To the "yawning" critics, I say go piffle yerself!

books:


	• Conqueror's Moon (The Boreal Moon Tale, Book 1) Julian May, 2003 - 400 pages average customer review:based on 10 reviews view larger image
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Saddened by a fading Julian May

For years, Julian May was my favorite author. Her Pliocene Exile tetralogy remains the pinnacle of epic fiction in my mind. I enjoyed the Galactic Milieu tetralogy as well, and attributed some of my small disappointment to the sheer scope of the tale. Finally, the Rampart Worlds was entertaining, tongue-in-cheek with fleeting moments of the type of musical prose that had enraptured me with her writing years before. But now... now I must admit that I think Ms. May is fading from her peak.

While Conqueror's Moon was a solid work from the genre perspective, she fell far short of my lofty expectations. She's a good writer, that much is certain. Better by far than Jordan or Goodkind or Newcombe... and there is always the possibility that her editors have hacked and slashed some of her narrative. But her "decline" is not dis-similar to that of Terry Brooks'. "The Sword of Shannara" was fine, lively, colorful writing. Subsequent books, while perhaps more intriguing from a conceptual and storytelling standpoint, lost the magical descriptions and mood-setting narrative of his first work. He succumbed, IMO, to the commercial muse.

May's latest work is not that corrupt. The world is interesting, original. The magic is fresh and new (for the genre-- although I can't help thinking it is the watered-down "fantasy" version of the space opera metapsychics from her Pliocene and Milieu series). But the storyline is fairly ordinary otherwise, and her characters (usually one of her great strengths) are quite uninteresting, almost cardboard thin. There is little evolution in them, little growth in this first book... They just are, and static, and not that interesting.

Moreover, the music is seemingly gone. In her "Pliocene Companion" May was interviewed as saying that she heard music in her head when she wrote-- different pieces that helped her feel the mood of the scene in the book she was writing at the time. I could tell what she meant when I read it. Her words were Joycean-- they reached out and stimulated all five senses in harmonious rapture. Not so, anymore. For the genre, her prose remains above-average, but without an enthralling storyline, this book is just OK.

It's good enough to finish. I'm steadily making my way through the second book, "Ironcrown Moon" as we speak. I've been on a fantasy binge of late-- seven other books, most of which I'll not review. I lament that the Julian May of old has not been rekindled thus far here.

If you were looking for a synopsis in this review, I apologize. To me, this book was more about the author than the story. I guess that really says it all about this book.

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To the "yawning" critics, I say go piffle yerself!

Egad,

If I could only get one good cudgel swing at every critic out there w/ little to no support for their worthless opines...

Folks, May is the "real deal": Her plotting is tight, her characters are fun (and flawed), and her dialog is very good (and often funny!) As others have mentioned, the magic "system" in this book is one of the best, period. Finally -- and so FEW of her contemporaries seem to be able to do this -- this is not another trite GoooD vs EeevilL tome. That's right, May is capable of creating sympathetic characters on both (even many!) sides of a conflict. This was one of the many virtues of her Many Colored Land series -- one of the most underrated sci-fi/fantasy series of all time.

I take away one star from this tale because the main character does come off a little contrived (particularly in the beginning), and quite frankly, I couldn't stand his name. Other than that, bloody good fun. I wish I could write one-tenth as well.

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reviews: page 1, 2

From Julian May, author of The Many-Colored Land and one of the world's most original and imaginative fantasy writers, comes an all-new saga of a land beyond the horizon, where the quest for power is eternal, where magic and mystery are feared above all, and one man sought to reign...

Prince Conrig of Cathra-who waits patiently as his father the king wastes slowly away-has hatched a plan in league with his lover, the seductive sorceress Princess Ullanoth of Moss. And if their secret alliance succeeds in its goal, the warring kingdoms of High Blenholm will be united once and for all-under the iron hand of one supreme rule...

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