Perseus Spur: An Adventure of The Rampart Worlds: Amazon.ca: Julian May: Books

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Julian May is noted for her two long, complex, and interlinked science-fantasy sagas, the Pliocene Exile and the Galactic Milieu series. Perseus Spur opens the more light-hearted Rampart Worlds sequence, which is full of colorful planetary descriptions and slam-bang action. This future galaxy is dominated by Earth's megacorporations, which have carved up space between them. The hero, who was fighting corporate corruption, has been framed and discredited but not forgotten, as shown by bizarre murder attempts: a giant alien sea-toad gobbles up his house, and soon he's staked out to die on a lonely comet. With help from his eccentric friends and estranged family of entrepreneurs, he sets off James Bond-style to smash an ugly galactic conspiracy among companies that are treacherously selling human secrets--including our DNA--to hostile aliens. Like Bond, he's repeatedly captured by the same bad guy and barely survives awful fates. Negotiating exotic, deadly jungles, he must penetrate a fortified enemy cave complex and then escape before the inevitable time bomb blows everything to hell. Will he defeat the villain and get the girl? Need you ask? Fast-moving, tongue-in-cheek adventure, with sequels to come. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

Review

"May has cemented her position as one of this generation's foremost storytellers."
--Library Journal

Julian May "is one of the few such writers I not only enjoy but read with only the faintest nagging sense of guilty pleasure."
--Locus

"Slam-bang action . . . Fast-moving, tongue-in-cheek adventure."
--amazon.com.uk

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It's a given: if the Hundred Concerns are determined to destroy you, fighting back is hopeless. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt

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Customer Reviews

18 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

Average Customer Review

3.2 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars This book was not written by Julian May, April 5 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Perseus Spur: An Adventure of The Rampart Worlds (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was not written by Julian May. It can only have been produced by a Haluk replacement with no writing talent whatsoever. The author of the 'the Saga of Exiles' must currently be floating in an a tank of gloop somewhere.

Perseus Spur actually isn't that bad except that if you do read it, you might be tempted to read the other 2 books. The last one is particularly dire, if you can just imagine the most predictable and uninteresting outcome for the trilogy, you will not need to bother reading it.

Finally, the trilogy Hero character. What a completely irritating [bad]. I really did want the 'baddies' to put him out of our misery, preferably in the first 3 pages of book 2.

Huluks, please release the real Julian May.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Goofy, entertaining space opera/detective story, Oct 9 2003

By

V. K. Lin (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Perseus Spur: An Adventure of The Rampart Worlds (Mass Market Paperback)

Julian May is one of my favorite authors. Her books are always imaginative, detailed, witty, and colorful. May is unmatched in her ability to string together sentences with multiple adjectives used in novel ways to create a world with sight, sound, texture, and soul. Reading May is like reading good poetry-- effortless, provoking, flowing.

That being said, Perseus Spur, the first of the Rampart Worlds Trilogy is a different kind of book for her. A new universe, 200 years in the future, dominated by megacorporations plotting and scheming to make a profit by exploiting the resources of our arm of the galaxy. There are no world-smashing psychic powers or Pliocene-era ramapthicines here. The protagonist is a former police officer, framed by the megacorps, and exiled to a tropical paradise where he has nearly drunk himself to death. He is a quasi-cynical, what-the-heck rough-around-the-edges sort with lofty, wounded ideals set against the galactic might of big business.

This book has a sort of sardonic, tongue-in-cheek feel to it. May's imagination and vision can leave you breathless with the images she provokes, but the overall plot is pretty basic. This is no Ludlum thriller or groundbreaking sci-fi epic a la Asimov's Foundation. What it is is a good fun, smile at Ms. May's sense of humor and imagery, and cheer on the good guy type of book. She also has a number of pretty interesting sci-fi ideas for the concepts-- with a strong genetic component as did her Galactic Milieu/Pliocene Exile series-- that I can appreciate.

The Pliocene Exile series is still my favorite from Ms. May. This one fails to deliver the depth of character for some of the supporting players in the story that her other series did. I feel like I understand the protagonist well, but not a lot of the others. Still, I had a great time reading it. Thanks, Ms. May. How about a sequel to the Pliocene Series? Hagen, Diane, Cloud, and Kuhal?

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4.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction Epic with Cyber Punk Sensibilities, Jan 30 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Perseus Spur: An Adventure of The Rampart Worlds (Mass Market Paperback)

May did a great job of mixing the feel of a Science Fiction Epic (ie. Star Wars) with the corporate/political feel of a CyberPunk book. While her main character is like something out of a gumshoe detective novel. To me, a great mix.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars I hope the sequel is better...
Julian May is a talented writer whose books I will buy notwithstanding reviews, because her best work (e.g., Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, Magnificat) is so strong. Read more

Published on Jan 2 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars Strangely Adolescent
1. What happened to Julian May?

When it first came out, years ago, I read and loved the Pliocene Exiles series. Julian May became one of my favorite authors of the era. Read more

Published on Jun 8 2000 by Bluejack

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing from Julian May
I really enjoyed the Saga of the Exiles. I thought the characters were well developed and the plots satisfying. So I was expecting a lot from this book. Read more

Published on May 16 2000 by enmac

4.0 out of 5 stars Not your usual Julian May book
And this is no bad thing. As many others have pointed out, May's other books--wonderfully good reads themselves, by the way--are very much a different sort of thing than Perseus... Read more

Published on May 5 2000 by P. H. Gantz

4.0 out of 5 stars Have some fun - Read this book
I've ben a fan of Juilian May since I read "Many Colored Land" quite a few years ago and I'm glad to see that she is still writing after she finished her Galactic Mileiu... Read more

Published on April 26 2000 by Mfitz...

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
I loved it. The characters are well developed, especially the importance of family and family ties for the main character. Read more

Published on Mar 21 2000 by Joshua Jasper

4.0 out of 5 stars Lightweight but fun
First of all, if you are expecting this book to be as good as Julian's multi-layered 'Galactic Milieu' series you will be disappointed, because this is low-fat reading. Read more

Published on Feb 5 2000 by N. J. Lewer

2.0 out of 5 stars May isn't what she once was
While this book does have its moments, it have large holes in its logical underpinnings and a rather annoying main character without much depth. Read more