And Now for Our FEATURE PRESENTATION

My recollection from first reading the print version of DEMON is that it makes the first two volumes of the Gaea Trilogy pale in comparison. I read TITAN and WIZARD shortly after they were first released and was awe-struck. The immensity of the world-building that author John Varley engaged in had me completely immersed in the story. I wanted to visit Gaea. I could see Gaea’s panoramas in my head and wanted to hike all around the place, to witness the vistas for myself. Then it was a long four years wait before Varley released DEMON. At that time I re-read the first two and loved them even more than I did the first time; then I read DEMON and realized that the first two were just setting the stage for the main event. This trilogy starts out great and keeps getting better. After setting the stage in books one and two, DEMON delivers a spectacular climax.

The setting is one in which anything can happen because Gaea is so technologically advanced that her talents seem like magic, and what is more, Gaea is absolutely insane. Awesome power combined with capricious unpredictability is a recipe for a wild ride. This is high adventure on a grand scale. It is what classic Science Fiction is all about. Gosh, Wow! Sense of wonder! Grab the popcorn.

This novel has numerous cinematic and movie-making references. This is because John Varley is a movie buff. In the years in between WIZARD and DEMON Varley spent time working in Hollywood and became sorely disillusioned with the movie industry. His dissatisfaction manifests itself sarcastically all through this novel and it makes things very funny.

Allyson Johnson gives a superb performance. If you have read my reviews for TITAN and WIZARD you will know that I found much to be desired in Johnson’s vocalizations in those volumes. In the first novel I found Ms. Johnson’s reading to be an obstacle to be overcome before I could enjoy the book. In the second book I found her narration to be much improved and one that added to the experience. Now in John Varley’s third Gaea book I can honestly label Allyson Johnson’s effort as a true performance; more than a mere reading or competent narration. One of the qualities we look for in a novel is good character development. Well, over the course of this three-volume series we get to witness another dimension: narrator development. Allyson Johnson gets better and better. She made me laugh out loud with her characterization of the slurred speech of Luther. Her portrayal of the 50 foot tall Gaea with the Marilyn Monroe voice evokes images of the screen goddess Norma Jean herself. All the characters have their own distinct voices, and they are all really good. She manages the difficult task of rendering the male characters’ voices with her female instrument quite nicely. She brings a new dimension to this novel, which is already one of my favorites. Nicely done! Highly recommended.

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Fantastic!

Where does Demon rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Very high. I loved Dune, The Foundation Series and this rivaled those recordings. Very well done, a pleasure to listen to.

What did you like best about this story?

It is a fantastic story in the definitional sense. Portions of it were comedic, over the top and at the same time deadly serious ruminations on religion, power and self absorbed insanity.

What about Allyson Johnson’s performance did you like?

When I first started the series I realized that I had not listened to a female reader, not saying that in a good or bad way, just a fact. But Allyson was great. She did various characters very well and I would rank her with Scott Brick and Victor Bevine as my favorite audible narrators. Just great.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I don't react like that but let me tell you parts of this book are very dramatic, comedic and everything in between. It is very entertaining, which ultimately what I want from this genre. i want to be taken out of the every day and lose myself in the story. This series delivers on that and more!

Any additional comments?

Not sure why Varley is not more well known. He is a great writer on par with Asimov and others from the annals of Sci Fi. I would listen to anything by him on Audible. Very inventive, original and clever in his plots and characterizations.Props to Michael (Audible reviewer I follow) for giving me this recommendation. Great story!

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Enjoyed the series, enjoyed the narrator

I'd read this series a long time ago. I saw that it was available here, and decided to hear it again. I enjoyed the experience. There's quite a thematic difference between the three novels, but there are many years between the events in each. There are a few graphic descriptions of sex, so if riding in a car while listening on your stereo...you may need to turn it down in spots. I thought the narrator, Allyson Johnson was very good. Her interpretation of the singing language worked for me, and some of some of the other characters were amazing, such as the horrific Luther.

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Great Rediscovery

I read this as a young man. The Audible version was more satisfying than my original read. It's hard to believe this series isn't a movie. Fantastic!!!

A Great Series

I gave read the Gaean trilogy many years ago and loved it. It was creative and very well developed without being overly wordy or overly descriptive. The world is clearly painted without becoming dull in endless descriptions. Very interesting well developed characters that leave you wanting more. The narrator did an excellent job. Her voice is very clear. The characters voices are distinct and it is not difficult at all to tell which characters are meant to be speaking at the time. I highly recommend this book series.

still good, but more fantasy than SciFi

Titan and Wizard were both SciFi; nothing in them happened that couldn't be explained by hyper-advanced versions of existing tech. Demon, the last book in the trilogy, is very different; it still pays lip-service to SciFi, but a lot of magical things happen (e.g. Cirocco's powers of endurance, Monroe's durability, etc) without even the vague excuse of "tech so advanced...". This may be off-putting to SciFi fans, and it does erode the stakes somewhat now we have no way of guessing what is or isn't possible, but it never got so silly as to be story-breaking, and as long as people could for-real, no-backsies die, the stakes never dropped to zero; it has a great plot and good characters, and it has some cool ideas that MIGHT be possible, just as SciFi should - the idea of an entirely organic film festival (complete with living cameras that eat silver nitrate to make film) is especially intriguing IMO. Also, there are some exciting set-pieces. If you liked the first two, and you can tolerate a drop in realism, I think you will find this a fitting end to the series. Plus, we finally get to meet Oceanis, which is one of my favorite parts 😉

Had to finish trilogy

Loved first book, 2nd at least as well, this one had zombies, a sadistic torture victim turns to love the torturer, too much.

I am a fan of the entire series!

I started from book one and followed through all the way to the end. The story kept my attention and I could not take the headphones off. A very good read!

Loved it when I read it years ago

And loved the entire series again in audio. The characters are compelling and the world of Gaea is inventive and the creatures Gaea made inspired by Earth movies are wonderful. The Titanides are centaurs with a complex reproductive system involving up to 4 parents and they are particularly appealing. They use the names of the Greek musical modes (Aeolian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian) coupled with the words "solo", "duet", "trio" or "quartet" to describe the number of parents the individual has, and the ways in which genetic material is transferred between them. They are also brightly colored with intricate patterns.
I never forgot the Titanides or the Blimps or Cirroco Jones from my early reading of the trilogy and it was great fun to relive the experience in the audio version.
In this final episode Cirocco Jones is at war with Gaea and her human movie studio contingent. It's my least favorite of the series and it's still a 5 star listen.

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