Star King, by Jack Vance

Rating: 4
Pages: 160
Spoilers?: Minor
Better than Moby Dick?: Yes

Star King is the first of the Demon Princes novels. The hero is Kirth Gersen. Not Keith Gersen, as the blurb on the back of the Daw paperback says. Oh well. At least Daw SF paperbacks are plentiful. They're probably my favorite line of books.

Kirth Gersen is a complex protagonist, but unlike a typical Vance character, he is not wholly self-centered. Orphaned, he was raised by his grandfather. His childhood consisted of training for a lifelong mission: to rid the galaxy of evil men. Gersen's grandfather left him a letter:

Actually the triumph [of good over evil] consists of two processes: first evil must be extinguished, then good must be introduced to fill the gap. It is impossible that a man should be equally efficacious in both functions. Good and evil, in spite of traditional fallacy, are not polarities, nor mirror images, nor is one merely the absence of the other. In order to minimize confusion, your work will be the destruction of evil men.

Gersen's first task is to find and kill the five pirate captains who operate in the Beyond, outside of the reach of the Oikumene. The first of these five Demon Princes that Gersen goes after is Attel Malagate. The true identity of Malagate "The Woe" is a jealously guarded secret. In Smade's Tavern on the desolate Smade's Planet, Gersen witnesses the murder of one Lugo Teehalt. The murder was ordered by Malagate, so Gersen follows the trail of the hitmen in an attempt to locate Malagate.

Gersen traces Malagate to the campus of Sea Province University on Alphanor. Malagate's alter ego is apparently an academic: but which one? Gersen's attempts to ferret out the identity of Malagate come up empty. At the same time, Gersen strikes up a romance with the university secretary, Pallis Atwrode. He becomes introspective, wondering whether he will ever have a normal life. If his life's work is to destroy evil men, then, as his grandfather told him, "you may never know a life of peace. However, I guarantee you ample satisfaction, for I will teach you to crave the blood of these men more than the flesh of woman." Gersen wonders if he ever had a real choice; his life's work was thrust upon him before he had the chance to decide for himself, and now he finds himself unable to deviate from the path his grandfather laid out.

Getting back to the matter at hand, Gersen narrows down the search for Malagate, and hatches an ingenious plan to learn Malagate's identity. Using the monitor filament from Teehalt's spaceship--which he stole on Smade's Planet--Gersen lures three university administrators out into the Beyond. They are searching for an uncolonized idyllic planet whose location is recorded only on Teehalt's monitor filament.

Gersen wins, of course. He has to. Well, he doesn't have to. This is a Jack Vance story, after all, and Vance would just as soon kill off his hero as let him win. That's what I love about Vance. He creates weird settings, populates them with complex characters that have their own motivations, and then doesn't force the characters to act in ways that are contrived to advance the plot. You never know quite what will happen.

Star King rates a solid four.

The Eyes of the Overworld, by Jack Vance

Rating: 3
Pages: 158

The second book in Jack Vance's Dying Earth is better than the first. The Eyes of the Overworld follows a single main character, Cugel the Clever. Cugel foolishly tries to burgle the manse of Iucounu the Laughing Magician. Iucounu catches Cugel in the act. As punishment, Iucounu sends Cugel on a quest for a violet cusp, an eye of the Overworld. To ensure that Cugel conducts himself "with unremitting loyalty, zeal and singleness of purpose," Iucounu attaches a maleficent creature to Cugel's liver.

Cugel's adventures do not make compelling reading. But the story is engrossing. Cugel is a sociopath with no regard for others. Cugel lies, steals, tricks, and kills without regret. He does whatever he can to get ahead. He sells a princess into slavery to save himself. He tricks a group of pilgrims into crossing a desert, so that he will have protection from bandits. Dozens of the pilgrims die. He kills a defenseless sea creature that plays a harmless practical joke on him.

Cugel the anti-hero is interesting enough to carry the story. The Eyes of the Overworld rates a strong three.

Wyst: Alastor 1716, by Jack Vance

Rating: 4
Pages: 259

The three thousand bucolic worlds of the Alastor Cluster are ruled by the Connatic, who gives each world a free hand in runnings its own affairs. The various worlds are generally introspective, each having developed its own rich culture, and caring little for events abroad.

The Arrabins of Wyst (Alastor 1716) have developed a system called egalism. The government provides all the necessities of life, and in exchange the people work only thirteen hours each week. (All other work is performed by machines or by outside contractors--at great price.) The remainder of their time is spent in the leisurely pursuit of pleasure: games, sport, sex. On the centennial anniversary of the establishment of egalism, the system seems stronger than ever, and the people hope to reduce their weekly drudge even further.

Egalism requires sacrifices, though. The people are crowded onto one small island called Arrabus; the vast continents of Wyst are sparsely populated wilderness. The government provides all food, but the only choices available are three bland concoctions: gruff, deedle, and wobbly. Arrabins go to great lengths to get taste of real food, which they call bonter. People live in colossal featureless apartment blocks, in tiny rooms with randomly assigned roommates. Personal possessions are scarce, and frequently stolen (or snerged as the Arrabins say.) The egal ideal is absolute equality between persons, so individualism is stifled. Even the differences between sexes are suppressed as much as possible. Making oneself too appealing to the opposite sex is sexivation, and is socially discouraged.

On the eve of the Centenary Festival celebrating one hundred years of Arrabin egalism, a young artist named Jantiff Ravensroke from Zeck (Alastor 503) travels to Wyst to find inspiration. Jantiff samples all that egalism has to offer. He finds his inspiration, but stumbles across something else too. When he recovers his camera (which was snerged from his room) he realizes that its matrix holds evidence of a plot against the Connatic. Jantiff tries to warn the Connatic, but is forced to flee for his life before he can send word. He leaves Arrabus and strikes out into the Weirdlands of the southern continent.

Meanwhile, the Connatic takes an interest in Wyst because it is clear that egalism is a failed experiment. The machines that keep Arrabus running are breaking down. The Arrabins, working only thirteen hours a day at menial jobs, are not able to effect repairs, and Arrabin exports can no longer cover the cost of hiring outside contractors. A delegation of Arrabin leaders arrives at the Connatic's court on Numenes to ask for financial assistance to keep their society afloat.

Jack Vance wrote three Alastor books, of which Wyst is the best. The other two suffer from plot defects: Trullion meanders aimlessly and ends without complete resolution; Marune is tight and focused, but Vance pulls out a deus ex machina to end it prematurely. Wyst is less focused than Marune but never meanders like Trullion; there is no trick ending--Vance wraps up the plot satisfactorily. The only fault is that Vance resorts twice to having Jantiff accidentally overhear his enemies' conversations; it stretches the limits of belief.

Wyst rates a high four.