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metaphorosis's review against another edition
3.0
reviews.metaphorosis.com
3, 2, 2 stars
I'm a big fan of the Saga of Pliocene Exile, and I also enjoyed the Galactic Milieu. So, since I was unable to get the books one by one as they appeared, I bought the entire Boreal Moon trilogy in one go, excited for a real treat.
This wasn't it. From the start, the first book failed to capture my interest, but eventually, I forced my way into the story, and after a few chapters, it got better. Sadly, not much.
The series relies on complex politics, and simplistic individual motivations. The evil foe (the Salka) are a caricature - literally stupid, evil, slimy, green, tentacled baddies - sidestepping the fact that they somehow created the special magic sigils the entire trilogy depends on. Worse, the entire story ignores the fact that the slimy creatures are the aboriginal inhabitants of the island, and that humans displaced them through conquest. The fact that they want their land back just proves their evil nature. Good creatures who want their land back are fine, though.
The omniscient narrator tends to forget that the characters are not (meant to be) omniscient, and central figures keep picking up key bits of information almost at random. The magic system is barely examined, and is highly inconsistent - for example, "windscrying" (clairvoyance) is widely used, but virtually no one takes even simple precautions against it. This means that all sides can easily pick up opponents' plans - except when scrying mysteriously doesn't work (or isn't considered) - all too apparently for the convenience of the author. Finally, the resolution of the trilogy is very much ex machina.
May relies here heavily on an omniscient, yet coy and perpetually vague oracle/fate. She used this same technique to slightly better effect (though near-equal reader frustration) in the Galactic Milieu books. Having now read all her major works (including parts of the Trillium and Rampart Worlds series), I can say that she was at her best in Pliocene Exile, when her voice was fresh and the setting unique. Much less successful, though still interesting in the Galactic Milieu, which built on part of the same background. The Boreal Moon trilogy, however, uses the same techniques in a fairly standard-issue fantasy setting, and it just doesn't work.
The trilogy is slightly dull and convoluted in the first volume, but still worthwhile for May fans. The second volume (Ironcrown Moon (The Boreal Moon Tale)) is substantially less interesting, but does carry the story forward. The final volume (Sorcerer's Moon (The Boreal Moon Tale)) is a very hard slog indeed, and worth reading only for those who just can't stand to quit a story part way through.
If you enjoy Julian May and epic fantasy, skip this series.
pjc1268's review against another edition
3.0
It was good will have to chase up the other 2 books in the series, it nice to have a change and i do like this author.
stelepami's review
3.0
Solid three and a half stars. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. Sort of a mix between George R R Martin and C S Friedman, only not as dark as either of them.
ssminski's review against another edition
4.0
This book got more of a 3.5 stars from me, but I rounded up because I genuinely got engrossed in it. While the story-line had some pretty large plot holes and the opening scene with adult Snudge was very brief, the characters are intriguing and flawed, which is always a treat. The women characters for me really carried the story, which is odd in this genre.I look forward to reading the sequels, but I am not jumping to buy them right away.
smcleish's review against another edition
3.0
Originally published on my blog here in January 2004.
May begins her third series (discounting the collaborative Trillium novels) with this story, part one of The Boreal Moon Tale. Like the Trillium series, it is a fairly standard fantasy and even shares one of the main features of these, novels, a system of magic in which stones and crystals play an important role as repositories of power. (This is something which can be seen in a lot of post-[a:Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1329870573p2/656983.jpg] fantasy, of course.)
The setting is the island of High Blenholme, once part of a large empire but now divided into petty kingdoms. Three are particularly important to May's story: Cathra, which seeks to re-unite the island as a response to a lengthy famine; Didion, the main opponent to this unification; and Moss, home of the strongest magicians where the royal family is divided between supporters of the other two mentioned nations. A lot of the story is structured around the personalities of the members of the royal families of Cathra and Moss, which makes the politics more believable than those in the quest and lost heir stories which are the staples of the genre.
Something else which is unusual is that the novel is written in such a way that the reader is on the side of the aggressor; almost always in fantasy, military matters are arranged so that the reader sympathises with those who are attacked. This is more generally the case at least in post 1945 literature; given that Tolkien wrote at least partly in response to the Second World War in the most influential fantasy novel, it is hardly surprising that I can't actually think of another example in the genre.
There are things which don't quite work. For example, the character of the ambitious teenage prince of Moss, Beynor, is not sufficiently three dimensional. He is so much a stereotypical teenager, whiny and irritating, that it is hard to see why the rulers of Didion take him at all seriously. (This is one of the factors used to cement the reader's sympathy with the Cathran side.) Surely he would not be the kind of person anyone would rest their strategy for defending their kingdom on.
The beginning is dull and formulaic; I suspect that there will be quite a few potential readers who have given up after the first few pages. In the introduction, we are introduced to the idea that The Boreal Moon Tale is the memoirs of a Cathran wizard; this, though is the only part of the novel written in the first person. It is extremely like the arch little historical introductions of which [a:David Eddings|8732|David Eddings|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1223870462p2/8732.jpg] is fond, right down to the turns of phrase, and if there is one writer I never expected the author of the Pleistocene Exile saga to remind me of, David Eddings would probably have been it. This describes the problem I had with Conqueror's Moon - it is good, and it has something out of the ordinary about it, but it is not as inventive and unusual as May has been at her best.
May begins her third series (discounting the collaborative Trillium novels) with this story, part one of The Boreal Moon Tale. Like the Trillium series, it is a fairly standard fantasy and even shares one of the main features of these, novels, a system of magic in which stones and crystals play an important role as repositories of power. (This is something which can be seen in a lot of post-[a:Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1329870573p2/656983.jpg] fantasy, of course.)
The setting is the island of High Blenholme, once part of a large empire but now divided into petty kingdoms. Three are particularly important to May's story: Cathra, which seeks to re-unite the island as a response to a lengthy famine; Didion, the main opponent to this unification; and Moss, home of the strongest magicians where the royal family is divided between supporters of the other two mentioned nations. A lot of the story is structured around the personalities of the members of the royal families of Cathra and Moss, which makes the politics more believable than those in the quest and lost heir stories which are the staples of the genre.
Something else which is unusual is that the novel is written in such a way that the reader is on the side of the aggressor; almost always in fantasy, military matters are arranged so that the reader sympathises with those who are attacked. This is more generally the case at least in post 1945 literature; given that Tolkien wrote at least partly in response to the Second World War in the most influential fantasy novel, it is hardly surprising that I can't actually think of another example in the genre.
There are things which don't quite work. For example, the character of the ambitious teenage prince of Moss, Beynor, is not sufficiently three dimensional. He is so much a stereotypical teenager, whiny and irritating, that it is hard to see why the rulers of Didion take him at all seriously. (This is one of the factors used to cement the reader's sympathy with the Cathran side.) Surely he would not be the kind of person anyone would rest their strategy for defending their kingdom on.
The beginning is dull and formulaic; I suspect that there will be quite a few potential readers who have given up after the first few pages. In the introduction, we are introduced to the idea that The Boreal Moon Tale is the memoirs of a Cathran wizard; this, though is the only part of the novel written in the first person. It is extremely like the arch little historical introductions of which [a:David Eddings|8732|David Eddings|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1223870462p2/8732.jpg] is fond, right down to the turns of phrase, and if there is one writer I never expected the author of the Pleistocene Exile saga to remind me of, David Eddings would probably have been it. This describes the problem I had with Conqueror's Moon - it is good, and it has something out of the ordinary about it, but it is not as inventive and unusual as May has been at her best.
mimsy42's review against another edition
2.0
not compelling, no likeable characters. I'll give the rest a pass.
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