May
22,
2003
So. Jack Vance's The Face
, the fourth of the Demon Princes books. The formula for this series hasn't really changed, and this one follows it pretty closely; oddly enough, I'm not yet getting sick of the formula, no matter how straightforward and obvious it makes the plots.
I expect the main reason for that is Vance's world-building, which is here on fine display again. The Oikumene (for so Vance's interstellar civilization is named) is a setting that allows for an enormous variety of worlds and cultures, and Vance takes full advantage of that allowance. All of his societies are distinctive, unique, memorable, and slightly odd. Even when you know what's going to happen in broad outline, it's worth reading for the details.
Now, onto the fifth and final volume.
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May
17,
2003
Jack Vance's The Palace of Love
is the third, and most luridly titled, novel in his Demon Princes quintet. Here, the protagonist turns his attention to Viole Falushe, whose notorious Palace of Love is the sybaritic front to his evil.
Interestingly, Vance has adapted the tone of each book in this series to fit the subject. The first book, dealing with a coldly logical and precise villain, was something of a logic puzzle; the second book, dealing with a dashing Romantic villain, was a rousing adventure story; and this third book, dealing with a voluptuary, has a feel of decadent languor.
Interesting, too, is that Vance seems to be advancing a plot solely in the intro quotes (taken from fictitious sources) to each chapter. These chapter quotes concern themselves with controversy over the Galactic Institute, which has successfully set itself to the task of limiting human progress for the sake of humanity's own good. Oddly enough, nothing else in the book touches on the theme at all, but it's pronouncedly present throughout the intro quotes. I'm wondering if Vance will develop the theme in the main narrative later, or if it's just an unusually thorough background detail.
At any rate, this book is pretty much exactly as good as its predecessors. If you've read those, you'll know whether you want to read this; if you haven't read those, you definitely don't want to read this.
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May
17,
2003
Those of you who are nostalgic for the halcyon days of Netscape 1.2 Perpetual Beta, possess no aesthetic taste, and are running Mozilla or it derivatives; can check out a new entry in the style switcher. It's a little something I call oldschool.css.
(It really shines on the comments page, where it attempts to do its best rendition of horrible old faux-3D form elements. Ah, the glory days of computing.)
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May
9,
2003
I realize, belatedly, that I didn't talk much about the plot of the Demon Princes series in my last review; just as well, because that gives me something to talk about in my review of Jack Vance's The Killing Machine
, the second book of that series.
I'm going to talk about plot in relatively loose terms, here, and this wouldn't be considered spoilish by anyone who reads the dust jacket copy, but still: some of this is stuff you don't find out until midway through the first book, so skip ahead to the next paragraph if you'd rather stay blissfully ignorant. Still here? Okay, then. The premise of the series is that the hero's home planet was destroyed by a conclave of the five Demon Princes when he was young, and he spent his entire boyhood and adolescence in training to take his revenge upon them. This means two things: 1) that the hero is a nearly omni-competent badass, and 2) that each book (there are five) is devoted to the attempted destruction of one of the Demon Princes. The villain of this book is Kokor Hekkus, the Killing Machine.
While the first book had a strong mystery element to it, this one is a more straightforward action-adventure novel. There are mysterious elements and plot twists and turns, to be sure, but the fundamental structure isn't that of a whodunnit. Still and all, it's similar in tone and quality to The Star King, so your reaction to that novel should be a solid predictor of your reaction to this one.
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May
7,
2003
Jack Vance's The Star King
, the first of his Demon Princes series, is quite a different book from The Dying Earth. The setting is a relatively familiar science-fictional scenario: a bunch of settled human planets (with a lawless frontier), some alien races (but no huge Galactic Civilization), and still plenty of unexplored space. In this setting, Vance gives us what amounts to a murder mystery, as our protagonist tries to track down the notorious Demon Prince Malagate the Woe.
It's all much more conventional and familiar than The Dying Earth, but far from generic. While the universe is familiar in general overtones, the rich details (and rather purple names) make it distinctly Vance's. Similarly, the style is less distinctive than it was in The Dying Earth, but nobody's going to confuse it for Asimov.
I have a suspicion that this is one of Vance's lesser works, but as
light puzzle SF goes (and, as Trent recently discovered,
this is a subgenre I may be overfond of), it's solid.
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May
4,
2003
Normally in the booklog world, when someone fails to update their page for a month, it's because they've gotten lazy about recording their books. In my case, it's because I simply didn't read any. Partly this is because I've been a bit busy getting unemployed, trying to get re-employed, buying a house, prepping for a wedding, and prepping for a move. Partly, it's because I started to read a very long book, and got bogged down in the middle.
The book in question is the second volume of Edward Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
, one of the longest and most involved epic fantasy trilogies in the entire genre. The second volume alone weighs in at a massive 1000+ pages and spans hundreds of years of history.
The trilogy is set in the waning years of an ancient, continent-spanning empire based closely on our world's Rome. I'm normally reluctant to give away plot points, but given the title, I think it will come as no surprise when I say that the series traces this empire as it loses its strength and power, and eventually collapses.
As I said above, I got bogged down in the middle of this volume, but that shouldn't be read as criticism. The book is action-packed, well-paced, peopled with interesting characters, and stylistically brilliant. Consider the following excerpt, wherein ambassadors of Rome are sent out to negotiate with the Gothic conqueror Alaric:
When they were introduced into his presence, they declared, perhaps in
a more lofty style than became their abject condition, that the Romans
were resolved to maintain their dignity, either in peace or war; and
that, if Alaric refused them a fair and honorable capitulation, he
might sound his trumpets, and prepare to give battle to an innumerable
people, exercised in arms, and animated by despair. "The thicker the
hay, the easier it is mowed," was the concise reply of the Barbarian;
and this rustic metaphor was accompanied by a loud and insulting
laugh, expressive of his contempt for the menaces of an unwarlike
populace, enervated by luxury before they were emaciated by famine.
He then condescended to fix the ransom, which he would accept as the
price of his retreat from the walls of Rome: all the gold and silver
in the city, whether it were the property of the state, or of
individuals; all the rich and precious movables; and all the slaves
that could prove their title to the name of Barbarians. The ministers
of the senate presumed to ask, in a modest and suppliant tone, "If
such, O king, are your demands, what do you intend to leave us?" "Your
Lives!" replied the haughty conqueror: they trembled, and retired.
I do have a few criticisms. For one, the world-building is unoriginal; it's undoubtedly solid, with concrete and believable details, but it's too obviously ripped straight from real history. For another, there are too many characters: As soon as you really get to know a character, and are familiar with his character and station, he goes and dies (Martin has nothing on Gibbon when it comes to willingness to kill his characters). This is probably inevitable in any novel with the kind of historical scope this book has, though -- unless your characters are immortals, you're going to go through a lot of characters over the course of centuries.
Those complaints aside, this is a superb book, and I fully intend to come back and finish it eventually; but for now, I'm ready to move on to something else.
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