Summoning Light

Babylon 5: The Passing of the Techno-Mages #2

by Jeanne Cavelos

The explosive space epic continues, as the techno-mages come face-to-face with the devastating evil of the Shadows . . .

War against the Shadows is inevitable, and the ruling Circle has ordered the techno-mages into hiding. Many are unhappy with this decision--none more so than Galen, the only mage who has faced the Shadows and lived. But the Shadows aren't Galen's only enemy--he is driven to hunt and kill Elizar, the traitor who murdered the beautiful mage Isabelle while Galen stood by helplessly, his hands tied by the Circle's sacred code he had sworn to follow.

Now a new mission awaits as the Circle contrives a plan that may enable the five hundred mages to escape without leaving a trace. Dispatched to the Shadow's ancient capitol to uncover the enemy's plans, Galen will find everything he so desperately seeks--including a shocking legacy that threatens to consume his very soul.

Babylon 5 created by J. Michael Straczynski

Genres: Science Fiction, Babylon 5, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Tv, Media Tie In

368 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 3, 2001

About the author

Jeanne Cavelos is a writer, editor, scientist, and teacher. She began her professional life as an astrophysicist and mathematician, working in the Astronaut Training Division at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Her love of science fiction led her to earn her MFA in creative writing. She moved into a career in publishing, becoming a senior editor at Bantam Doubleday Dell, where she created and launched the Abyss imprint of psychological horror, for which she won the World Fantasy Award, and the Cutting Edge imprint of literary fiction. She also ran the science fiction/fantasy publishing program. In addition, she edited a wide range of fiction and nonfiction.

In 1994, she left New York to pursue her own writing career. She is currently writing a near-future science thriller about genetic manipulation, titled Fatal Spiral. Her last novel to hit the stores was Invoking Darkness , the third volume in the best-selling trilogy The Passing of the Techno-Mages , set in the Babylon 5 universe (Del Rey). The Sci-Fi Channel called the trilogy "A revelation for Babylon 5 fans. . . . Not 'television episodic' in look and feel. They are truly novels in their own right." Her nonfiction book The Science of Star Wars (St. Martin's) was chosen by the New York Public Library for its recommended reading list, and CNN said, "Cavelos manages to make some of the most mind-boggling notions of contemporary science understandable, interesting and even entertaining." The highly praised The Science of The X-Files , (Berkley) was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Publishers Weekly called it "Crisp, conversational, and intelligent."

Her first published book, the Babylon 5 novel The Shadow Within (Dell), went out of print a few years ago and was reissued by Del Rey due to popular demand. Dreamwatch magazine called it "one of the best TV tie-in novels ever written."

Recent works include the novella "Negative Space" (which was given honorable mention in The Year's Best Science Fiction), in the anthology Decalog 5: Wonders (Virgin Publishing), and several essays: "Living with Terror: Jack Bauer as a Coping Mechanism in Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disordered America" in Jack Bauer for President , "Stop Her, She's Got a Gun!" in Star Wars on Trial , "Down the Wormhole: Cognitive Dislocation, Escalation, Pyrrhic Victory and Farscape" in Farscape Forever , and "Innovation in Horror," which appears in both On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association and The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (Writer's Digest Books). She has published short fiction, essays, and reviews in many magazines.

The Many Faces of Van Helsing , an anthology she edited, was published by Berkley in 2004 and was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. The editors at Barnes and Noble called it "brilliant. . . . Arguably the strongest collection of supernatural stories to be released in years." Berkley is releasing a mass market paperback edition in October 2008.

Jeanne also runs Jeanne Cavelos Editorial Services, a full-service freelance company that provides editing, ghostwriting, consulting, and critiquing services to publishers, book packagers, agents, and authors. Among its clients are major publishers and best-selling and award-winning writers.

Since she loves working with developing writers, she created and serves as director of Odyssey , a six-week summer workshop for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror held annually at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH. Odyssey allows developing writers to focus on their craft and receive detailed, in-depth feedback on their work. Guest lecturers include some of the top authors, editors, and agents in the field.

Reviews

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found myself surprised at how much I enjoyed this, considering how average the first book was. I think because it runs a lot closer to Babylon 5 and Crusade, managing to connect both shows almost flawlessly. The main issue here, as always, is Cavelos' writing. I swear some chapters could be condensed to one paragraph, there's that much repetition in the prose (which makes the book a bit of a slog at times). Still, the fan in me was quite thrilled with the continuation of Galen's journey.

Content warning: self harm

[Jason Bleckly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Padded with repetition that repeatedly repeats itself.This would be an excellent 200 page navel, sadly its been bloated out to 357 with endless repetition, which is repeated.

However in the middle there is a really good bit where we get Elric's point of view for the Technomage episode on B5. This is well done and not repetitive as the episode didn't rely on repetition to fill it out.

The characterisation of Galen is still nothing like how the TV version of Galen is portrayed.

JMS provides an interesting twist to the Techno-mages. I say JMS and not Jeanne as the book is based on a plot outline by him. It's just been really badly executed. I suspect the story outline was for a single episode, or a movie spin off, and it has been mistreated by repetitive expansion into a trilogy. I really liked Jeanne's single B5 novel, but this trilogy is bloated.

I'm going to read the last book, but I think it'll be a slog.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read in this worthwhile series.

[Occamsbeard]

top notch fiction that is completely compatible with and blessed by JMS as the Official story of Galen and the Techno mages in the Babylon five, Crusade and Rangers series and the Babylon 5 universe. Ms Cavelos did a masterful job on focusing on the shows most under revealed characters. --I am not a normal reader of spin off fiction, but I was told that these books were all in keeping with the intent of JMS and much of what is in the book would have been revealed in further Bab 5 shows had he been able to continue and he worked with Ms Cavelos to make these books in keeping with the other story arcs. Those facts combined with the fact that Ms Jeanne Cavelos did a masterful job of capturing not just the story but also the feel of Galen, the techno mages and the Babylon five universes and what you have here are some amazing fun stories in the babylon 5 universe. If you wanted more of Galen then I would highly recommend this book as well as the other two books in "The Passing of the Techno Mages Series." hell I would love to see a series or movies based on these books. preferably a series because there is so much fun imagination to realize on screen about one of the funnest ideas in the babylon five universe, The Techno mage. Given more time and other story perspectives it could be easy to see them as Babylon's five version of that fetish life style character like the Jedi Knight. though I have to stress that other than being cool enough that they are fetish worthy, they are in no way derivative. and the story in these three books are epic in scope in their own right whether you know the background that it fits into well or not. its been long enough that I forget if each book finishes in a satisfying stopping point or not, each book is so relatively short compared to epically scoped fiction that its not tough to simply get the omnibus and read all three at once. I should end by saying that Jeanne Cavelos really did blow my mind with how amazingly well she fleshed out the back story on the techno mages and Galen. She created some truly fun and detailed organic super technology along with a very plausible back story on why it was created and given to less advanced space fairing races. and her personal narration of being in our protagonist's head was spot on and compelling as well. If I had been told that this had been written by JMS himself, I would have totally believed it. but then she has her own bonafides. Aside from being a scientist and NASA astronaut prior to taking up science fiction writing, she also wrote the wildly popular book, the science behind Start Wars and I think another one on the science in Star Trek. In other words, she was just the right person to tap to come up with a detailed and intriguing psuedo-scientific explanation for the many fantastic capabilities and temperaments that make up the known descriptors for the Techno Mages. But she shines equally well in her writing of the human side of this story as well. I felt absolutely nothing jarring or false when reading the inner thoughts of the Galen in her books after getting to know him on all of the Babylon five series. She also handles his personal back narrative and the newly met characters that make up his significant others in his life very well too. Last but not least the characterization of Galen's story fit perfectly in the babylon five larger narrative as well only serving to enrich it. In short. this was a terrific book for anyone who loves Babylon five, was super bummed that JMS never got a chance to explain more about how the Technomage's Story fit within Bab 5's larger cosmic struggles as well as simply learning more about the experience and technology of the technomages themselves. I would highly recommend it. I would go so far as to say that if you are a hard core fan of the Babylon five universe and you want to truly get the rest of the the big stories from JMS's amazing science fantasy epic, then this trilogy and only one other spin off book series are a a must read. This trilogy will fill in all the blanks about the techno mages blanks and the other series is called "The Legions of Fire series" which is co-written by JMS with Peter David. Which picks up the threads of all the other races that were manipulated by shadow faction who ultimately leaves and in so doing leaves a devastated Centauri culture and government as well as a race that was its highest level collaborator to try to step up and fill in the role left vacant by the evolution and subsequent abdication of the Shadow overlords. both trilogies are equally good and yet I have to take my hat off to Ms Cavelos because she was able to so masterfully realize the details behind the outlines of JMS's vision that she did not need him to cowrite it in order to get a wonderfully compelling and explanation of in my opinion one of the most interesting groups to come out of Babylon Five, The Techno mages. This is a review written in the book one review for "The Passing of the Techno-Mages" but in essence it is a review of all three books. all three are equally good and have nice stopping points in each but each book is short enough that unless you are a truly younger reader that feels that 300 pages is a big book, you will simply be immediately ready to get the other two sections of the book and read them immediately. Apparently now there is an omnibus edition of the trilogy and given that really this trilogy is one very good 1100 page book I would recommend just reading it as an omnibus book. and I have to step out of the review in a hurry at this point as I am running out of time but -- I got it all in here. read this book as a part of a great babylon 5 trilogy -- and even if you have not ever seen babylon five -- I think this trilogy will not fail to entertain. a good read for all a real treat for those who will know what this story is connected to in its larger fictional universe.

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ideas and expanded lore. But for me the storytelling execution really brings this down. Scenes are flat, ideas are repeated through heavy exposition multiple times, and there's just little sense of excitement or momentum.

The best moments are the ones that reproduce "The Geometry of Shadows," because the dialogue is better written, as it's sourced from the episode itself. Alas.

[Peter De Kinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great B5 novel with all you would want: Shadows, Vorlons, Techno-mages. All the good stuff. And it delivers some interesting reveals to boot. A very agreeable red that beckons you to read the final part of the trilogy.

[Graham Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second book in the trilogy keeps up the fast pace of the first, and contains many revelations about both the background of the B5 universe and on-screen material in B5 and Crusade.

[George Brownfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well paced writeup of a fill in book to the Babylon 5 universe

[John Hefner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is still a very strong story that fleshes out and enhances the world of "Babylon 5," but I'm not sure how I feel about some of the choices that the author (well, authors) are making here. Straczynski plotted this, yes, but this is also a direct continuation of Cavelos' first B5 book, "The Shadow Within," which I understand she pretty much developed herself with far less direct guidance by JMS. There, she created her own sub-mythology for Anna Sheridan and especially for Mister Morden, for whom she created an entire backstory and origin that was different than JMS' original ideas. She continues to develop these original ideas of hers in this trilogy, making it feel rather like fan fiction (which all of these books are anyway, and that's not a bad thing at all). I'm very interested to see how she concludes this trilogy, especially to see how she reconciles the show's canon with her own additions.

As it is, though, I'm not sure I'm too invested in any of the characters as I once was. Everyone is kind of a morally-compromised jerk at one point or other in this story, and while I understand where they're coming from, I don't really feel like I have anyone to root for anymore. I'm "Team Nobody" at this point. Thankfully, the story itself is still interesting and engaging enough that I want to see this through to the end. Hopefully I'll like these characters again at the end of their arcs.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was paced somewhat slower than the first in the series, and the scope more narrow.  Whereas the reader is invited to feel wonder and fear as Galen learns about himself and his world in the first novel, this second book is filled with a bit drudgery.  There was also a lot of introspection, which served to further weight down the story. 

I've often thought that one the things that drew people to the Harry Pottery series was the constant sense of wonder and discovery.  In fact, I suppose this is actually a characteristic of most good fantasy.  Fiction spares us from the daily tedium that grinds wonder into the mundane. 

I did enjoy this novel:  It's not written poorly by any stretch, the prose flows well enough.  And I love the idea of the Techo-Mages, the Shadows, and the Vorlons.  --Reading this trilogy is a return to my favorite themes in the Babylon 5 world. 

But to be sure, it's not as good as the first.  And I'm still unsure if people other than a Babylon 5 viewers would enjoy the story as much as fans.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than the first one, but still had some similar issues. Could still predict a lot of events as if using a checklist, and there's the recurring problem of the too-long-repeating-the-same-stuff internal monologues.

One thing I will say is that the author has done an excellent job integrating this story into the existing Babylon 5 story, using bits from the show (and Crusade) while providing additional information. The bit with Elric on B5 was superb.

[Juanfra Valero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mejor que la primera parte de la trilogía. Obligatoria para los amantes de Babylon 5. Continúa tras los sucesos del primer libro, a principios del año 2259. Tiene lugar durante el episodio 2x03 La geometría de las sombras. Nos cuenta todos los detalles del viaje de los tecnomagos y Elric a Babylon 5. También desvela de dónde proviene la tecnología de los tecnomagos.

[Ute · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many convenient coincidences, and I am not sure yet if I like the proposal of the origin of the tech (and its consequences) and the extend of Galen's powers. Having a too powerful being in a story is always difficult. I liked the "technomage's pov" of the B5 episode though. Also the author tends to use the same phrases over and over again, which is a bit annoying over time.

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

This trilogy was amazing. It focuses on Galen (from Babylon 5 and Crusade), and the technomages.

[Jodi McMaster · Rating 3 out of 5]

I generally don't read books based on series, but I did enjoy the Bab-5 books that J. Michael Straczynski plotted, and this particular series was my favorite.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd of 3.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book....It tied into the tv show so well.... Very interesting learning about the techno mages and the history of the tech....

[Dale Rosso · Rating 5 out of 5]

These 3 volumes in the Babylon 5 universe are my favorite of all the books, explains so much about the Mages.

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this the second time more than the first