The Blue World

Jack Vance is one of my favorite authors although admittedly he has written a few duds. At his best, as in The Blue World, he has an uncanny knack of making his quirky and exotic societies and locations seem real and believable. While Blue World is technically Science Fiction it's really a story of human triumph and ingenuity. A shipload of people stranded on a world without land, who not only survive but flourish could just as easily have been a 16th century galleon stranding its crew on a desert island. An entrenched quasi-religious priesthood built up over generations to worship a very large & vindictive sea creature (called a Kragen probably after the Kraken of Norse mythology) who demand orthodoxy and are willing to kill those who oppose their views or threaten to harm the monstrous Kragen is soundly based on human experience. The interaction of those who want to rid themselves of the beast and those of orthodox view led by the "priests" who see the Kragen as a god-like entity to be worshiped and fawned over is at the heart of the story and rings so true it could be describing the U.S. Senate's conservative vs. liberal debates. The justification for war to rid the world of unorthodoxy is as old as time and shows a real understanding of human nature that Vance often uses to advantage. Blue World is Sci-Fi at its best.

First, to all those who have never read Jack Vance: he is nothing like the vast multitudes of "space-opera" writers of today. And if you are expecting more of that kind of pulp you may not like his stories. If you are willing to let go of your notions of what scif-fi should be, then Vance is the writer for you! His writing style is detailed but very concise, and he rarely (basically never) wastes the reader's time with superfluous space-filler. This means his novels are usually quite short. His stories often have very strong themes (with a subtext of humor) and are generally very believable thought experiments; in the sense that all entities and characters act belivably within the context. Blue World is a thought experiment. The setting revolves around a society situated on a planet with no land that must rely on a giant sea-plant for all of their needs. There is a strong conflict in the story between the the society (or members of it) and external factors (specifically a giant sea monster), but the real magic of this story is the interaction and conflict that goes on within the society (the sea monster is simply the catalyst, and the general theme of conflict is between religious conservatism and scientific progress). The individual characters in Blue World are generally static and proceed along specific trajectories from the outset. However, this is not a weakness since the interaction BETWEEN characters leads to dynamic and unpredictable results. It is almost as if the whole society of Blue World is Vance's character. It works very well. A few further notes: the details in this story include a strange "religion" based sea-monster appeasment, comunication systems using towers and an interesting symbolic lights, and a whole slew of well thought out ways to use a sea-plant to build a civiliazation. Very imaginative! My only complaint, the book is too short! But all great books are and this one leaves a lasting impression.

This was the first Vance novel I ever read- humans marooned on a world without solid land. The themes of human beings as the most alien creatures we'll ever meet, the exotic societies, the strange worlds we are cast down on all combined to a memberable book. Look for how the folks on this planet gather iron; it's an image that has stayed with me for over thirty years.

I had never read anything by Jack Vance before, and I expected this to be a rather juvenile effort. I mean, it was about a sea serpent, dammit! How do you make a decent story out of that? He sure as hell did! Everything in the book is not only scientifically but also sociologically plausible. If this is one of Vance's minor efforts, I can't wait to see his good stuff.