Magnificat (Galactic Milieu Trilogy/Julian May, Bk 3)

Book Description

The eagerly awaited finale of a modern SF classic--May's Galactic Milieu Trilogy, which began with Jack the Bodiless and continued with Diamond Mask. The mystery involving Jack the Bodiless, the metaphysically talented Dorothea, and Fury, the insane metaphysic creature determined to become sole ruler over all humankind, explodes anew. At last, the momentous secret at the heart of the trilogy is revealed.

Customer Reviews:

Super Reader.......2007-08-30

Marc Remillard is a fully committed rebel now, and has his own plans
for humanity. His Mental Man is a huge brain, with fully harnessed
mental powers and no bodily weaknesses. He ties into the xenophobia of
the rebels, using his plans to make humans the most powerful operants
in the galaxy to fuel their desire to help him. He develops
technological aids to their power to try and help offset their
numerical disadvantage, when opposed by the pro-Unity operant faction.

Marc's big problem is that the pro-Unity forces are led by his
brother Jack, and his with Dorothea, both of whom are more powerful
than he is.

This ends in an exciting climactic battle of mental superpower and technological weaponry.

Kids, Don't Do Drugs, or Why I Hate Acid-Trip Fiction.......2006-11-21

_____At this moment, my sight is hazed over with anger. It is over this atrociously written piece of psychedelia that passes itself off as a "novel." A person just wonders how in Hell this almost unreadable piece of distorted drivel was ever published. It barely has a plot. It is barely coherent, mostly incoherent, mostly incomprehensible to but the most ardent (and perhaps slightly stoned) science fiction fanatic. It is so twisted and wrong in so many ways. So how does Magnificat ever get onto library and bookstore shelves? Magnificat is an atrocious travesty of writing that ought not even exist.
_____Let me begin with the barely present plot--which often gets lost in the constant succession of parties, alcohol-consumption and fornication that the main characters seem to immerse themselves in most of the time. The plot of Magnificat somewhat seems to be about a group of fornicating, hedonistic alcoholics with mental superpowers and their various half-witted attempts--so to speak--at saving humanity. Namely, it is their miserable, random and often-failed attempts at using their mental superpowers, their laboratories (failures), their diplomacy (more failure), and--finally--their Star Trek-styled star fleet to occasionally stave off the alien communists. (In fact, some of the characters actually have what are explicitly identified as "star fleet" uniforms.) And when they are not making their random, occasional attempts at saving humanity, they spend most of their time hopping from one socialite venue to another, drinking gallons of wine, eating tons of traditional cuisine and having telepathically enhanced sex with friends and close relatives. Oh yes, the protagonists are also occasionally attacked by a telepathic vampire demon-thing known as the Hydra. But the characters spend so many chapters socializing and drinking and screwing that one only barely even understands this. In short, the plot is lost in the sauce.
_____Speaking of mind-altering substances, this inevitably leads to the LSD-inspired writing style. Descriptions of actions taken by characters are lost in swirls of descriptions around colors and sounds. For example, there is this little gem of literary psychosis on page 212:
...
The metaconcert song fell into a monotonous eight-note loop without the earlier variations and polyphony that had given it beauty. Like the contracting cage of light, it had become an instrument of torture, thudding like the relentless blows of a hammer, louder and louder. I seemed to hear the two captive personae screaming, each one fighting for its life, each one suffering unspeakable pain and terror. I sau the merciless cage squeeze the binary star, forcing the madly throbbing components towards conjunction, toward integration. The concussive song of the metaconcert reaching a roaring crescendo...
...
Now imagine that for just about several hundred pages. Color me amazed--with a Daily Show-styled look of shock and awe on my face. That paragraph alone was worth a second or third read just to prise out the metaphors--and is also typical of the narrative that spews forth on the pages. What is actually happening, and what is hallucination? Where's the beef? Don't ask, because the writing style isn't telling.
_____The characters are no better, mangling English and occasional French in their own ways. When the characters speak, they are so steeped in pseudo-scientific techno-language and quasi-Jungian jargon that the reader must either slow down to a snail's pace in reading or go back to re-read what the Hell just happened. Then there are their language issues. The characters and the narrative both hop into Canadian French at random--no italics or anything. Et porquoi est-ce que l'auteur ecrit en francais quelquefois? Peut-etre, c'est l'haute couture! This goes in addition to how this book's narrative and characters hop from first person to third person between chapters, after chapters, whenever and whatever. If a college professor sat down at the keyboard with an acid tab on the tongue and a half-consumed bottle of Chardonnay within easy reach, writing style similar to what is in this book would be the result. Thank God that the 60's are over--even if the acid-heads are still around and getting their manuscripts published.
_____This book-length piece of acid-trip fiction is just so wrong on so many levels that it will not only never see best-seller lists, but it will just as easily drop off into anonymous oblivion as just another piece of drivel that gets published just because the writer was published before. Look, the writing style is steeped in jargon and psychedelia. As for the characters, they are full of alcohol and full of themselves, not even making sense half the time and sounding like acid trippers the other half of the time. As for the heart and core of the ultra-generic cliché plot of alien takeover, it is barely present--so lost in flights of literary synthetic psychosis and swirling colors. I wonder what the publishers were licking, snorting or drinking when they let this thing go to press.
_____Now... Is it any wonder why MAGNIFICAT sells for less than two beans? Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I said before that you would only hear my mouth or my fingers whenever I ran into truly bad books. There is a lot of good science fiction, horror and fantasy out there to read--the most powerful genres in Western literature since Shakespeare wrote his plays of prophecies, witches, ghosts, and drug-induced suspended animation. But it seems as if too many established writers are getting away with writing crap. Too many "award-winning" science fiction writers are writing barely legible, generic tales that span hundreds of pages and are doomed to obscurity and unreadability. (Wait, is unreadability a word? It is now!) C.J. Cherryh, Julian May, Kage Baker, and more are all members of this hippie-styled pantheon of psychedelic, acid-trip fiction that almost nobody really buys or reads--almost never making best-seller lists or selling well. Yet some way, some how, those jokers keep getting published, just like how the cinematic phenomenon Uwe Boll keeps making those crap-tacular bad movies based on video games and having them flop at the movie-houses. What Magnificat says to me is that bad books get published all the time and will keep getting published--probably due to the continuing mind-altering effects of drugs taken during the 1960s and 1970s. Most of that stuff will mess up your brain forever; just ask Marv. Kids, don't do drugs, and don't read Julian May.

The Ending is the Best.......2006-02-20

Well, I think that "Magnificat" is best of the three books in the Galactic Milieu Trilogy. It starts off fairly slowly, with yet more piecemeal attacks by Fury and the last two members of Hydra. Thes are frankly boring and feature yet bore blunders and tired plot devices ("Rogi, I could kill you know but I'd rather torture you for a while first...) Things pick up in the second half when the metaphysic rebellion finally begins in earnest. The centerpiece of this part of the story is Marc, who is undeniably one of the "best" villains in all of science fiction. In this book all of his actions are clear consequences of the things that happened earlier in his life--family conflicts, messy psychological influences and xenophobia--and yet Marc is still a chilling villain. He's single-minded, not gratuitously cruel, but rather focused on his wants to the total exclusion of caring about anyone else.

As with most of May's books, the details stand out more than the big plot. Among her riskiest decisions, May decided to write the first sex scene between Jack and Diamond. It was a gamble, but she pulls it off in style. Getting more "local color" about life on Caledonia and other planets is an added treat; the book could have benefited from more of that. In the end, of course, this book can't work unless the ending really holds up. On that count, there are pluses and minuses. The ending is too short, both the actual action and the final winding-down after the fact. But it is intense while it lasts.

Comes 'Round Full Circle.......2005-07-10

The Galactic Milieu trilogy was an amazing series and a worthy successor to the Saga of Pliocene Exile and Intervention. Magnificat is the culmination of all the previous works, and is the story of the rise and fall of Marc Remillard. Like one of the other reviewers, I found Marc to be one of the most complex and intriguing characters I've ever read about. He is the Angel of the Abyss and destroyed billions of lives. And courtesy of the wonders of time travel, he is simultaneously Atoning Unifex, the oldest and wisest of the Lylmik, who six million years too late realizes his sin but cannot intervene to stop it.

Marc is truly a creature of opposites. As Unifex, he dances with his young cousin Addie because he finally understands love. As Marc, he ruthlessly tries to sacrifice his own children to his scientific dream. But even in the Pliocene Exile saga, there are hints of redemption as Marc himself activates the time gate to send the kids back home. And in Unifex we still see hints of the old Marc as he coerces Uncle Rogi into doing his bidding. (As an aside, the last line of Intervention, "Goodnight, Marc", was one of the only lines ever to completely blindside me.)

Magnificat draws to a close the stories of Rogi, Denis, Fury and the Hydras, explains the Mental Man project, and finally depicts the dreaded Metapsychic Rebellion only alluded to in previous volumes. We are also given tantalizing glimpses into the fates of Hagen, Cloud, and Kuhal as they try to live out their lives in the Milieu. For the most part, Ms. May does an excellent job tying together all of the loose threads. However, I do have some gripes. Primarily, I was disappointed because the book seemed to rush through some very important events. Since we've been hearing about the rebellion for 8 books now, it would have been nice to see it fleshed out a little. The same with Mental Man and the science of metaconcert development. This is really the first time we've ever seen a description of a metaconcert, and the first time we really learn what Mental Man is. Both are alluded to during the previous books, but they are dealt with much too quickly in the final volume.

This is not to say I didn't enjoy the book. I loved it. But it would have been even better if it had been longer.

Rushed, Tired and wholly Disappointing.......2005-04-20

Ah well, I guess this is what happens when you're a writer and get bored with your project. And it's such a shame as this whole series started superbly with the intervention books, but it just peters out into a very damp squib.

As mentioned before, the continuity between the saga and this series is poor in the extreme but what galls me about this book (and the previous) is the repetition and the constant running over of events in previous books. It's just aimless filling to pad out what is an already shortened book, when what should have been done is more character building on Marcs character and the Mental Man project, more time in filling in the many gaps that have been left and better handling of scenes that could have been so much better. Eg Rogi and Parnells meeting - how can he on one hand be so easily mastered by Marcs coercion at the wedding and the next able to comfortably overide any compulsion Parnell may have over him and have time to do the whole out spiral thing?

It's sadly like she has run out of ideas, or simply didn't have the juices left to finish off the project which is such a shame. Maybe she should have given it a few years more and had a break and come back to it refreshed.

Buy it to complete the series, and to see how it all started - but don't build your hopes up too much.

Magnificat: A Devotional (The Pocket Devotional Series)

Average customer rating:

A MARVELOUS MAGNIFICAT AND MUCH MUCH MORE: A LATE MEDIAEVAL CHAPEL IN YOUR POCKET

Magnificat: A Devotional (The Pocket Devotional Series)

Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0805046496

Customer Reviews:

A MARVELOUS MAGNIFICAT AND MUCH MUCH MORE: A LATE MEDIAEVAL CHAPEL IN YOUR POCKET.......2007-02-21

You may wonder why the amazon product detail page here lists the major Publishing conglomerate as author. A search of the copyright page (after a good search FOR the copyright page, which is found on the last and final page) reveals no author nor editor. This comprehensive yet compact collection of verse and painting is as anonymous as a miniature mediaeval Book of the Hours, and as beautiful. The only indication of an individual we receive is the information that a Peter M. Blaiwas is the designer. No indication is given as well about who wrote the extensive and excellent endnotes regarding each of the well-chosen paintings and their early artists.

The copyright page also fails to indicate the source of the well-chosen Gospel verses from the beginning chapters of Saint Luke, including not only the Magnificat, but also the Annunciation and other events at the Visitation. The style certainly resembles the Catholic Douay-Rheims or the early King James, although accessible to anyone familiar with early English scriptural translations, with only one true archaism. Nevertheless the complete verses of the Magnificat with all of its epiphanal and revolutionary verses are presented, a promise and a warning and a joy.

Beginning at the beginning of this small yet substantial book feels like taking part in a religious procession through the joyful mysteries of our Faith in the Nativity, through beautifully presented verses, both in the completeness of their selection and the calligraphy of their display, each phrase accompanied by a beautiful and appropriate and iconic detail from a great painting from the western Europe of the fifteenth and sixteenth century of this Christian era. We see works of the major painters of that period from Brueghuel to Botticelli, Titian to van der Weyden, with wonderful and succinctly revealing anonymously written biographies in the endnotes. This truly is a book of prayer, to bwear with you everywhere, a true pocket sized book. When on pilgrimage, this is one book that humbly yet fully justifies its space in your bag.

Highly recommended as a gracious gift, and as a gift to yourself, like a gift of the Magi.

Average customer rating:

Oh!! This is PRECIOUS!!! And it's a (mostly) true story!!!
Leo is magnificent.
Every church library needs this.
A great book for animal lovers
We laughed, we cried, we loved Leo.

Leo The Magnificat
Ann M. Martin
Manufacturer: Scholastic Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0439136474

Book Description

One Sunday, a cat wanders into a church garden. The children name him Leo the Magnificat, and for many happy years he makes the church his home. When the time comes to say good-bye, everyone gathers to remember their magnificent friend.

Customer Reviews:

Oh!! This is PRECIOUS!!! And it's a (mostly) true story!!!.......2007-03-14

Although I did NOT like the way they allowed Leo to roam the streets (Ack!! THAT is DANGEROUS nowadays!!!), I thoroughly enjoyed the outpouring of love and affection that this church and its members (including the childrens!!) had for its kitty, all through its life!!!

And the fact that the former pastor traveled 100 miles to be back for the service and burial, to honor Leo when Leo passed on -- THAT is love -- far and above that which most churches usually show to animals (such as the "love" shown to a poor cat who walked into another (different, not in that same area) church one day and was kicked out (literally) by a member of man"KIND" (not!!!)

The illustrations are BEAUTIFUL too.

Save a life, spay/neuter and adopt a pet -- a pet is for life -- and, PLEASE - be a responsible pet "owner".

Leo is magnificent........2005-09-11

This book was given to me to read to my granddaughter after my special cat passed away. My 7 year old granddaughter asked if cats go to heaven. This story shows all the love that this cat has given and the only logical conclusion is that they do go to heaven.

Every church library needs this........2000-09-07

A recent survey found that the death of a pet is one of the times when children most want to talk to clergy---rivalled only by divorce. This book asks some difficult questions (what is the church? how do we deal with death?) and offers, in return, God's love. Churches which celebrate the Feast of St. Francis could have someone read it out loud after the service and lead a discussion. This lovely story will appeal to all ages.

A great book for animal lovers.......2000-03-02

This book is wonderful for anyone who's ever had and loved a cat. It does deal with death, and is very sad at the end. A great way to help a child deal with the death of a pet.

We laughed, we cried, we loved Leo........1999-07-18

My Grade three class thoroughly enjoyed the story of Leo. We were doing a unit on cats and Leo's story was one of the highlights. An excellent book.

Magnificat in D and the Six Motets in Full Score : From the Bach-Gesellschaft Edition

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practical for the well versed, a great study tool
Mixed Clefs Mixed Reviews

Magnificat in D and the Six Motets in Full Score : From the Bach-Gesellschaft Edition
Johann Sebastian Bach
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486288048

Book Description

One of the most performed masterworks of devotional music, with all the Bach motets: "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied," "Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf," "Jesu, meine Freude," "Furchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir," "Komm, Jesu, komm" and "Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden." All reprinted from the authoritative Bach-Gesellschaft Edition published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig.

Customer Reviews:

practical for the well versed, a great study tool.......2003-04-27

As always, Dover is great. These scores are excellent tools for the student conductor, composer, and music historian, as they are taken from the reputable Bach Gesellschaft editions. The printing is neat, clear, and fairly easy to read. As far as the varied clefs go, they are an appropiate preservation of the original. If one is well versed in composition, and I dare say a flexible and conducter too, there should not be a problem. We deal with transposing instruments, right? How hard can tenor clef be with a little practice? Anyway, they do help to differentiate between the parts with only a quick glance- better than all treble and bass clefs in my opinion.

Mixed Clefs Mixed Reviews.......2002-10-11

Having all of the these works in one place is a great resourse, however, the choral parts are written in mixed clefs (i.e. soprano, alto, tenor, etc.) making it completely impractical for rehearsal use.

Book Description

Can an ancient prayer be as meaningful today as it was 2000 years ago? Mary's Song answers with an emphatic yes. Offering fresh and compelling insights into the Magnificat-Mary's biblical greeting to her cousin Elizabeth at the time of her pregnancy-the book firmly roots the canticle in contemporary experience.

Author Mary Catherine Nolan looks at the Magnificat verse by verse and explores emerging and timeless themes such as joy, mercy, regard for the poor, and prayer. With both theological and personal spiritual reflections, she helps the reader to recognize the significance Mary's Song can have in our lives today-both in the way we live and the way we pray.

Complete with additional scripture and thoughts for reflection, as well as a closing prayer for each chapter, this book provides both the encouragement and challenge we need for making Mary's Song our own.

Customer Reviews:

Mary's Song.......2001-07-06

This is one of the sweetest books I ever read. I loved the practical applications and prayer at the end of the chapters--a wonderful way to begin or end your day. I highly recommend it as a special gift for someone who is on a spiritual journey.

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Magnificat: Poems
Marilyn Nelson , and Marilyn Nelson Waniek
Manufacturer: Louisiana State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807119229

Mary: Model of Justice (Reflections on the Magnificat)

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EXCELLENT LEARNED AND SPIRITUAL INSIGHT OF THE HISTORY AND THEOLOGY OF THE ORIGINAL MARIAN PRAYER

Mary: Model of Justice (Reflections on the Magnificat)
William F. Maestri
Manufacturer: Alba House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0818905115

Customer Reviews:

EXCELLENT LEARNED AND SPIRITUAL INSIGHT OF THE HISTORY AND THEOLOGY OF THE ORIGINAL MARIAN PRAYER.......2007-04-06

Long before the well known Hail Mary was pieced together with verses from Saint Luke, from the Annunciation and Visitation, of words addressed to Our Holy Mother by others, followed by our own sinful recognition and prayer for assistance, the Church prayed this powerful prayer made by Mary herself at the Visitation of her own incarnational experience and its meaning within all of Salvation History.

Once the Magnificat was chanted daily in Catholic religious communities, by hermits and by priests and other religious of all stripes and colors, in a variety of simple and solemn tones, with antiphons relevant to the day and season. Now we have all but forgotten this powerful and revolutionary prayer, which explicitly indicates the revolutionary divine action of God in our history and in our world, and now we never learn this greatest hymn of divine praises in the normal course of our catechetical preparations and follow-through.

This present book, now so inexpensive, resolves and heals this modern negligence, examining carefully in every way the meaning and importance of each verse, and indicating further academic studies of each line. While avoiding the direct political and secular phenomena which would date this excellent study as it has so many others, it remains a solid and theological treatise on why we must once again join our ancestors in the daily union of our prayer with Mary in her own words.

A great and necessary study for any initiate or continuing practicing Catholic. Cheap enough to pass out freely at your Church door with no objection from anyone as it bears the necessary IMprimatur and Nihil Obstat

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Magnificat
Philip Emmanuel Bach Carl
Manufacturer: Schirmer Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0793511291

The Fugues on the Magnificat for Organ or Keyboard

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Very rewarding sheet music and a bargain.

The Fugues on the Magnificat for Organ or Keyboard
Johann Pachelbel
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486250377

Book Description

94 concise pieces representative of Pachabel’s magnificent contribution to keyboard composition; written in the southern German style, they require no pedal and can be played on the organ, harpsichord or piano. New Publisher’s Note.

Customer Reviews:

Very rewarding sheet music and a bargain........1998-03-29

Pachelbel is famous for a single work, but he wrote a trainload of beautiful music. In Seventeenth Century performances of the Magnificat the organist was expected to improvise short preludes in all eight of the medieval modes. Or he could draw on this collection of 95 fugues in all the modes. Pachelbel generally uses short fugue subjects (typically 8 notes) to keep the pieces short, but there are some exceptions, including a few double-fugues. Most of the fugues require manuals only. (I play them on harpsichord.) Most are easy (for fugues). A few are two-voice fugues. Most will delight listeners just the way the famous canon does. Typography is superb and the price is unbeatable.

A Magnificat for a New Millennuim: An Exquisite Adventure in Prayer

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A Magnificat for a New Millennuim: An Exquisite Adventure in Prayer
Doris Rapp
Manufacturer: Authorhouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0759627460

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