Customer Reviews

Demon

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another one in the series of three from John Varley. This one in particular is my favourite.
I just reread it in 2 days.

Demon, the conclusion of the Gaean trilogy, is in my opinion the most satisfying of the three. In the first two books, I frequently got the feeling that Varley had bitten off more than he could chew, character-wise, and so filled in the gap with gratuitous sex scenes and fetishistically detailed descriptions of alien genitalia and reproductive modes. In constrast, Demon confines itself to being an epic adventure and does very well in this role.

Demon is more "stylistic" than the others. It is set up as a triple feature from the pre-cineplex days of motion pictures, broken into pieces like "Newsreel," "Short Subjects," "Feature One," etc... This affectation works well given Demon's subject matter. Gaea's godhood has finally driven her completely insane, and she has decided that all the world should be a film of her devising, that she is the arch-villain, and that it can only end with a hero coming to kill her.

In his descriptions of the insane deity, Varley uses all his considerable resources of imagination and humor. She has taken the incarnate form of a fifty-foot tall Marilyn Monroe and constructed an enormous movie studio / theatre / theme park called Pandemonium, where she and her lieutenants, mostly undead reconstructions of humanity's major religious figures (Martin Luther, Buddha, L. Ron Hubbard), await the coming of a hero and commit various atrocities.

Varley spares none of his imagination in constructing Cirocco's allies for this final conflict, either. The best-constructed of these is Snitch, a small reptilian imp surgically extracted from Cirocco's own brain and a direct link to the mind of Gaea. Many of the characters from the first two novels also return, although in a changed form. For example, Gaby has become a ghost in Gaea's brain, Chris is in the process of turning into a Titanide, and Nasu the anaconda has grown to several kilometers in length.

In short, in the long tradition of epic heroism, Demon places an array of unlikely characters against a self-proclaimed Pure Evil, and in the end, they triumph. It stretches a bit long in places, and many of the inter-character interactions are more than a little thin, but that isn't the point. This is a book about being a hero, and a fairly good one at that.

Strange in the extreme is the conclusion of John Varley's Gaea trilogy. You had better read the other books first or you will probably be too bewildered to get beyond the opening scenes!
The story is worth every page, and Cirrocco Jones is one of my favorite heroes in any fiction. She is flawed but commanding and capable, exceedingly determined, charismatic, inspiring and frightening all at the same time. Very much like Ripley from the Alien movies.
Hordes of familiar characters return, having grown and changed in surprising ways from their last appearance in Wizard or Titan. You will marvel at their differences!
Conflict is the operative word in Demon, as this book finishes the saga in a blaze of glory. Although Gaea has lost some of her charm as a virgin territory, having been overrun with refugees from Earth, Titanides still sing and this time Cirrocco's made them into a force to be reckoned with.
Oh, and Gaea's got a new makeover and an entourage that will send you into paroxysms of laughter. Pandaemonium is brilliant!
Please do yourself a favor, and read all of these books. Demon is just the diamond cap on the golden pyramid.

The final act of the Gaea Trilogy (which never officially got that name, as far as I know) is total action, concerning the revolt led by Demon Cirocco Jones against Gaea, Goddess of Everything and insane Marilyn Monroe fan. Gaea has brought forth legions of her most twisted monsters yet, and dumped her previous "bag-lady" incarnation for an enormous Marilyn replica, mainly so she can duke it out with Cirocco more dramatically - and she wants it all on film. There are zombies, enhanced buzzbombs, armies of hapless humans armed with prop weapons, and one of the greatest duel scenes ever. And of course, there is a Golden Child at the center of the action, a child who may be the Titanides' only hope for a decent future. The assault on Heaven has begun... If you can't understand any of this review, it's because you can't even hope to work this book out without reading the first two first. There isn't as much sex in this book as the others, as almost every paragraph is dedicated to the action. Varley's new "offensive favourite" seems to be dissing religion. Just about every human religion gets a swipe or two. But, unlike some of the other reviewers of this series, I didn't find the trilogy to be anti-God. Quite the opposite - most of his explorations are in the theme "what if God was a really nasty piece of work?". So, if you're a fundamentalist, you might have issues with this book. Otherwise, it's a classic.

It redefined science fiction fantasy. I want my own damn Titanide and we'll chat on the Ophiuchi Hotline!

"Demon" is one of those books that seems to have its own soundtrack, as your mind fills with a swirl of dramatic music repeatedly through this book, which is the cinematic equivalent of a great science fiction adventure movie.

Of course, it's not a movie you're likely to see any time soon: Leaving aside the pop culture obsessed alien goddess' obsession with old movies (including something that the owners of the "King Kong" copyright surely wouldn't want shown on the big screen), there's nudity, budget-busting settings and aliens and, the biggest killer of all for adventure movies, lots of smarts in "Demon."

John Varley is clearly having a ball in this third story of the Gaia trilogy, following up "Titan" and "Wizard." Each slowly built in tempo, until in "Demon" it's almost wall-to-wall war with an alien entity INSIDE the same alien entity.

We get believable flawed heroes battling against impossible odds with intelligence and wit and a mind-bending assortment of memorable alien species.

And while the whole trilogy has discussed the thematic issue, it's in "Demon" that the relationship between man and God is really looked at. Some reviewers have thought that Varley's examination of matters of faith in previous novels was the sign of an unreligious or anti-religious author. Apparently, more than two millenia of theological discussions are somehow anti-God for these people. I find Varley's examination of faith in this trilogy, "Steel Beach" and "Millennium" to be bracing and, if anything, to turn my thoughts Heavenward much more than any sappy "Touched by an Angel" story could do. (Of course, I also like Morrow's "Towing Jehovah," so maybe I'm already damned from the get-go.)

I've read far more books over the years than I care to count, but every few years, I dig out my old Science Fiction Book Club copies of Varley's classic trilogy, including the hardback version of "Demon" with the giant naked Marilyn Monroe (!) on the cover and revisit Gaia.

The trilogy is a masterpiece of characterization, setting, plot and theme, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Herbert's "Dune," in my opinion.

A must-read series for fans of science fiction and science fantasy. (And not a bad read for lovers of pop culture, either.)

I've read the trilogy 10 times and will read it again. This is by far the best of the three. Everytime you read it, you find something new... It's that good!

If you at all enjoy reading scifi-fantasy, I highly recommend this book (the whole trilogy, actually). And luckily for you, it's in print again! Wonderful character development and personalities that it's easy to believe in. Totally unexpected plot twists and turns - you can't tell what will happen next. And you can't wait to find out. I have reread these three books 5 or 6 times (at least) and enjoy them every time.

All three books (Titan, Wizard, Demon) were fabulous. Without a doubt, one of the best series (or stand alone books) I have ever read. I had pretty much avoided science fiction for over a decade and a half until I read Varley's Steel Beach recently. Because of that book I was curious about what else the author might have written so I tried this series. Wow. The wit, insight and imagination combined with multiple characters that you really care for. And the love between the two main characters transformed this from an adventure to something great. Few characters in literature have been more heroic and tragic than the character of Gaby (my favorite character in the series). My only complaint- I want a fourth book!

I can't get enough of these books. John Varley really needs to write a fourth book before I go insane waiting for it. The trilogy starts out kind of difficult to read- there's alot of technical plot establishment, but the third book wraps it all up beautifully. Now if I could only find them in hardcover...