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Saga of the Pliocene Exile #4

by Julian May

Efter den store oversvømmelse og ødelæggelsen af Muriah er tanuerne stærkt svækkede og deres herredømme over Det mangefarvede Land er truet. Aiken Drumm manøvrerer ivrigt for at blive tanuernes konge, mens firvulagerne ruster sig til det endelige opgør med arvefjenden.

Men en tredje part begynder nu at blande sig i striden. Lederne af det metapsykiske oprør i Det galaktiske Miljø langt ude i fremtiden flygtede efter deres nederlag gennem tidsporten og søgte tilflugt i den pliocæne tidsalders Nordamerika mange år tidligere. Deres børn er nu blevet voksne, og utilfredse med det ufrivillige eksil som deres forældre har påtvunget dem, begynder de nu at gøre deres enorme mentale kræfter gældende.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Time Travel, Science Fiction Fantasy, Ebooks, Speculative Fiction

271 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Julian May was an American science fiction, fantasy, horror, science and children's writer who also used several pseudonyms including Ian Thorne, Lee N. Falconer and many others.

Some 1960's and 1970's biographies and children's science books may belong to Julian May (the science fiction & fantasy writer) profile but no reliable source has been found

Per Encyclopedia.com, May wrote juvenile science non-fiction along with the science fiction novels for adults. (https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/edu...)

Reviews

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2025 Re-Read

It's been 10 years since I last read this novel, but I have to agree with my original review: this is my least favourite volume of the Pliocene Exile series. It does set me up nicely to progress to May's Galactic Milieu books, which I hope to read during May to July, one per month.

I used to have a fabulous memory, but that ability is long gone. There were very few details that had stuck with me over the last decade. The Pliocene Earth doesn't get much of a chance to dazzle here. It is merely a setting for a largely mental battle. All the humans who came through the time gate are exiles, but Marc Remillard is, as usual, a special case. Having led a rebellion in the Galactic Milieu, he commandeered the time gate and escaped to the past. Everyone else has gone through channels and screening. His mental abilities set him apart, in both positive and negative ways. This time around, I found him more intriguing—perhaps because I know that I'll be seeing him again next month.

Book 5 of my 2025 Read My Hoard Project. This series has earned my favour and will stay in my collection.

Original Review

My least favourite of the 4 Pliocene Exile books. It took me a while to get into this one, although eventually I found myself back into the flow. I have to admire the intricate nature of May’s plot and how it all ties together eventually. I did find that the sheer number of characters (not all of whom I remembered well) was part of the reason that it was slow going in the beginning. Also, the involvement of Marc Remillard was tiring to me—I was much more interested in the other humans, the Tanu and the Firvulag and their various plots and plans. Looking back, I realize that there was much less attention paid to the ancient environment and extinct animals in this book than in the others, and since that was one of the best parts of the series for me, it stands to reason that this book would be less appealing. I also missed the firey Felice and so many others who perished en route to this installment of the tale. (Perhaps George R.R. Martin learned a thing or two about killing off beloved characters from Ms. May?)

A satisfactory conclusion to a really good tale. Many of my questions have been answered, although I think Ms. May has left herself some wiggle room to continue on at some future point, should she hear the Many Colored Land calling to her again.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concluding volume of the Pliocence Epoch tetralogy delivers! Julian May will definitely be missed; I loved her work decades ago and glad to say that it hasn't aged a bit. The Adversay gives us a rather epic and fitting ending to the series. The previous volumes introduced us to all the various factions struggling to control the Many Colored Land (Pliocene Europe), including both humans and fey folks of different stripes. We know it is going to come to a head around the times of the 'games'-- an annual event pitting one faction of the fey against one another-- but May keeps us guessing until almost the last page regarding how it will turn out.

The Pliocene Epoch stretches your imagination right and left and May adds in lots of humor and bizarre situations to boot. She also planted the seeds for the Galactic Milieu trilogy here, which I plan on rereading again some day. So, what exactly makes this series so special? One, May provides believable characters, both human and fey, struggling, and often conniving, all in their own ways. The mind powers are exceptionally well developed in all their various manifestations (PK, farseeing, illusion, etc.) and as the series progresses, May drops in more and more high tech stuff that was smuggled into the Pliocene as various 'stashes' are uncovered. I think my favorite thing, however, was the snappy dialogue, filled with lots of fun slang. We have political intrigue, reflections on the human (and fey) condition, some deft action sequences and a richly portrayed world. Highly recommended for SFF fans! 4 stars!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

George R.R. Martin can suck it. Ten years before Martin started his yet unfinished Song of Ice and Fire, May's four Pliocene Exile books were published at a rate of one every year between 1981 and 1984. And they are epic. Dense and filled with grand world-building concepts and vocabulary (although tinged with a bit of anachronism in places, mostly in some out-of-date ethnic clichés), The Adversary was a solid ending to a science fiction story set six million years ago. Rest in peace, Ms. May - your books still bring me joy after all these years.

[Sharon Reamer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overall series deserves four stars, even though I've given the third and fourth book three stars. I enjoyed the continuity, the exquisite world-building, enhanced by the cool geological descriptions. The detail of the survival of the humans in the Pliocene and their various trades and specialties was also rendered more than believable. I sometimes felt I was there, with them, in the Pliocene Exile.

However, the telepathic powers plot device overshadowed all of the good things, pushing my overall enjoyment of the series down somewhat. I felt it got out of hand and would have liked a more 'mundane' solution to some of the problems between the different races: human, Tanu and Firvulag (including Howlers), and some conclusions about the mixed bloods influencing human evolution - that was never really satisfactorily explained (or I missed it).

Many of my problems with the telepathic nature of the various antagonists and protagonists was that some things were just 'too easily' solved because of this. Character A has an insurmountable problem that Character B helps him/her solve using his/her superior telepathic (insert specific type of power here) skills.

The series ended rather calmly, but it did have a solid ending so I can't complain too much.

[AndrewP · Rating 4 out of 5]

My reread of this series concludes with this volume. Unlike the first couple of books I did not remember anything about the events in this one, so it was like reading it for the first time. Because of this I would not give this book 5 stars, only 4.

Still a very good series and this time I will continue on to read the Galactic Milieu Trilogy that steps back in time to the Galactic Rebellion that is so much of the background to the last two books of the Pliocene series. But before that I have to read Intervention, that May wrote to bridge the two series.

[prcardi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Storyline: 2/5
Characters: 2/5
Writing Style: 2/5
World: 2/5

This series has the distinction of making every subsequent volume worse than the one before.

Despite having 1,748 pages in which to develop the Pliocene, I never felt that I got to know the Many-Colored Land. We were immersed in politics and war, distracted with minor romances and side-quests, and pelted with PK technobabble, Latin and French, but the only feeling I got for the land was that the mountains were taller and the fauna more saurian. I don't think the book would have been all that different were it to have taken place in the Galactic Milieu or in Duat.

May set up the Pliocene Exile well; there was great potential at the end of book one. Unfortunately, she suspended her worldbuilding efforts thereafter and it was more of a court intrigue and warring factions series thereafter. I think May was at her best when starting new ideas. She very rarely saw them through to satisfactory completion however and instead jumped on to something new. It was clear by midway through this final volume, that the Adversary was as much a bridge to the spin-off Galactic Milieu trilogy as it was a finale to the Saga of the Pliocene Exile series.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book did not hold my interest. The narrative was unfocused, with many sections that were inconsequential to the plot. There were too many characters that blurred into an indistinct mass. I didn’t much care whether the characters achieved any of their aims, nor did I know what outcome I was supposed to be rooting for. May’s imagination and vocabulary were as expansive as ever, but by this, the fourth volume in the series, the novelty of the setting has worn off. I suspect this book would have been better if I had read it more carefully and delved into the minutiae, but nothing in it compelled me to pay that much attention. More description to further differentiate the characters and locations might have helped. I think an adaptation of this to a visual medium might be pretty good, but reading it was laborious and unrewarding.

[John Devlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply the best space opera, and the best series of novels I've ever read. This is the first of the nine, and while the last three show signs of fatigue, these novels capture a cast of characters, and one in Marc Remillard, that are truly memorable. From the worlds and milieu May imagines to her evocative themes, the novels capture humanity with all its foibles and promise, and if you stick around for #6, you'll get the best plot twist in all of bookdom.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A satisfying conclusion 8 books (and 3.5 years) in the making

[Jean Triceratops · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hoo boy. I wanted to be surprised and like The Adversary, but there was no way, for three huge reasons:

1) Abusers are, at best, treated as “well-meaning but complicated” and, at worst, excused without second thought.
2) The scope becomes so large it’s impossible to support.
3) Facts are artificially withheld from the reader to generate interest.

That first point is hard to swallow no matter what, but the last two could have been mitigated with good characterization and a world brimming with personality, but the vibrancy of The Many Colored World is long gone. I guess I'm glad that I know how it ends, but The Adversary is so bad that I think it detracts from every book that preceded it.

[I read old fantasy and sci-fi novels written by women authors in search of forgotten gems. See a full length review at forfemfan.com]

[Richard Guion · Rating 2 out of 5]

This four book series ended with a whimper, not a bang, for me at least. I read that Many Colored Land and The Golden Torc were initially written as one volume - which makes sense as I found those generally entertaining. Julian May set out to write a more traditional science fiction adventure novel, which is just fine by me. She didn’t succeed in the last two books by adding new characters that I really didn’t care to read about, or endless chapters with the Firvulag people that I had to skip over. The threat of Marc Remillard seemed like a big nothing. Elizabeth, who was a very promising character in the first two books, seems to devolve here. There were open plot lines with characters that never got resolved properly. Despite all of this, I’m still curious to read Intervention and see if that is any better.

[Mandy Galileo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this series, interesting characters and ideas, really looking forward to the follow on series to explore these themes and ideas some more.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10. Media de los 7 libros leídos de la autora : 8/10

Las siete novelas que he leído suyas se agrupan en dos series. La de La Intervención (3 libros) y esta Saga del exilio en el Plioceno (4 libros). Autora poco conocida pero que se lee (o que leí) con auténtico frenesí.

Recomiendo ambas, tal vez esta del Plioceno baja un poco en los dos últimos, pero ambas son joyas que tiene Ultramar en su colección de Grandes éxitos de Bolsillo (Ciencia Ficción).

[Kathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Lewis Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This whole series is awesome. I would love to see a movie, even an animated movie, of the many colored land and the galactic milieu.

[Roddy Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘The Firvulag are rising, while the children of the metapsychic rebels race to reopen the time-gate, the sole escape route back into the Galactic Milieu.
Now the adversary takes up his destined role in the power play… Marc Remillard, defeated leader of the metapsychic rebellion determined to keep the time-gate sealed and to create a new race from his own offspring. Will he aid the Firvulag or bring succour to Aiken, when the day of the Grand Tourney comes, when the Tanu and the humans meet the Firvulag in the last great contest of the exile world…’

Blurb from the 1984 Pan paperback edition


May rounds off her Pliocene quadrology with panache in ‘The Adversary’
Aiken Drum is attempting to hold his kingdom together while the Firvulag are rising, convinced by ancient Duat prophecy that the Nightfall War is about to begin, the final battle to oblivion between the Tanu and the Firvulag.
The central figure of the prophecy, The Adversary, is seen as Marc Remillard, who has sailed from his exile in Pliocene Florida back to Europe in order to prevent his children reopening the Time Gate and escaping back to the Twenty-Second Century.
As a result of having nearly been killed by Felice when she teleported to America, Marc is slowly learning how to ‘D-Jump’ himself, and begins to appear to the Metapsychic Grandmaster Elizabeth Orme where he helps her to ‘cure’ the black-torc babies (i.e. babies who cannot adjust to the mind-enhancing torc).
It transpires that a metapsychic programme is able to not only cure the children but raise them to metapsychic operancy.
Once again, May manages to combine the fantasy settings with complete 22nd Century science quite seamlessly, and one has to ask how much she was influenced by the Science fantasy boom of the Seventies and writers such as Moorcock, M John Harrison and Jack Vance.
There are certainly echoes of their work here. Where these writers often set their civilisations of decadent technology on a Far Future Earth, May takes us back to the Pliocene of six million years ago, but the trappings are the same. The Tanu and the Firvulag are, after all, merely elves and goblins, trolls and ogres with a technology so advanced it appears to be magic. Where May triumphs is in linking her world so directly to our near future and creating a structure in which the narrative returns to the future and, to a certain extent, comes full circle to where it began.
Finally, it is revealed, although it has been hinted at within previous volumes, that the human race are descendants of all three races, which is why Humanity ends up possessing such a huge metapsychic potential.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was pretty average. It felt too long, but in spite of its length it left a couple of plot strings dangling badly. One was that she took a major character, Felice, out of the
story but rather than killing her left her in sort of limbo. There was also this subplot about two infants that apparently were destined to do something but never did. These were dwelled on in book 3 at considerable length but never mentioned at all in book 4. The author may have been trying to tie this series into another. If so, the connection was not obvious and I never read it.

The author's style was average, not impressing me one way or the other. I did like the setting and some of the characterizations. The story showed a lot of imagination but overall it was not a very satisifying read.

[Chris Branch · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Betawolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Satisfactory ending to an overall satisfactory science-fictionish epic. I found it hard to buy Marc as a real Abaddon (perhaps the books set prior to the series lay groundwork for that?), and I never really got Elizabeth, but May managed to slot her mythic pieces together without too heavily straining the characters, and there was an amusingly literal big bang to end it all.

I liked this series. Most of this was the concept -- men and fey living as gods in ancient times, wrought from technology and psychic powers, all stirred into a primeval myth that tugged at vague memories and presented similarities with a bunch of cultural artefacts. But it was competently executed too, and I enjoyed not having to worry about the author getting lost in their own world.

[David Meiklejohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The conclusion of the saga. Felice has been zapped, but she seems to have d-jumped to fry Marc in the final milliseconds of her life. As Marc recovers he tries the obscure manoeuvre himself. Aiken faces and subsumes Mercy and then Nodonn, leaving himself in a vulnerable state as the grand tourney approaches and the Firvulag plan for Nightfall. Elizabeth tries to help but doesn't know what her destiny should be.

A fantastic finale! I can't recommend this series enough, the writing is immense, characters are great and visualisations amazing.

I just wanted Felice to last a bit longer.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An OK ending to the series. I had really hoped for more from this series knowing the reviews it gets. The entire series has great ideas and plots but they seem to just go up to a point and never achieve their potential. Not alot of action throughout and that makes the story sometimes drag. A nice blend of SiFi and Fantasy and tons of reference to Irish myth. Recommended

[Neal Schlegel · Rating 4 out of 5]

magnificent I had hoped that obscene midget would get his come upance courtesy of Abbadan but it was not to be it was a very good ending or is it the begining wink wink

[Ria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great conclusion, a sweeping epic that introduces a new theme in the saga that leads on nicely and is very open ended for the next series.
A clever story blending a mix of fantasy and sci fi.

[AndrewP · Rating 5 out of 5]

The conclusion of the Piocene Exiles saga. A great series of book by this very underrated author.

As usual my rating of the final book reflects my enjoyment of the series overall.

[Helene_In_Awe · Rating 5 out of 5]

4. book in best series ever written

[Johannes Veuger · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felt like a drag and took me a month to finish. Had too many characters I didn't care about, and uninteresting sideplots.

[Benj · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine ending to the series

[Jacob Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this was the final piece of the Pliocene Exile series, it’s hard to separate this specific book and the series as a whole. At least for the sake of this review in my head. Certain parts felt like they dragged on at times, but I also also ready to be done with this book and series. Overall, it was a decent and fun read and an acceptable end to the series.

It wasn’t until this book, though, that I realized the entire series ultimately follows Aiken’s and Elizabeth’s reel world and personal journeys. The writing was perfectly fine but nothing special, and that’s okay since Julian May’s strengths seem to be in character development and world building. Finally, the ending. The ending made enough sense and works, but I guess I was hoping for more. There’s still so many unresolved questions about different characters’ outcomes and the personal dealings that I want answered, even though they weren’t exactly central to the plot.

I loved how May handled the character development and how most characters seemed morally good, bad, and grey throughout the series and their true goals were never what they seemed. Overall for the series, it’s a great story, immersive world building, interesting and enticing characters, and a great read. Here’s a couple of quotes I liked from this past book, both from the last part as it was the best part.

- “He eats mushroom omelettes and popcorn with Brother Anatoly,” Creyn said. “And puts his feet up on the hearth fender to warm them on stormy nights like this. And forgets to put the lid down on the toilet.” (Creyn to Basil about Marc)

- “What events are scheduled for tomorrow?”

“The biggie is the tug-of-war,” Aiken said. “With minds. No chance for hanky-panky. We’ll have to play it straight. At least I will.”

“Then the advantage is still to the ungodly,” Marc said. “Tomorrow then.” He lifted high his lance, with the crest of the Bottle Knight spitted at the tip, and rode away.”

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This last book of the Saga of the Exiles, while as vivid, complicated, and sometimes as baffling in it's scientific jargon, made a good ending to the series.

Unfortunately, the actual ending was a bit of a let down, as it felt hurried - as if Julian May just wanted it finished within a certain word number.

That saying, it was such a very small part of the whole thing, that I felt that it, too, deserved the five stars I'd given to the previous books - mainly because, although the ending WAS hurried, the romantic in me enjoyed the endings of each of the main characters.

I'm very much looking forwards to reading May's next series - the Galactic Milieu trilogy - as it tells the history of the Remillard family, of the original Intervention, and how Mark Remillard became the Adversary of this previous series.

It starts with Interventions, so I'll be picking up the story later today, after I've had some sleep, as it's almost 7am right now, and I've had no sleep all night!

That's the trouble when you mix pain strong enough to keep you awake all night, along with a book too good to put down, until the end!

[Steventhesteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something of a space opera (but on earth, sort of), this series contains vast numbers of characters and interweaving plot lines.

The book itself was a solid rounding up of loose ends, ongoing stories and cliffhangers into a cohesive finish. I'd say 3.5 stars, but there just isn't a way to do that on here.

As for the series as a whole, I'd say that it's definitely worth a read if you're into space operas, big canvas stuff etc... in a lot of ways it's quite progressive for it's age, as long as we ignore a few words now considered racial slurs (context of it's time people! CONTEXT!!). I'd also fully recommend getting yourself a copy of the "Pliocene Companion" book to the series, which is like a character list and glossary rolled up into a fifth volume of useful reference material. I didn't read it outright, just dipped into it for reminders and character arcs, but I'm very glad I found it in a second hand bookshop!