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wazbar's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
This is the fourth and final volume in the Saga of the Pliocene Exile and, the absolute mad lass did it. More than 1800 total pages, a truly astonishing number of characters and plot threads woven and counterwoven, and the whole thing comes to a (I'd say mostly) satisfactory conclusion.
Like, is this series without fault? Absolutely not. Its treatment of its handful of queer characters sucks! The series seems to think eugenics is pretty cool! And yet, I'm willing to forgive it a great deal because, unlike almost every work of comparable scope, its execution actually follows through on its promises. "What if ASOIAF were good and had an ending," is an obnoxious but not unfounded way to pitch this series.
There are a handful of dropped ideas and things about the final resolution that fall a bit flat to me, but it's a fair ending. I begrudge it nothing, even if for example we spend more time with tony wayland than his interestingness justifies.
Like, is this series without fault? Absolutely not. Its treatment of its handful of queer characters sucks! The series seems to think eugenics is pretty cool! And yet, I'm willing to forgive it a great deal because, unlike almost every work of comparable scope, its execution actually follows through on its promises. "What if ASOIAF were good and had an ending," is an obnoxious but not unfounded way to pitch this series.
There are a handful of dropped ideas and things about the final resolution that fall a bit flat to me, but it's a fair ending. I begrudge it nothing, even if for example we spend more time with tony wayland than his interestingness justifies.
branch_c's review against another edition
4.0
I was surprised at how much I had forgotten about this book. I have to admit that the lengthy subplots involving the misadventures of Tony Wayland and the climb up Monte Rosa were probably the least interesting part of the series for me, which may have contributed to its forgettableness. But this also may have made it even more enjoyable as a reread - for example, I didn't remember what happened to Basil when he reached the top of the mountain, so that was a nice surprise. And to be honest I didn't recall exactly how everything sorted itself out at the end. The parts involving the strongest characters, Aiken, Elizabeth, and Marc, were the most engaging, bringing the central story to a solid and satisfying end for the Pliocine saga. Looking forward to rereading the Milieu books next.
bethanharcourt's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The last in the series, a satisfying enough ending. Took me quite some time to finish this series, because I couldn't fully get into it. I enjoyed a lot of characters and the concepts and plot line, but I think there was maybe too much going on, and I couldn't focus enough on any one person.
mgeake's review
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
katmarhan's review against another edition
4.0
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.
missmultitasking's review against another edition
2.0
Sólo me ha costado UN AÑO terminarme el último de esta saga porque era del todo necesario escribir un PUTO LIBRO MÁS del asunto este. Y mira que el final ha sido bastante satisfactorio pero la paja hasta llegar ahí, dios mío, LA PAJA. El último y el penúltimo libro podrían haberse fusionado en uno y habría sido fantástico y no este chicle gastado y repartido por las suelas de todos los zapatos de Plioceno.
Me enfada que los autores no sepan terminar sus sagas, pero me enfada todavía más que intenten muñir la vaca hasta el hartazgo.
May tiene buenas ideas, pero no sabe narrar, no sabe mantener el ritmo y encima, vuelve OOC a sus personajes: Remillard y Aiken llevan 3 libros actuando como psicópatas, pero de repente son todo bondad y flower power. Y ese final con Elizabeth?? De la nada??
Recomendable el 1o, quizás el 2o, pero huid del 3o y saltaros el 70% del 4o hasta llegar al final.
Me enfada que los autores no sepan terminar sus sagas, pero me enfada todavía más que intenten muñir la vaca hasta el hartazgo.
May tiene buenas ideas, pero no sabe narrar, no sabe mantener el ritmo y encima, vuelve OOC a sus personajes: Remillard y Aiken llevan 3 libros actuando como psicópatas, pero de repente son todo bondad y flower power. Y ese final con Elizabeth?? De la nada??
Recomendable el 1o, quizás el 2o, pero huid del 3o y saltaros el 70% del 4o hasta llegar al final.
internpepper's review
3.0
A good ending to a decent series. The second one is my favorite and I feel that the cluster of characters only kept increasing even when other characters were dying. That being said, the author came up with an incredible setting and story. How everything comes together is unfortunately not as exciting.
smcleish's review
4.0
Originally published on my blog here in October 1998.
In the final book of the Saga of the Exiles series, the rebel metapsychic Marc Remeillard plays a large part; the title of the novel itself is one of his nicknames. His children, and the others of their generation, inhabiting the small settlement set up by the rebels, have gone to Europe, with the intention of setting up a copy of the time gate at the Pleistocene end so that they can return to the future. They were too young to have been involved in the rebellion, and hope for acceptance by the Concilium which rules the human polity.
Marc, however, has his own plans for them The roots of his disagreement with the Concilium were his plans for Mental Man, an entity purely of the mind. He wanted to accelerate human evolution to achieve this, using his own genes as a basis (as a member of the strongest human family of metapsychics, with a unique gene giving self-rejuvenation, he was a not unreasonable choice). But the death of his wife in the fighting occasioned by his refusal to accept the Concilium decision to discontinue his research led to a psychological infertility (his germ plasm no longer appeared to be fertile). Thus his plans relied on the availability of germ plasm from his children, hence his determination not to let them travel six million years into the future. He has been unable to bring himself to tell them, partly because he doesn't know what he would do in case of refusal, and partly because he hopes he himself might recover.
Naturally, the various factions with political interest in the Many-Coloured Land all wish to explot this scenario for their own ends. This provides the main interest of the novel.
In the final book of the Saga of the Exiles series, the rebel metapsychic Marc Remeillard plays a large part; the title of the novel itself is one of his nicknames. His children, and the others of their generation, inhabiting the small settlement set up by the rebels, have gone to Europe, with the intention of setting up a copy of the time gate at the Pleistocene end so that they can return to the future. They were too young to have been involved in the rebellion, and hope for acceptance by the Concilium which rules the human polity.
Marc, however, has his own plans for them The roots of his disagreement with the Concilium were his plans for Mental Man, an entity purely of the mind. He wanted to accelerate human evolution to achieve this, using his own genes as a basis (as a member of the strongest human family of metapsychics, with a unique gene giving self-rejuvenation, he was a not unreasonable choice). But the death of his wife in the fighting occasioned by his refusal to accept the Concilium decision to discontinue his research led to a psychological infertility (his germ plasm no longer appeared to be fertile). Thus his plans relied on the availability of germ plasm from his children, hence his determination not to let them travel six million years into the future. He has been unable to bring himself to tell them, partly because he doesn't know what he would do in case of refusal, and partly because he hopes he himself might recover.
Naturally, the various factions with political interest in the Many-Coloured Land all wish to explot this scenario for their own ends. This provides the main interest of the novel.