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In the final novel of the award-winning sci-fi saga, both humans and aliens face destruction as a new time-portal opens a path back to the twenty-second century.Human time-travelers from the sophisticated Galactic Milieu of the twenty-second century came to the Pliocene Epoch seeking a Garden of Eden. What they found was slavery under the knightly Tanu race, who had been exiled to Earth from a far galaxy. Freed by the usurper Aiken Drum, the humans enjoy a brief period of dominance. But now show more King Aiken's rule is threatened by the dwarfish Firvulag, who scheme to destroy both humans and Tanu in an ultimate Gotterdammerung.
This menace becomes almost incidental when Aiken discovers that his realm is about to be invaded by another human who possesses psychic powers even greater than his own. Marc Remillard, the instigator of the Metapsychic Rebellion, nearly conquered the Galactic Milieu before escaping through the time-portal after his defeat. Marc and his followers are out to overthrow Aiken just as a new time-gate is about to be built—one that will provide a two-way portal between the Many-Colored Land and the future world of the Milieu.
The Adversary brings Julian May's Locus Award-winning series—which also includes The Many-Colored Land, The Golden Tore, and The Nonborn King—to a rousing climax.
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Reread in 2024. This was nostalgia reread and I loved it. The series has flaws of course but it's still 5 stars from me (cos nostalgia) and I am going to now reread the Galactic Mileu set (after a short break for a different genre).
It's interesting how she seals Felice up and never comes back to her - as if she had made her super powerful and intended her as the main antagonist and then either got bored with her or the character of Marc slipped his way in and JM thought WOW - he's MUCH more interesting! And thus he became a major character.
It's interesting how she seals Felice up and never comes back to her - as if she had made her super powerful and intended her as the main antagonist and then either got bored with her or the character of Marc slipped his way in and JM thought WOW - he's MUCH more interesting! And thus he became a major character.
I'm absurdly, irrationally fond of this four-part series. The sequels, which fill in some of the futureward material often referred to in these volumes, are disappointing, perhaps because attentive readers of the first four books already think they know what the later books should contain. But these first four are often remarkably clever both in conception and in execution: they offer a very smart explanation of the "collective unconscious", of shared human mythologies, of stories about fairies and gods, while also being about complex, compelling characters and an exciting narrative. As far as SF that aims primarily to entertain goes, you aren't going to find much better than the Pliocene Exile books.
9/10
The many subplots, all needing resolution, made for a rather cluttered and chaotic ending to this book as the culmination of The Saga of Pliocene Exile, but it was a wonderful, sprawling series, a rollicking good tale with a fair amount of food for deeper thought. I found Marc’s and Elizabeth’s stories the most difficult to follow, but maybe I will have more understanding if I read The Milieu Trilogy.
The many subplots, all needing resolution, made for a rather cluttered and chaotic ending to this book as the culmination of The Saga of Pliocene Exile, but it was a wonderful, sprawling series, a rollicking good tale with a fair amount of food for deeper thought. I found Marc’s and Elizabeth’s stories the most difficult to follow, but maybe I will have more understanding if I read The Milieu Trilogy.
The 4th in the Pliocene Era saga, this is space opera before the term was really coined. I loved it when I first read it, and definitely liked it now, but can see it's age. It's not as sophisticated in it's relationships as I recalled, and while I loved Marc, I found his relationship with Elizabeth less convincing. But these are minor quibbles because there is such a broad tapestry here and so many characters to find and love. And Aiken Drum is a great character to spend time with and he didn't age at all.
PS I hate the cover art on the edition I got and changed it to this much more pleasing look. Bad cover art can really impact a book!
PS I hate the cover art on the edition I got and changed it to this much more pleasing look. Bad cover art can really impact a book!
THE ADVERSARY follows the interwoven relationships of people from each of the five groups, plus the reluctant arbiter of them all, Elizabeth Orme. Elizabeth supports the aims of King Aiken and his Tanu, Howler, and human followers. Aiken, with his enlightened despotism, seems the best ruler available. Certainly not King Sharn-Mes of the Firvulag, who plans to exterminate all Tanu and humans. Certainly not Marc Remillard, whose cold, cruel mind is the only one stronger than Aiken’s. The other groups have no ambition to rule. The Lowlives, outlaw humans, cooperate with Aiken when they feel like it. The children of Marc Remillard and his followers want only to build a time gate to take them to Earth’s twenty-second century A.D., where show more their parents came from.
The maneuvering to build the time gate is the main plot of THE ADVERSARY. The title character, the Adversary himself, is Marc Remillard. His driving urge is the urge for dominance: humans over other species, himself over humans, his descendants mutated into forms which will allow them to dominate their universe. But Marc’s methods thus far have been so draconic that his children find them – and him – repugnant. One of his son Hagan’s goals in returning to Elder Earth and the government of the Galactic Milieu is to help the Milieu find and destroy his father. So when Marc starts visiting Elizabeth and helping her heal children, all anyone can think of is the terrifying power Marc is developing: learning to jump instantaneously anywhere in the universe, carrying along anything he chooses to bring. Everyone knows that soon Marc will be able to stop the building of the time gate. show less
The maneuvering to build the time gate is the main plot of THE ADVERSARY. The title character, the Adversary himself, is Marc Remillard. His driving urge is the urge for dominance: humans over other species, himself over humans, his descendants mutated into forms which will allow them to dominate their universe. But Marc’s methods thus far have been so draconic that his children find them – and him – repugnant. One of his son Hagan’s goals in returning to Elder Earth and the government of the Galactic Milieu is to help the Milieu find and destroy his father. So when Marc starts visiting Elizabeth and helping her heal children, all anyone can think of is the terrifying power Marc is developing: learning to jump instantaneously anywhere in the universe, carrying along anything he chooses to bring. Everyone knows that soon Marc will be able to stop the building of the time gate. show less
All time favourite fantasy series, feel in love with this when 15, and the only book series I have ready multiple times.
לא אהבתי
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Julian May was born on July 10, 1931. She writes under her own name and several pseudonyms including Lee N. Falconer and Ian Thorne. Her first published work, a short story entitled Dune Roller, appeared in 1951 under the name J. C. May. She sold one more short story entitled Star of Wonder in 1953 before taking a break from the science fiction show more field. Starting in 1954, she wrote thousands of science encyclopedia articles for Consolidated Book Publishers. After finishing that project, she wrote similar articles for two other encyclopedia publishers. In 1957, she and her husband founded Publication Associates, a production and editorial service for small publishers. During this time, she wrote and edited two episodes of the Buck Rogers comic strip and a new Catholic catechism for Franciscan Herald Press. Between 1956 and 1981, she wrote more than 250 books for children and young adults. They were mostly non-fiction works dealing with the subjects of science, history, and short biographies of modern-day celebrities. She returned to the world of science fiction in the 1980s with such works as the Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu series. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- De tegenstrever
- Original title
- The Adversary
- Original publication date
- 1984
- People/Characters
- Elizabeth Orme; Aiken Drum; Marc Remillard; Hagen Remillard; Cloud Remillard; Kuhal Earthshaker (show all 16); Creyn; Sharn-Mes; Sugoll; Katlinel the Darkeyed; Basil Wimborne; Peopeo Moxmox Burke; Anatoly Gorchakov; Anthony "Tony" Bruce Wayland; Gregory Prentice Brown; Patricia Castillane
- Important places
- Goriah, Pliocene Europe; Nionel, Pliocene Europe; Castle Gateway, Pliocene Europe; Monte Rosa Massif, Pliocene Europe
- Epigraph
- I am the dark-avised, the widower, the inconsolable,
The Prince of Aquitaine before his ruined tower:
My only star is dead; and now my jewel-studded lute
Will only bear the blackened sun of Melancholia . . .
M... (show all)y forehead is red yet with the kiss of the queen;
I have dreamed in the grotto where the siren swims.
And twice I have crossed the Acheron, triumphant . . .
—El Desdichado, Gérard de Nerval
LOGE:
They are beginning on to their end,
They who imagine themselves so firmly enduring.
I'm almost ashamed to share in their dealings!
How strongly I'm tempted to change myself again
Into licking flames, cons... (show all)uming the ones who once tamed me,
Rather than blindly passing away with the blind,
Were they ever so splendidly godlike!
That's not such a bad idea . . .
I'll think it over.
Who knows what I'll do?
—Das Rheingold, Richard Wagner - Dedication
- For three masterly twig benders—
Julia Feilen May, mother
Norma Olson, teacher
Ruth Davies, neighbor
in gratitude. - First words
- It had happened, just as Elizabeth had known it would; and there was no metapsychic prolepsis involved in the foretelling, only logic and inevitability, given those protagonists: Aiken Drum, Felice Landry, and Marc Remillard.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The star-strewn sky was suddenly alive with enormous crystalline creatures and the aether rang with Song.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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