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corymojojojo's review against another edition
5.0
Varley finished the Gaea trilogy strong with the final book and has cemented himself as one of my absolute favorite authors so far. Demon was my favorite of the three books which improved with each entry. This was just plain fun and was an excellent climax to what’s been building up over the previous books. I love Varley’s diverse representation in this series and his female characters especially are well written and likable. Varley was in the midst of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury summer of love in the ‘70s and I think that comes through a lot with his heavy themes of sexuality, and while often it can get pretty weird, overall I think he’s better at writing sex scenes than most sci-fi authors.
It can also be incredibly satisfying to have a main character who’s extremely competent and just succeeds in all her plans that have been building up throughout the series, especially when we’ve seen how much she’s struggled previously. I loved the main character Cirocco and how she is just so damn good at what she does. This book is crazy fun and filled with film references that escalate things in absolutely wacky ways (like a 50 foot Marylin Monroe fighting King Kong) and I LOVED IT.
It can also be incredibly satisfying to have a main character who’s extremely competent and just succeeds in all her plans that have been building up throughout the series, especially when we’ve seen how much she’s struggled previously. I loved the main character Cirocco and how she is just so damn good at what she does. This book is crazy fun and filled with film references that escalate things in absolutely wacky ways (like a 50 foot Marylin Monroe fighting King Kong) and I LOVED IT.
sacredblues's review against another edition
5.0
“Gaea would be hearing from the Demon.”
The first book in the Gaea trilogy was Titan, a story about the captain of a NASA team being thrust into the world of a satellite-sized alien with her own ecosystem.
The second book was Wizard, the story of a woman suffering from a patriarchal religious colony who suffers from debilitating seizures and a mild-mannered man who has dissociative personality disorder — turning him into a crass brute — and their quest to prove themselves as heroes, thus earning them the favor of Gaea and having her heal them.
The final book in the trilogy, follows Cirocco Jones — now branded as a Demon rather than the Wizard — in her scheme to overthrow Gaea. After Cirocco destroyed Gaea’s vessel at the end of Wizard, Gaea has now fashioned herself as a fifty-foot tall Marilyn Monroe duplicate. Gaea’s obsession with movies has met its natural escalation. She has holed herself off in Pandemonium, her personal Xanadu that is half Classical Hollywood movie studio and half Disney World. There, her human slaves and film recording creatures are forced to help her create the ultimate movie. Meanwhile, Cirocco begins amassing a force that will help her wipe Gaea from the face of the solar system, once and for all.
If nothing else, you can’t say that John Varley isn’t creative. Each book in the trilogy is clearly more insane than the last, and I was absolutely hooked in due to the absurdity of it all. Since the absurdity was established and made sense in regards to the story’s logic, I welcomed the bizarreness of the trilogy. In Demon, we’re treated to even more imaginative creatures. The most shocking to me was that there are zombies. John Varley isn’t afraid to throw everything, and I mean everything at the wall, and honestly, everything sticks and readers are treated to the literary equivalent of a paint splatter.
Demon is about one-hundred pages longer than Wizard. Demon certainly had a lot to accomplish, and it did it well. Reading the story never was a slog for me, and the climax was especially gripping. Throughout the trilogy I was pleased with how swift things moved. Varley managed to avoid the pitfall of explaining too much. Or maybe the world of Gaea was just so colorful that I didn’t mind the explanations. Demon is separated into three “features” along with a “short subjects” in the beginning and a “fade out” at the end (Gaea’s movie obsession bleeds into the structure of the story itself, it would seem). Demon spans a longer timeframe than the other two stories, but despite this, the pace is great.
Like Wizard, we are treated to new characters. The most notable new characters are Conal, an enemy-made-ally of Cirocco, and Nova, Robin’s daughter who is in many ways Robin 2.0. Conal was a fine addition to the cast and I liked his dynamic with Cirocco. Nova in many ways felt like a retread of Robin. She’s actually more testy than Robin was. It’s a testament to Varley’s writing that I wasn’t bored of Nova despite the similar character arc as her mother.
My main problem with Wizard was that the entire story set up to a conflict that wasn’t seen until the third book. Obviously, Demon is so great because it uses the steam that Wizard picked up. In hindsight, I like Wizard more because without it, Demon wouldn’t have been so great.
Demon also avoids the pitfall of being too similar to the first. Unlike the first two books, this isn't an adventure story, it's a war story.
I enjoyed the story showing Gaea’s true colors, or rather, just how terrible an uncaring God can be. Instead of just not caring, she actively treats the inhabitants of her as her playthings. It’s a good way to show that she must be stopped
So the question is, what did I dislike? Not much. There were character decisions that didn’t like, but much like the strangeness of the story, they made sense. While this isn’t a perfect book, it’s quite the stunning conclusion to a unique trilogy. I wished more people talked about these books. I think they’ll stick with me for a while.
The first book in the Gaea trilogy was Titan, a story about the captain of a NASA team being thrust into the world of a satellite-sized alien with her own ecosystem.
The second book was Wizard, the story of a woman suffering from a patriarchal religious colony who suffers from debilitating seizures and a mild-mannered man who has dissociative personality disorder — turning him into a crass brute — and their quest to prove themselves as heroes, thus earning them the favor of Gaea and having her heal them.
The final book in the trilogy, follows Cirocco Jones — now branded as a Demon rather than the Wizard — in her scheme to overthrow Gaea. After Cirocco destroyed Gaea’s vessel at the end of Wizard, Gaea has now fashioned herself as a fifty-foot tall Marilyn Monroe duplicate. Gaea’s obsession with movies has met its natural escalation. She has holed herself off in Pandemonium, her personal Xanadu that is half Classical Hollywood movie studio and half Disney World. There, her human slaves and film recording creatures are forced to help her create the ultimate movie. Meanwhile, Cirocco begins amassing a force that will help her wipe Gaea from the face of the solar system, once and for all.
If nothing else, you can’t say that John Varley isn’t creative. Each book in the trilogy is clearly more insane than the last, and I was absolutely hooked in due to the absurdity of it all. Since the absurdity was established and made sense in regards to the story’s logic, I welcomed the bizarreness of the trilogy. In Demon, we’re treated to even more imaginative creatures. The most shocking to me was that there are zombies. John Varley isn’t afraid to throw everything, and I mean everything at the wall, and honestly, everything sticks and readers are treated to the literary equivalent of a paint splatter.
Demon is about one-hundred pages longer than Wizard. Demon certainly had a lot to accomplish, and it did it well. Reading the story never was a slog for me, and the climax was especially gripping. Throughout the trilogy I was pleased with how swift things moved. Varley managed to avoid the pitfall of explaining too much. Or maybe the world of Gaea was just so colorful that I didn’t mind the explanations. Demon is separated into three “features” along with a “short subjects” in the beginning and a “fade out” at the end (Gaea’s movie obsession bleeds into the structure of the story itself, it would seem). Demon spans a longer timeframe than the other two stories, but despite this, the pace is great.
Like Wizard, we are treated to new characters. The most notable new characters are Conal, an enemy-made-ally of Cirocco, and Nova, Robin’s daughter who is in many ways Robin 2.0. Conal was a fine addition to the cast and I liked his dynamic with Cirocco. Nova in many ways felt like a retread of Robin. She’s actually more testy than Robin was. It’s a testament to Varley’s writing that I wasn’t bored of Nova despite the similar character arc as her mother.
My main problem with Wizard was that the entire story set up to a conflict that wasn’t seen until the third book. Obviously, Demon is so great because it uses the steam that Wizard picked up. In hindsight, I like Wizard more because without it, Demon wouldn’t have been so great.
Demon also avoids the pitfall of being too similar to the first. Unlike the first two books, this isn't an adventure story, it's a war story.
I enjoyed the story showing Gaea’s true colors, or rather, just how terrible an uncaring God can be. Instead of just not caring, she actively treats the inhabitants of her as her playthings. It’s a good way to show that she must be stopped
So the question is, what did I dislike? Not much. There were character decisions that didn’t like, but much like the strangeness of the story, they made sense. While this isn’t a perfect book, it’s quite the stunning conclusion to a unique trilogy. I wished more people talked about these books. I think they’ll stick with me for a while.
claycates's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
flashmaddison's review
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jayshay's review against another edition
2.0
A movie obsessed, fifty plus foot blond bomb-shell Gaea is the capper to the trilogy, but the final book bogs down in process-process-process. The story doesn't so much have a plot as a manual for regime change. There are plenty of interesting ideas and observations about humankind, though I do get tired of sci-fi novels where extreme situations are created, seemingly just for the purpose of setting up the main character as supreme dictator (sounds like an Author complex).
tome15's review against another edition
4.0
This is very satisfying conclusion to a good trilogy. One and three are the best members of the series and I think Varley saved the best for last. I especially like the epitaph on a zombie: paraphrasing, don't be too hard on him--after all it's your fault--you made him human; it was a dirty trick.
judetheunbeliever's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
riduidel's review against another edition
3.0
Ce troisième tome donne un nouveau tournant aux aventures de Cirocco Jones et de ses amis.
D'abord, il y a beaucoup moins de sexe, et c'est bien malheureux.
Ensuite, il y a beaucoup plus de violence, et c'est encore plus malheureux.
Enfin, il y a la résolution d'un mystère essentiel : Gaïa a-t-elle pu vivre aussi longtemps en étant aussi méchante ? Parce que c'est un dieu ... assez cruel, somme toute.
Ca donne une histoire assez curieuse, et qui dénote, je trouve, des deux premiers tomes. C'est dommage, surtout pour moi, parce que j'ai pris beaucoup moins de plaisir à lire ces nouvelles aventures. Non pas que ce soit mal raconté, c'est plutôt que j'ai moins adhéré.
D'abord, il y a beaucoup moins de sexe, et c'est bien malheureux.
Ensuite, il y a beaucoup plus de violence, et c'est encore plus malheureux.
Enfin, il y a la résolution d'un mystère essentiel : Gaïa a-t-elle pu vivre aussi longtemps en étant aussi méchante ? Parce que c'est un dieu ... assez cruel, somme toute.
Ca donne une histoire assez curieuse, et qui dénote, je trouve, des deux premiers tomes. C'est dommage, surtout pour moi, parce que j'ai pris beaucoup moins de plaisir à lire ces nouvelles aventures. Non pas que ce soit mal raconté, c'est plutôt que j'ai moins adhéré.
lazyreader's review
4.0
Demon vs God
The story comes to an end. Scirocco Jones, met Gaea in the first book, Titan. She learned that Gaea wasn't the benevolent ruler that Gaea wanted everyone to believe in the second book, Wizard. In this book, Demon, Scirocco and her band of merry men (and Titanides) are on the outs with Gaea. This leads to a new adventure across Gaea's landscape to try to find a way to defeat the "wicked witch". But, is Gaea the witch, or is Scirocco.
This is an interesting world, and the main characters are fairly well developed over the series. Several characters from the first book are brought back, and given a nice completion to their arcs. Maybe completion is too definitive a word, let's say it's nice to see them back and given a chance to make a difference after all they've gone through.
The writing is dated and some people may be offended by certain aspects of the story, but I guess that is the case with almost any story written before 2000.
The story comes to an end. Scirocco Jones, met Gaea in the first book, Titan. She learned that Gaea wasn't the benevolent ruler that Gaea wanted everyone to believe in the second book, Wizard. In this book, Demon, Scirocco and her band of merry men (and Titanides) are on the outs with Gaea. This leads to a new adventure across Gaea's landscape to try to find a way to defeat the "wicked witch". But, is Gaea the witch, or is Scirocco.
This is an interesting world, and the main characters are fairly well developed over the series. Several characters from the first book are brought back, and given a nice completion to their arcs. Maybe completion is too definitive a word, let's say it's nice to see them back and given a chance to make a difference after all they've gone through.
The writing is dated and some people may be offended by certain aspects of the story, but I guess that is the case with almost any story written before 2000.
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