It was a pleasure to find a Jack Vance book which I hadn't read before. This is a famous planetary romance, set on the eponymous Big Planet. This world is huge, lacking in metal, and filled with disparate wacky cultures and individuals self-exiled from Earth. But Earth maintains a watchful presence there nevertheless, watchful for tyrants like the Bajarnum of Beaujolais. A party of Earthmen set out to correct the behaviour of this Bajarnum, only to crash land due to treachery forty-thousand miles from their destination.

The characters in the Earth party are led by Claude Glystra. All are rather briefly sketched; more attention is paid to the landscapes, piquant places and golden sunsets of the Big Planet.

This book reminded me of Vance's Planet of Adventure which shares similar themes and is the superior of the two in my opinion. However Big Planet was a moderately enjoyable read with many memorable encounters. ( )

Not sure where I heard about this one; maybe Damon Knight's "In Search of Wonder." I thought it sounded interesting and I finally found a copy.

It's a quick read. It strikes me as a proto-Ringworld - the planet it takes place on is literally a big planet (maybe Jupiter size or larger), and the descendants of the colonists have formed different societies, and there are nomads and lawless bands and so on. There is little or no metal in the planet itself, so metal from offworlders carries immense value.

It begins with a ship crash, and the survivors needing to get to the one place where Earth has a presence. So they travel through various territories, and then the plot takes a twist and gets resolved neatly and quickly. I'm not a huge fan of the abrupt ending; on the other hand, if this had been written today, I could see where you could stretch it into a huge series of 'Song of Ice and Fire'-length tomes.

There are some troubling racial undertones (not particularly surprising, and not too prominent). I think there was room for Vance to stretch it out a little bit, but all in all it's a fun read and I'm curious to read the follow-up (which stands on its own as it only shares the setting of Big Planet). ( )

CVIE vol III

Most Vance novels include a travelogue in one form or another, as cool but perceptive characters wander through weird and beautiful landscapes. Big Planet takes that approach to its extreme as we follow Earthman Claude Glystra, who, having crashed on the planet due to sabotage, must survive a dangerous journey back to the safety of Earth Enclave.

The standard Vance tropes are in place here - strange fashions, bizarre habits, mysterious strangers. There's less of the clever language that Vance loves, and that makes his books so much fun. On the other hand, the lead characters are more approachable and less aloof than they often are. The ending won't surprise you much if you've read a lot of Vance, and could have been stronger. In particular, the emotional resolution of [b:Gold and Iron|16058318|Gold and Iron (Slaves of the Klau)|Jack Vance|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349098069s/16058318.jpg|1903956]/ Slaves of the Klau, written a few years later, is much more convincing.

Nonetheless, an engaging adventure, and fun for both Vance fans and newcomers. Recommended. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-of-big-planet-by-jack-vance.html ( )

A commission is sent from Earth to Big Planet to investigate the new Conqueror and see whether there should be any kind of intervention. Unfortunately, the ship crashes due to sabotage and the group sets out on a 40,000 mile journey to the other side of the planet and the safety of Earth Enclave. Not Everyone Is Going To Make It. Danger Lurks At Every Corner. Fantastic Creatures Abound. I gather this is an early example of the Quest through a Strange Land type of novel, so you can't fault it for being unimaginative, and some might call it a progenitor, but unfortunately it's not one of the first that I read.
Now that I think about it, I was enjoying it just fine until my favorite character died [I don't consider this a spoiler because you don't have any idea who my favorite character is.] and now I'm just pissed. And sad. I don't want to talk about this anymore. ( )