A review by jvan
The Golden Torc by Julian May

2.0

As with the previous book, my memory made this seem better than it is. 2.5 stars for this one; it's a more focused book and more enjoyable for that. But Stein continues to be toxic as hell, making his wife break down and then against her will shutting off her mental powers, because she might use them to talk to people other than him. This after he screws everything up repeatedly by being unable to keep quiet about anything ever, and also by committing outrageous crimes. Somehow everyone values him enough to work to keep him alive, for reasons I cannot begin to fathom. Fortunately, he essentially will not reappear after the end of this book when (somehow) his wife is happy with him. Other issues that I never paid much attention to: the tidal wave at the end is too vastly improbable given the circumstances; why didn't the folks there at the end just fly away, as many of them could; how could the Tanu and the Firvulag survive their annual slaughter which in this book kills several thousand humans (the mainstay of the Tanu side) and plenty of Firvulag and some Tanu. Even recognizing that it was an exceptional year in that regard, the regular games would be full of deaths, too. The rather small numbers of population they have and the frightfully slow reproductive rate of the Tanu would eliminate the species pretty quickly, especially once you add in the Hunts taking their toll on the Firvulag by the hundreds collectively.