2014 read #79: Intervention by Julian May.

Intervention: A Root Tale to the Galactic Milieu and a Vinculum Between It and The Saga of Pliocene Exile by Julian May
546 pages
Published 1987
Read from August 13 to August 16
Rating: ★★★½ out of 5

It takes some talent, I think, to keep me invested in a story whose outcome I know. Prequel to The Saga of Pliocene Exile, which I read back in May, as well as the Galactic Milieu Trilogy, which I'll read when I get around to it, Intervention traces -- in the populist sci-fi mode of its time -- the origins and early development of humanity's first metapsychic operants, culminating in a rather silly and contrived shootout and last-possible-minute redemption of humanity in a storm atop Mount Washington. The secret to making me care, I think, lies with the protagonists, whom (May's penchant for ethnic and regional cliches aside) I generally found likeable and worth following on their adventure, despite knowing how it all must end. It seemed silly when the Remillards were introduced out of thin air in the third Pliocene book, but I have to admit, the family has grown on me. I look forward to their further wild psychic adventures in the Milieu -- again, whenever I get around to it.

The antagonists were another story, a handful of metapsychic sociopaths lacking much inherent interest. Here's a tip for all you '80s sci-fi and thriller authors: Giving your Big Bad a traumatic childhood and psychological wounds doesn't make them sympathetic or complicated, it's just another cliche. I rolled my eyes whenever another baddie chapter came up, and the whole "Irish American nihilist and Kali devotee embraces the destructive side of psychocreative powers and wants to use laser death satellites to destroy humanity's only chance at psychic unity and growth" thing never quite gelled for me, but fortunately most such chapters were brief.