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"Trullion Alastor 2262: An idyllic world where food is bountiful, the oceans are clear, and no one is ever wanting, World 2262 of the Alastor Cluster is in for a rude awakening. The Trill, a once-peaceful race populating the waters of Trullion, are now gambling their lives away on the planet-wide game hussade. What reward could be worth such risks?"--Publisher's description."Marune Alastor 933: Though the Connatic knows all, there is one man of whom he knows nothing, one man who knows show more nothing of himself. Pardero is determined to find out who he is and what cruel enemy forced him to forget his own life. But when he finally returns home to Marune, World 933 of the Alastor Cluster, the mystery only deepens."--Publisher's description."Wyst Alastor 1716: On Wyst, World 1716 of the Alastor Cluster, millions of people live together in harmony, work only a few hours each week, and share the fruits of their labor equally. Wyst seems a utopia. But the Connatic, knowing better than to take utopia at face value, one day decides to investigate-a decision that may cost him his life."--Publisher's description. show lessTags
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A good read: Alastor is a compendium of three novels set in the same science fiction universe: Trullion:Alastor 2262 (first published in 1973), Marune:Alastor 933 (1975), and Wyst:Alastor 1716 (1978). The name Alastor refers to a political entity of 3000 worlds comprising trillions of humans all ruled by the Connatic, a benevolent autocrat. Each story is centered on a particular world of Alastor, each with its own peculiar customs, a staple of Jack Vance's writings.Trullion is the weakest of the three stories. Unlike most of Vance's stories, this one never captures the attention of the reader. The wrap up of the murder mystery that is central to the plot is unconvincing as are some of the more arcane plot twists.
It should be mentioned show more that the plot outline of Trullion in the book description above, as well as on the back of the book itself, bears little resemblance to the actual plot. Trullion is about a man who leaves his home to serve in the Connatic's space navy and returns years later to claim his rightful inheritance.
Marune is a typical Vance story. The protagonist is a sympathetic character and the world of Marune contains all of the bizarre social conventions that one expects from Vance. My only complaint is that he pulls a deus ex machina to resolve the story.
Wyst is a blatant critique of communism. Vance has a grand time ridiculing the inherent contradictions of a society that attempts to enforce a radical brand of 'egalism'. One aspect that makes this story unusual is the personality of Jantiff Rovenstroke, the protagonist. For much of the story Jantiff is a weak willed, unsympathetic, character. Towards the end, he is forced to fend for himself and surprisingly demonstrates much ingenuity and self-reliance. This transformation makes Wyst the best of the three Alastor stories. show less
Three novels in a series, "Trullion:Alastor 2262" (1973), a weak novel focusing on sports, of all things; "Marune:Alastor 933" (1975), a very characteristic novel by Vance, about a man who has amnesia and fends for himself, trying to learn his past; and "Wyst:Alastor 1716" (1978), an imaginative and very clever satire on socialism. I consider the first book a failure, other than that the prose is good and the locale is, as always in Vance, fascinating. The second book is vintage Vance, very good for what it does. The third book is just shy of being a work of great world literature.
I can think of several reasons to read this book:
1. It is a pretty good introduction to the author (but "The Dying Earth" is better).
2. Vance's prose is the show more best in sf.
3. Vance's interest in the weird variations of humanity, and the odd ways culture can form around a flaw, like a pearl, is always fascinating, and is especially so in this book.
4. Vance's characters tend to run the gamut from A to D. His heroes are usually self-reliant self-starters, but often with a sheer cussedness streak. When a Vance character philosophizes (and they often do) they will often advise against work, or playing by the rules of society, or somesuch. A few of them, such as the main character in "Wyst," actually grow as human beings, and in this case in an almost realistic way.
Vance's love for boys' fiction was a major limiting feature of his work. Most of his novels are deeply flawed at the plot level. That is, you will find deus ex machina denouments and mystery plots and too much attention to spinning-the-wheels adventure. All these books in the Alastor series suffer in these ways, even "Wyst," which comes closest to greatness.
But the prose is always good, the anthropological detail fascinating. Light reading for smart people . . . and the featherweight touch lingers, giving you something to think about even after the mystery is solved and the Whelm (the super-dooper-star-troopers) called out in full force. show less
I can think of several reasons to read this book:
1. It is a pretty good introduction to the author (but "The Dying Earth" is better).
2. Vance's prose is the show more best in sf.
3. Vance's interest in the weird variations of humanity, and the odd ways culture can form around a flaw, like a pearl, is always fascinating, and is especially so in this book.
4. Vance's characters tend to run the gamut from A to D. His heroes are usually self-reliant self-starters, but often with a sheer cussedness streak. When a Vance character philosophizes (and they often do) they will often advise against work, or playing by the rules of society, or somesuch. A few of them, such as the main character in "Wyst," actually grow as human beings, and in this case in an almost realistic way.
Vance's love for boys' fiction was a major limiting feature of his work. Most of his novels are deeply flawed at the plot level. That is, you will find deus ex machina denouments and mystery plots and too much attention to spinning-the-wheels adventure. All these books in the Alastor series suffer in these ways, even "Wyst," which comes closest to greatness.
But the prose is always good, the anthropological detail fascinating. Light reading for smart people . . . and the featherweight touch lingers, giving you something to think about even after the mystery is solved and the Whelm (the super-dooper-star-troopers) called out in full force. show less
I have fond memories of reading Jack Vance when I was a young science fiction fan. I even have a memory of reading a review of the first book in this trilogy and thinking that the idea of an open-ended series based on various worlds in a dense star cluster was a pretty awesome one -- but I never got around to reading it or the two others in this volume.
How does it read, decades later?
I have to shamefacedly admit that I could not finish this omnibus. The first two novels are fine ("Marune" being particularly good) but the final book is a ham-fisted satire on collectivism that proves only that Jack Vance was no Jonathan Swift. I found it excruciating, and so -- very uncharacteristically for me -- I had to stop, and put the book down.
I show more will furtively retreat to my adolescent memories of stories like "The Dragon Masters." show less
How does it read, decades later?
I have to shamefacedly admit that I could not finish this omnibus. The first two novels are fine ("Marune" being particularly good) but the final book is a ham-fisted satire on collectivism that proves only that Jack Vance was no Jonathan Swift. I found it excruciating, and so -- very uncharacteristically for me -- I had to stop, and put the book down.
I show more will furtively retreat to my adolescent memories of stories like "The Dragon Masters." show less
Three adventure novels set in Vance's extremely detailed but probably impossible-to-lexicon SF universe. (Somebody should try, though)
Vance novels certainly follow a sort of formula: iconoclast hero encounters bizarre and corrupt cultures, meets a "bad" girl and a "good" girl, discovers a sinister plot, and ends up with one of the girls after the plot is foiled.
Still, there is something deeply enjoyable about his writing and a weird sense of timelessness in his SF milieu that makes me return to it again and again. These are three typical examples of his writing, but they are typically good.
Vance novels certainly follow a sort of formula: iconoclast hero encounters bizarre and corrupt cultures, meets a "bad" girl and a "good" girl, discovers a sinister plot, and ends up with one of the girls after the plot is foiled.
Still, there is something deeply enjoyable about his writing and a weird sense of timelessness in his SF milieu that makes me return to it again and again. These are three typical examples of his writing, but they are typically good.
A pity. Jack Vance is usually so much better... Three stories following more or less the same pattern, with kind of similar resolutions at the end. The context really lent itself to so much more, but the end result turned out somewhat banal and trivial. "The Dying Earth" stories are infinitelly better...
A pity. Jack Vance is usually so much better... Three stories following more or less the same pattern, with kind of similar resolutions at the end. The context really lent itself to so much more, but the end result turned out somewhat banal and trivial. "The Dying Earth" stories are infinitelly better...
Fantastica creazione immaginifica nel solito stile vanciano, una gran bella serie di avventure.
Dec 20, 2013 (Edited)Italian
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373+ Works 34,748 Members
John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 - May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction writer. Most of his work was published under the name Jack Vance. He also wrote 11 mystery novels as John Holbrook Vance and three as Ellery Queen, and once each used pseudonyms Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See, and Jay Kavanse. Vance won show more the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001. Among his awards for particular works were: Hugo Awards, in 1963 for The Dragon Masters, in 1967 for The Last Castle, and in 2010 for his memoir This is Me, Jack Vance!; a Nebula Award in 1966, also for The Last Castle; the Jupiter Award in 1975; the World Fantasy Award in 1990 for Lyonesse: Madouc. He also won an Edgar (the mystery equivalent of the Nebula) for the best first mystery novel in 1961 for The Man in the Cage. He died at his home in Oakland, California, on May 26, 2013, aged 96. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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- Canonical title*
- Alastor
- Original title
- Marune: Alastor 933 / Trullion: Alastor 2262 / Wyst: Alastor 1716
- Original publication date
- 1978 (omnibus) (omnibus)
- First words
- Trullion: Alastor 2262On the outward rim of the galaxy hangs Alastor Cluster, a whorl of twenty thousand live stars in an irregular volume twenty to thirty light-years in diameter.
Marune: Alastor 933Alastor Cluster, a node of thirty thousand live stars, uncounted dead hulks and vast quantities of interstellar detritus, clung to the inner rim of the galaxy with the Unfortunate Waste before, ... (show all)the Nonestic Gulf beyond and the Gaean Reach a sparking haze to the side.
Wyst: Alastor 1716Alastor Cluster, a node of thirty thousand live stars, uncounted dead hulks and vast quantities of interstellar detritus, clung to the inner rim of the galaxy with the Unfortunate Waste before, t... (show all)he Nonestic Gulf beyond and the Gaean Reach a sparking haze to the side. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Trullion: Alastor 2262Glinnes moved after her, and in the hazy light of middle afternoon they walked together down the beach.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Marune: Alastor 933"I don't know either."
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Wyst: Alastor 1716For this reason, she is presumably concerned with Jantiff's welfare, especially since he travels the realm of her great rival Giampara. - Original language*
- Englisch
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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