What do you think?
Rate this book
Gaea #2
Wizard
ISBN moved from less recent edition
One of the greatest science fiction epics ever written, John Varley's Titan, Wizard, and Demon comprise a groundbreaking trilogy that will live forever. Human explorers have entered the sprawling mind of Gaea. Now they must fight her will. For she is much too powerful...and definitely insane...
One of the greatest science fiction epics ever written, John Varley's Titan, Wizard, and Demon comprise a groundbreaking trilogy that will live forever. Human explorers have entered the sprawling mind of Gaea. Now they must fight her will. For she is much too powerful...and definitely insane...
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1980
108 people are currently reading
1,824 people want to read
About the author
John Varley
226books590followersFull name: John Herbert Varley.
John Varley was born in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University.
He has written several novels and numerous short stories.He has received both the Hugo and Nebula awards.
John Varley was born in Austin, Texas. He grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, moved to Port Arthur in 1957, and graduated from Nederland High School. He went to Michigan State University.
He has written several novels and numerous short stories.He has received both the Hugo and Nebula awards.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
November 6, 2007
It's hard to argue with a novel whose protagonists are an epileptic lesbian separatist who has chewed off her own finger and a schizophrenic who falls in love with a purple centaur who idolizes John Philip Sousa, on a quest to circumnavigate a donut-shaped mind-world in orbit around Saturn to foment a revolution among her 12 regional brains.
April 15, 2025
John Varley’s 1980 novel Wizard, the second in his Gaea trilogy, following the epochal Titan from 1979. Titan was nominated for several SF awards, winning the Locus. Wizard, taking off from Titan’s good start, also garnered some nods with Varley’s smooth fantasy writing.
This is centered around Gaea, a massive alien structure orbiting Saturn that contains a world in itself and an insane intellect that is enamored with Hollywood. Think of Marvel’s EGO but with lots more personality.
The world Varley has described as Gaea is a rough place, filled with lots of creatures that can and will kill humans, and the humans are dangerous too. But its also populated with a plethora of great characters and Varley’s world building is amazing.
Good times and we have a great SF protagonist in Cirocco Jones.
*** 2025 reread -
Gritty but fun.
Varley's second book in the trilogy, Wizard picks up decades after Titan ended and we see some Titanides on Earth in one of the funnier scenes in his writing. This time around I picked up on several humorous sections that kept things light and the pages turning.
Gaea has sent ambassadors to Earth and is playing host to Earthlings who want a favor from a god and Gaea is there for it. We follow some applicants as they seek to earn her favor and we get to know our protagonists from the first book better.
Magnificent world building and Varley demonstrates again that he is one of our great fantasy writers.
This is centered around Gaea, a massive alien structure orbiting Saturn that contains a world in itself and an insane intellect that is enamored with Hollywood. Think of Marvel’s EGO but with lots more personality.
The world Varley has described as Gaea is a rough place, filled with lots of creatures that can and will kill humans, and the humans are dangerous too. But its also populated with a plethora of great characters and Varley’s world building is amazing.
Good times and we have a great SF protagonist in Cirocco Jones.
*** 2025 reread -
Gritty but fun.
Varley's second book in the trilogy, Wizard picks up decades after Titan ended and we see some Titanides on Earth in one of the funnier scenes in his writing. This time around I picked up on several humorous sections that kept things light and the pages turning.
Gaea has sent ambassadors to Earth and is playing host to Earthlings who want a favor from a god and Gaea is there for it. We follow some applicants as they seek to earn her favor and we get to know our protagonists from the first book better.
Magnificent world building and Varley demonstrates again that he is one of our great fantasy writers.
January 1, 2018
There a lot to love in the second Gaia book.
I was honestly expecting a straight carryover from the first novel with its surprising end and lead, making the next title, Wizard, something much more than I might have expected, but I was surprised. Decades have passed in an eyeblink and Titan has turned herself into the goose that lays the golden eggs, opening up exploration and exploitation to her artificial moon.
Of course, with this fantastic alien landscape, there's the Titanides, the 29 times over ambisexual centaurs who like to do it every which way they can, even with humans, and killer blimps and vast and amazing adventurous locations full of glory and beauty. None of it is really quite easy to exploit. Nor do many people have the desire. After all, Titan herself is a god or near enough, technologically, so as to be the utter master of her domain... except for the twelve distributed ancient AI intelligences that make up her bulk. :)
Our captain is old but still looking young by this point, and since she's the Wizard and it's traditional to sing the Yellow Brick Road when they go on expeditions and status updates with all these distributed intelligences that are gods in their own rights, we're thrown into intrigue and a possible rebellion. :)
If you think all of this is pretty simple, think again. The novel is rife with questions of sexuality and cultural weirdness and lesbianism and even eye-rolling wackiness of a misinterpretation of rape that could only come out of a secluded orbital community of Wiccan lesbians who shun all men but import sperm to keep their numbers, drag one of their members out of the community, and put her into Gaia. Let sparks fly.
Is this novel nothing but sex? It feels like it. It's not horrible tho. It's weird. Vastly weird. The centaur aliens are nuts about it, and I'm just thankful there's a cheat sheet in the book that breaks down all the coupling combinations. And I thought that hind-sex and frontal sex was confusing enough when there was a profusion of multiple sexual organs.
From the standpoint of imagination and weirdness and worldbuilding and oddities, this book is brilliant and beautiful. Even the questions regarding sex and perception were sometimes clever and insightful even when it sometimes became enraging.
The fact is, for all its faults, this novel is fascinating and dense with goodies and is full of great ideas. My personal meh about the underlying story may be just me. Everything surrounding it is gorgeous.
I was honestly expecting a straight carryover from the first novel with its surprising end and lead, making the next title, Wizard, something much more than I might have expected, but I was surprised. Decades have passed in an eyeblink and Titan has turned herself into the goose that lays the golden eggs, opening up exploration and exploitation to her artificial moon.
Of course, with this fantastic alien landscape, there's the Titanides, the 29 times over ambisexual centaurs who like to do it every which way they can, even with humans, and killer blimps and vast and amazing adventurous locations full of glory and beauty. None of it is really quite easy to exploit. Nor do many people have the desire. After all, Titan herself is a god or near enough, technologically, so as to be the utter master of her domain... except for the twelve distributed ancient AI intelligences that make up her bulk. :)
Our captain is old but still looking young by this point, and since she's the Wizard and it's traditional to sing the Yellow Brick Road when they go on expeditions and status updates with all these distributed intelligences that are gods in their own rights, we're thrown into intrigue and a possible rebellion. :)
If you think all of this is pretty simple, think again. The novel is rife with questions of sexuality and cultural weirdness and lesbianism and even eye-rolling wackiness of a misinterpretation of rape that could only come out of a secluded orbital community of Wiccan lesbians who shun all men but import sperm to keep their numbers, drag one of their members out of the community, and put her into Gaia. Let sparks fly.
Is this novel nothing but sex? It feels like it. It's not horrible tho. It's weird. Vastly weird. The centaur aliens are nuts about it, and I'm just thankful there's a cheat sheet in the book that breaks down all the coupling combinations. And I thought that hind-sex and frontal sex was confusing enough when there was a profusion of multiple sexual organs.
From the standpoint of imagination and weirdness and worldbuilding and oddities, this book is brilliant and beautiful. Even the questions regarding sex and perception were sometimes clever and insightful even when it sometimes became enraging.
The fact is, for all its faults, this novel is fascinating and dense with goodies and is full of great ideas. My personal meh about the underlying story may be just me. Everything surrounding it is gorgeous.
January 12, 2015
Probably around 3.5 stars, but rounded up to 4.
Wizard picks up where Titan left off in its exploration of the nature of sexuality. Gone are the frequent references to other works of science fiction, although the Greek mythology links are of course maintained. This novel is unusual in that the majority of its main characters are women, with earth-guy Chris thrown in as the token male to be used to contrast everything with. Also introduced in this second book is Robin, a young woman from an all-female space colony (known as The Coven). And yes, it is that kind of coven—women looking to establish their own matriarchal society, free of the influence of men, who are envisioned by the women of the Coven as bogeymen. It was slightly predictable that Chris & Robin would be thrown together on Gaea so that we could watch them work out their prejudices with each other.
This is very much a quest tale—both Chris and Robin have genetic anomalies that are disrupting their lives in major ways and they have come to Gaea to see if they can be healed. An audience with the Goddess reveals that there’s no such thing as a free lunch (Robert Heinlein would be pleased) and that the two must get out into the world of Gaea and be heroic if they expect any assistance. Their need to go do something is helped along when Cirocco (the Wizard of the title) and Gaby (one of the main characters from the first volume) offer to take them along on a long trip around the edges of Gaea, along with 4 of the centaur-folk known as Titanides. The reader is never allowed to forget that the Titanides have a very complex sexual life which they are absolutely pragmatic about—none of the human hang-ups concerning this essential part of life—and some of them (including one of the travel party) sometimes become enamoured of humans. Chris gets to be the lucky (?) recipient of this attention as well.
It definitely passes the Bechdel test—there are more than two women (humans), who talk to each other about many things besides men. Despite this, our lesbian witch, Robin, does take one shot at the heterosexual side of the street. Token guy, Chris, gets pushed into leadership in several places where he is just not qualified—a nod perhaps to our society where, in hospitals, people ask for (male) unqualified interns when well-qualified female doctors are on the scene. By and large, it is a feminist novel—however, Varley makes everything hinge on Chris in a way that, to my way of thinking, gives him undue influence, especially in sexual terms. Thankfully, he actually realizes it in several places in the book, making me like him better for it.
There’s lots of action and danger as the travelers make their way around Gaea, which kept me reading just to see what happened. I realize that sexuality was being explored, but it really did seem to keep taking over everyone’s attention when they probably would have been better off looking for the next cliff/predator/large unfriendly body of water. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and will definitely read the last book in the trilogy.
Wizard picks up where Titan left off in its exploration of the nature of sexuality. Gone are the frequent references to other works of science fiction, although the Greek mythology links are of course maintained. This novel is unusual in that the majority of its main characters are women, with earth-guy Chris thrown in as the token male to be used to contrast everything with. Also introduced in this second book is Robin, a young woman from an all-female space colony (known as The Coven). And yes, it is that kind of coven—women looking to establish their own matriarchal society, free of the influence of men, who are envisioned by the women of the Coven as bogeymen. It was slightly predictable that Chris & Robin would be thrown together on Gaea so that we could watch them work out their prejudices with each other.
This is very much a quest tale—both Chris and Robin have genetic anomalies that are disrupting their lives in major ways and they have come to Gaea to see if they can be healed. An audience with the Goddess reveals that there’s no such thing as a free lunch (Robert Heinlein would be pleased) and that the two must get out into the world of Gaea and be heroic if they expect any assistance. Their need to go do something is helped along when Cirocco (the Wizard of the title) and Gaby (one of the main characters from the first volume) offer to take them along on a long trip around the edges of Gaea, along with 4 of the centaur-folk known as Titanides. The reader is never allowed to forget that the Titanides have a very complex sexual life which they are absolutely pragmatic about—none of the human hang-ups concerning this essential part of life—and some of them (including one of the travel party) sometimes become enamoured of humans. Chris gets to be the lucky (?) recipient of this attention as well.
It definitely passes the Bechdel test—there are more than two women (humans), who talk to each other about many things besides men. Despite this, our lesbian witch, Robin, does take one shot at the heterosexual side of the street. Token guy, Chris, gets pushed into leadership in several places where he is just not qualified—a nod perhaps to our society where, in hospitals, people ask for (male) unqualified interns when well-qualified female doctors are on the scene. By and large, it is a feminist novel—however, Varley makes everything hinge on Chris in a way that, to my way of thinking, gives him undue influence, especially in sexual terms. Thankfully, he actually realizes it in several places in the book, making me like him better for it.
There’s lots of action and danger as the travelers make their way around Gaea, which kept me reading just to see what happened. I realize that sexuality was being explored, but it really did seem to keep taking over everyone’s attention when they probably would have been better off looking for the next cliff/predator/large unfriendly body of water. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and will definitely read the last book in the trilogy.
November 19, 2024
3.5/5
Another lovely read.
This book uses the alien environment of Gaea to explore the psychology of its characters, which is exactly the kind of scifi I like to read.
It's a very feminist book, but it also takes the time to present the danger and ridiculousness of the ideology when taken to the extreme. The result is balanced, wholesome, and inspiring. How many books even try to do that today?
Sadly, it fails as much as it succeeds in many respects: the plot often feels forced, and the character development feels a bit too unnatural.
And I could do without the kinky alien hermaphrodite horse sex, but to each their own I suppose.
Another lovely read.
This book uses the alien environment of Gaea to explore the psychology of its characters, which is exactly the kind of scifi I like to read.
It's a very feminist book, but it also takes the time to present the danger and ridiculousness of the ideology when taken to the extreme. The result is balanced, wholesome, and inspiring. How many books even try to do that today?
Sadly, it fails as much as it succeeds in many respects: the plot often feels forced, and the character development feels a bit too unnatural.
And I could do without the kinky alien hermaphrodite horse sex, but to each their own I suppose.
September 7, 2021
This review will contain spoilers if you haven't read the first book in the series, Titan.
Several decades have passed since Captain Cirocco Jones and her crew had their ship torn asunder and dragged aboard Gaea by one of her sub-brains. Once Cirocco and Gaby made the arduous journey up the spoke to confront her, Gaea apologized for the actions of the rebellious subordinate that committed the attack. In the interim, Gaea has negotiated peace with Earth, established embassies there, and opened herself up to Human tourists, albeit in limited quantity.
Two travelers have come to the world of Gaea in hopes of receiving a cure for their afflictions. One is Chris, who suffers from dissociative identity disorder and was fine until he was forced to go off his meds. The other is Robin, a judgmental epileptic from a lesbian Wiccan society that believes all men are rapists. Neither has quite the meeting they'd hoped for with Gaea and must prove their mettle as "heroes" by completing an epic journey or quest to satisfy the capricious god.
Cirocco was offered—and accepted—the role of Wizard, a position second only to Gaea herself. Cirocco would travel the world of Gaea, acting as her representative and messenger, and granted perpetual youth. But the passage of time and other unfair responsibilities have taken their toll on her, and she's fallen into alcoholism. Gaby has also been awarded perpetual youth, but hers was earned through work as a civil engineer, building and maintaining a trans-Gaean road and way stations. She hates to see Cirocco suffer and resents what Gaea has done to her friend.
Gaby and Cirocco are planning a trip to circumnavigate Gaea, a periodic responsibility, and invite Robin and Chris along in hopes that the journey will give each of them a chance to "do something heroic." Four Titanides also come along for the journey. The multi-sexual centaurs are excellent craftsmen and prove invaluable companions to the Humans. But there's more to this trip than just touring the kingdom and finding opportunities for adventure. For Gaea has far outlived her expected lifespan, and her ability to give a shit is less than her desire to be entertained.
Once again, Varley utilizes a quest as the primary story structure and, like so many journeys, the characters are not the same at the end as they were at the beginning. Robin is forced to re-examine her beliefs and prejudices while Chris must learn how to balance his opposing personalities, in essence, passion versus logic. While Varley uses him as a counterpoint for Robin, he also represents all Humans in the complex love-hate relationship the Titanides have with us.
Varley isn't shy about using the Titanides to point out our species' faults, but he also recognizes that we are capable of so much more.
My one complaint would be that a scene where Gaby discovers the identity of the antagonist who has been orchestrating malevolent events against them and confronts that person took place off screen. While we are later told about the confrontation, it would've been better for the story if the reader was shown it rather than told about it.
While Titan and Wizard were published only a year apart, Varley's writing is so much better. Characterization is much stronger and he did it without sacrificing world-building. In fact, it's even better. There's less focus on numbers and more on substance. And the pacing never drags. Varley figured out how to fill the spaces between dramatic events to hold the reader's interest. The surprise ending is the icing on the cake.
4.25 stars
Several decades have passed since Captain Cirocco Jones and her crew had their ship torn asunder and dragged aboard Gaea by one of her sub-brains. Once Cirocco and Gaby made the arduous journey up the spoke to confront her, Gaea apologized for the actions of the rebellious subordinate that committed the attack. In the interim, Gaea has negotiated peace with Earth, established embassies there, and opened herself up to Human tourists, albeit in limited quantity.
Two travelers have come to the world of Gaea in hopes of receiving a cure for their afflictions. One is Chris, who suffers from dissociative identity disorder and was fine until he was forced to go off his meds. The other is Robin, a judgmental epileptic from a lesbian Wiccan society that believes all men are rapists. Neither has quite the meeting they'd hoped for with Gaea and must prove their mettle as "heroes" by completing an epic journey or quest to satisfy the capricious god.
Cirocco was offered—and accepted—the role of Wizard, a position second only to Gaea herself. Cirocco would travel the world of Gaea, acting as her representative and messenger, and granted perpetual youth. But the passage of time and other unfair responsibilities have taken their toll on her, and she's fallen into alcoholism. Gaby has also been awarded perpetual youth, but hers was earned through work as a civil engineer, building and maintaining a trans-Gaean road and way stations. She hates to see Cirocco suffer and resents what Gaea has done to her friend.
Gaby and Cirocco are planning a trip to circumnavigate Gaea, a periodic responsibility, and invite Robin and Chris along in hopes that the journey will give each of them a chance to "do something heroic." Four Titanides also come along for the journey. The multi-sexual centaurs are excellent craftsmen and prove invaluable companions to the Humans. But there's more to this trip than just touring the kingdom and finding opportunities for adventure. For Gaea has far outlived her expected lifespan, and her ability to give a shit is less than her desire to be entertained.
Once again, Varley utilizes a quest as the primary story structure and, like so many journeys, the characters are not the same at the end as they were at the beginning. Robin is forced to re-examine her beliefs and prejudices while Chris must learn how to balance his opposing personalities, in essence, passion versus logic. While Varley uses him as a counterpoint for Robin, he also represents all Humans in the complex love-hate relationship the Titanides have with us.
"Humans brought alcoholism to Gaea. We have always enjoyed wine, but the beverage you call tequila and we call"—she sang a brief melody�"which translates as Death-with-a-pinch-of-salt-and-a-twist-of-lime, has addictive properties for us. Humans brought venereal disease: the only malady of Terran origin that affects us."
Varley isn't shy about using the Titanides to point out our species' faults, but he also recognizes that we are capable of so much more.
"And there are among you individuals with life burning so brightly within them that we are dazzled by your brilliance."
My one complaint would be that a scene where Gaby discovers the identity of the antagonist who has been orchestrating malevolent events against them and confronts that person took place off screen. While we are later told about the confrontation, it would've been better for the story if the reader was shown it rather than told about it.
While Titan and Wizard were published only a year apart, Varley's writing is so much better. Characterization is much stronger and he did it without sacrificing world-building. In fact, it's even better. There's less focus on numbers and more on substance. And the pacing never drags. Varley figured out how to fill the spaces between dramatic events to hold the reader's interest. The surprise ending is the icing on the cake.
4.25 stars
June 20, 2024
I enjoyed this novel that had echoes of and as a sci-fi/fantasy epic quest story. I liked the Chris and Robin characters and loved the various Titanides. The stories of Gaby and Cirocco "Rocky" Jones were a lot of fun. This book requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, but if you are able to do so, then the wonder of the world-building here makes it in my mind superior to the first volume, . Looking forward to the conclusion in .
February 23, 2012
I'm really enjoying this trilogy. You could put it in the "humans explore vast space habitat" category, in company with things like Rendezvous with Rama and Ringworld, but I think that misses the appeal of Varley's Gaea books. Varley brings really weird shit to the table, as all SF should but hard SF sometimes underdelivers on. In addition to blowing you away with exterior vistas, he's digging his hooks into your subconscious and unearthing some disturbing stuff. On top of that, he's funny! This series almost reminds me of Terry Pratchett's early SF (like the not-just-a-Ringworld-spoof Strata), though Varley's work is much darker.
Volume 1, Titan, covered the initial exploration and established the setup. Wizard returns after a number of decades, where things appear relatively stable: Gaea is recognized by the UN, and permits a certain number of human tourists and even immigrants, but plays with them in the same capricious way. It's very different in feel from the first volume; almost a little too peaceful and threatening, until you realize you're just being softened up before everything goes to hell. It doesn't outstay its welcome, and sets the stage for a cataclysmic third volume, Demon, which I can't wait to read.
The main attraction of Wizard is Varley's amazing ingenuity in creating new alien species. The setup allows for some extremely improbable scenarios (much like Strata again) and he exploits this to the hilt: blimps and submarines, buzz bombs, sand wraiths... and the crown jewel, the centaur-like Titanides, with their musical language and multiple sexual organs. You'll learn a lot about the latter especially, because there is a lot of centaur sex in this book. If you think you might be put off by lots of centaur sex, this is probably not the book for you. Let's just say, where volume 1 comes with an accompanying map, volume 2 comes with a cheat sheet listing the 29 possible Titanide sexual ensembles. (He's equally imaginative with human societies of the near-to-medium future.)
And the writing is terrific. Hard-boiled for the most part, but with the occasional gem thrown in. Early on, our first glimpse of a Titanide: "She thundered down the seawall road, arms held out behind her like the silver lady on a Rolls-Royce." A lovely image and a useful one, compact and poetic.
Volume 1, Titan, covered the initial exploration and established the setup. Wizard returns after a number of decades, where things appear relatively stable: Gaea is recognized by the UN, and permits a certain number of human tourists and even immigrants, but plays with them in the same capricious way. It's very different in feel from the first volume; almost a little too peaceful and threatening, until you realize you're just being softened up before everything goes to hell. It doesn't outstay its welcome, and sets the stage for a cataclysmic third volume, Demon, which I can't wait to read.
The main attraction of Wizard is Varley's amazing ingenuity in creating new alien species. The setup allows for some extremely improbable scenarios (much like Strata again) and he exploits this to the hilt: blimps and submarines, buzz bombs, sand wraiths... and the crown jewel, the centaur-like Titanides, with their musical language and multiple sexual organs. You'll learn a lot about the latter especially, because there is a lot of centaur sex in this book. If you think you might be put off by lots of centaur sex, this is probably not the book for you. Let's just say, where volume 1 comes with an accompanying map, volume 2 comes with a cheat sheet listing the 29 possible Titanide sexual ensembles. (He's equally imaginative with human societies of the near-to-medium future.)
And the writing is terrific. Hard-boiled for the most part, but with the occasional gem thrown in. Early on, our first glimpse of a Titanide: "She thundered down the seawall road, arms held out behind her like the silver lady on a Rolls-Royce." A lovely image and a useful one, compact and poetic.
November 11, 2020
130625: well... it is the middle book of a trilogy, so it has to move on but not resolve, and it does that. did not enjoy it as much as the first, possibly because exploring the big dumb object and facing various trials seem now much more arbitrary...
introduces a few new characters, some travel, some ritual, some terrifying new enemies but nothing that truly taxes our heroines- i did mention it is 2 of 3? it has not aged much in 33! years, but for the touchy-feely love/sex stuff the usual assumed demographic of 13 year-old boys, might have trouble with...
and yes, i can see it being too graphic and interested in... sex. not in a tiptree jr or le guin way, but rather more a fascination with plumbing than social manner of the hounymms- sorry, the titanide centaurs- though the comic effect of the one character from a witches' coven society is well done. possibly interesting in itself.
well, on to the last of the 3 Gaea books..
introduces a few new characters, some travel, some ritual, some terrifying new enemies but nothing that truly taxes our heroines- i did mention it is 2 of 3? it has not aged much in 33! years, but for the touchy-feely love/sex stuff the usual assumed demographic of 13 year-old boys, might have trouble with...
and yes, i can see it being too graphic and interested in... sex. not in a tiptree jr or le guin way, but rather more a fascination with plumbing than social manner of the hounymms- sorry, the titanide centaurs- though the comic effect of the one character from a witches' coven society is well done. possibly interesting in itself.
well, on to the last of the 3 Gaea books..
January 1, 2019
I need to read this again. I read it too fast. Add Titanides to the list of fictional creatures I would not mind being.
So I read this again recently. This book is awesome. It's got the Titanides who have multiple genitals and complicated mating methods based on music. In fact their language is based on music, they sing, they play awesome musical instruments and they kick ass. I kind of wish there was more about them and less about the humans, though the human characters are cool. You have Robin who comes from a hyper feminist world full of radical women. She's tough and badass. She has severe seizures. You have gentle Chris who has manic episodes. They come to Gaea to be cured. Gaea tells them they have to go on an adventure and prove themselves.
They encounter two characters from the last book. Cirocco, who is depressed and an alcoholic from having the fate of the Titanides in her hands and Gaby, who is still in love with Cirocco. With the help of the Titanides they go on a crazy adventure and...
Well, reading the book to find out what will happen is a great idea. John Varley fills this book with strong, varied characters. He's richly imaginative and manages to add queer characters without blowing a huge look at me, these characters are queer I'm so progressive trumpet.
So, if you want to read about centaur-like creatures with multiple genitals I suggest buying his books directly from his site. Start with Titan, the first book in the series and keep reading.
12/31/19
Read it again. It's still damn good. The characters, their development. The setting. Really you should read John Varley instead of osc. He's good at making diverse, strong women who actually have personalities and don't just exist for men to drool over and Titanides continue to be one of the best aliens.
So I read this again recently. This book is awesome. It's got the Titanides who have multiple genitals and complicated mating methods based on music. In fact their language is based on music, they sing, they play awesome musical instruments and they kick ass. I kind of wish there was more about them and less about the humans, though the human characters are cool. You have Robin who comes from a hyper feminist world full of radical women. She's tough and badass. She has severe seizures. You have gentle Chris who has manic episodes. They come to Gaea to be cured. Gaea tells them they have to go on an adventure and prove themselves.
They encounter two characters from the last book. Cirocco, who is depressed and an alcoholic from having the fate of the Titanides in her hands and Gaby, who is still in love with Cirocco. With the help of the Titanides they go on a crazy adventure and...
Well, reading the book to find out what will happen is a great idea. John Varley fills this book with strong, varied characters. He's richly imaginative and manages to add queer characters without blowing a huge look at me, these characters are queer I'm so progressive trumpet.
So, if you want to read about centaur-like creatures with multiple genitals I suggest buying his books directly from his site. Start with Titan, the first book in the series and keep reading.
12/31/19
Read it again. It's still damn good. The characters, their development. The setting. Really you should read John Varley instead of osc. He's good at making diverse, strong women who actually have personalities and don't just exist for men to drool over and Titanides continue to be one of the best aliens.
July 26, 2008
I love all three of the books in this trilogy equally...but I think this was better than "Titan". The first book in the trilogy changed pace from a space-opera to a fantasy/adventure book pretty suddenly, and it had to do all the work of setting the scene. "Wizard" is a straight-up adventure/intrigue, and the scene's already set. AND you get to find out about the Titanide's sexual makeup (that's worth reading the book right there. VERY strange species that Varley's come up with.
Varley doesn't just do a good job with fantastic planets, he's also made some very neat characters. I think I liked and sympathized with everyone involved (except the villain, of course), even when I wanted to slap them upside the head for being a tad STUPID about some random thing.
Varley doesn't just do a good job with fantastic planets, he's also made some very neat characters. I think I liked and sympathized with everyone involved (except the villain, of course), even when I wanted to slap them upside the head for being a tad STUPID about some random thing.
December 2, 2011
Wizard picks up about 80 years after the events in Titan. Cirocco is now a Wizard for Gaea, meaning she’s a troubleshooter. Gaby is sometimes her sidekick, and sometimes just does freelance work. They are both paid with extended lifespans. Since Titan, plenty of humans have emigrated to Gaea. There is a limited quota for free trips, and through this program, two new travelers, both prone to periodic seizures, arrive in Gaea. One is Chris, a rather shy and geeky young man from Earth. The other is Robin, who comes from an ultra-radical sect of witches (in the Wiccan sense) living in a habitat on the far side of the Moon. The sect is made up entirely of women, and holds men to be evil. Robin has never met a man, and has some strange conceptions about them. As they arrive, Gaea tells them that she can cure their ailments, as long as they do something heroic. They join up with Cirocco and Gaby on a circumnavigation of the habitat wheel. The wizard and her sidekick have a hidden agenda, though. Gaea is becoming ever more senile and crazy, and the two are looking for allies in a coming war against her.
The adventures of Chris and Robin make for a coming of age tale of sorts. The scenery is still wondrous, and Varley has added much to the richness of his world. The prose is excellent and the characters are rich and alive. Despite all that, I was still somewhat disappointed. The story sets up the next and final book (Demon), and develops the characters, but the plot isn’t that interesting. There seems to be little sense of where the story is headed. While this is often the case in long sections of many Varley books, in this one there weren’t any other really stellar bits to compensate. Varley is never bad, but it was an ultimately unsatisfying read.
The adventures of Chris and Robin make for a coming of age tale of sorts. The scenery is still wondrous, and Varley has added much to the richness of his world. The prose is excellent and the characters are rich and alive. Despite all that, I was still somewhat disappointed. The story sets up the next and final book (Demon), and develops the characters, but the plot isn’t that interesting. There seems to be little sense of where the story is headed. While this is often the case in long sections of many Varley books, in this one there weren’t any other really stellar bits to compensate. Varley is never bad, but it was an ultimately unsatisfying read.
September 24, 2018
"One of the greatest science fiction epics ever written"? Well, no. Not even close. Some of it crosses over into into the very silly. "Buzz bomb" for example - what is this, a Dead Kennedys album? Actually that might be weirdly appropriate, considering the musical communication between the centaurs. This book contains a lot of good ideas, including the basic premise of a living ringworld, and the splintering personalities based on the distributed brain required for such a large organism. It seems that Varley wants, especially towards the end, for us to feel sympathy for those rebelling against Gaea, but I found myself disliking the humans more for the destructive behavior that is so much in evidence in our current day. The wanton destruction of species occurring right now paralleling what appears to be the forthcoming trajectory planned for the next book, i.e. death of Gaea itself. Then again, there is a lot of moral complexity in the book revealed through the various points of view, so probably Varley did that deliberately and is quite aware that his heroes are not necessarily all that heroic, depending on the point of view.
The obsession with the sexual formations of the centaurs became a bit exhausting. Varley even created a full diagram in the back of the book showing all 29 possible configurations (called ensembles) by which the Titanides can reproduce. The amount of work he most have put into creating this diagram, along with the grouping and names, all based on musical modes could be seen as excessively prurient, or as an impressive level of world building expertise, and perhaps both are true. My hornier, younger self might have found it all very titillating, but my older, cynical self finds it mostly quaint, tiring, and just a bit embarrassing.
One of my other gripes is the unnecessary mentions of telepathy and ESP (3 total if I remember correctly), neither of which contributed to any substance to either the story or the world building, and since this book already blurs the science fiction heavily into more mythic fantasy, I felt those elements would have been best left out, but that reflects a personal bias on part. I find telepathy and ESP to be annoying cheats when it comes to science fiction, and even with my deep favorites such as Star Trek, I have never liked things such as Vulcan mind-melds. But this is a minor quibble.
At its core, this is an epic quest fantasy, and Varley is not trying to hide that fact, since Gaea explicitly creates things to be quested after, and requires heroic deeds to gain her favor. By that measure, this book delivers fairly well. Not with Tolkien level skill, but still decent enough that I enjoyed the ride well enough. There are character deaths, and there is character growth and depth. There are serious conflicts and resolutions, but not with idealistic happiness. Things are complicated.
If goodreads allowed half star ratings (and wouldn't it be nice if it did) this would be a 3.5 for me, but following my rounding up rule, plus the fact it clearly gave me a lot to think about, it gets a reluctant 4. But to quote Public Enemy "Don't believe the hype", especially that on the front cover which says "most celebrated adventure since Dune". This one is more somewhere between Heinlein and Piers Anthony.
The obsession with the sexual formations of the centaurs became a bit exhausting. Varley even created a full diagram in the back of the book showing all 29 possible configurations (called ensembles) by which the Titanides can reproduce. The amount of work he most have put into creating this diagram, along with the grouping and names, all based on musical modes could be seen as excessively prurient, or as an impressive level of world building expertise, and perhaps both are true. My hornier, younger self might have found it all very titillating, but my older, cynical self finds it mostly quaint, tiring, and just a bit embarrassing.
One of my other gripes is the unnecessary mentions of telepathy and ESP (3 total if I remember correctly), neither of which contributed to any substance to either the story or the world building, and since this book already blurs the science fiction heavily into more mythic fantasy, I felt those elements would have been best left out, but that reflects a personal bias on part. I find telepathy and ESP to be annoying cheats when it comes to science fiction, and even with my deep favorites such as Star Trek, I have never liked things such as Vulcan mind-melds. But this is a minor quibble.
At its core, this is an epic quest fantasy, and Varley is not trying to hide that fact, since Gaea explicitly creates things to be quested after, and requires heroic deeds to gain her favor. By that measure, this book delivers fairly well. Not with Tolkien level skill, but still decent enough that I enjoyed the ride well enough. There are character deaths, and there is character growth and depth. There are serious conflicts and resolutions, but not with idealistic happiness. Things are complicated.
If goodreads allowed half star ratings (and wouldn't it be nice if it did) this would be a 3.5 for me, but following my rounding up rule, plus the fact it clearly gave me a lot to think about, it gets a reluctant 4. But to quote Public Enemy "Don't believe the hype", especially that on the front cover which says "most celebrated adventure since Dune". This one is more somewhere between Heinlein and Piers Anthony.
April 12, 2011
Може би именно поради факта, че в средната книга на поредицата героите са по-подробно описани, „Магьосница� ми допадна повече. Гея и туземните й обитатели са вече представени на читателя от предходния роман и Варли се е съсредоточил в доразработването на образите на вече познатите ни герои и въвеждането на нови. Но не си мислете, че това е типичната средна книга � „продължение на първата и прелюдия към последната�, в която нищо не се случва. Напротив � тук отново действието е изумително бързо, без да е претупано, и Джон Варли продължава да разкрива майсторски поредната мистерия на Гея, без да намалява нито за миг нивото на съспенс.
Шейсет години след пристигането си капитан Чироко Джоунс се подвизава на Гея като нейна Магьосница � официален представител на богинята и най-могъщото същество в света-колело. Но вечната младост, на която се радват Чироко и нейната спътница Габи Плъджет, си има цена. Децентрализираните мозъци на Гея не работят както трябва � някои са мъртви, други се бунтуват, трети са откровено луди. Както и самото божество. И единствените, които могат да направят нещо по въпроса, са Магьосницата и помощниците й. Пристигането на също така лудите (може да ги наречете и болни) поклонници Робин и Крис поставя началото на края на богинята, подготвян от нищожните човеци. Евентуално�
Трябва да спомена, че две от причините да харесам „Магьосница� повече от „Титан� са хуморът и въображението, които писателят разгръща в по-голяма степен. Сексуалният живот и социалното устройство на титанидите тук са описани много по-подробно, появяват се нови раси на Гея, а всяка нова местност е толкова различна със своята еко-система, че на моменти не успявах да побер�� цялата информация. От друга страна, отраслата във феминизирано вещерско общество Робин беше изключително забавна със странните си представи за мъжете и жените, отраснали извън колонията.
Шейсет години след пристигането си капитан Чироко Джоунс се подвизава на Гея като нейна Магьосница � официален представител на богинята и най-могъщото същество в света-колело. Но вечната младост, на която се радват Чироко и нейната спътница Габи Плъджет, си има цена. Децентрализираните мозъци на Гея не работят както трябва � някои са мъртви, други се бунтуват, трети са откровено луди. Както и самото божество. И единствените, които могат да направят нещо по въпроса, са Магьосницата и помощниците й. Пристигането на също така лудите (може да ги наречете и болни) поклонници Робин и Крис поставя началото на края на богинята, подготвян от нищожните човеци. Евентуално�
Трябва да спомена, че две от причините да харесам „Магьосница� повече от „Титан� са хуморът и въображението, които писателят разгръща в по-голяма степен. Сексуалният живот и социалното устройство на титанидите тук са описани много по-подробно, появяват се нови раси на Гея, а всяка нова местност е толкова различна със своята еко-система, че на моменти не успявах да побер�� цялата информация. От друга страна, отраслата във феминизирано вещерско общество Робин беше изключително забавна със странните си представи за мъжете и жените, отраснали извън колонията.
July 21, 2024
Set 75 years after Titan, Cirocco and Gaby are still in Gaea kept artificially young, Cirocco the Wizard is an alcoholic wreck due to the pressure of being responsible for the continuing of the Titanide race, while Gaby takes on various large scale construction tasks for Gaea.
Gaea has gained a reputation for curing rare deceases, but only for a select few and only if the sick can prove themselves by some heroic task, for the amusement of Gaea.
Chris Major from earth and Robin from a women only lesbian orbital habitat, arrives in Gaea to be cured and embarks on a quest together with Cirocco and Gaby.
During the quest we learn that Gaby has convinced Cirocco to try and overthrow Gaea, it comes to a conflict and Gaby is killed by Gaea, whereafter Cirocco kills Gaea’s avatar and resignes as wizard.
And the scene is set for the final showdown in Demon.
This second volume in the series is even better than the first and feels more coherent and focused, this is Varley at his best.
Gaea has gained a reputation for curing rare deceases, but only for a select few and only if the sick can prove themselves by some heroic task, for the amusement of Gaea.
Chris Major from earth and Robin from a women only lesbian orbital habitat, arrives in Gaea to be cured and embarks on a quest together with Cirocco and Gaby.
During the quest we learn that Gaby has convinced Cirocco to try and overthrow Gaea, it comes to a conflict and Gaby is killed by Gaea, whereafter Cirocco kills Gaea’s avatar and resignes as wizard.
And the scene is set for the final showdown in Demon.
This second volume in the series is even better than the first and feels more coherent and focused, this is Varley at his best.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 20, 2011
Spoiler Alert!
Wizard is the second book of the Gaea Trilogy by John Varley.
Just as Titan begins in a somewhat normal universe and escalates into an absurd universe, so Wizard picks up at the same gonzo level that Titan ended at and escalates into something even more absurd.
This book takes place roughly 75 years after the end of Titan and the two main characters return, Rocky Jones and Gaby Plauget. When Gaea made Rocky the Wizard of Gaea, she also gave her certain powers to go with Rocky's new station. Rocky can now talk to all of the creatures that live on the wheel, she has been given eternal youth, and she has been made the sole method of ferterilizing the Titanide's eggs, making her essentially responsible for the survival of the species. Gaby, in order to remain on Gaea with Rocky, has had a tougher road. She works for Gaea on a piecemeal basis, project by project, and her principal reward from Gaea is eternal youth, bit by bit. She must constantly keep re-earning her prize and is none too happy about it.
Most of the novel, however, deals with two new characters and their exploits on the giant living body of Gaea. Both of them are fairly young and both of them have incurable diseases. It has been Gaea's policy for some time now to ask certain humans to come to her (she calls them pilgrims) to be cured. But Gaea likes her good deeds to be a two-way street - you do something for me first and if I find you worthy, I'll cure everyone who has your disease. The something that Gaea always demands is an act of heroism (or death trying).
The young man, Chris, has a disability where he temporarily goes insane and cannot recall his actions while gonzo. When crazy, he can harm innocent people and has a bad problem with rape. He always feels bad afterward, but what can you do? He finally screws up his courage and decides to approach Gaea.
The young woman, Robin the Nine-Fingered, comes from a Coven of witches which lives in a habitat at the L2 LaGrange orbit of earth. Long separated from other humans, these women have lived in Lesbian harmony for many years and recreated human culture from their own perspective. All men are insane rapists running an earth where women are kept as sex slaves. Human literature, which was all written by women, has been co-opted to seem as if it was mostly written by men. And so forth.
Robin has a disease in which she periodically has intense siezures where she loses all control. She has become a hateful, violent 19-year-old who hopes eventually to have children, if Gaea can cure her. She comes before Gaea with a serious attitude problem.
These two unlikely characters are joined together with Rocky and Gaby on a cross-Gaean trip hoping to find situations requiring heroism. Those who have read Titan know that opportunities for heroism exist in abundance on Gaea, but so do the opportunities for death.
And death does play a prominent role in this novel. Varley pulls no punches in his descriptions.
Like Titan, this novel is also largely picaresque as the foursome venture around the rim of Gaea, accompanied by four Titanides, one of which has fallen in love with Chris. The Titanides are truly amazing creatures, created by Gaea because she wanted Centaurs. All communications between them are sung and they a truly unique sexual perspective (they are composed of one frontal sex and two rear sexes. This novel is strictly for mature readers. It contains graphic descriptions of Titanide sex and alien-human sex.
And finally, like Titan, it is a huge, sprawling, comic and yet deadly serious story about survival, godhood, humanity and heroism. While it is possible to say that it is not quite as good as Titan, it is nonetheless a page-turner and it does amaze and delight. The scope is huge. At his finest, John Varley is one of the most challenging, awe-inspiring and shocking science fiction writers of the past thirty years.
This book meets all of those criteria and I highly recomment it - and the Gaea Trilogy - to all mature fantasy/sf readers.
Wizard is the second book of the Gaea Trilogy by John Varley.
Just as Titan begins in a somewhat normal universe and escalates into an absurd universe, so Wizard picks up at the same gonzo level that Titan ended at and escalates into something even more absurd.
This book takes place roughly 75 years after the end of Titan and the two main characters return, Rocky Jones and Gaby Plauget. When Gaea made Rocky the Wizard of Gaea, she also gave her certain powers to go with Rocky's new station. Rocky can now talk to all of the creatures that live on the wheel, she has been given eternal youth, and she has been made the sole method of ferterilizing the Titanide's eggs, making her essentially responsible for the survival of the species. Gaby, in order to remain on Gaea with Rocky, has had a tougher road. She works for Gaea on a piecemeal basis, project by project, and her principal reward from Gaea is eternal youth, bit by bit. She must constantly keep re-earning her prize and is none too happy about it.
Most of the novel, however, deals with two new characters and their exploits on the giant living body of Gaea. Both of them are fairly young and both of them have incurable diseases. It has been Gaea's policy for some time now to ask certain humans to come to her (she calls them pilgrims) to be cured. But Gaea likes her good deeds to be a two-way street - you do something for me first and if I find you worthy, I'll cure everyone who has your disease. The something that Gaea always demands is an act of heroism (or death trying).
The young man, Chris, has a disability where he temporarily goes insane and cannot recall his actions while gonzo. When crazy, he can harm innocent people and has a bad problem with rape. He always feels bad afterward, but what can you do? He finally screws up his courage and decides to approach Gaea.
The young woman, Robin the Nine-Fingered, comes from a Coven of witches which lives in a habitat at the L2 LaGrange orbit of earth. Long separated from other humans, these women have lived in Lesbian harmony for many years and recreated human culture from their own perspective. All men are insane rapists running an earth where women are kept as sex slaves. Human literature, which was all written by women, has been co-opted to seem as if it was mostly written by men. And so forth.
Robin has a disease in which she periodically has intense siezures where she loses all control. She has become a hateful, violent 19-year-old who hopes eventually to have children, if Gaea can cure her. She comes before Gaea with a serious attitude problem.
These two unlikely characters are joined together with Rocky and Gaby on a cross-Gaean trip hoping to find situations requiring heroism. Those who have read Titan know that opportunities for heroism exist in abundance on Gaea, but so do the opportunities for death.
And death does play a prominent role in this novel. Varley pulls no punches in his descriptions.
Like Titan, this novel is also largely picaresque as the foursome venture around the rim of Gaea, accompanied by four Titanides, one of which has fallen in love with Chris. The Titanides are truly amazing creatures, created by Gaea because she wanted Centaurs. All communications between them are sung and they a truly unique sexual perspective (they are composed of one frontal sex and two rear sexes. This novel is strictly for mature readers. It contains graphic descriptions of Titanide sex and alien-human sex.
And finally, like Titan, it is a huge, sprawling, comic and yet deadly serious story about survival, godhood, humanity and heroism. While it is possible to say that it is not quite as good as Titan, it is nonetheless a page-turner and it does amaze and delight. The scope is huge. At his finest, John Varley is one of the most challenging, awe-inspiring and shocking science fiction writers of the past thirty years.
This book meets all of those criteria and I highly recomment it - and the Gaea Trilogy - to all mature fantasy/sf readers.
October 18, 2023
3.5 stars,
Summary
It's been 75 years since Captain Cirocco Jones became official Wizard of the ancient Saturn-orbiting construct Gaea. Now, she's a serious drunk, and her long-time companion Gaby is the one that has to keep her focused. When two damaged Terrans come to Gaea hoping to cure their ills, they get swept up into Cirocco, Gaby, and Gaea's complex machinations.
Review
The Gaea series continues to defy my memory of it. While I remember the books as being interesting, but dense and philosophical, in fact they're pretty breezy adventure. Wizard is, in fact, a quest story, though it takes a sharp turn toward the end.
The book has a rocky start. Varley takes his time getting the quest fellowship together, and it's not always time well spent. While the new actors are (despite the title, which is prior protagonist Cirocco Jones' title) the core of the story, and Varley needs to set the up well, it feels like a very long time before the story really starts to get moving.
There is, as before, a now-odd, but then-normal, focus on sex, but it doesn't really get in the way. It doesn't even trigger my Star Trek human-alien sex alarm, since there's something of an explanation. Varley does press pretty hard on one character being in love with another, only to pretty much drop the idea late in the game without much warning.
The story as a whole is a bit disjointed - the slow start, the solid center, the abrupt and none-too-appealing ending. This is a book that would have benefited from another couple of rounds of editing to really get it settled in, but it's okay otherwise. It's intensely irritating, though, that, throughout the book, Varley uses 'anterior' when he means 'posterior' - and he uses it a lot. Hopefully fixed in newer editions.
Summary
It's been 75 years since Captain Cirocco Jones became official Wizard of the ancient Saturn-orbiting construct Gaea. Now, she's a serious drunk, and her long-time companion Gaby is the one that has to keep her focused. When two damaged Terrans come to Gaea hoping to cure their ills, they get swept up into Cirocco, Gaby, and Gaea's complex machinations.
Review
The Gaea series continues to defy my memory of it. While I remember the books as being interesting, but dense and philosophical, in fact they're pretty breezy adventure. Wizard is, in fact, a quest story, though it takes a sharp turn toward the end.
The book has a rocky start. Varley takes his time getting the quest fellowship together, and it's not always time well spent. While the new actors are (despite the title, which is prior protagonist Cirocco Jones' title) the core of the story, and Varley needs to set the up well, it feels like a very long time before the story really starts to get moving.
There is, as before, a now-odd, but then-normal, focus on sex, but it doesn't really get in the way. It doesn't even trigger my Star Trek human-alien sex alarm, since there's something of an explanation. Varley does press pretty hard on one character being in love with another, only to pretty much drop the idea late in the game without much warning.
The story as a whole is a bit disjointed - the slow start, the solid center, the abrupt and none-too-appealing ending. This is a book that would have benefited from another couple of rounds of editing to really get it settled in, but it's okay otherwise. It's intensely irritating, though, that, throughout the book, Varley uses 'anterior' when he means 'posterior' - and he uses it a lot. Hopefully fixed in newer editions.
June 13, 2024
Adventure, romance, tragedy, and ever-present humor give tension and power to this densely packed science fiction odyssey crammed with so much detail, it’s almost overwhelming until the story reaches the crisis. Once the plot reaches that point, the tension allows it to flow, taking on the feeling of epic fantasy and myth being shaped.
Gaea is being overwhelmed by tourists. Gaea grants wishes, but only to heroes. Two colorful pilgrims with major problems, Chris and Robin, visit Gaea, only to fall (literally) into the company of a former hero turned drunken Wizard and devoted companion who’s taken on the burden of guiding everybody. What begins as a trip across the planet turns dangerous, drawing the party into tragic conflict which changes them all. Tragedy transforms the Wizard, making Cirocco Jones reclaim her strength in order to become a demon who can strike down the one who’s played with all of their lives. Ending with a cliffhanger among cliffhangers, the very tragedy which transformed Cirocco is called into question when the former Wizard prepares to take on the very planet itself. The last line leaves me on the edge of my seat, wondering just what the Demon is going to do next.
Gaea is being overwhelmed by tourists. Gaea grants wishes, but only to heroes. Two colorful pilgrims with major problems, Chris and Robin, visit Gaea, only to fall (literally) into the company of a former hero turned drunken Wizard and devoted companion who’s taken on the burden of guiding everybody. What begins as a trip across the planet turns dangerous, drawing the party into tragic conflict which changes them all. Tragedy transforms the Wizard, making Cirocco Jones reclaim her strength in order to become a demon who can strike down the one who’s played with all of their lives. Ending with a cliffhanger among cliffhangers, the very tragedy which transformed Cirocco is called into question when the former Wizard prepares to take on the very planet itself. The last line leaves me on the edge of my seat, wondering just what the Demon is going to do next.
June 29, 2012
Book two of John Varley's Gaea Trilogy is interesting in contrast to the Ringworld series. I really liked the first Ringworld book. But, after that, Niven seemed more interested in talking about alien inter-species sex than in writing a coherent and interesting story. (That's right! I'm dissing Ringworld. Ender's Game sucks too.) Wizard also delves into sex with aliens, but it doesn't detract from the story, much.
Nor is the book simply more of the same. This is a very different book from Titan. The characters have more depth. It's pretty damn good. Certainly good enough to make me read final book. It's only real drawback, common to most middle installments of trilogies, is that it's really just setting things in place for the final book. Given that inherent limitation, it's still a fine read.
Nor is the book simply more of the same. This is a very different book from Titan. The characters have more depth. It's pretty damn good. Certainly good enough to make me read final book. It's only real drawback, common to most middle installments of trilogies, is that it's really just setting things in place for the final book. Given that inherent limitation, it's still a fine read.
September 2, 2015
"It's hard to argue with a novel whose protagonists are an epileptic lesbian separatist who has chewed off her own finger and a schizophrenic who falls in love with a purple centaur who idolizes John Philip Sousa, on a quest to circumnavigate a donut-shaped mind-world in orbit around Saturn to foment a
revolution among her 12 regional brains."
Ian wrote this, not me. But it's true! This was very, very good. Diverse cast that raises issues that study intersexuality, ableism, environmentalism, pitfalls of communism and capitalism, transhumanism, constraints of technology.. This is bizarre, original, dense And totally readable. I need to read the rest
Of this series SO bad. Passes the bechdel test and stAnds as a certifiably powerful critique of patriarchy and its latent and immediate structures of entitlement. Loved it.
revolution among her 12 regional brains."
Ian wrote this, not me. But it's true! This was very, very good. Diverse cast that raises issues that study intersexuality, ableism, environmentalism, pitfalls of communism and capitalism, transhumanism, constraints of technology.. This is bizarre, original, dense And totally readable. I need to read the rest
Of this series SO bad. Passes the bechdel test and stAnds as a certifiably powerful critique of patriarchy and its latent and immediate structures of entitlement. Loved it.
December 10, 2019
4.0�
My favourite of Varley's Gaea trilogy, though towards the end the dialogue becomes wordy and rambling. World building is what Varley does best and here he continues his scifi version of the Wizard of Oz with a new quest for Captain Cirrocco Jones (the eponymous Wizard of Gaea) and her friend Gaby, set among new fantastical landscapes and creatures in the bio-habitat Gaea, floating off among the rings of Saturn. They're joined by two new likable pilgrim/heros, Chris and Robin.
Very decent, escapist space opera/fantasy, replete with Varley's fascination with sex: human, alien and human/alien.
My favourite of Varley's Gaea trilogy, though towards the end the dialogue becomes wordy and rambling. World building is what Varley does best and here he continues his scifi version of the Wizard of Oz with a new quest for Captain Cirrocco Jones (the eponymous Wizard of Gaea) and her friend Gaby, set among new fantastical landscapes and creatures in the bio-habitat Gaea, floating off among the rings of Saturn. They're joined by two new likable pilgrim/heros, Chris and Robin.
Very decent, escapist space opera/fantasy, replete with Varley's fascination with sex: human, alien and human/alien.
November 10, 2023
I loved Titan as a teenager, just reread that and was surprised how much went over my head. This series feels time capsule coming out of 60s counter culture mixed with 70's excess . Thoroughly enjoyed it's world building, and character development.
If anything I wish there was more of a conclusion. The ending feels like a setup for Demon, the third and final novel. Enjoyed revisiting Gaea and its characters. Would give it a 3.5 stars, but GoodReads.
If anything I wish there was more of a conclusion. The ending feels like a setup for Demon, the third and final novel. Enjoyed revisiting Gaea and its characters. Would give it a 3.5 stars, but GoodReads.
May 6, 2010
Although the first book in this trilogy is just good, the second (this book) and the third (Demon) cement this as one of the better sf trilogies around.
March 12, 2012
See my review of the entire trilogy (posted 3/13/12):
June 1, 2009
Like Farmer's Riverboat series, this one suffers after the originality of the first volume, Titan, is absorbed.
October 31, 2018
The first book in the Gaea trilogy was Titan, a story about the captain of a NASA team being thrust into the world of a satellite-sized alien with her own ecosystem. How would the second book, Wizard, top this?
By being the story of a woman suffering from a patriarchal religious colony who suffers from debilitating seizures and a mild-mannered man who has dissociative personality disorder -- turning him into a crass brute -- and their quest to prove themselves as heroes, thus earning them the favor of Gaea and having her heal them.
John Varley's imagination once again knows no bounds as he takes us on another adventure in the bizarre world of Gaea.
It did take me a bit to appreciate these new characters, however. Going in the story, I should stress that it's important to know that the sequel takes place distantly in the future. We don't really get to see Cirocco learn the ropes of being the Wizard and I was a bit put-off by the fact that the story picks up with characters we've never seen before. I was initially thrown off by the fact that we were on Earth and it took a bit for me to realize the story was set far into the future (approx. 80 years after Titan). I'm not sure I really recovered from my dashed expectations. I wanted to see the story pick up after the last one and I felt that I was left hanging.
However, due to being granted apparent immortality, Cirocco and Gaby are still along for the ride. I enjoyed seeing how they had changed since the last book and a big part of my enjoyment of Wizard was seeing the two women deal with the past eighty years in their own way.
That isn't to say the new characters are lacking; by the end of the book they were fully realized and i was invested in them. I enjoyed seeing them change as their journey went on. It's kind of amazing that I liked Robin considering how annoying her ignorance can be early on. If anything, more than Titan, Wizard excels in its characters: their feelings, their goals, their changes, their sexualities. On a less serious note, I was really happy my shipping came true by the end of the novel.
I was a bit disappointed to see that there aren't pictures (except for one in the interior cover), at least in my version. I had just gotten used to it. At the end of the book, we are treated to a diagram explaining Titanide mating. If the thought of centaur sex makes you squeemish, luckily there isn't anything graphic. If the thought of centaur sex intrigues or excites you (which may or may not intrigue/excite this reviewer), then man, do I have the book for you!
The story lends itself to another adventure, but ultimately I felt the adventure angle was similar to the first book. It's a tour of Gaea with guides this time, but still a tour of Gaea, nonetheless. There's a plot-point that can potentially shake things up, but it isn't explored to my satisfaction. It shakes up the story, for sure, but it's ultimately used to set up the third book. A bit disappointing to be sure, but I'd be lying if I wasn't excited to read on.
The jump-forward in time and the feeling of retreading might make this a bit of a hard sell, but if you loved the first book, I'm sure you'll have a great time with the insane trip that is Wizard.
By being the story of a woman suffering from a patriarchal religious colony who suffers from debilitating seizures and a mild-mannered man who has dissociative personality disorder -- turning him into a crass brute -- and their quest to prove themselves as heroes, thus earning them the favor of Gaea and having her heal them.
John Varley's imagination once again knows no bounds as he takes us on another adventure in the bizarre world of Gaea.
It did take me a bit to appreciate these new characters, however. Going in the story, I should stress that it's important to know that the sequel takes place distantly in the future. We don't really get to see Cirocco learn the ropes of being the Wizard and I was a bit put-off by the fact that the story picks up with characters we've never seen before. I was initially thrown off by the fact that we were on Earth and it took a bit for me to realize the story was set far into the future (approx. 80 years after Titan). I'm not sure I really recovered from my dashed expectations. I wanted to see the story pick up after the last one and I felt that I was left hanging.
However, due to being granted apparent immortality, Cirocco and Gaby are still along for the ride. I enjoyed seeing how they had changed since the last book and a big part of my enjoyment of Wizard was seeing the two women deal with the past eighty years in their own way.
That isn't to say the new characters are lacking; by the end of the book they were fully realized and i was invested in them. I enjoyed seeing them change as their journey went on. It's kind of amazing that I liked Robin considering how annoying her ignorance can be early on. If anything, more than Titan, Wizard excels in its characters: their feelings, their goals, their changes, their sexualities. On a less serious note, I was really happy my shipping came true by the end of the novel.
I was a bit disappointed to see that there aren't pictures (except for one in the interior cover), at least in my version. I had just gotten used to it. At the end of the book, we are treated to a diagram explaining Titanide mating. If the thought of centaur sex makes you squeemish, luckily there isn't anything graphic. If the thought of centaur sex intrigues or excites you (which may or may not intrigue/excite this reviewer), then man, do I have the book for you!
The story lends itself to another adventure, but ultimately I felt the adventure angle was similar to the first book. It's a tour of Gaea with guides this time, but still a tour of Gaea, nonetheless. There's a plot-point that can potentially shake things up, but it isn't explored to my satisfaction. It shakes up the story, for sure, but it's ultimately used to set up the third book. A bit disappointing to be sure, but I'd be lying if I wasn't excited to read on.
The jump-forward in time and the feeling of retreading might make this a bit of a hard sell, but if you loved the first book, I'm sure you'll have a great time with the insane trip that is Wizard.
December 6, 2023
A fantastic book
To put some perspective on this opinion... I read Varley's Titan when I was mid-teens, and loved the richness and variety it contained. Yes, some of the material was a little mature in nature, but from the start, I was hooked. I wanted to visit the setting for that book... live there, even. I wanted to hang out with Cirocco, go with her while she explored that truly unique and practically limitless world. Gaby was cool, but Rocky was the clear stand out.
Now for Wizard. In my totally subjective opinion, this is one of Varley's best pieces of work. The story is interesting, with a wonderful mixture of drama, suspense, action, tragedy, humor, humanity, and richness that exceeded and amplified every aspect of the first book. Despite the jarring differences on many fronts, I still was almost immediately hooked here as well.. The characters were deep and compelling. Gaby became the standout. Not that I didn't sympathize with the Wizard's plight, but Varley had me so emotionally invested in Gaby that, while reading the book on a public bus, I drew alarmed reactions from the other passengers when I stood up and loudly said "No way!" Before returning to my seat, a bit embarrassed. (Anyone who has read it almost certainly knows exactly which part.) Gaby's growth was amazing. And then, at the end, we got to see a kind of redemption that was so well written, so filled with tension, that I could hardly stay seated (at home this time).
This is not about Demon, the third part of the trilogy, but I will add that it has an equally jarring and seemingly disconsonant opening that took me a bit more to really get into, but it shared the same almost locomotive-like building of momentum that Wizard has... once rolling, both books just pull you along at sometimes breakneck pace... the words can't get from the page to your eyes fast enough.
It would not be an exaggeration to say I love this trilogy, but Wizard in particular was, and continues to be on each successive reread (every few years) a source of amazement, wonder, and is (in my again subjective opinion) a model for great story telling.
If you haven't read the trilogy, you should.
To put some perspective on this opinion... I read Varley's Titan when I was mid-teens, and loved the richness and variety it contained. Yes, some of the material was a little mature in nature, but from the start, I was hooked. I wanted to visit the setting for that book... live there, even. I wanted to hang out with Cirocco, go with her while she explored that truly unique and practically limitless world. Gaby was cool, but Rocky was the clear stand out.
Now for Wizard. In my totally subjective opinion, this is one of Varley's best pieces of work. The story is interesting, with a wonderful mixture of drama, suspense, action, tragedy, humor, humanity, and richness that exceeded and amplified every aspect of the first book. Despite the jarring differences on many fronts, I still was almost immediately hooked here as well.. The characters were deep and compelling. Gaby became the standout. Not that I didn't sympathize with the Wizard's plight, but Varley had me so emotionally invested in Gaby that, while reading the book on a public bus, I drew alarmed reactions from the other passengers when I stood up and loudly said "No way!" Before returning to my seat, a bit embarrassed. (Anyone who has read it almost certainly knows exactly which part.) Gaby's growth was amazing. And then, at the end, we got to see a kind of redemption that was so well written, so filled with tension, that I could hardly stay seated (at home this time).
This is not about Demon, the third part of the trilogy, but I will add that it has an equally jarring and seemingly disconsonant opening that took me a bit more to really get into, but it shared the same almost locomotive-like building of momentum that Wizard has... once rolling, both books just pull you along at sometimes breakneck pace... the words can't get from the page to your eyes fast enough.
It would not be an exaggeration to say I love this trilogy, but Wizard in particular was, and continues to be on each successive reread (every few years) a source of amazement, wonder, and is (in my again subjective opinion) a model for great story telling.
If you haven't read the trilogy, you should.
January 27, 2025
I really was not all that interested in the various ways the Titanides have sex, which Varley seems to find very important and interesting to the point he includes diagrams of all the various possibilities of fertilizing an egg. There's also mention of some Titanide/human hybrids that have been born as well. Although, it was kind of interesting to actually have one of them give birth as the prior book seemed to only be adults.
There was much more focus on the Titanides than the Angels, who barely appeared. However, like the previous book in the series the focus is on characters going on an adventure.
Gaea has become a place humans travel to and we follow two of those arrivals, Robin & Chris. Robin comes from a female coven that portray men as evil and apparently don't learn the basics as Cirocco has to explain to Robin that love making with a man can result in pregnancy. This book follows Robin & Chris on their adventure although we do get to see Cirocco and Gabby again.
They refer to the people like Robin & Chris as being pilgrims. They come to Gaea to be cured of their ailment/disease but Gaea requires them to do something "heroic" before doing so, thus the novel is mostly them being on their quest.
The new characters Robin & Chris I think do have more depth than some of the characters in the previous book. Although, we do briefly see the rapist Gene again and things aren't going so well for him. I was actually kind of disappointed that the copy I read of this didn't have similar pictures in it to the copy I read of Titan, I had kind of gotten used to the occasional page of artwork.
There was much more focus on the Titanides than the Angels, who barely appeared. However, like the previous book in the series the focus is on characters going on an adventure.
Gaea has become a place humans travel to and we follow two of those arrivals, Robin & Chris. Robin comes from a female coven that portray men as evil and apparently don't learn the basics as Cirocco has to explain to Robin that love making with a man can result in pregnancy. This book follows Robin & Chris on their adventure although we do get to see Cirocco and Gabby again.
They refer to the people like Robin & Chris as being pilgrims. They come to Gaea to be cured of their ailment/disease but Gaea requires them to do something "heroic" before doing so, thus the novel is mostly them being on their quest.
The new characters Robin & Chris I think do have more depth than some of the characters in the previous book. Although, we do briefly see the rapist Gene again and things aren't going so well for him. I was actually kind of disappointed that the copy I read of this didn't have similar pictures in it to the copy I read of Titan, I had kind of gotten used to the occasional page of artwork.
September 15, 2024
Wizard, while being the same environment/planet as in Titan, is a quest-style journey around the planet that gives off an entirely different vibe than the first book of this "Gaea" trilogy.
What was a passing joke between Gaby and Cirocco (of turning the newly found inhabited moon/planet into a tourism mecca) becomes the basis for this entry. And the all-powerful Gaea is all for it.
From future Earth and its citizenry, to travelling in space for mystical cures for all earthly ailments (as the sales premise) on Gaea, this story is a full-on journey of epic proportions.
We get new avatars to follow along with (Robin, the nine fingered, epileptic, lesbian moon witch and Chris, the earthbound weakling with all of his disassociated personalities- although we only hear of their doings after the fact) in their experiences on finding a heroes' pathway to their cure for their chosen deficiency.
We still have Cirocco, although a drunken wizard of lingering repute, and Gaby, foreman extraordinaire, still in attendance from the first entry. The planet has moved on and the Titanides are all the rage.
This outing felt long by design, longer through inevitable situations of dire events, and yet over before you realize it. The end felt blunt without much fanfare, for the last trilogy installment, Demon, will surely be a different type of adventure, surely.
This book made me appreciate the first more, still a high 4-star read. There are many different episodes and topics within this one that helped hold its own value for the same rating. But be assured, it became something entirely different in voice and premise. The expansion of the world was well thought out and delivered an equal impact of originality and thought-provoking reflection.
Looking forward to the finale' of the trilogy. Highly recommend.
Thanks for reading.
What was a passing joke between Gaby and Cirocco (of turning the newly found inhabited moon/planet into a tourism mecca) becomes the basis for this entry. And the all-powerful Gaea is all for it.
From future Earth and its citizenry, to travelling in space for mystical cures for all earthly ailments (as the sales premise) on Gaea, this story is a full-on journey of epic proportions.
We get new avatars to follow along with (Robin, the nine fingered, epileptic, lesbian moon witch and Chris, the earthbound weakling with all of his disassociated personalities- although we only hear of their doings after the fact) in their experiences on finding a heroes' pathway to their cure for their chosen deficiency.
We still have Cirocco, although a drunken wizard of lingering repute, and Gaby, foreman extraordinaire, still in attendance from the first entry. The planet has moved on and the Titanides are all the rage.
This outing felt long by design, longer through inevitable situations of dire events, and yet over before you realize it. The end felt blunt without much fanfare, for the last trilogy installment, Demon, will surely be a different type of adventure, surely.
This book made me appreciate the first more, still a high 4-star read. There are many different episodes and topics within this one that helped hold its own value for the same rating. But be assured, it became something entirely different in voice and premise. The expansion of the world was well thought out and delivered an equal impact of originality and thought-provoking reflection.
Looking forward to the finale' of the trilogy. Highly recommend.
Thanks for reading.
May 28, 2022
Re-reading an old favourite I couldn't help but give this one five stars. The second novel in a tightly connected trilogy, Wizard is probably the strongest of the three.
This is excellent science fiction and for the most part the physics all add up but it does drift a bit towards fantasy in some spots, especially towards the end.
The characters come first and they are excellent, believable and well drawn. Chris and Robin who give us our point of view go through a journey both physical and emotional to emerge as much different people, The Wizard is revealed on introduction to be all too human and her best friend Gaby is the closest we have to a hero. Together with several Titanides they undertake a great picaresque journey through the lands of Gaea (including an extended river journey - Huck Finn in space?) that turns out to be much more and with dire consequences. Adventure is sometimes defined as someone else having an awful time a long way away and this story more than qualifies as they face perils of nature, a vindictive god and themselves.
The chief resident aliens (the Titanides) are physically startling but also disturbingly erotic and we are told they were designed for a purpose, not evolved. Their characters are almost but not quite human and they are consistent and believable as is their love of - and preternatural skill in - music. One of the most vivid passages is in the book is as a Titanide band swings into a Sousa march and I can still feel the shivers down my spine.
All in all a ripping yarn set in the ultimate exotic landscape. A little dated now but still an excellent read.
This is excellent science fiction and for the most part the physics all add up but it does drift a bit towards fantasy in some spots, especially towards the end.
The characters come first and they are excellent, believable and well drawn. Chris and Robin who give us our point of view go through a journey both physical and emotional to emerge as much different people, The Wizard is revealed on introduction to be all too human and her best friend Gaby is the closest we have to a hero. Together with several Titanides they undertake a great picaresque journey through the lands of Gaea (including an extended river journey - Huck Finn in space?) that turns out to be much more and with dire consequences. Adventure is sometimes defined as someone else having an awful time a long way away and this story more than qualifies as they face perils of nature, a vindictive god and themselves.
The chief resident aliens (the Titanides) are physically startling but also disturbingly erotic and we are told they were designed for a purpose, not evolved. Their characters are almost but not quite human and they are consistent and believable as is their love of - and preternatural skill in - music. One of the most vivid passages is in the book is as a Titanide band swings into a Sousa march and I can still feel the shivers down my spine.
All in all a ripping yarn set in the ultimate exotic landscape. A little dated now but still an excellent read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 147 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.