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Cadwal Chronicles #1
Araminta Station
The planet "Cadwal" is forever set aside as a natural perserve, owned and administered by the Naturalist Society of Earth, and inhabited by a very limited number of skilled human scientists and their families. But this system has been complicated by the passing centuries, and has become a byzantine culture where every place in the Houses of Cadwal is the object of savage competition.
In "Araminta Station", the first volume of "The Cadwal Chronicles", Jack Vance has constructed a brilliant, complex tale of revenge and murder, of love and alien intrigue, and set it glittering among the stars of the Purple Rose System.
In "Araminta Station", the first volume of "The Cadwal Chronicles", Jack Vance has constructed a brilliant, complex tale of revenge and murder, of love and alien intrigue, and set it glittering among the stars of the Purple Rose System.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1987
45 people are currently reading
972 people want to read
About the author
Jack Vance
780 books1,591 followersAka John Holbrook Vance, Peter Held, John Holbrook, Ellery Queen, John van See, Alan Wade.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 106 reviews
January 28, 2017
One of my favorite books which I try and read every couple of years.
This hardcover is copy 74 of 500 signed and numbered copies, signed by Jack Vance.
This hardcover is copy 74 of 500 signed and numbered copies, signed by Jack Vance.
January 12, 2013
Araminta Station is a long book, and it is very "Jack Vance." It's set in the very far future on a planet that has been set aside for centuries for preservation in near-natural state. Permanent population is strictly limited to the descendents of 6 original administrators -- 20 males and 20 females in each of the 6 "Agency" families. Over the years some allowances have been made for permanent staff, servants, tourists and tourist facilities, "compatible" economic development like small-scale wineries, etc., but "Agency Status" is desperately sought and jealously guarded.
The society itself is rigidly divided into classes -- a Jack Vance specialty. Class interaction follows strict social rules. If you can get "into it," this is part of the fun.
The book plots and sub-plots involve murder, class struggle, family rivalries and betrayal, a brewing inter-species revolt, etc. -- with hints of worse to come.
The book itself is more than 500 pages long. I first read it about 10 years ago. At the time I remarked to my wife that the beginning of the book was interesting, but it didn't really draw me in until I got past the first hundred pages. One of the benefits of re-reading it was being able to appreciate the way that those first hundred pages were setting the scene for later conflicts.
This book is the first of a three book series -- the Cadwal Chronicles. The second book is much shorter, and the third book is even shorter. My only real complaint is that this first book, Araminta Station, ends on a new cliff-hanger not really set up in the book. It could easily have been saved for the beginning of the second book, and the first book would have been a more satisfying read.
I don't think I'd recommend this to a person who had not read anything else by jack Vance -- start with The Last Castle or the Dragon Masters -- but if you like Jack Vance, you will probably really like Araminta Station.
The society itself is rigidly divided into classes -- a Jack Vance specialty. Class interaction follows strict social rules. If you can get "into it," this is part of the fun.
The book plots and sub-plots involve murder, class struggle, family rivalries and betrayal, a brewing inter-species revolt, etc. -- with hints of worse to come.
The book itself is more than 500 pages long. I first read it about 10 years ago. At the time I remarked to my wife that the beginning of the book was interesting, but it didn't really draw me in until I got past the first hundred pages. One of the benefits of re-reading it was being able to appreciate the way that those first hundred pages were setting the scene for later conflicts.
This book is the first of a three book series -- the Cadwal Chronicles. The second book is much shorter, and the third book is even shorter. My only real complaint is that this first book, Araminta Station, ends on a new cliff-hanger not really set up in the book. It could easily have been saved for the beginning of the second book, and the first book would have been a more satisfying read.
I don't think I'd recommend this to a person who had not read anything else by jack Vance -- start with The Last Castle or the Dragon Masters -- but if you like Jack Vance, you will probably really like Araminta Station.
July 27, 2015
Araminta Station has less of the wordplay that makes so many Vance books great fun to read. That's not to say it's not classic Vance - there are strict societies, dispassionate characters, and alien landscapes galore. But the verbiage is somewhat tamer than in other books. At the same time, Vance focuses more on the detective aspect than usual. In short, this is an excellent SF crime mystery handled with Jack Vance style and panache.
The hero, Glawen Clattuc, is more approachable and 'normal' than many Vance protagonists, but true normality is reserved for Eustace Chilke, a supporting character. This book establishes the setting of the Cadwal Conservancy (a protected planet) and the pressures it faces. However, the scale of the story is mostly focused on Glawen and his struggles with rivals, love, and society. It's probably more of a 3.5 than a 4 on a Vance scale, but really anything by Vance is in a class by itself.
CVIE edition
The hero, Glawen Clattuc, is more approachable and 'normal' than many Vance protagonists, but true normality is reserved for Eustace Chilke, a supporting character. This book establishes the setting of the Cadwal Conservancy (a protected planet) and the pressures it faces. However, the scale of the story is mostly focused on Glawen and his struggles with rivals, love, and society. It's probably more of a 3.5 than a 4 on a Vance scale, but really anything by Vance is in a class by itself.
CVIE edition
July 15, 2025
“Wouldn’t you like to visit the Glass Towns of Clanctus? And the canals of Old Kharay? And don’t forget Xanarre, with the alien ruins and the floating cloud cities.”
I’ve seen this question asked repeatedly here on Goodreads and elsewhere: Which imaginary world would you like to live in?
Jack Vance’s Gaean Sprawl is most often at the top of my personal list. It is infinitely interesting in its diversity, in its potential for mischief and adventure, in its peculiar anthropological quirks. Travel between settled worlds is done in luxury private yachts or fast commercial shuttles. Beautiful women, exotic foods and clothes, magnificent vistas and dangerous aliens await the incautious tourist with gold filled pockets and naive expectations.
... Order, logic, symmetry: these are fine words but any pretense that we have crammed our material into molds so strict would be obvious sham. Each settled world is sui generis, presenting to the inquiring cosmologist a unique quantum of information. All these quanta are mutually immiscible, so that efforts to generalize become a muddle. We are yielded a single certainty: no event occurred twice; every case is unique.
One of the most unique settings of the Gaean expansion is the planet Cadwal. First discovered by the Naturalist Society of old earth, Cadwal is designated as a natural preserve, exclusive to scientific study. A Conservancy is established to protect the environment and to prevent commercial exploitation. Limited to six agencies of twenty members each, in time this system is put under extreme strain by population growth and by the need of guest workers, known as Yips.
Araminta Station is the main settlement, on the continent Deucas, one of three main landmasses on Cadwal. The Yip temporary workers are restricted to an island archipelago offshore.
The first book in the series follows the career of a young man named Glawen Clattuc. He is quiet, capable and determined to excel in his studies so he can reduce his ‘social score’ to a level that will allow him to become a member of his House clan/Agency. Glawen already has enemies inside and outside his immediate clan, where he is viewed with suspicion because of his parents: father a police officer and mother an immigrant without status.
He gave me a beautiful Atlas of the Gaean Worlds for my birthday. It was an enormous book, two feet by three feet wide and six inches thick, with Mercator maps of all the settled worlds.
Behind his cool facade, Glawen dreams of far travels and swashbuckling adventures among the thousands of strange worlds settled by humanity. I made an early connection with him as he sits and pores over maps and star yacht specifications. One of my most cherished childhood treasures is also a world atlas I got as a gift as I started school, maybe not as huge as the one Glawen got, but just as filled with dreams of distant shores.
They are spectacular, and in some ways rather grim.
Eventually, Glawen will journey far from his home world of Cadwal, but his discoveries are rarely of the joyous kind. Tragic events at Araminta Station during a festival week known as Parilia will cut short his budding romance with a beautiful young girl named Sessily Veder.
A joyful providence had graced her with every natural asset: a cheerful intelligence, a fine sense of humor, a friendly affectionate disposition, and in addition – almost unfairly – glowing good health, a beautiful slim body and an impish snub nosed face under a cap of loose brown curls.
Political infights between factions who want to save the scientific Charter and parties who want to open Cadwal for business also catch the young police cadet Glawen in their maw. An even more repulsive criminal investigation about young girls murdered after being offered as play dolls to wealthy tourists, will eventually sent Glawen offworld, in the company of a rather unreliable fellow officer named Kirdy Wook.
I warn you, the food is bizarre. They will feed us worms and feathers in a sauce of minced gangaree, with ginger and musk on the side.
They put ginger in everything; that’s the fashion on Tassadero.
Worse things than food poisoning lurk in the back alleys of Tassadero, but I don’t want to spoil all the fun here in my review. I’ve been reading Jack Vance for many years, and in general know what to expect from his stories: the unexpected, the quirky and the amoral. Cadwal is one of the finest examples of his art, from the riotous and colourful world-building to the byzantine plot entanglements, all delivered in his sly humorous and satirical voice, with emphatically polite insults and plenty conversational pitfalls of misdirection and deceit.
“To dismount, the rider must drop the blinders, otherwise the bunter thinks its victim is escaping and kills it again. So; if you ride a bunter, remember! Never dismount without dropping the blinders.”
Safety is not guranteed for the casual tourist to the Gaean Sprawl, and only a resilient and resourceful man like Glawen has a chance to untangle these threads. He even has a caution about those pesky self-driven new cars:
“These cars cannot be trusted. They are guided by brains taken from cadavers. That is what we learned from unimpeachable sources when we were Mummers. Nor were the brains necessarily the freshest.”
The combination of the grim and the humorous with the spectacular is a signature move from Jack Vance, one of the key ingredients in his recipe for a good meal [with or without ginger] that makes me always eager to return to his sprawling worlds of wonder.
“Bah,” growled Kirdy. “I never know when you are serious.”
“That would seem to indicate good mental health. This trip may be sound therapy after all.”
What other writer can combine space exploration, crime investigation, romance, adventure, humor, social anthropology and philosophy into such an entertaining package?
“I looked up at the sky and the stars, and I felt a sudden openness – as if my mind were aware of the whole galaxy. At the same time I felt all the millions and billions of people who had spread through the stars. Their lives, or the people, seemed to give off a whir or a hum, really a slow music. For just an instant I could hear the music and I felt its meaning and then it was gone, and I was looking at the stars and you asked me why I was quiet.”
The cosmos took no notice of human rationality, or human anything whatever. As he sat brooding, another curious mood came to trouble his mind: a waft of rending grief and woe, a sadness not to be contemplated, and perhaps beyond understanding.
“Never put questions to the wet dark sea; you might learn the drowning of your most darling argosies.” So sang the mad poet Navarth.
“Most unusual! Tanaquil, will you ever cease to be amazed by the weird convolutions of criminal behaviour?”
When measured against such vistas, truth must defer, with neither apology nor regret to the far more amiable arrangement of legend.
The second Cadwal book is called Ecce and Old Earth.
It is a must read for me, the soonest the better.
August 6, 2021
First published in 1988, AS is a late work by Vance and also the largest novel of his I have read, clocking in at over 500 pages. Definitely space opera, with the emphasis on opera for sure. The story follows our main protagonist-- Glawen Clattuc-- from his mid teens for about five years or so. Glawen was born on Araminta Station, an enclave on the planet Cadwal. Several hundred years prior to the events of the novel, Cadwal was discovered and the 'owners' decided to create in effect a planetary preserve into perpetuity. Araminta Station, population in the thousands, was born basically as an administrative authority for the planet, to keep trespassers out and preserve the planet. Another settlement was founded later, on an icy crag, for the 'naturalists'-- members of the association that created the planetary preserve. We also have the 'Yips', who are basically unwanted settlers who live on an atoll and are used as a workforce in Araminta Station and basically have few rights.
So, an interesting backdrop and very typical Vance; what is atypical is the focus on the relationships among the characters. Now, Vance is a master of briefly outlining bizarre societies-- he had a calling of an exosociologist for sure! Here, he details in great length the organization of Araminta Station, for example, who is considered 'vested' and those not. There are 7 great families at Araminta Station, each historically in charge of one aspect of the administration. To be 'vested' in a family, you have to reach a certain score by the age of 21. How is the score determined? In part, it depends when you were born; only 20 people from each family are 'vested'; the rest are either retired or 'collaterals'-- family members, but not ones who can live in the family mansions or work in the administration. Also to qualify, you must obtain at least passing grades and graduate from the lyceum.
So, back to Glawen. At age 16, his number is announced-- 25 or something-- which means 5 people above him must either retire or not qualify. This is really just a back story. It seems that certain members Glawen's family will do anything to make sure he, upon age 21, will not qualify. So, we are treated to all kinds of trials, tribulations and machinations that Glawen must face.
The heart of the story, however, concerns the 'Yip's' and their future. Their small atoll (Yiptown) is vastly overcrowded and they yearn to colonize the vast empty spaces on the planet. This desire, however, would be clear violation of the charter governing Cadwel and it is enforced via force via Section B, something like the military arm of the administration. Tourists can come to Cadwel and often visit Yiptown, as basically anything goes there, as long as it is for money. Can it be that some people in Araminta Station are working with the Yips to change the charter, or even overthrow it?
Overall, this was a fun read, although very slow moving, especially for Vance, who is known for his economy of prose. A sprawling novel, Vance's world building is on full display, especially toward the end when we move off planet for awhile. The snarky dialogue was turned up to 11 all the way through as well. Perhaps not the best start for first time Vance readers, but a welcome addition to his oeuvre. 3.5 snarky stars!
So, an interesting backdrop and very typical Vance; what is atypical is the focus on the relationships among the characters. Now, Vance is a master of briefly outlining bizarre societies-- he had a calling of an exosociologist for sure! Here, he details in great length the organization of Araminta Station, for example, who is considered 'vested' and those not. There are 7 great families at Araminta Station, each historically in charge of one aspect of the administration. To be 'vested' in a family, you have to reach a certain score by the age of 21. How is the score determined? In part, it depends when you were born; only 20 people from each family are 'vested'; the rest are either retired or 'collaterals'-- family members, but not ones who can live in the family mansions or work in the administration. Also to qualify, you must obtain at least passing grades and graduate from the lyceum.
So, back to Glawen. At age 16, his number is announced-- 25 or something-- which means 5 people above him must either retire or not qualify. This is really just a back story. It seems that certain members Glawen's family will do anything to make sure he, upon age 21, will not qualify. So, we are treated to all kinds of trials, tribulations and machinations that Glawen must face.
The heart of the story, however, concerns the 'Yip's' and their future. Their small atoll (Yiptown) is vastly overcrowded and they yearn to colonize the vast empty spaces on the planet. This desire, however, would be clear violation of the charter governing Cadwel and it is enforced via force via Section B, something like the military arm of the administration. Tourists can come to Cadwel and often visit Yiptown, as basically anything goes there, as long as it is for money. Can it be that some people in Araminta Station are working with the Yips to change the charter, or even overthrow it?
Overall, this was a fun read, although very slow moving, especially for Vance, who is known for his economy of prose. A sprawling novel, Vance's world building is on full display, especially toward the end when we move off planet for awhile. The snarky dialogue was turned up to 11 all the way through as well. Perhaps not the best start for first time Vance readers, but a welcome addition to his oeuvre. 3.5 snarky stars!
July 4, 2018
-Un Vance entretenido pero menor.-
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Estación Araminta (publicación original: Araminta Station, 1987) transcurre en el centro que da nombre al libro, la Estación Araminta, el núcleo de la administración política y social del planeta Cadwal, colonizado hace varios siglos y declarado reserva natural por lo que pocos humanos han podido poner el pie en el planeta. Los descendientes de los primeros científicos destinados al lugar han creado "casas" casi nobiliarias que se encargan de los distintos aspectos del cumplimiento de las leyes y normas que rigen el planeta y a sus habitantes. Glawec Clattuc es un joven que, a sus dieciséis años, debe obtener su status de ciudadano y que comenzará a ver los intereses, secretos e intrigas que hasta ahora no conocía, tanto de carácter político como familiar. Por alguna razón que desconozco por completo, el editor español decidió publicar esta obra en dos volúmenes a diferencia del volumen único del original. Primer libro de la trilogía Crónicas de Cadwal.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Ciencia ficción.
Lo que nos cuenta. El libro Estación Araminta (publicación original: Araminta Station, 1987) transcurre en el centro que da nombre al libro, la Estación Araminta, el núcleo de la administración política y social del planeta Cadwal, colonizado hace varios siglos y declarado reserva natural por lo que pocos humanos han podido poner el pie en el planeta. Los descendientes de los primeros científicos destinados al lugar han creado "casas" casi nobiliarias que se encargan de los distintos aspectos del cumplimiento de las leyes y normas que rigen el planeta y a sus habitantes. Glawec Clattuc es un joven que, a sus dieciséis años, debe obtener su status de ciudadano y que comenzará a ver los intereses, secretos e intrigas que hasta ahora no conocía, tanto de carácter político como familiar. Por alguna razón que desconozco por completo, el editor español decidió publicar esta obra en dos volúmenes a diferencia del volumen único del original. Primer libro de la trilogía Crónicas de Cadwal.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
September 15, 2016
Araminta Station is the quiet administrative center of the Cadwal Conservancy, which encompasses the entire planet of Cadwal. A small number of families provide the human resources to staff the various bureaus established by the Cadwal Charter, an ancient document prepared by the Naturalist Society of Old Earth, that functions as their Constitution. People are chosen for this relatively small number of positions according to their Status Index; this is affected by lineage, academic achievement and other circumstances. Those who fail to qualify become "collaterals", who work at less prestigious jobs, sometimes off-planet. These extended families live together in sprawling ancestral homes, and each family more or less adheres to their specific familial stereotype.
At some point in the past, the possibly-human race of Yips were introduced for menial labor. Yips that are not working for the conservationists are relegated to Yipton, an overcrowded tropical island. Their aim is to settle on the mainland, which is counter to the Charter, though a faction of Naturalists resident on the planet are sympathetic to their plight.
Our hero is the young Glawen Clattuc, who begins the book as a teenager. He's smart, hardworking and resourceful, morally upstanding and often lovestruck. In other words, a Vance protagonist.
Vance takes this peaceful setting and plops in a tale of murder, intrigue, and revenge.
As with most Vance SF, technology is downplayed right out of existence. People come and go from the spaceport on space yachts, but they still telephone each other from land lines. Keep in mind this book was written in 1988, when cellular phones were already a reality: Vance must have ignored this development as it didn't fit into his bucolic vision.
This book has a satisfying ending but still plants the seeds for the rest of the series.
Favorite quotes:
At some point in the past, the possibly-human race of Yips were introduced for menial labor. Yips that are not working for the conservationists are relegated to Yipton, an overcrowded tropical island. Their aim is to settle on the mainland, which is counter to the Charter, though a faction of Naturalists resident on the planet are sympathetic to their plight.
Our hero is the young Glawen Clattuc, who begins the book as a teenager. He's smart, hardworking and resourceful, morally upstanding and often lovestruck. In other words, a Vance protagonist.
Vance takes this peaceful setting and plops in a tale of murder, intrigue, and revenge.
As with most Vance SF, technology is downplayed right out of existence. People come and go from the spaceport on space yachts, but they still telephone each other from land lines. Keep in mind this book was written in 1988, when cellular phones were already a reality: Vance must have ignored this development as it didn't fit into his bucolic vision.
This book has a satisfying ending but still plants the seeds for the rest of the series.
Favorite quotes:
"This is a likely beast! I shall name it ‘Albers’ and ride it with aplomb, and all will marvel to see me dashing at great speed across the plain!"
"Your company is forced on me, despite my reluctance; each time you speak my fist balls up so that I may smash in your face. It may be a good and proper act; still I am a careful man and I desist, because I would forfeit your assistance out here among these strange people and strange noises."
"For us the best is none too good; we use both jam and butter on our bread."
Out there, coasting across the void in a great Glistmar space-cruiser, was Wayness. How large would she seem at such a distance? The size of an atom? Smaller? The problem became interesting. Glawen went below and calculated. Wayness, standing a hundred light-years away, would appear as large as a neutron at a distance of twelve hundred and fifty yards. “So much for that,” said Glawen. “Now I know.”
January 5, 2018
So this is what happened when Jack Vance took the opportunity to stretch out a little...
Most of his novels are short, their strengths are obvious but they tended to leave me wanting a little more. Nearly five hundred pages in length, Araminta Station was certainly that. Regrettably I can't say it was all the better for it.
Cadwal is a conservatory planet run by an incestuous cadre of families of ancient lineage. Vance never admits it outright but centuries of inbreeding has hardly done much to benefit the gene pool. Pretty much everybody has a screw loose.
What starts out as a family feud morphed into an offbeat murder mystery before something altogether more sordid takes place. The characters appear too flippant and perverse to be considered dangerous. Just the same they are.
As perverse as anyone are the Yips, a golden-skinned subspecies of humanity who mostly perform the role of servants, albeit untrustworthy ones. Shameless thieves and inveterate liars, I met trying to pretend that Vance hadn't racially modelled them after the Chinese, despite the obvious hints.
Also central to the rambling plot are the Bold Lions, a fraternity drinking club ("a driving hell-for-breakfast bunch who always come out on top, and devil take the hindmost!') with some morally dubious members.
The novel is full of incredibly wild and wonderful cultural detail, including footnotes on all manner of subjects, such as the symbology of "wait times.' As frivolous and meandering as it is fascinating and amusing, I really loved it up until about halfway through.
Up until the length of the usual Jack Vance novel that is.
The longer it went on the less entertaining it became, the endless succession of oddball encounters and conversations and began to grate, particularly the extended episode spent in the company of the Monomantic religious cult.
By the end I was convinced that Vance had spent a little bit too much time out on his sailing boat and developed a touch of sunstroke.
Most of his novels are short, their strengths are obvious but they tended to leave me wanting a little more. Nearly five hundred pages in length, Araminta Station was certainly that. Regrettably I can't say it was all the better for it.
Cadwal is a conservatory planet run by an incestuous cadre of families of ancient lineage. Vance never admits it outright but centuries of inbreeding has hardly done much to benefit the gene pool. Pretty much everybody has a screw loose.
What starts out as a family feud morphed into an offbeat murder mystery before something altogether more sordid takes place. The characters appear too flippant and perverse to be considered dangerous. Just the same they are.
As perverse as anyone are the Yips, a golden-skinned subspecies of humanity who mostly perform the role of servants, albeit untrustworthy ones. Shameless thieves and inveterate liars, I met trying to pretend that Vance hadn't racially modelled them after the Chinese, despite the obvious hints.
Also central to the rambling plot are the Bold Lions, a fraternity drinking club ("a driving hell-for-breakfast bunch who always come out on top, and devil take the hindmost!') with some morally dubious members.
The novel is full of incredibly wild and wonderful cultural detail, including footnotes on all manner of subjects, such as the symbology of "wait times.' As frivolous and meandering as it is fascinating and amusing, I really loved it up until about halfway through.
Up until the length of the usual Jack Vance novel that is.
The longer it went on the less entertaining it became, the endless succession of oddball encounters and conversations and began to grate, particularly the extended episode spent in the company of the Monomantic religious cult.
By the end I was convinced that Vance had spent a little bit too much time out on his sailing boat and developed a touch of sunstroke.
August 9, 2020
Whenever I want to find something exciting to read in the world of science fiction, I always turn to Jack Vance, the master. You will always get strange worlds with stranger people in it, and all of these people have different motivations for doing things.
Halfway along the Perseid Arm, near the edge of the Gaean Reach, a capricious swirl of galactic gravitation has caught up ten thousand stars and sent them streaming off at a veer, with a curl and a flourish at the tip. This strand of stars is Mircea’s Wisp.
Cadwal was first explored by the locator R. J. Neirmann, a member of the Naturalist Society of Earth. His report prompted the Society to dispatch an official expedition to Cadwal, which, upon its return to Earth, recommended that Cadwal be protected as a Conservancy, or natural preserve, secure forever from human settlement and commercial exploitation.
The first book in Cadwal Chronicles is an perfect example of that, the book starts with huge information given to us about the planet Cadwal which has been discovered near the Gaen Reach and due to its unique atmosphere and rich natural environment it has been
declared as a kind of Conservancy.
The three continents of Cadwal were Ecce, Deucas and Throy. They were separated by expanses of empty ocean, unbroken by islands or smaller masses of land, with a few trifling exceptions.
Ecce, long and narrow, lay along the equator: a flat tract of swamp and jungle, netted by sluggish rivers. Ecce palpitated with heat, stench, color and ravenous vitality. Ferocious creatures everywhere preyed upon one another, and made the land unsuitable for human settlement; the Naturalists had attempted not even a wilderness lodge on Ecce.
Deucas, four times as large as Ecce, occupied most of the north temperate zone on the opposite side of the planet, with Cape Journal, the continent’s southernmost extremity, at the end of a long narrow peninsula which thrust a thousand miles below the equator. The fauna of Deucas, while neither as grotesque nor as monstrous as that of Ecce, was yet, in many cases, savage and formidable, and included several semi-intelligent species.
Throy, to the south of Deucas and about equal in area to Ecce, extended from the polar ice well into the south temperate zone. The terrain of Throy was the most dramatic of Cadwal. Crags leaned over chasms; dark forests roared in the wind. Three small islands, all ancient sea-volcanoes, were located off the east coast of Deucas. These were Lutwen Atoll, Thurben Island and Ocean Island. Elsewhere the oceans spread open and empty around the globe.
An enclave of a hundred square miles had been established on the east coast of Deucas, halfway between Cape Journal to the south and Marmion Head to the north. Here was Araminta Station, the agency which monitored the Conservancy and enforced the terms of the Charter.
The planet has three continents out of which only one Deucas can be inhabited by humans the rest of the continents, contain dangerous species indigenous to the planet.
Now with this unique planet which has to be conserved, the charter has determined only few people will be inhabiting the planet, and due to this fact only 240 people will be allowed to live on planet and basically we have total 6 families living here, and from each of the family we will have 20 men and women who will be allowed to live at Araminta Station.
And this is basically done by assigning each individual a status index, and when the individual turns 21 and if his status index is below 20 he or she will have to live the planet or start working as co-laterals.
Six bureaus performed the necessary work: Bureau A: Records and statistics. B: Patrols and surveys: police and security services. C: Taxonomy, cartography, natural sciences. D: Domestic services. E: Fiscal affairs: exports and imports. F: Visitors’ accommodations. The original six superintendents were Deamus Wook, Shirry Clattuc, Saul Diffin, Claude Offaw, Marvell Veder, and Condit Laverty.
Now with 240 individuals you can't govern the whole planet. So basically these co-laterals stayed on Cadwal and performed other duties, now the six families also needed servants and all kinds of laborers to keep running the society, and this was done by the runaways and immigrants who had migrated with them to Cadwal.
Yipton had long been a tourist attraction in its own right. Ferries from Araminta Station conveyed tourists to Yipton, where they were housed in the Arcady Inn: a ramshackle structure five stories high built entirely of bamboo poles and palm fronds. On the terrace Yip girls served gin slings, sundowners, coconut toddy: all formulated, brewed or distilled at Yipton from materials whose nature no one cared to learn.
These other immigrants were known as Yips and they lived specifically as Yiptown, another settlement outside of Araminta Station. These Yips were strange beings and some scientists considered them as an mutation of humans.
We also have lots of politics going on in Conservancy which was initially the owner of the planet Cadwal, now the Conservationists basically resided initially on Earth and they had come up with a charter, where in they had put down the rules regarding the governing of the planet.
The Conservancy also initially supplied funds to the families on Cadwal, but as years went the Conservancy started losing it's influence, and the families started their own business in the form of vineyards, and starting trading goods with other planets for their superb Wine.
Nothing was free. At Yipton, if one requested an after-lunch toothpick, he found the reckoning on his bill.
The Yiptown also become a kind of attraction to tourists, because you could do anything at Yiptown for the right kind of price.
So this is just a basic premise under which our story takes place in, our pov for this story is Glawen Clattuc who has just been assigned his status index, and who now wants to work with Police bureau on Cadwal.
There is so much taking place in this book, that it just blows your mind as you start going deeper into the story, the planets and the people are just amazing to read, and Vance as is his specialty tells us an awesome story, where you have all these things going in parallel.
This is the biggest Jack Vance book I have read, and it's just 540 pages long, but the amount of material compressed in these pages is huge, it's the mastery of Vance who manages to tell us a story in so many few words, but still in a masterful way.
I just love Jack Vance and the world he creates they are unique, beautiful and dangerous, and they are filled with unique individuals.
Halfway along the Perseid Arm, near the edge of the Gaean Reach, a capricious swirl of galactic gravitation has caught up ten thousand stars and sent them streaming off at a veer, with a curl and a flourish at the tip. This strand of stars is Mircea’s Wisp.
Cadwal was first explored by the locator R. J. Neirmann, a member of the Naturalist Society of Earth. His report prompted the Society to dispatch an official expedition to Cadwal, which, upon its return to Earth, recommended that Cadwal be protected as a Conservancy, or natural preserve, secure forever from human settlement and commercial exploitation.
The first book in Cadwal Chronicles is an perfect example of that, the book starts with huge information given to us about the planet Cadwal which has been discovered near the Gaen Reach and due to its unique atmosphere and rich natural environment it has been
declared as a kind of Conservancy.
The three continents of Cadwal were Ecce, Deucas and Throy. They were separated by expanses of empty ocean, unbroken by islands or smaller masses of land, with a few trifling exceptions.
Ecce, long and narrow, lay along the equator: a flat tract of swamp and jungle, netted by sluggish rivers. Ecce palpitated with heat, stench, color and ravenous vitality. Ferocious creatures everywhere preyed upon one another, and made the land unsuitable for human settlement; the Naturalists had attempted not even a wilderness lodge on Ecce.
Deucas, four times as large as Ecce, occupied most of the north temperate zone on the opposite side of the planet, with Cape Journal, the continent’s southernmost extremity, at the end of a long narrow peninsula which thrust a thousand miles below the equator. The fauna of Deucas, while neither as grotesque nor as monstrous as that of Ecce, was yet, in many cases, savage and formidable, and included several semi-intelligent species.
Throy, to the south of Deucas and about equal in area to Ecce, extended from the polar ice well into the south temperate zone. The terrain of Throy was the most dramatic of Cadwal. Crags leaned over chasms; dark forests roared in the wind. Three small islands, all ancient sea-volcanoes, were located off the east coast of Deucas. These were Lutwen Atoll, Thurben Island and Ocean Island. Elsewhere the oceans spread open and empty around the globe.
An enclave of a hundred square miles had been established on the east coast of Deucas, halfway between Cape Journal to the south and Marmion Head to the north. Here was Araminta Station, the agency which monitored the Conservancy and enforced the terms of the Charter.
The planet has three continents out of which only one Deucas can be inhabited by humans the rest of the continents, contain dangerous species indigenous to the planet.
Now with this unique planet which has to be conserved, the charter has determined only few people will be inhabiting the planet, and due to this fact only 240 people will be allowed to live on planet and basically we have total 6 families living here, and from each of the family we will have 20 men and women who will be allowed to live at Araminta Station.
And this is basically done by assigning each individual a status index, and when the individual turns 21 and if his status index is below 20 he or she will have to live the planet or start working as co-laterals.
Six bureaus performed the necessary work: Bureau A: Records and statistics. B: Patrols and surveys: police and security services. C: Taxonomy, cartography, natural sciences. D: Domestic services. E: Fiscal affairs: exports and imports. F: Visitors’ accommodations. The original six superintendents were Deamus Wook, Shirry Clattuc, Saul Diffin, Claude Offaw, Marvell Veder, and Condit Laverty.
Now with 240 individuals you can't govern the whole planet. So basically these co-laterals stayed on Cadwal and performed other duties, now the six families also needed servants and all kinds of laborers to keep running the society, and this was done by the runaways and immigrants who had migrated with them to Cadwal.
Yipton had long been a tourist attraction in its own right. Ferries from Araminta Station conveyed tourists to Yipton, where they were housed in the Arcady Inn: a ramshackle structure five stories high built entirely of bamboo poles and palm fronds. On the terrace Yip girls served gin slings, sundowners, coconut toddy: all formulated, brewed or distilled at Yipton from materials whose nature no one cared to learn.
These other immigrants were known as Yips and they lived specifically as Yiptown, another settlement outside of Araminta Station. These Yips were strange beings and some scientists considered them as an mutation of humans.
We also have lots of politics going on in Conservancy which was initially the owner of the planet Cadwal, now the Conservationists basically resided initially on Earth and they had come up with a charter, where in they had put down the rules regarding the governing of the planet.
The Conservancy also initially supplied funds to the families on Cadwal, but as years went the Conservancy started losing it's influence, and the families started their own business in the form of vineyards, and starting trading goods with other planets for their superb Wine.
Nothing was free. At Yipton, if one requested an after-lunch toothpick, he found the reckoning on his bill.
The Yiptown also become a kind of attraction to tourists, because you could do anything at Yiptown for the right kind of price.
So this is just a basic premise under which our story takes place in, our pov for this story is Glawen Clattuc who has just been assigned his status index, and who now wants to work with Police bureau on Cadwal.
There is so much taking place in this book, that it just blows your mind as you start going deeper into the story, the planets and the people are just amazing to read, and Vance as is his specialty tells us an awesome story, where you have all these things going in parallel.
This is the biggest Jack Vance book I have read, and it's just 540 pages long, but the amount of material compressed in these pages is huge, it's the mastery of Vance who manages to tell us a story in so many few words, but still in a masterful way.
I just love Jack Vance and the world he creates they are unique, beautiful and dangerous, and they are filled with unique individuals.
June 29, 2010
The book takes an unexpected turn about halfway through, when the action inexplicably moves away from the intrigues, infighting, and politics of planet Cadwal. The protagonist, Glawen Clattuc, travels with a reluctant subordinate on a long investigation into various criminal activities. The bulk of this excursion, from the departure at the spaceport until Glawen's inevitable discovery of the criminals, is extraneous to the story and not terribly interesting to read, and during this hundred page expanse the book's energy dwindles to a standstill.
Vance frequently engages in digressions of story and various wandering journeys of the characters, usually very enjoyably, but in this case it doesn't work. The problem appears to be that the otherwise-engaging Glawen is saddled with this reluctant subordinate, who does nothing but resist his actions and thinking, and so is only a burden for Glawen, the story, and the reading.
In every other single way this is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Glawen manages to combine mildly sardonic wit with an earnestness of character, unusual problem-solving, and competence at his trade, which is a melding of the best parts of Vance's usual protagonists. The verbal sparring is delightful to read, as always. The plot wanders a bit but fills the book, and the resolution to all the mysteries are satisfying. Finally, the society of Araminta Station itself, the derivation of the ancient Naturalist Society Charter, is an intriguing exploration of the results of a constrained law of the settlement, and the intrigues for the right for permanent residence is an interesting undercurrent to the book.
Vance frequently engages in digressions of story and various wandering journeys of the characters, usually very enjoyably, but in this case it doesn't work. The problem appears to be that the otherwise-engaging Glawen is saddled with this reluctant subordinate, who does nothing but resist his actions and thinking, and so is only a burden for Glawen, the story, and the reading.
In every other single way this is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Glawen manages to combine mildly sardonic wit with an earnestness of character, unusual problem-solving, and competence at his trade, which is a melding of the best parts of Vance's usual protagonists. The verbal sparring is delightful to read, as always. The plot wanders a bit but fills the book, and the resolution to all the mysteries are satisfying. Finally, the society of Araminta Station itself, the derivation of the ancient Naturalist Society Charter, is an intriguing exploration of the results of a constrained law of the settlement, and the intrigues for the right for permanent residence is an interesting undercurrent to the book.
April 27, 2020
"This book came out in 1988 and I immediately bought a copy and have read it many times since. I always enjoy reading it and I think it is certainly in my top ten of favourite Jack Vance books." was what I wrote on 6 June 2012 when I gave it four stars.
On reading it again I think it deserves five stars. The author creates interesting worlds and Glawen Clattuc is one of the author's more sympathetic main characters.
On reading it again I think it deserves five stars. The author creates interesting worlds and Glawen Clattuc is one of the author's more sympathetic main characters.
September 26, 2018
Araminta Station is a 554 page novel by Jack Vance that was first published in 1987. It is much longer than most of his novels and is a later works written when he was at the peak of his talents. It is also the first novel of three that comprise the Cadwal Chronicles. This the second time I've carefully read this novel and have found it to be the best of the three in the series and one of Vance's finest. It is fascinating, intriguing and one of Vance's better novels. I look forward to reading again in a year or two.
The setting is the distant future, mostly on the planet Cadwal. Old Earth continues to exist and can be readily visited. Cadwal is a planet in the Gaean Reach that was discovered by the Naturalist Society of Earth 900 years previously. Now it is managed by the Naturalist Society under a Charter that has maintained the planet as somewhat of a natural preserve, mostly undeveloped. It is managed by a Conservator plus six bureaus or families of 40 persons each (240 total) who reside at Araminta Station on the continent of Deucas. Each bureau or house is composed of the descendents of families that are descendents of the original six administrators hundreds of years ago. A rigorous social rating or caste system has been established so that only those who score the best (low scores or "index numbers" are better) are considered for possible appointment to one of the bureaus. Once a person turns 21 he or she may be granted "Agency status" as a member of one of the six bureaus if they have a good enough rating, if there is an opening and if they pass an exam. There is a 240 person limit (120 men and 120 women) so most persons at the age of 21 end up becoming "collateral" with almost no authority, minimal prestige and much less opportunity for employment or advancement. Persons who become collateral remain members of the Naturalist Society. Many of them move to a colony called Stroma on the continent of Throy or leave the planet entirely. Persons accepted into the bureau remain in the house of their birth and are considered Cadwal Agents. There is a major division in the Naturalist Society between the Conservationists and the LPFers (Life, Peace and Freedom.) The Conservationists want to adhere strictly to the Charter and keep Cadwal as a preserve. The LPFers (many who are collaterals and reside on Stroma) do not want to follow the Charter and advocate reform by which they mean additional settlements or estates for themselves and allowing the Yips to move to Deucas on a permanent basis.
Laborers are not included in this limit of 240 people, and most of the labor is done by Yips. Yips are described as being tall, blonde haired, and biologically very similar to other people but appear unable to interbreed with other humans. Yips were brought to Cadwal as workers and most of them live on Lutwin Atoll in a city called Yipton. They can sign up to temporary work at Araminta Station for six month periods but are not allowed to live anywhere else on the planet. Yiptown has now become a tourist attraction and is ruled by the leader of the Yips called the "Oomphaw." The population of Yips on the planet is around 100,000 so they far outnumber Naturalist Society members. There are rumors that the Yips want to take over Araminta Station and the continent of Deucas, the most habitable of three continents on the planet because of its temperate climate. Conservationists want to send most or all of the Yips to another planet for resettlement. LPFers want to allow the Yips to expand and settle on the Deucas and elsewhere even though this would probably mean an end to the natural preserve, with Cadwal eventually becoming like any other planet.
Our main protagonist is Glawen Clattuc whose father, Schrade Clattuc, works with the local police called Bureau B. Bureau B. has authority to enforce the Charter and maintain the peace on the planet but allows the Oomphaw of Yiptown to control things on Lutwen Atoll where most of the Yips live. The Bureau also tries to insure that Yips do not have advanced weapons or airships, but there is evidence that Yips have been stealing weapons and parts to assemble a combat airship. The assumption is that they are attempting to arm themselves in order to invade Araminta Station and all of the Deucas continent.
Much of the initial story involves Glawen's growing up as a teenager in this culture, striving and competing to obtain Agency status while being infatuated with several girls and dealing with a few adversaries. He joins Bureau B and is involved in an elaborate on and off world investigation after his girlfriend suddenly disappears during a festival and is thought to have been kidnapped and murdered. This leads to his becoming a captive of a bizarre religious cult on another planet where he is kept in an ancient tomb and expected to help repopulate the religious cult by breeding with the women there, all of the cult men having become infertile. Glawen escapes after six months of confinement only to find that his father is either dead or imprisoned. This promises to lead to another adventure in the sequel novel Ecce and Old Earth.
In Araminta Station and the other Cadwal Chronicles technological and scientific explanations are very minimal so they are science fiction mostly because they involve different planets and is in the distant future. They are among the few Vance novels where a woman (Wayness Tamm) plays a very important role both in her romance Glawen and in the action and plot. In the next two novels in the series she even takes the lead role at times and her character continues to be developed portraying her as intelligent, tenacious, competent and independent.
Araminta Station is an action packed novel, brimming with police investigations, detective work, mystery, social satire, and creative descriptions of different people, cultures and planets (world building) along with many characters and much more character development than we usually find in shorter Vance novels. Although I found it very engaging, the novel is dense with details so that for full appreciation careful reading is necessary and repeated readings continue to unveil interesting complexities. This adds depth to the sociological, psychological and anthropological aspects of the novel while making the investigative and detective aspects of the story even more fascinating. Araminta Station is an excellent novel by one of our great science fiction writers. It can be read as a stand alone novel, but the saga continues in two more volumes that are worth reading, although not up to the same level. Araminta Station is long, complex and detailed so would probably not be a good choice for a person new to the writings of Vance.
The setting is the distant future, mostly on the planet Cadwal. Old Earth continues to exist and can be readily visited. Cadwal is a planet in the Gaean Reach that was discovered by the Naturalist Society of Earth 900 years previously. Now it is managed by the Naturalist Society under a Charter that has maintained the planet as somewhat of a natural preserve, mostly undeveloped. It is managed by a Conservator plus six bureaus or families of 40 persons each (240 total) who reside at Araminta Station on the continent of Deucas. Each bureau or house is composed of the descendents of families that are descendents of the original six administrators hundreds of years ago. A rigorous social rating or caste system has been established so that only those who score the best (low scores or "index numbers" are better) are considered for possible appointment to one of the bureaus. Once a person turns 21 he or she may be granted "Agency status" as a member of one of the six bureaus if they have a good enough rating, if there is an opening and if they pass an exam. There is a 240 person limit (120 men and 120 women) so most persons at the age of 21 end up becoming "collateral" with almost no authority, minimal prestige and much less opportunity for employment or advancement. Persons who become collateral remain members of the Naturalist Society. Many of them move to a colony called Stroma on the continent of Throy or leave the planet entirely. Persons accepted into the bureau remain in the house of their birth and are considered Cadwal Agents. There is a major division in the Naturalist Society between the Conservationists and the LPFers (Life, Peace and Freedom.) The Conservationists want to adhere strictly to the Charter and keep Cadwal as a preserve. The LPFers (many who are collaterals and reside on Stroma) do not want to follow the Charter and advocate reform by which they mean additional settlements or estates for themselves and allowing the Yips to move to Deucas on a permanent basis.
Laborers are not included in this limit of 240 people, and most of the labor is done by Yips. Yips are described as being tall, blonde haired, and biologically very similar to other people but appear unable to interbreed with other humans. Yips were brought to Cadwal as workers and most of them live on Lutwin Atoll in a city called Yipton. They can sign up to temporary work at Araminta Station for six month periods but are not allowed to live anywhere else on the planet. Yiptown has now become a tourist attraction and is ruled by the leader of the Yips called the "Oomphaw." The population of Yips on the planet is around 100,000 so they far outnumber Naturalist Society members. There are rumors that the Yips want to take over Araminta Station and the continent of Deucas, the most habitable of three continents on the planet because of its temperate climate. Conservationists want to send most or all of the Yips to another planet for resettlement. LPFers want to allow the Yips to expand and settle on the Deucas and elsewhere even though this would probably mean an end to the natural preserve, with Cadwal eventually becoming like any other planet.
Our main protagonist is Glawen Clattuc whose father, Schrade Clattuc, works with the local police called Bureau B. Bureau B. has authority to enforce the Charter and maintain the peace on the planet but allows the Oomphaw of Yiptown to control things on Lutwen Atoll where most of the Yips live. The Bureau also tries to insure that Yips do not have advanced weapons or airships, but there is evidence that Yips have been stealing weapons and parts to assemble a combat airship. The assumption is that they are attempting to arm themselves in order to invade Araminta Station and all of the Deucas continent.
Much of the initial story involves Glawen's growing up as a teenager in this culture, striving and competing to obtain Agency status while being infatuated with several girls and dealing with a few adversaries. He joins Bureau B and is involved in an elaborate on and off world investigation after his girlfriend suddenly disappears during a festival and is thought to have been kidnapped and murdered. This leads to his becoming a captive of a bizarre religious cult on another planet where he is kept in an ancient tomb and expected to help repopulate the religious cult by breeding with the women there, all of the cult men having become infertile. Glawen escapes after six months of confinement only to find that his father is either dead or imprisoned. This promises to lead to another adventure in the sequel novel Ecce and Old Earth.
In Araminta Station and the other Cadwal Chronicles technological and scientific explanations are very minimal so they are science fiction mostly because they involve different planets and is in the distant future. They are among the few Vance novels where a woman (Wayness Tamm) plays a very important role both in her romance Glawen and in the action and plot. In the next two novels in the series she even takes the lead role at times and her character continues to be developed portraying her as intelligent, tenacious, competent and independent.
Araminta Station is an action packed novel, brimming with police investigations, detective work, mystery, social satire, and creative descriptions of different people, cultures and planets (world building) along with many characters and much more character development than we usually find in shorter Vance novels. Although I found it very engaging, the novel is dense with details so that for full appreciation careful reading is necessary and repeated readings continue to unveil interesting complexities. This adds depth to the sociological, psychological and anthropological aspects of the novel while making the investigative and detective aspects of the story even more fascinating. Araminta Station is an excellent novel by one of our great science fiction writers. It can be read as a stand alone novel, but the saga continues in two more volumes that are worth reading, although not up to the same level. Araminta Station is long, complex and detailed so would probably not be a good choice for a person new to the writings of Vance.
March 10, 2017
Oh man this is an outrageous book. The "F#@% you very much"/"But good sir, I would not think of denying you the full balance of f#$%s you have so diligently earned"-style dialogue that Vance deploys to such hilarious effect in The Dying Earth books and Showboat World is here elevated to Shakespearean heights. (Those aren't actual quotes, btw, just a sloppy characterization.) The story here is a total page-turner of a thrilling political space epic-slash-comedy of interplanetary manners, full of subtle twists and laced throughout with dry, dark humor. Vance is a treasure. I know this description might be off-putting to some, but ARAMINTA STATION kinda makes me think of Dune if it had been written by Steely Dan-- ie: Replace Herbert's earnest self-importance & mystical pretensions with a casual materialism & droll scrutiny of the more banal strains of malice that permeate our culture.
It feels nerdy af to level this at a book in which basically every single character is hilariously selfish a-hole, but: overall the gender roles/dynamics seem a little unimaginative. The human culture depicted in this book is bleak af . Of course, this was published 30 years ago, and like my boy Francis I says, our personal guilt is the large part of our eagerness to judge the past by the criteria of the present. Outside of this meta dimension, I think the craft itself on display here seems destined to endure, and this novel will be one of those that seems weirdly ahead of/out of time when read by our distant descendants.
It feels nerdy af to level this at a book in which basically every single character is hilariously selfish a-hole, but: overall the gender roles/dynamics seem a little unimaginative. The human culture depicted in this book is bleak af . Of course, this was published 30 years ago, and like my boy Francis I says, our personal guilt is the large part of our eagerness to judge the past by the criteria of the present. Outside of this meta dimension, I think the craft itself on display here seems destined to endure, and this novel will be one of those that seems weirdly ahead of/out of time when read by our distant descendants.
May 26, 2021
This is advanced Vance. Three times as long as most of his other books, and written entering into his late stage, in which plot, mood and characterisation are given time and space to develop. Even so, I found the pace unusual. The comedy of manners with which the book began transformed into police procedural in a beautifully subtle way, but two-thirds of the way through slid into a protracted travelogue of interstellar travel that, though fun to read, felt as though it belonged in a different novel. Then, all of a sudden, a rapid-fire denouement with what felt like too easy a resolution. I enjoyed it and will read the rest of the series, but I can't help but feel this should really have been two books rather than one.
October 25, 2022
Good, but dated.
I've always been a big fan of Jack Vance, occasionally picking up one of his books for re-reading. Of course, now at 40+ I read it differently then when I was in my late teens or early twenties.
The background of the Cadwel series is the conflict between the conservative Chartists, who want to keep to the strict rules of the Charter, which designates Cadwal as a planet-wide nature reserve, and the progressive Life, Peace and Freedom (LPF) party who want to change the rules to allow for greater settlement of the planet.
In the book the LPFers are painted as wanting change out of egoistical reasons and the Chartists as the noble heroes protecting the planet. If you agree with how the Yips, the 'immigrant' worker class the Chartists want to remove from the planet, are described as well, subhuman really, this is a great book.
Too bad I can't divorce myself from my woke ideas that the Yips are basically described in a dehumanizing way (Yip/Gypsy, coincidence?), and that while the progressive people in the book are all painted as selfish, the Chartists all are very easily with ending lives and all slavishly follow their Charter, without being open for change.
Is the book fun? Yes, the mystery is very good, the dialogs are fun, I still love Vance's writing & characters. Do I think the politics and characterizations are fair? Nope.
I've always been a big fan of Jack Vance, occasionally picking up one of his books for re-reading. Of course, now at 40+ I read it differently then when I was in my late teens or early twenties.
The background of the Cadwel series is the conflict between the conservative Chartists, who want to keep to the strict rules of the Charter, which designates Cadwal as a planet-wide nature reserve, and the progressive Life, Peace and Freedom (LPF) party who want to change the rules to allow for greater settlement of the planet.
In the book the LPFers are painted as wanting change out of egoistical reasons and the Chartists as the noble heroes protecting the planet. If you agree with how the Yips, the 'immigrant' worker class the Chartists want to remove from the planet, are described as well, subhuman really, this is a great book.
Too bad I can't divorce myself from my woke ideas that the Yips are basically described in a dehumanizing way (Yip/Gypsy, coincidence?), and that while the progressive people in the book are all painted as selfish, the Chartists all are very easily with ending lives and all slavishly follow their Charter, without being open for change.
Is the book fun? Yes, the mystery is very good, the dialogs are fun, I still love Vance's writing & characters. Do I think the politics and characterizations are fair? Nope.
January 18, 2022
The first book of the Cadwal Chronicles, the last of Vance's SF series, Araminta Station is unusual in its length: at some 530 pages it is far longer than most of Vance's SF novels, and longer even than the fantasy Suldrun's Garden. This gives the book a different feel to other Vance works, despite it having many of the author's signature traits. There is a young male protagonist, perilous situations and bizarre cultures, all enriched by Vancean description and dialogue. But there is also a numerous cast of central characters, and the author takes his time to slowly introduce their society and its environment to the reader, while gradually revealing the complex intrigue that is the background to the story. I look forward to its resolution in the other two volumes of the trilogy.
November 6, 2021
Classic SF and classic Vance style, witty and funny.
July 29, 2016
The first in another trilogy by Vance (The Cadwal Chronicles), this one set on the planet Cadwal, orbiting a star in what is known as the Wisp. As is common with Vance, we follow the fortunes of a young man (in this case Glawen Clattuc) growing up in a society with both advantages and injustices.
Cadwal is, because of its natural beauties, its diverse landscapes and complex biosphere, a kind of planet-sized nature reserve and is held in trust by a society of Conservators, whose charter promises preservation of the planet's natural resources, along with its pre-sentient races.
The conservators therefore restrict the number of humans living on the planet and employ temporary immigrant labour in the form of Yips, inscrutable blonde-haired humans who appear to have diverged slightly on the evolutionary route. The Yips, however, appear to have settled in, and are expanding their settlements.
Vance is at his most Dickensian in this novel, where grotesques abound. Apart from his father, who appears to be relatively well-balanced and sane, his family is a little monstrous; particularly his scheming social climber of an aunt, Spanchetta, and her loathsome son, Arles.
Glawen joins his father in 'Bureau B' which is, to all intents and purposes, a local police unit and is given various missions to accomplish.
Arles is part of a club of young men who style themselves 'The Bold Lions' and are limited to a membership of eight. They dress in ceremonial lion costumes and are required to conform to the Bold Lions Manifesto and to learn a series of esoteric roars and growls.
To add further to this baroque atmosphere Floreste's Mummers, a travelling theatrical troupe, are based on Cadwal but take their performances on tour throughout the planets of the Gaean Wisp.
This is no idyllic paradise, however, and when Glawen's girlfriend (herself a performer with the Mummers) is murdered, tendrils of corruption begin to emerge. Vance's history as a crime writer serves him well here, since there is a sense of baroque noir surrounding Bureau B and Glawen's clandestine assignments.
Plots strands are left open for the next two books in the trilogy.
Cadwal is, because of its natural beauties, its diverse landscapes and complex biosphere, a kind of planet-sized nature reserve and is held in trust by a society of Conservators, whose charter promises preservation of the planet's natural resources, along with its pre-sentient races.
The conservators therefore restrict the number of humans living on the planet and employ temporary immigrant labour in the form of Yips, inscrutable blonde-haired humans who appear to have diverged slightly on the evolutionary route. The Yips, however, appear to have settled in, and are expanding their settlements.
Vance is at his most Dickensian in this novel, where grotesques abound. Apart from his father, who appears to be relatively well-balanced and sane, his family is a little monstrous; particularly his scheming social climber of an aunt, Spanchetta, and her loathsome son, Arles.
Glawen joins his father in 'Bureau B' which is, to all intents and purposes, a local police unit and is given various missions to accomplish.
Arles is part of a club of young men who style themselves 'The Bold Lions' and are limited to a membership of eight. They dress in ceremonial lion costumes and are required to conform to the Bold Lions Manifesto and to learn a series of esoteric roars and growls.
To add further to this baroque atmosphere Floreste's Mummers, a travelling theatrical troupe, are based on Cadwal but take their performances on tour throughout the planets of the Gaean Wisp.
This is no idyllic paradise, however, and when Glawen's girlfriend (herself a performer with the Mummers) is murdered, tendrils of corruption begin to emerge. Vance's history as a crime writer serves him well here, since there is a sense of baroque noir surrounding Bureau B and Glawen's clandestine assignments.
Plots strands are left open for the next two books in the trilogy.
March 23, 2023
A fascinating, addictive novel about the planet Cadwal, which had been protected as a nature conservancy for thousands of years, and the political machinations that challenge the conservation effort. Glawen Clattuc is our classic Vance hero, who in this book begins to unravel certain mysteries, including the murder of his girlfriend Sessily Veder. His place in the caste system on this planet is unsteady, and enemies from within his house conspire against him and his father, Scharde. An earth girl named Wayness reveals the secret she and her brother guard: that the original Charter, which protects the lands of Cadwal from development, is missing, due to negligence or treachery from The Naturalist Society and a hilarious caricature of self-aggrandizing liberal movements called the LPFers. LPFers, or Peefers, as they’re sometimes known, stands for Life, Peace, and Freedom, and this group purports to stand for the interest of a group of charmingly bucolic folk called Yips, but eventually it turns out that they’re exploiting the Yips and their grand plan is to make themselves feudal masters with Yip servants. Whoops!
Once again, the cultural commentary is biting and accurate, and the overall message against idealism masking authoritarian political extremism is classic Vance. The writing is always beautiful and gets right to the point. The laugh-out-loud moments are constant; usually the butt of the joke is the unself-aware hypocrisy of man, which is a comedic well I never tire of returning to. I loved this book!
Once again, the cultural commentary is biting and accurate, and the overall message against idealism masking authoritarian political extremism is classic Vance. The writing is always beautiful and gets right to the point. The laugh-out-loud moments are constant; usually the butt of the joke is the unself-aware hypocrisy of man, which is a comedic well I never tire of returning to. I loved this book!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2014
Odd. Very odd in fact. I've read a few Jack Vance books in the distant past, and I don't remember them being this odd!
I like the set-up, in particular the fact that Cadwal is a nature reserve which is an entire *planet* which is under threat from unscrupulous people who want to exploit it (humanity obviously doesn't change even in the far future). The society of conservators is highly stratified and very formal, and this leads to the people in the book also being very formal. The dialogue reads like something out of an F Scott Fitzgerald novel, it's incredibly stilted and people converse in full rather than talk to each other in the way that conversation is normally written (e.g. they say "I will not" instead of "I won't"). This dialogue gives a really archaic feeling despite the fact it's set far in the future.
Anyway, the story is pretty gripping and there are some really O_o moments as well as some villains who I just wanted to boo everytime they appeared on the page (Arles and Spanchetta for example).
There was one awful example of "girlfriend in the fridge" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in... put me off the book a bit, and it does seem that Vance does not manage to draw female characters very well. They are either idealised (Wayness, Sessily) or demonised (Spanchetta, leader of the Monomantic cult), and really there are no women in the book who are as completely drawn as Glawen, Kirdy or Arles.
I like the set-up, in particular the fact that Cadwal is a nature reserve which is an entire *planet* which is under threat from unscrupulous people who want to exploit it (humanity obviously doesn't change even in the far future). The society of conservators is highly stratified and very formal, and this leads to the people in the book also being very formal. The dialogue reads like something out of an F Scott Fitzgerald novel, it's incredibly stilted and people converse in full rather than talk to each other in the way that conversation is normally written (e.g. they say "I will not" instead of "I won't"). This dialogue gives a really archaic feeling despite the fact it's set far in the future.
Anyway, the story is pretty gripping and there are some really O_o moments as well as some villains who I just wanted to boo everytime they appeared on the page (Arles and Spanchetta for example).
There was one awful example of "girlfriend in the fridge" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in... put me off the book a bit, and it does seem that Vance does not manage to draw female characters very well. They are either idealised (Wayness, Sessily) or demonised (Spanchetta, leader of the Monomantic cult), and really there are no women in the book who are as completely drawn as Glawen, Kirdy or Arles.
March 31, 2016
Shows its age. The good: the characters are members of families who are guardians of a planet that has been declared the equivalent of a wilderness area. No immigration, no commercial enterprises except in restricted places: airport, visitor's lodge. A lot of discussion of the evils/benefits of wilderness areas, of political systems and who has the power to create and/or protect these areas. An interesting read for these reasons.
The bad: It read like the dialogue sounded in 70's Kung-Fu Movies. Inappropriate use of exclamation in the middle of a paragraph of dialogue. The frequent statements I am an X! (a member of whatever family). Even off planet in areas that have never heard of the families the expectation is that you have heard of his family. Modern communications have certainly passed it by--they us telephones and radios. Not a lot of science. He basically took a nepotistic, family-based governing system and plopped it in outer space. I followed the central character through the book but never felt I knew him.
The bad: It read like the dialogue sounded in 70's Kung-Fu Movies. Inappropriate use of exclamation in the middle of a paragraph of dialogue. The frequent statements I am an X! (a member of whatever family). Even off planet in areas that have never heard of the families the expectation is that you have heard of his family. Modern communications have certainly passed it by--they us telephones and radios. Not a lot of science. He basically took a nepotistic, family-based governing system and plopped it in outer space. I followed the central character through the book but never felt I knew him.
January 15, 2014
I really expected to struggle with this book but I didn't. It isn't like other sci fi aka laid full of jargon and background world building that has nothing to do with the plot.Instead there were likable characters, a gripping interplanetary murder mystery and a believable location. I can see how George RR Martin was influenced by Vane and I cant wait to read the sequel(if I can find a copy). A very entertaining piece of sci fi
May 1, 2012
Based upon the cover illustration alone, I did not expect to travel to a distant world and find myself in an extended homage to Jane Austen. Still, as an Austen fan, I found the discourse either engaging and delightfully frothy, or truly representative of an author without interpersonal social skills. And the plot -- for the story was but some of a life -- was suitably interesting.
May 17, 2012
This is my first Jack Vance book, and I was really expecting to like it, but was disappointed. It's okay, and comes to a satisfactory conclusion, but I almost gave up a couple times at the dry, boring storyline and the odd, ponderous dialogue.
February 22, 2013
Although this is not a seminal work of science fiction it is, nevertheless, probably my favourite book. It's a Jack Vance planetary romance par excellence.
October 14, 2012
One of my favorite SF books. I reread it every so often. Adventure, mystery, and romance - in a completely realized future culture that is both familiar and strange - classic Vance!
August 1, 2012
great story. loved it as a teeenager and wss just as delighted re-reading it again.
January 25, 2022
This is the first in the Cadwal Chronicles trilogy. Cadwal is a mostly-uninhabited world that operates under a conservation Charter that limits how many people can live on it. Araminta Station is the main settlement and home to the main character, young Glawen Clattuc.
The story follows Glawen from age sixteen to twenty-two, while facing several crises. The first crisis is an attempt by another resident of Araminta Station to damage his standing. The second is the disappearance of a girl that Glawen is involved with. Glawen, who is attached to the police force, helps investigate this.
Several crises involve a primitive local people called the "Yips". The Yips are described in a way that makes them seem like natives, even though they're human so they're just as foreign to the planet as the residents of Araminta Station. In any case, the Yips are restricted to living on an island, but they want to expand to the rest of the planet. They repeatedly attempt to stockpile materials that would allow them to do this, possibly by attacking Araminta Station, but they must be thwarted because human expansion on the planet is against the Charter. The Yips are treated quite brusquely, in a way that seems strange to modern readers (the book is from 1987).
Another plot point that grates to modern readers is that someone sexually assaults another character, and they remain free! We find out later that they did suffer a penalty, but not putting them in jail is literally unbelievable.
The final third of the book takes place off-world, as Glawen undertakes visits to numerous planets while investigating the latest plot he had uncovered.
This book contains a mixture of good and bad things. The good is Jack Vance's wonderful dialogues: whenever characters converse they are often sharp and combative. They use their wits to the fullest: any statement is challenged, parsed and rebutted. This may sound tedious but it's actually great, because they use complex language that I can only wish people would use in the real world. Here are a few examples.
Arles, an odious young man, attempts to impress a young woman called Sessily. After he makes his case, she shuts him down rather abruptly:
- “The truth is, Sessily, that I’m one of those fellows who are not satisfied with just the ordinary! I know what is absolutely top quality in this world, and I propose to get it. That means going after it, with no ifs, ands, or buts! I’m not one of this world’s losers! That’s for sure! I’m telling you this so you’ll know the kind of fellow I am! And I’ll tell you something else, quite frankly.” Arles reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m interested in you. Very much so! Don’t you think that’s nice?”
- Sessily pulled away her hand. “No, not really. You should broaden your interests in case I’m not available.”
Next we have a tour guide who has treated the traveling party poorly, but still wants a tip:
- Once back at the hotel, Fader said: “Now, in the matter of my gratuity, ten percent is considered paltry and mean.”
- Shugart said: “What is nothing at all considered, after you refused to take us to the rotunda and threw me in the canal?”
- “Nothing at all is considered careless, and it involves wondering what you are eating when you take your meals.”
- “You make a persuasive point. Very well. You shall have ten percent and think of us however you like. To be candid, I am as unconcerned with your good opinion as you are with mine.”
The final example involves a travel agent that has strong views about which hotel is best:
- “Quite so,” said the adviser. “I cannot in good conscience recommend the Mirlview. Persons of judgment and high connection inevitably select the Rolinda. True, it is expensive, but what of that? If disbursing a dinket or two causes a person pain, he should best stay home, where his frugalities will not offend members of the travel industry."
So much for the dialogues. The bad part of the book is that the story itself isn't very interesting. The various crises aren't that big, and they're mostly unconnected to each other, so there's no overarching story arc. This could have been a collection of short stories, which is something that I don't like as much as a big, meaty novel. Another thing I didn't like is that there are often long passages that describe a new environment, or the practices of its inhabitants, and I find such infodumps boring. The book would have been better if Vance would have slipped this information in as part of the story, or just put aside his desire to do a lot of world-building. As it was, my mood while reading the the book was like a sine wave: high when characters conversed, and low when I had to get through long descriptions, or follow the rather boring Glawen around.
I love Jack Vance's fantasy novels (four Dying Earth and three Lyonesse novels), and I've been looking for more of his work, but unfortunately none of it has been nearly as good. I tried several of his standalone novels; I tried his Demon Princes series; and now I've tried Cadwal Chronicles, and none of it was good. I have made a decision: I'm done with Jack Vance. You gave me seven great novels Jack, and that's enough for any author.
The story follows Glawen from age sixteen to twenty-two, while facing several crises. The first crisis is an attempt by another resident of Araminta Station to damage his standing. The second is the disappearance of a girl that Glawen is involved with. Glawen, who is attached to the police force, helps investigate this.
Several crises involve a primitive local people called the "Yips". The Yips are described in a way that makes them seem like natives, even though they're human so they're just as foreign to the planet as the residents of Araminta Station. In any case, the Yips are restricted to living on an island, but they want to expand to the rest of the planet. They repeatedly attempt to stockpile materials that would allow them to do this, possibly by attacking Araminta Station, but they must be thwarted because human expansion on the planet is against the Charter. The Yips are treated quite brusquely, in a way that seems strange to modern readers (the book is from 1987).
Another plot point that grates to modern readers is that someone sexually assaults another character, and they remain free! We find out later that they did suffer a penalty, but not putting them in jail is literally unbelievable.
The final third of the book takes place off-world, as Glawen undertakes visits to numerous planets while investigating the latest plot he had uncovered.
This book contains a mixture of good and bad things. The good is Jack Vance's wonderful dialogues: whenever characters converse they are often sharp and combative. They use their wits to the fullest: any statement is challenged, parsed and rebutted. This may sound tedious but it's actually great, because they use complex language that I can only wish people would use in the real world. Here are a few examples.
Arles, an odious young man, attempts to impress a young woman called Sessily. After he makes his case, she shuts him down rather abruptly:
- “The truth is, Sessily, that I’m one of those fellows who are not satisfied with just the ordinary! I know what is absolutely top quality in this world, and I propose to get it. That means going after it, with no ifs, ands, or buts! I’m not one of this world’s losers! That’s for sure! I’m telling you this so you’ll know the kind of fellow I am! And I’ll tell you something else, quite frankly.” Arles reached across the table and took her hand. “I’m interested in you. Very much so! Don’t you think that’s nice?”
- Sessily pulled away her hand. “No, not really. You should broaden your interests in case I’m not available.”
Next we have a tour guide who has treated the traveling party poorly, but still wants a tip:
- Once back at the hotel, Fader said: “Now, in the matter of my gratuity, ten percent is considered paltry and mean.”
- Shugart said: “What is nothing at all considered, after you refused to take us to the rotunda and threw me in the canal?”
- “Nothing at all is considered careless, and it involves wondering what you are eating when you take your meals.”
- “You make a persuasive point. Very well. You shall have ten percent and think of us however you like. To be candid, I am as unconcerned with your good opinion as you are with mine.”
The final example involves a travel agent that has strong views about which hotel is best:
- “Quite so,” said the adviser. “I cannot in good conscience recommend the Mirlview. Persons of judgment and high connection inevitably select the Rolinda. True, it is expensive, but what of that? If disbursing a dinket or two causes a person pain, he should best stay home, where his frugalities will not offend members of the travel industry."
So much for the dialogues. The bad part of the book is that the story itself isn't very interesting. The various crises aren't that big, and they're mostly unconnected to each other, so there's no overarching story arc. This could have been a collection of short stories, which is something that I don't like as much as a big, meaty novel. Another thing I didn't like is that there are often long passages that describe a new environment, or the practices of its inhabitants, and I find such infodumps boring. The book would have been better if Vance would have slipped this information in as part of the story, or just put aside his desire to do a lot of world-building. As it was, my mood while reading the the book was like a sine wave: high when characters conversed, and low when I had to get through long descriptions, or follow the rather boring Glawen around.
I love Jack Vance's fantasy novels (four Dying Earth and three Lyonesse novels), and I've been looking for more of his work, but unfortunately none of it has been nearly as good. I tried several of his standalone novels; I tried his Demon Princes series; and now I've tried Cadwal Chronicles, and none of it was good. I have made a decision: I'm done with Jack Vance. You gave me seven great novels Jack, and that's enough for any author.
January 27, 2020
Everyone knows the scifi grandmasters- Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein- but there’s another set, not so heralded- Moorcock, Wolfe, and Vance. Who? Oh, c’mon guys, you know: Michael Moorcock wrote The Dancers at the End of Time series (and a couple of Blue Oyster Cult songs); Gene Wolfe wrote the extraordinary The Book of the New Sun novels, and Jack Vance wrote…Jack Vance.
It’s kinda hard to describe the guy. “All-over-the-place” Cervantes would just about sum him up. The Dragon Masters is stunning and probably the best thing he ever did, a hard scifi story that reads like fantasy and, okay, so Vance is like Heinlein, but then there’s “Cil,” a short story that’s magic and fantasy so he’s Poul Anderson and, well, no. He’s Jack Vance. Pretty much his own category and I’ve long admired him. It’s almost automatic reflex for me to pick up anything I spot of his. That’s how I got Araminta Station.
There it was, cheesy cover and all, sitting on the shelf at Blue Plate Books and I had never heard of it but it was Jack Vance so, mine. And about ¼ of the way I am shaking my head ruefully and laughing out loud because…well, here’s an example:
“Would you like to travel and visit other worlds?”
“I have not thought too much about it. I wonder why everyone asks me that question.”
“I’m sorry if I’m boring you,” said Glawen (page 262)
Seriously, who writes like that, I mean, since the early 1800s? Only genteel Victorian drawing room readers appreciate such conversations. Which is exactly the point here because Vance has created one of the most stolid post-Victorian Victorian societies in his Gaean Reach novels, of which Araminta Station is the first of a trilogy set in that far future, far flung locale.
The little snippet of conversation presented above is between our hero, Glawen, a resident of Araminta Station, and a Yip prostitute. Glawen has been sent “undercover” into Yipton by his uncle, a chief of Bureau B, to sniff out possible revolutionary inclinations by the Yips, a sort of weird peasant working class imported to the planet Cadwal to do the heavy lifting and now intent on making Deucas their own and what in the blue blazes am I talking about? I don’t know! You pretty much have to pick out the plot and backstory and culture and history from context, and it ain’t easy, primarily because Jack Vance insists on using a picaresque, stultified very old fashioned language in this novel. It’s not the first place and time he’s done so: “Cil” referenced above is a classic example, but if you’re not prepared for it, it’s off-putting. Think of Jack Vance as beer: an acquired taste but, once you like it, you really like it.
And I really like it. There are adventures galore in this novel as the intrepid Glawen gets himself into one pickle after another in his effort to acquire Agency status so he can stay on Cadwal or get booted off as excess baggage. There’s murder mysteries and cults and witches and kidnappings and heroes riding to the rescue and it’s like a Robert E Howard and Sax Rohmer story combined into a Lord Bulwer/Jules Verne hybrid. And that’s just the first book. I can imagine what the next two are like.
So if you get a chance, pick it up. But go easy. Beer ain’t for everybody.
It’s kinda hard to describe the guy. “All-over-the-place” Cervantes would just about sum him up. The Dragon Masters is stunning and probably the best thing he ever did, a hard scifi story that reads like fantasy and, okay, so Vance is like Heinlein, but then there’s “Cil,” a short story that’s magic and fantasy so he’s Poul Anderson and, well, no. He’s Jack Vance. Pretty much his own category and I’ve long admired him. It’s almost automatic reflex for me to pick up anything I spot of his. That’s how I got Araminta Station.
There it was, cheesy cover and all, sitting on the shelf at Blue Plate Books and I had never heard of it but it was Jack Vance so, mine. And about ¼ of the way I am shaking my head ruefully and laughing out loud because…well, here’s an example:
“Would you like to travel and visit other worlds?”
“I have not thought too much about it. I wonder why everyone asks me that question.”
“I’m sorry if I’m boring you,” said Glawen (page 262)
Seriously, who writes like that, I mean, since the early 1800s? Only genteel Victorian drawing room readers appreciate such conversations. Which is exactly the point here because Vance has created one of the most stolid post-Victorian Victorian societies in his Gaean Reach novels, of which Araminta Station is the first of a trilogy set in that far future, far flung locale.
The little snippet of conversation presented above is between our hero, Glawen, a resident of Araminta Station, and a Yip prostitute. Glawen has been sent “undercover” into Yipton by his uncle, a chief of Bureau B, to sniff out possible revolutionary inclinations by the Yips, a sort of weird peasant working class imported to the planet Cadwal to do the heavy lifting and now intent on making Deucas their own and what in the blue blazes am I talking about? I don’t know! You pretty much have to pick out the plot and backstory and culture and history from context, and it ain’t easy, primarily because Jack Vance insists on using a picaresque, stultified very old fashioned language in this novel. It’s not the first place and time he’s done so: “Cil” referenced above is a classic example, but if you’re not prepared for it, it’s off-putting. Think of Jack Vance as beer: an acquired taste but, once you like it, you really like it.
And I really like it. There are adventures galore in this novel as the intrepid Glawen gets himself into one pickle after another in his effort to acquire Agency status so he can stay on Cadwal or get booted off as excess baggage. There’s murder mysteries and cults and witches and kidnappings and heroes riding to the rescue and it’s like a Robert E Howard and Sax Rohmer story combined into a Lord Bulwer/Jules Verne hybrid. And that’s just the first book. I can imagine what the next two are like.
So if you get a chance, pick it up. But go easy. Beer ain’t for everybody.
May 31, 2019
I enjoyed it, but it was not like I was expecting. I knew it was a coming of age story, and that part I got right. It's about a youngster named Glawen Clattuc who lives in Cadwal, a world that is set a a planet-wide natural reserve where immigration is heavily restricted. The Naturalist Society of Earth, the institution that set the reserve, has basically disbanded on Earth, but Cadwal continues operating according to its charter, although there are political pressures trying to change that. The planet is managed by a few families, dating back to the original conservators. According to dynastic considerations, on their 16th birthday young people from these families are given "agency status" meaning that they officially belong to the family and can live on Cadwal and have their future solved, or they become "collaterals", with limited rights, who basically have to fend for themselves and possibly migrate. Glawen is close to the cutoff, so it could go both ways for him, depending on who dies or is born before his 16th birthday.
Glawen is a serious, conscientious and hard-working young man. Some could say a bit boring and pompous (although his whole culture is a bit pompous, actually). However, he is very competent at his studies and his part-time job on Bureau B, Cadwal's police force, where his father also works. The Bureau has a lot of work, with the disappearance of a young woman and a possible plot by the Yips to take control of Cadwal.
The Yips are human but have formed a different subspecies, because they can't inter-breed with non-Yips. They are in Cadwal as illegal immigrants, doing menial jobs or otherwise confined to a small island. They are a strange, hermetic people, who are difficult to deal with and never intermingle with outsiders unless there's money in it for them. They aspire to be allowed to settle in Cadwal freely.
So this is the setup... It's a mystery/investigation story, with several plots and intrigues. The political point of view seemed Heinlein-like to me. Our sympathies are supposed to be with the conservators. That's made easier by the fact that the Yips are not natives, but arrived later, and by their being very strange and untrustworthy (yellow peril, anyone?). But still, it seemed debatable that the conservators should have the right to keep the Yips confined because of the planet being a natural reserve. To be fair, it is debated, and there are those in Cadwal who think the Charter needs to be reformed or abolished. But, the people who defend that are depicted unsympathetically, and I think that's a weakness of the book, because there could be a legitimate ethical argument there. It's perhaps, because the book is a product of its time. Also, it is worth mentioning the cavalier attitude of law enforcement towards executing criminals without a proper trial. It's all rather Far West.
The plot, although a bit rambling, is entertaining, and most of the loose ends are tied in the end, although the story is not self-contained, since there are a few plot threads that end in a cliffhanger. The settings are vivid and the dialog is sometimes stilted and sometimes ingenious. I enjoyed it enough to read the sequels. I want to know what happens next.
Glawen is a serious, conscientious and hard-working young man. Some could say a bit boring and pompous (although his whole culture is a bit pompous, actually). However, he is very competent at his studies and his part-time job on Bureau B, Cadwal's police force, where his father also works. The Bureau has a lot of work, with the disappearance of a young woman and a possible plot by the Yips to take control of Cadwal.
The Yips are human but have formed a different subspecies, because they can't inter-breed with non-Yips. They are in Cadwal as illegal immigrants, doing menial jobs or otherwise confined to a small island. They are a strange, hermetic people, who are difficult to deal with and never intermingle with outsiders unless there's money in it for them. They aspire to be allowed to settle in Cadwal freely.
So this is the setup... It's a mystery/investigation story, with several plots and intrigues. The political point of view seemed Heinlein-like to me. Our sympathies are supposed to be with the conservators. That's made easier by the fact that the Yips are not natives, but arrived later, and by their being very strange and untrustworthy (yellow peril, anyone?). But still, it seemed debatable that the conservators should have the right to keep the Yips confined because of the planet being a natural reserve. To be fair, it is debated, and there are those in Cadwal who think the Charter needs to be reformed or abolished. But, the people who defend that are depicted unsympathetically, and I think that's a weakness of the book, because there could be a legitimate ethical argument there. It's perhaps, because the book is a product of its time. Also, it is worth mentioning the cavalier attitude of law enforcement towards executing criminals without a proper trial. It's all rather Far West.
The plot, although a bit rambling, is entertaining, and most of the loose ends are tied in the end, although the story is not self-contained, since there are a few plot threads that end in a cliffhanger. The settings are vivid and the dialog is sometimes stilted and sometimes ingenious. I enjoyed it enough to read the sequels. I want to know what happens next.
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