Many Coloured Land

[the_evil_ted]

I just ran a search and couldn't find Julian May or the Saga of the Exiles.

I'm just wondering if there is a thread relating to this or if anyone else has read them?

 

[psikeyhackr]

I have read some of them. Don't know if there is a thread.

psik

 

[Bick]

I read the 4 book series as they were published back in the 80's, and very much enjoyed them. I've not read them since, but I was planning on it in the next couple of years. I know I've mentioned May a few times on these boards, but not sure in which thread. When I ran a search, I found several threads, btw, including:

Julian May
Julian May - New(er) works
Julian May - Pliocene Exiles/Galactic Milieu Series
Julian May question

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I read and enjoyed these when I was much younger, but they have acquired a reputation for being rather fannish and in places confusing, contradictory, and just not very good. Some great ideas though, and some wonderful images. A "curate's egg," I suspect.

 

[the_evil_ted]

Excellent, thanks all - I'll check those threads out before rehashing anything that's gone before..

I read them in my early twenties and were recommended to me by a very good friend of mine at the time, who was fixated on the may pole and my reaction to it. I do remember being bowled over by how many of the group make it through the story, but loved how that kept me on my toes.

 

[Verity]

Excellent, thanks all - I'll check those threads out before rehashing anything that's gone before..

I read them in my early twenties and were recommended to me by a very good friend of mine at the time, who was fixated on the may pole and my reaction to it. I do remember being bowled over by how many of the group make it through the story, but loved how that kept me on my toes.

I liked the Many Coloured Land series - so many interesting characters (like the mountaineer who dressed like Queen Elizabeth I) - but I really loved the follow up trilogy back in the 22nd century; Diamond Mask, Jack the Bodiless and Magnificat. And the linking book Intervention, with possibly the best bookseller in fiction, Rogi Remillard!

 

[farntfar]

I read these in the 80s like many of us here apparently.
I enjoyed them a lot, but like Verity, I enjoyed the Galactic Millieu series which followed even more.

Funnily enough I now live a short distance from the theoretical home of the Auberge du Portail.
St Antoine des Vignes does not actually exist, but St Jean des Vignes does, although I would say there are other villages which correspond more closely to the description in the book. I think it's fairly clear that she knew the area.

 

[vanye]

I read the first one in the series. Really had to fight my way through to the end and never picked up another one.

 

[the_evil_ted]

I struggled, until I went back in time. I felt the beginning of the book was overly complicated and hard to follow. Which, I hope was Julian's intention. When (is it Green Group?) decide to head back in time, I'd made the decision to go back with them. I wasn't following them, I was one of them.

This was the first book I'd been told about, which I'd enjoyed. Not that I'm a snob or a [expletive], but up until this book in my (very) early twenties, I'd only enjoyed books which had found me. Those which were thrust into my hands, "Dude, you have to read this!" never captivated me. This one was like a punch to the face, not a knock out - but one that pulls you into the now (corny), one that insists you being part of it.

I'd read one book before which had done that and I'd enjoyed two prequels before I reached 'Domain' by James Herbert.

Now, I'm rambling to my keyboard still wondering why MCL isn't a television series. I'd hate to see it as a film, there'd be far too many sacrifices. Too many beloved characters deleted before the cameras start rolling. That said, seeing Aiken's Golden finger flying proud on billboards instead of the Mocking Jay emblem would give me a great big smile.