Wizard (Gaea) by John Varley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Wizard (Gaea)
Book Review: A good book.
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a good book, a fairly easy to follow. I recommend reading it, as well as Titan and Demon.Book Review: A pleasant few hours' diversion
Summary: 2 Stars
The Gaean trilogy is one of the classics of space operatic adventure. Wizard tries to be more than that. It tries to be a novel of difficult moral questions, of individuals who are at odds with the standards of their society, of individuals that must make decisions that affect everyone in their society for better or for worse. It doesn't do a very good job of that, though. It is a wonderful space opera, but weak as a psychological novel.Varley isn't afraid to sketch complex characters. Every one of the main characters of Wizard is to some extent or another mad. Since the events of Titan, Cirocco Jones has cracked under the weight of serving as Gaea's Wizard and become a depressive alcoholic. Gaby's century of unrequited love for Cirocco has filled her with bitter resignation. And over the course of the novel, Gaea herself no longer looks like the mostly benign, albeit callous deity she was in Titan, but instead is revealed as contemptous of mortal life and absolutely nuts. Of the new protagonists, Chris suffers from bouts of possession by other personalities, while Robin has a genetic epilepsy that has led her to cut herself off from the rest of her culture, a space colony of lesbian witches.
But having assembled this motley crew, Varley just writes an imaginitive, but fairly typical, adventure fantasy that revolves around the protagonists repeatedly being almost killed by alien monsters. Their respective psychoses manifest themselves when dramatically convenient and may as well be absent the rest of the time. Most of the inter-character development comes through the characters either jumping in bed with each other or talking about how they would want to jump in bed with each other if only it weren't such a bad idea. Doing these characters proper justice requires more subtlety than Wizard offers.
Wizard is good space fantasy adventure, but nothing more.
Book Review: And after the hero "wins," what happens next?
Summary: 5 Stars
In a way, this is John Varley's "Lawrence of Arabia:" After her great success at the end of "Titan," Cirocco Jones is now something more than human, a hero on Earth and the "wizard" of Gaea. Of course, this isn't a fairy tale, and living up to all that an insane alien "goddess" has put on her shoulders is too much for anyone, even a hero.And that's the set-up for "Wizard," the second of three books in the Gaia Trilogy. Whereas the first story was an exploration adventure in the "Rendezvous with Rama" mold, and the third story ("Demon") invites comparisons to the "Star Wars" movies, "Wizard" is an odd little story that mixes a classic fantasy quest to redeem a fallen hero with science fiction action that is inspired (both by the author and the characters involved) by World War II movies.
Along the way, Varley flexes his imaginative skills again, outdoing the weird alien creations of "Titan" with even more genetically engineered wonders and monstrosities, many of which stick in the imagination long after the book has been put down: I can never think of a buzz bomb in the same way again, nor a blimp, an angel or centaur.
There will be some who find this book, like the others in this series, a bit too racy for them: One of Cirocco's chores is to be part of the breeding cycle for one of the alien species, although not in the way one might expect. It's a great character bit, an interesting bit of xenobiology and a good plot engine. It's also blantant sexuality, so this book isn't for those who are uncomfortable with such stuff.
For the rest of us, though, "Wizard" is an amazing book, chronicling the rise of a fallen hero through an amazing alien landscape that's easily one of the most interesting settings speculative fiction has ever produced.
A must-read for adult (or adult-minded) science fiction and fantasy fans.
Book Review: Continues the greatness
Summary: 5 Stars
A wonderful sequel to Varley's brilliant Titan. Book 2 of the classic sci-fi fantasy series known as the Gaea Trilogy. Great characters, fascinating setting, superb action, lots of humor, color, and sex. This novel picks up 80 or so years after the end of the first. Cirocco "Rocky" Jones the former space ship captain and now Wizard of the artificial world know as Gaea is the main character. At the beginning she has become an alcoholic sex-addict to escape the preassures of her massive responsibilities. She is prodded towards redemption by her longtime lover and companion Gaby. They hook up with two pilgrims from Earth and a satelite "coven" and travel the inner surface of the donut shaped world. The pilgrims Chris Major and Robin the Nine Fingered (no relation to Frodo) seek cures from the world's ruler and goddess Gaea. To acheive them they must perform great deeds or find treasures and face great perils in the process to prove their worthiness to Gaea. There are also Titanides a race of beautiful centaurs with three sets of genitalia, and living blimps and submarines. It's hard to give a full synopsis of this story if you haven't read the first book. John Varley has a very rich and fertile imagination sadly lacking in his later work. Don't miss this series. Would make a fantastic miniseries or movie trilogy but only if it was R or NC 17.Book Review: Exciting reading, better than "Titan"
Summary: 5 Stars
John Varley is a masterful storyteller. I first encountered his work when perusing some ancient issues of Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, in the form of the chilling short story "Press Enter." Wizard is a fantastic sequel to "Titan" - it's a page turner. Varley developed the characters from "Titan" between novels - he managed to keep them human and interesting, rather than falling into the trap of allowing them to become two-dimensional and boring because of the power they wield on Gaea, a moon of Saturn which has its own sentient consciousness. The new characters are interesting, and Varley avoids the predictable potential pairings, instead choosing to create a human-alien relationship and create a plot thread which (hopefully) will be resolved in the last novel of the trilogy. I must get my hands on a copy of "Demon" to see how Gaea and her agent, Cirocco Jones, deal with the unexpected betrayal that occurs in the last part of "Wizard."