!emory!news-feed-2.peachnet.edu!concert!bigblue.oit.unc.edu!sunSITE!ibic From: ibic@sunSITE.unc.edu (Internet Book Information Center) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written Subject: IBIC REVIEW #7--"Diamond Mask" by Julian May Date: 13 Mar 1994 16:01:09 GMT Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Lines: 74 Message-ID: <2lvdc5$omq@bigblue.oit.unc.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: calzone.oit.unc.edu Previous IBIC Reviews, as well as links to many other Internet information resources related to books, are available via the Internet Book Information Center WWW serverspace (provided courtesy of SunSITE, a joint project of the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Sun Microsystems). The URL is http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html. Selected text resources are available by anonymous ftp to sunsite.unc.edu; directory is /pub/electronic-publications/ibic. The IBIC Gopher server is temporarily unavailable but a new one is under construction. E-mail comments encouraged to ibic@sunsite.unc.edu. %A May, Julian %T Diamond Mask %I Alfred A. Knopf %C New York %D March1994 %G ISBN n/a %P 455 pp. %O hardcover, U.S. $22.00 Julian May's works are a recurring topic of conversation for the estimated 84,000 people worldwide who read the Internet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written. In fact, there is so much interest in her work that a separate Internet mailing list, MILIEU, was formed specifically to discuss her works. A subscriber to the list can expect to receive 3-4 e-mail messages a day from fellow enthusiasts. So it is fitting that this review of her latest book, DIAMOND MASK, should be the first one posted to the Internet Book Information Center's WWW server. IBIC's mission is to use the Internet to connect book-lovers with information about books. DIAMOND MASK is the second book in Julian May's "Galactic Milieu" trilogy which began with JACK THE BODILESS and will culminate with MAGNIFICAT. The "Galactic Milieu" trilogy is itself a sequel to two previous series, "The Saga of Pliocene Exile" and "Intervention." All three series share a common setting and many of the same characters. This book focuses on the early life of Dorothea Macdonald, who became Dirigent of Caledonia and wife of St. Jack the Bodiless. I mean it as a high compliment to say that the Milieu metatrilogy is a more sophisticated successor to E.E. "Doc" Smith's much-loved galaxy-spanning space opera, the Lensman series. Both series feature noble, repressed supertelepathic supermen (Smith's Kimball Kinnison and May's Marc Remillard) playing out a destiny of galactic unity heavily influenced by human genealogy. May fashions characters and stories that will bear frequent, almost obsessive rereading. I have read all of her previous novels several times, and love them all. (Like most people, I think "The Saga of Pliocene Exile" is a cut above the "Intervention" series.) But I was worried about DIAMOND MASK. I had been disappointed in JACK THE BODILESS and felt that there had been a perceptible drop-off in quality from the previous series. I thought a lackluster effort in this second book would doom the trilogy. I need not have worried. The same evening I finished reading DIAMOND MASK, I went back and began rereading JACK THE BODILESS. With the additional context, I liked JACK a lot better. That touchstone makes it clear to me that DIAMOND MASK is a highly successful second book in the "Galactic Milieu" trilogy. I am now confident that the projected final volume in the series, MAGNIFICAT, will provide a profoundly satisfactory resolution not just to the Galactic Milieu trilogy, but to the entire Milieu metatrilogy which is so well loved by so many. I await MAGNIFICAT with tremendous anticipation. --Frederick Zimmerman [P.S.--For those of you who have been waiting to find out the identity of the mysterious, evil telepathic entity called Fury, I will only say that you will find DIAMOND MASK well worth reading.] From /tmp/sf.4146 Tue Aug 9 01:49:11 1994 Path: liuida!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!convex!news.utdallas.edu!rdxsunhost.aud.alcatel.com!aur.alcatel.com!sheol!dont-reply-to-paths From: ibic@sunsite.unc.edu (Internet Book Information Center) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: IBIC REVIEW #7--"Diamond Mask" by Julian May Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: Mon, 14 Mar 94 15:52:20 GMT Organization: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Lines: 69 Approved: sfr%sheol@concert.net (rec.arts.sf.reviews moderator) Message-ID: <2lvdhe$g0l@bigblue.oit.unc.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: aursag.aur.alcatel.com Julian May's works are a recurring topic of conversation for the estimated 84,000 people worldwide who read the Internet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.written. In fact, there is so much interest in her work that a separate Internet mailing list, MILIEU, was formed specifically to discuss her works. A subscriber to the list can expect to receive 3-4 e-mail messages a day from fellow enthusiasts. So it is fitting that this review of her latest book, DIAMOND MASK, should be the first one posted to the Internet Book Information Center's WWW server. IBIC's mission is to use the Internet to connect book-lovers with information about books. DIAMOND MASK is the second book in Julian May's "Galactic Milieu" trilogy which began with JACK THE BODILESS and will culminate with MAGNIFICAT. The "Galactic Milieu" trilogy is itself a sequel to two previous series, "The Saga of Pliocene Exile" and "Intervention." All three series share a common setting and many of the same characters. This book focuses on the early life of Dorothea Macdonald, who became Dirigent of Caledonia and wife of St. Jack the Bodiless. I mean it as a high compliment to say that the Milieu metatrilogy is a more sophisticated successor to E.E. "Doc" Smith's much-loved galaxy-spanning space opera, the Lensman series. Both series feature noble, repressed supertelepathic supermen (Smith's Kimball Kinnison and May's Marc Remillard) playing out a destiny of galactic unity heavily influenced by human genealogy. May fashions characters and stories that will bear frequent, almost obsessive rereading. I have read all of her previous novels several times, and love them all. (Like most people, I think "The Saga of Pliocene Exile" is a cut above the "Intervention" series.) But I was worried about DIAMOND MASK. I had been disappointed in JACK THE BODILESS and felt that there had been a perceptible drop-off in quality from the previous series. I thought a lackluster effort in this second book would doom the trilogy. I need not have worried. The same evening I finished reading DIAMOND MASK, I went back and began rereading JACK THE BODILESS. With the additional context, I liked JACK a lot better. That touchstone makes it clear to me that DIAMOND MASK is a highly successful second book in the "Galactic Milieu" trilogy. I am now confident that the projected final volume in the series, MAGNIFICAT, will provide a profoundly satisfactory resolution not just to the Galactic Milieu trilogy, but to the entire Milieu metatrilogy which is so well loved by so many. I await MAGNIFICAT with tremendous anticipation. --Frederick Zimmerman %A May, Julian %T Diamond Mask %I Alfred A. Knopf %C New York %D March1994 %G ISBN n/a %P 455 pp. %O hardcover, U.S. $22.00 Previous IBIC Reviews, as well as links to many other Internet information resources related to books, are available via the Internet Book Information Center WWW serverspace (provided courtesy of SunSITE, a joint project of the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Sun Microsystems). The URL is http://sunsite.unc.edu/ibic/IBIC-homepage.html. Selected text resources are available by anonymous ftp to sunsite.unc.edu; directory is /pub/electronic-publications/ibic. The IBIC Gopher server is temporarily unavailable but a new one is under construction. E-mail comments encouraged to ibic@sunsite.unc.edu. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Nov 10 23:38:32 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!newnews.hk-r.se!newsfeed1.swip.net!swipnet!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!usenet From: "Aaron M. Renn" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Perseus Spur by Julian May Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Date: 08 Nov 1999 14:11:15 -0500 Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Lines: 35 Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.5/Emacs 20.3 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2490 Perseus Spur by Julian May Review Copyright (c) 1999 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Worth Reading After the quasi-epic Pliocene Exile/Galatic Milieu books, this light SF detective adventure is quite a departure for May. Helmut Icicle is the alias of a falsely convicted criminal living on the frontier planet of Kedge-Lockaby. We was once Asahel Front, the scion of a wealthy and powerful corporate CEO, but was framed when he too aggressively pursued corporate wrongdoing in his job as a government investigator. Resigned to a life as an outcast, everything turns around for Frost when ghosts from his corporate past show up and try to kill him. He gets dragged into a web of intrigue that just might help him win back his good name. There's nothing of tremendous substance here, and I'm sure May didn't intend for there to be. It's just fun, light, fairly entertaining reading. Cliches abound and I kept thinking I should probably be finding lots of faults with them and other things about the book. But I didn't. I liked this book quite a bit. May leaves room for a sequel at the end, though the book stands alone. The cover says "An Adventure of the Rampart Worlds," so I expect this is intended as the first in the continuing adventures of Asahel Frost. %A May, Julian %T Perseus Spur %I Del Rey %D 1999-10 (original publication 1998) %G ISBN 0-345-39510-7 %P 329 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$6.99 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon May 29 15:27:23 2000 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!dreaderd!not-for-mail Sender: wex@deepspace.media.mit.edu From: "Aaron M. Renn" Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Subject: Review: Orion Arm by Julian May Organization: GNU's Not Unix! Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews Date: 25 May 2000 11:15:56 -0400 Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Lines: 42 NNTP-Posting-Host: deepspace.media.mit.edu X-Trace: dreaderd 959267757 10902 18.85.23.65 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.reviews:2730 Orion Arm, Julian May Review Copyright (c) 2000 Aaron M. Renn Conclusion: Worth Reading Readers may recall that I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked May's light adventure "Perseus Spur." She's back with a second installment in the continuing adventures of Asahel Frost aka Helmut Icicle. This one, dare I say it, is even better than the first. Frost is back on Kedge-Lockaby living as Icicle, having left Rampart Starcorp in disgust after a violent disagreement over how to handle what was learned about the threat of the alien Haluk in Perseus Spur. Someone tries to kill him again, which really pisses him off, especially since he's pretty sure it's an agent of Galapharma AC, a corporation headed by the detested Alistair Drummond. Asahel "I try to get out but they keep pulling me back in" Frost captures the assassin then goes on a quest to get to the bottom of things. This is light entertainment, but pretty darn tasty light entertainment. Just the kind I like. I was all ready to slam the book for being too long at nearly 400 pages, but quite honestly I breezed through it so fast I didn't even notice the length. The only thing that really annoyed me about the it was the continuing references to late 20th century cultural elements. But I think that's clearly a matter of taste. Immediate problems are resolved, but I'll tell you right now that even more so than in the last book, May sets us up for a sequel. Expect at least one more to turn this one into a Rampart Worlds Trilogy. %A May, Julian %T Orion Arm %I Del Rey %D 2000-04 %G ISBN 345-39519-0 %P 378 pp. %O mass market paperback, US$6.99 Reviewed on 2000-05-17 Aaron M. Renn (arenn@urbanophile.com) http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/