Not for general distributorship this one, more for the devoted anorak. Also not one to be read from cover to cover, although the attraction to do so may appeal to a few.

Similar to Dean King's superb accompaniment to Patrick O'Brian's books, the Handbook of Vance Space does for Jack Vance, what Harbours & High Seas did for the Aubrey Maturin series.

The book encapsulates in dictionary form, the planets, history, cities and peoples that range from the Gaean Reach, through the Oikumene to the Alastor Cluster and beyond. All these names would be familiar to dedicated Jack Vance reader anyway, but it is very convenient when reading, or more likely, re-reading one of the stories, to have the details of a particular event/situation in a neat entry. Sometimes, speculative additional information is also available, to flesh out even further the details of the circumstances.

The book also acts as a useful aide-memoire for facts relating to the successive waves of settlers, the long stretches of history and the rise and fall of societies. Vance's complex and detailed background situations in some cases behoves a ready reference with further explanations.

An excellent book without too many illustrations (thus keeping what's in the minds eye untainted) to keep near to hand when reading Jack Vance. ( )