Jack Vance - Demon Princes

This is a five-book series which cumulatively relate the story of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five notorious criminals, collectively known as the Demon Princes, who carried his village off into slavery during his childhood. Each novel deals with his pursuit of one of the five Princes.

The books are, in order of publication:

• Star King (1964). The antagonist is Attel Malagate, a renegade from a species called the Star Kings, who are driven to imitate and surpass the most successful species they encounter; with their contact with humanity in antiquity, they began consciously evolving into imitations of human beings. The bait Gersen uses to trap him is an undeveloped and fantastically beautiful planet whose location is known only to Gersen, which Malagate covets to become the father of a new race that can outdo both humans and his own species.

•  The Killing Machine (1964). Kokor Hekkus, a 'hormagaunt', has prolonged his life by the vivisection of human beings to obtain hormones and other substances from their living bodies. But eternal life can be boring, and so he has converted the lost planet Thamber into a stage wherein he acts out his fantasies.

•  The Palace of Love (1967). Viole Falushe, an impotent megalomaniac ironically fixated on sex. He was so obsessed with a girl in his youth, he created a number of clones of her in a vain attempt to get one of them to love him back. This novel contains some of Vance's most compelling and unforgettable characters, such as the mad poet, Navarth, who has a central role.

•  The Face (1979). Lens Larque, a sadist and monumental trickster. In the course of the novel, the protagonist experiences some of the same outrages that motivated the villain to concoct his most grandiose jest, leading to one of the most humorous endings in all Vance's work.

   

• The Book of Dreams (1981). Howard Alan Treesong, a 'chaoticist', who embodies elements of all the foregoing, and has the most imaginatively ambitious plans of all.

Great book but you know I really love Vance's writting so perhaps I'm not impartial.

Jack and Norma Vance

Jack Vance - Lyonesse

The Lyonesse Trilogy is a group of three fantasy novels by Jack Vance, set in the European Dark Ages, in the mythical Elder Isles west of France and southwest of Britain, a generation or two before the birth of King Arthur. An Atlantis theme haunts the story, as do numerous references to Arthurian mythology.

In order of plot chronology:

• Lyonesse (subtitled Book I: Suldrun's Garden on the title page)
• The Green Pearl
• Madouc

From James D. DeWitt review, Amazon.com:

"This is my test for excellent fantasy: when you read it, the world created is brighter and more vivid than the world you return to at the end of the book. This book passes that test."

And J.Hardy's one says:

" Vance's Lyonesse is a tough, dangerous world: ogres raping women, killing & eating children, fathers imprisoning daughters for disobedience, prisoners of war enslaved, and so forth. Very tough-minded. Parents looking for Johnny's next fantasy series after Harry Potter should look elsewhere. Johnny needs a different book; the parents should read this themselves. "

And A Customer''s opinion:

" Lyonesse is funny, sad, arch, inventive, adventurous, philosophical, page-turning, perfect. The characters are more real than any of the people you know, and you will love and hate them more than your own friends and enemies. The Elder Isles are more real than New York or London and much more interesting."

Superbly conceived and written. Masterpiece. No doubt. Everything you can want to know about the plot and the characters in this book can be found in this article from Wikipedia

Jack Vance - Cadwal Chronicles

The Cadwal Chronicles are a trilogy of science fiction novels by Jack Vance set in his Gaean Reach fictional universe. The three novels are called

Araminta Station, 

Ecce and Old Earth 

and Throy.

Storyline:

Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence. From the earliest days, the Agents recruited members of their own families to help them; but only 20 such family members were allowed, to a total planetary population of 120 (although numbers are swelled by additional non-resident personnel, known as "collaterals"). At his 21st birthday, each resident on Cadwal discovers his Agency status which hinges on an "index number" indicating his genealogical rank. A person whose index number is greater than 20 must leave Cadwal to seek his fortune elsewhere in the Gaean Reach. Thus, the society of Cadwal is a highly stratified aristocracy, where success depends on birth as much as aptitude. The system is designed to minimise the number of residents on the planet but is highly inflexible.

Despite these restrictions an additional groups of persons reside on the planet: the "Yips", who are described as "descendants of runaway servants". Forbidden access to the hospitable continent of Deucas, the Yips are confined to the tiny Lutwen Islands; their extremely crowded settlement is informally known as Yipton.

Much of the story concerns the tensions between the Yips, who would like to colonise the continent of Deucas and have no concern for ecology, and the members of the Cadwal Conservancy who wish to uphold the Charter and keep Cadwal as a nature reserve.

Perhaps, what I find most striking of this series are the dialogues, so formal and polite as to verge on the absurd. Wicked villains that, in their hatred, speak with poisonous contempt to patient and imperturbable heroes who answer these verbal aggressions with enviable tranquility and commendable courtesy. Invariably polite and serious, without ever responding to provocations nor being drawn into futile discussions, Glawen Clattuc, an intelligent, capable young man and a member of the Conservancy at Araminta Station, joins Bureau B, the department responsible for enforcing the laws of the Charter, and quickly becomes embroiled in a plot to allow the Yips to take over Deucas. Glawen makes a somewhat discreet hero, without fuss or display, but he's resourceful and endowed with tenacity and tireless devotion to duty.

Funny, detailed and agile story, great plot, credible characters. Perhaps the somewhat convoluted and contrived dialogues may tire a bit at first, but I enjoyed them a lot because of the subtle sense of humour woven into them, specially once I realized that the style was necessary for a proper description of the characters and their idiosyncrasies.

Jack Vance - Planet of adventure - Tschai series

Jack Vance was born John Holbrook Vance in August 28, 1916 in San Francisco and was a genius as a sci-fi writer. Perhaps his writing style was not cultured and subtle, but that was more than compensated with a prodigious and fertile imagination, from which emerged complex , dangerous, exciting and varied worlds, full of adventures and challenges and of heroes willing to overcome obstacles and enjoy surprises. Books that will make you dream with open eyes fixed on its pages, refusing to sleep: ten more minutes, ten more pages, only until the end of this chapter, it's still not to late, I can read a bit more...

Dirdir

Planet of Adventure is the name given to a series of four science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which relate the adventures of Adam Reith, the sole survivor of an Earth ship investigating a signal from the distant planet Tschai.

Chasch

 In order, the books are:

• City of the Chasch
• Servants of the Wankh
• The Dirdir
• The Pnume

Wankh

 Plot
Adam Reith is sent with another scout in a small ship to investigate a distress signal sent centuries before from the previously unknown planet. The mother ship is destroyed and the rest of the crew killed in a surprise missile attack. The two survivors are forced to set down on Tschai and soon enough, Reith is alone. The four books describe the attempts of a man of singularly strong will and resource to return to Earth. He overcomes the obstacles of dealing with four different alien races and various human groups in his efforts. In the process, he profoundly disrupts several of the societies, human and alien, with which he is forced to deal.

Pnume

"Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials

Reith acquires two faithful human companions in the course of his travels: Traz Onmale, the dour, proud boy-chieftain of a nomad race obsessed with emblems, and the renegade Dirdirman, Ankhe at Afram Anacho, loquacious, fastidious and flamboyant. (Vance has said that the novels were commissioned as a juvenile series, which was why he included Traz; but the action is no less ‘adult’ than in his other works.) The third novel also introduces a villain in the enormously fat, petulant, pedophilic, shamelessly avaricious contractor Aila Woudiver.
The vast teeming planet with its clashing civilizations and multifarious cultures affects Reith to the point that he realizes that if he succeeds in returning to Earth, his life will seem dull and colourless in comparison.

Jack and Norma Vance

If you want to read a great article about Jack Vance, visit this one in More Red Ink