The only true "natives" in the book, the Ramapithecus are a race of small, somewhat fragile seeming hominids, believed (at the time of writing, though no longer) to be the original ancestors of modern humanity. The "Ramas" were enslaved by the Tanu when the exotics first arrived on the planet, through the use of Torcs with control and mindspeak circuits. A derivative form of these circuits were used to create the Gray Torcs and also used in Silver Torcs, derived from the Tanu's own Gold Torcs. The Ramas were in some cases supplanted by the arrival of 21st century humans who are not only more intelligent, but more robust than the simple Ramas. They are still heavily used in farming, mining and other forms of unskilled manual labour, and occasionally still used as surrogate wombs for Tanu offspring as was originally done before humanity arrived. Aiken Drum – the Nonborn King, was based on a popular Scottish folk song and nursery rhyme called Aiken Drum. There are five categories of 'metapsychic' powers in the series: creation, coercion, psychokinesis, farsensing and redaction. Edwin Drood is a member of the legendary Drood family, a family dedicated to protecting humanity from threats. At least, that's what he thought until he was declared rogue and had the entire familly on his trail. Now, with Molly Metcalf, infamous witch, in tow, Edwin must find out the sinster secret at his family's heart. The only people that can tell him: the people he's been fighting against his entire adult life...

The Golden Torc (Saga of the Exiles) (Saga of the Exiles, 2) The Golden Torc (Saga of the Exiles) (Saga of the Exiles, 2)

The story is fast moving and fairly fun. Lots of "word plays" (I mean let's face it "Edwin Drood" as the hero?). It walks a bit close to absurdest but stays pretty much on the "humorous action" side of things. I found it got a bit repetitive in a couple of places and some of it was somewhat predictable but on the whole that doesn't take away from the book. I like it. That's good as my daughter got me the rest of the series that's in print (3 more books) for Christmas LOL. I'm not sure if the book just isn't as good, or if my tastes have changed as I've become a more voracious reader the past few years. The humor was still good, the plot was light. It just wasn't working for me. Treasure Annual Report 2000" (PDF). Department for Culture, Media and Sport. 2001. pp.13–15, 133. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-01 . Retrieved 2010-07-26.urn:oclc:7464820 Scandate 20111208192006 Scanner scribe4.shenzhen.archive.org Scanningcenter shenzhen Worldcat (source edition) However I have rarely come across a protagonist for whom I had so little empathy. Most of the time he came off as a bland nonentity whose role merely was to describe the events around him. The insights into his mind and personality was almost entirely taken up with explaining something or other in the world or with trying to justify a desicion. Likewise his relationships with almost all the other characters in the story, including his relationship with the love interrest, are stunted, arbitrary or enigmatically change from one scene to the next. The last can be said about the motivations of the characters as well. There is very little explanation given for why the characters act as they do throughout the book. The Tanu and Firvulag exotics have metapsychic powers and are extremely long-lived. The Tanu use a torc-like device to bring their wide variety of latent metapsychic abilities into a partial operancy, while the Firvulag are naturally operant metapsychics, but have a limited range of abilities compared to the Tanu. The Earth was selected as a new home for the exotics because the Earth and its primitive Pliocene hominids were the most compatible to the Tanu/Firvulag genetically. Over time, both races (but especially the Tanu) were found to have difficulty reproducing on Earth due to the higher levels of terrestrial and solar radiation relative to their homeworld. When the time-traveling humans started to arrive in the Pliocene, the Tanu enslaved many of them in an effort to overcome this problem, interbreeding with the humans who have latent metapsychic abilities and soon incorporating humanity into their Pliocene society. The Firvulag exotics are, in the main, more robust than the Tanu and are less affected by the higher levels of radiation on Earth. The Firvulag choose to not interbreed with humans and disagree with the Tanu's decision to integrate humans into their society, preferring to preserve the traditions of their homeworld. Some humans escape the Tanu's benevolent enslavement and choose to live freely in small hidden villages. They are referred to as 'lowlives' by both exotic races and integrated humanity as well. The Firvulag (e.g. Fitharn Pegleg) are, on the whole, small, dark and less good-looking than the Tanu, although this is not always the case and there are some giants among them. Some Firvulag are large enough that they would not look out of place on a present-day street, while the greatest heroes and leaders amongst the Firvulag (i.e. Pallol One-Eye, Betularn the Whitehand, Medor Battlemaster, etc.) – who also have the most powerful mental abilities – are true giants, from 8 to 12 feet tall, and massively strong. The giants often self-identify as 'ogres' and the smaller Firvulag as 'gnomes' or 'goblins'. The Firvulag mostly live in mountains and caves, far away from the Tanu, and regard both humans and Tanu with disdain. The ogres in particular consider humanity to be tasty prey first and foremost. At the beginning of the series, they have a shaky treaty with the 'lowlife' human escapees of the Tanu regime.

Saga of the Pliocene Exile by Julian May - Goodreads Saga of the Pliocene Exile by Julian May - Goodreads

Prolepsis, the ability to predict future events, is a sixth power alluded to in The Saga of Pliocene Exile and explored a little in the Galactic Milieu trilogy. May does not clarify whether prolepsis is a separate metapsychic ability or a manifestation of extremely developed farsensory ability. The Drood family, descendants of druids, fight the monsters in the dark and the keep the darkness at bay. I'm also a fan of Manifest Destiny as an enemy. In a world of the supernatural, it's very likely you'd have people who'd want everything to be safe and sane as well as scientific. Unfortunately, Manifest Destiny is unable to keep its truly vile elements under control as one you have a cause, it's all too easy to assume everyone who opposes it is evil. There's a nice bit of foreshadowing with one of the characters we later learn is a member being described in decidedly Nazi terms. The Firvulag are primarily creative adepts, spinning horrific illusions around themselves and projecting confusion and pain in battle to terrify their opponents. They are merciless fighters and when working together are capable of driving a human or weak Tanu mind completely mad with their illusions. Mythology, however, appears to be the strongest influence on the Saga of the Exiles. There are many parallels between the persons and places of the Saga of the Exiles and Celtic (and other) myths and legends. The presumption is that such myths and legends result from the peoples, individuals, and events in this story, creating a loop that connects the present to six million years in the past. The list below is far from exhaustive.O'Donnell, Maureen (31 October 2017). " "Julian May, who weaved worlds in sci-fi, fantasy novels, dead at 86". chicago.suntimes.com . Retrieved 28 June 2023. All Green’s usual writing quirks – his use of exposition, deus ex machina’s, casual violence and imaginative horror – are used here but here they were more irritating that amusing. Elaborate examples, sometimes hollow, used a variety of techniques but complex decoration was usually begun by casting and then worked by further techniques. The Ipswich Hoard includes unfinished torcs that give clear evidence of the stages of work. [3] Flat-ended terminals are called "buffers", and in types like the "fused-buffer" shape, where what resemble two terminals are actually a single piece, the element is called a "muff". [4] Bronze Age Europe and the East [ edit ]

golden torc : May, Julian, 1931- : Free Download, Borrow, and The golden torc : May, Julian, 1931- : Free Download, Borrow, and

Then he's declared a rogue agent. The only punishment of a rogue by the Droods is to be killed on sight by any member of the huge family. Eddie is stunned (frequently physically as well as mentally and emotionally) and sets out to find out why he's been labeled rogue. In places May implies that individuals noted for possession of an extremely high level of a skill or an attribute are often latents who make unconscious use of their metapsychic powers. For example, Felice (an individual with extremely powerful latencies) has a natural ability to control animals, and many individuals with latent Creative powers are gifted artists or scientists, while those with latent Coercive ability may have substantial charisma – animal magnetism. Treasures": Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D., an exhibition catalogue from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on torcs (cat. no. 4,6,8,10,14,15,21)

They are fight to cure the world of all things evil. But they've gone so far to cure the world, that the cure has become much worse than the disease.

golden torc : May, Julian : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming The golden torc : May, Julian : Free Download, Borrow, and

Miakonn Healerson – son of Dionket – Miach, son of Dian Cecht, and a member of the Tuatha Dé Danaan known for his skill at healing The culprit in this case is a repetitiveness on the part of the author. He reuses certain phrases often, and it's not clear whether this is done intentionally, for the sake of irony, or if he's just not that inventive. Also, is this book supposed to be set in the same universe as the Nightside series? If not, then Green's reusing a lot of mythology from that series, which strikes me as unoriginal--for instance, the depiction of demons as creatures that sink their claws into someone and grow fatter the more people listen to their demon. This sends a message to me that Green isn't fully invested in creating an interesting world for his stories if he's just reusing what came before. Eddie Drood, aka Shaman Bond, is a field agent for his family. The powerful Droods have guarded mankind for centuries against all the things that go bump in the night. Like that other better known Mr. Bond, ShamanEddie has all sorts of cool gadgets at his disposal. Those will come in handy because when his family suddenly declares him rogue – something the Family never takes well – Eddie finds himself on the run and looking for answers in all the wrong places. Operancy: Psychic powers which are available for conscious, controlled use by a person. Basically, one is considered operant if they have psychic abilities and can consciously use them. In the Pliocene Epoch, the Firvulag were naturally operant. They did not require torcs or other mechanical assistance to be able to use their psychic powers. I started and stopped this book several times. I read around five chapters but decided it isn't worth my time. My love for the author may find me retrying this book again someday but for now, it was not for me.Creativity: the ability to create illusions, change shape and manipulate energy. The Firvulag are described as being naturally gifted at creativity, often using it to assume monstrous forms. More powerful individuals could use it to crudely change states of matter (air to plasma and thus throw lightning bolts and so forth) but the most powerful can actually manipulate and change the very form of matter (air & water to fresh cherries for example). Many finds of torcs, especially in groups and in association with other valuables but not associated with a burial, are clearly deliberate deposits whose function is unclear. They may have been ritual deposits or hidden for safekeeping in times of warfare. Some may represent the work-in-progress of a workshop. [17] After the early period, torcs are especially prominent in the Celtic cultures reaching to a coast of the Atlantic, from modern Spain to Ireland, and on both sides of the English Channel. Gigantic crystalline organisms, self-aware and powerfully psychic, which evolved in and continue to inhabit interstellar space in the Duat Galaxy. Ships were capable of superluminal travel through mental generation of an aperture into hyperspace ("grey limbo"). Ships were entirely benevolent and many of them undertook a symbiotic "mind-marriage" with humanoid females of the Duat daughter-worlds. Ships routinely carried the Duat citizenry on interstellar voyages of considerable distance, the passengers traveling within a vessel embedded in the Ship's crystal body. I liked Shaman Bond and Molly, the agent and anarchist who form the crux of the book's narrative. They form a good pair of modern-day Avengers with a decent bit of chemistry combined with contrasting worldviews which aren't so different underneath the surface. It was perhaps a little too easy for these two to fall in love given their circumstances but I was rooting for them to so I can't exactly complain, can I?