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A review by branch_c
Surveillance by Julian May
4.0
While this and the subsequent Metaconcert are clearly a prologue to the upcoming main events of the later books, this story serves the purpose well, taking the reader from the first hints of humanity's widespread psychic abilities in the 40s and 50s up to 1992 (the near future at the time the book was written).
It has a pseudo-scientific "woo"-ish feel to it, since the setting is more or less contemporary Earth, and an alternate history is being developed that needs to establish psychic metafaculties as truth.
As a standalone story, I might not have been impressed with this tale of a motley collection of random individuals around the world developing their powers, for good and bad. The intermingling of this development with the worlds of politics, academics, science, and crime is almost too mundane to be interesting.
As a building block in the larger saga, however, this piece fits perfectly, and May's writing shines here almost as brightly as in the Pliocene books. The choice of a Remillard on the sidelines rather than one of the major players as the chronicler of this history was a fine idea, and it's masterfully done, with equal parts drama and humor.
It has a pseudo-scientific "woo"-ish feel to it, since the setting is more or less contemporary Earth, and an alternate history is being developed that needs to establish psychic metafaculties as truth.
As a standalone story, I might not have been impressed with this tale of a motley collection of random individuals around the world developing their powers, for good and bad. The intermingling of this development with the worlds of politics, academics, science, and crime is almost too mundane to be interesting.
As a building block in the larger saga, however, this piece fits perfectly, and May's writing shines here almost as brightly as in the Pliocene books. The choice of a Remillard on the sidelines rather than one of the major players as the chronicler of this history was a fine idea, and it's masterfully done, with equal parts drama and humor.