Alastor

Jack Vance is the author of over fifty novels plus scores of short stories. With an output like that, there's guaranteed to be some variation in quality. The Alastor books are not masterpieces like the Demon Princes series or the Cadwal trilogy, but they are still good in their own right. In this trio Vance aims less for thematic elements than for entertainment. The Alastor novels are definitely crowd-pleasers. Each one features a hero struggling for justice against a swarm of criminal scum and triumphing in the end. "Trullion" follows the adventures of Glinnes Hulden, the middle child in a family of three boys, as he briefly serves in the interplanetary starfleet known as the Whelm. He returns to his native Trullion and finds a host of problems waiting for him. His father and older brother have disappeared, his younger brother has betrayed the family, and a nasty band of backwoods locals have settled on his property. Circumstances lead him to become an athlete in the sport of Hussade. While the dialogue is often raunchy and funny, the Hussade sequences are difficult to follow, making the middle of the book something of a chore. The action picks back up at the end, as the various competing forces meet in the a series of showdowns. "Marune" is a very different story, set in the same universe but having nothing else in common with "Trullion". A man with no name and no memory arrives at a remote spaceport. Experts can reconstruct only a small portion of his memory, enough to find his home planet but nothing more. Arriving home at the planet of Marune, he finds himself heir not only to a castle, but also to a endless series of mysteries and intrigues. "Marune" is certainly the weakest of the three Alastor novels. The language is often complicated to the point of distraction, and the plot has relatively few surprises. "Wyst" shows us Vance back in peak form. This novel follows a young protagonist named Jantiff, who immigrates to the planet of Wyst in search of easy living and new vistas for his art work. Wyst turns out to have a centrally run economy aimed at maximum leisure. Everyone works only 13 hours per week and has the rest of the time off for whatever they choose. While superficially looking nice from the outside, Jantiff starts finding problems shortly after he moves in. Signs of social rot are everywhere, as young people grow obsessed with sex and violence and blind to intellectualism and social responsibility. (Sound familiar?) Among Vance's oeuvre, "Wyst" is unusual for its lack of fighting and big action sequences, and it's focus on social satire and ordinary daily life. (Ordinary being relative, of course.) Among short science fiction novels, it is one of the best ever written.

I'm convinced the sport that Jack Vance invented in this book will be played some day. The building up of a great team from an embarassingly bad one is fascinating enough, but the way the plot is woven into a subtext is pure Vance magic. The wry wit of Jack Vance is exemplified by the team's sole female member. When the opposition catches the gold ring at her end of the field, her clothes fall off! Who but Jack Vance would have thought of that.

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 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.

I've already read this 3 times and it just keeps getting better and better. The book contains 3 stories and each one though not as good as some of his other novels is still better that most any other authors. I very highly recommend it.

Jack Vance should be considered a great writer by any standards. His command of the lanquage is incredible. His ability to create new worlds, customs and characters is fantastic. The books in this omnibus are among his very best! High praise indeed.