The Blue World

by Jack Vance

This is classic a carefully thought-out world, a stratified society, and a man in conflict with its rules. During the space of twelve generations, the descendents of a crash on a water-covered planet have managed to adapt to the marine culture. But they are always at the mercy of the kragen, giant, squidlike monsters. The colonists can communicate with the biggest of these, King Kragen, and must appease him. But finally, one man has had enough of this life of slavery and sacrifice. Can he convince his fellow citizens that they must kill King Kragen? But...how can they do it in a world without weapons?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Pulp, Literature, Novels

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Aka 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.

Reviews

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

by the numbers Jack Vance novel. and by by the numbers I mean:

☑ excellent world-building that creates a complex society, a compelling history for that society, and a richly imagined alien planet complete with fascinating plants and animals, all done with a typically impressive Vancean economy of words;

☑ a brisk narrative that still feels calm and careful, one that slowly builds towards a vaguely libertarian rejection of all forms of coercive authority, whether from idiot humans or the idiot squid-monster known as King Kragen;

☑ a sardonic and taciturn protagonist who chafes and burns at the arrogance and small-mindedness of others while making sure his temper doesn't get the best of him;

☑ dryly ironic humor at the expense of human nature:

☞ the colonists of The Blue World are descended from escaped convicts who fled the Earth; the names within their caste/professional system are based on a complete misunderstanding of their ancestors' various crimes (e.g. "Smugglers" boil varnish, "Malpractors" pull teeth, and our hero is from the "Hoodwink" caste which is responsible for communication between villages);

☛ the highly chauvinist dating/mating/marrying rituals of this society involve men "testing" various women who are interested in them before finally settling on the one who "tests" the best. you can probably guess what "testing" actually means. our hero is surprised to find himself attracted to an independent young miss who refuses to be tested, despite his polite suggestion that he would be quite willing to test her (well, as soon as the lady he is testing later that evening leaves in the morning). the rebellious young miss demands a marriage proposal with no testing taking place beforehand! he finds this both outlandish and oddly fascinating. and she also has some strange ideas about the supposed nobility of their society's ancestors...

all in all: a good job by Vance, per usual.

[Henry Avila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blue Skies, Blue Seas, Blue World, yes indeed an ocean planet not one bit of dry land , imagine people from Earth stranded for eternity there, 300 hundred years, twelve generation by a bunch of admittedly convicted petty criminals living on large rafts.. platforms built from water plants. These reluctant colonists escaped justice by hijacking a space ship which quickly sank, never mind as long as it isn't prison. To give this more interest the quite empty seas are ruled below by King Kragen a monstrous creature a gigantic animal that looks like a swimming brontosaur with flippers, numerous eyes both looking forward and back. The King emerges frequently when annoyed, jumps on the platforms killing many. However Sklar Host is not happy being a virtual slave feeding the sea creature from a type of sponge the humans work hard to grow for survival. But some powerful men begin to think the sea animal is some kind of god led by Barquan Blasdel who shows Sklar his open hate towards him, not even trying to hide it. Cruel, vicious civil war becomes an undeniably fact, butchering commences they say brutally between countrymen the most savage . You would think primitive weapons can't kill very many but you're wrong, humans have a genius for destruction. Mr. Sklar Host has a another problem, more personal, uncertain love, the attractive daughter named Meril of his boss Zander Rohan, the man not enamored of him or his views she is no fan either of fanatics. A consequential incident occurs and Sklar needs to get out of the group real fast so his followers go ...east to form their new community. Still oozing blood flows on water just as easily as on the ground and anger , vile, unending loathing can and will arise no matter what world people live on as the centuries reveal too often. A p[ace so beautiful, peaceful it might be, however the calm looking atmosphere , a sun bright , sunny , the gentle wind touching the sea, rippling the waters , fish swimming contently, giant plants growing from the distant hidden bottom reaching the surface, a paradise but the always need to rule others is unchanging . With only 9,000 inhabitants, still their number will decrease substantially since the evil needs to crush the innocent, again and again as history knows until doom is struck . A hero with an unheroic nature gives him depth if not appeal.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

An astounding Jack Vance novel that isn't part of a series. His best 'standalone' book is generally reckoned to be *Emphyrio* but I think *The Blue World* is just as good, maybe even better... For one thing the setting is more compelling and original: a planet entirely covered by an ocean where the survivors of a spaceship crash live on gigantic lilypads and communicate with each other via semaphore towers.

It is clear from the outset that the settlers who have evolved a simple but pleasant society on this world are the descendants of criminals who were on their way to a penal colony before they took over the spaceship that was transporting them and made a forced landing on a new world. This fact has been forgotten after twelve generations and 'Hooligan', 'Bezzler' and 'Hoodwink' etc have become official caste titles.

The main impediment to the enjoyment of a relative utopia on the peaceful lilypads is the presence of a voracious sea creature that lives in the ocean and regularly raids the 'sponge arbours' of the individual floats. These beasts are called kragen and one is larger and more vicious than the others: King Kragen has somehow become a god who can be appeased with offerings, much to the disgust of a certain Sklar Hast, assistant hoodwink master, who slowly develops a plan to kill King Kragen and liberate his people... But he is opposed by the reactionary intercessors who have a vested interest in preserving the status quo...

*The Blue World* is Vance at his best -- libertarian, adventurous, charming, funny, original, beautifully written science fantasy (as opposed to SF or plain fantasy) taken to the ultimate.

[Jason Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vance squeezes an entire world into 190 pages. Brisk pacing and a very detailed world, but at the heart of the story is an examination of how cultures evolve over time, and how with each generation, the forefathers of a society become more and more mythological, while being less and less understood.

5 very pleased stars.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent standalone with all the hallmarks of Vance's master storytelling.

The foremost of course is the rich, alien world described economically yet with compelling detail and flair. It is an ocean world, devoid of land, where a ship of exiled prisoners on route to a prison planet crashed generations ago. Vance pokes fun at this notion, describing the society as having developed various castes and guilds based on the type of infractions of their forefathers, although these meanings were lost over time. Hence we have Hoodwinks, Malpractors, Larceners, etc.

An adventurous narrative keeps the story quick paced and entertaining, with the protagonist railing against society's oppressive orthodoxies, which here take the form of subservience to King Kragen, a ravenous sea monster, and those who profess to serve, and in fact worship him as a kind of protector and benefactor. This leads to strife and conflict as the society splinters into opposing groups.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

This perfect beach read of a science fiction classic will evoke images of Kevin Costner's "Waterworld" and the sea village Arni during the opening chapter of the PlayStation RPG "Chrono Cross".

A spaceship full of escaping prisoners crash into a world that seems to be covered entirely in one great ocean, and the distant descendants of the survivors have now formed a network of island nations consisting of cozy colonies floating atop giant marine lily pads. They have no remnants of the technology of their ancestors, nor do they have any links to the past but a few relics, the language they speak, and a compilation of journals kept by the first generation. Thus their lives are primitive yet comfortable. Crime has almost been entirely eliminated in their society. They live in huts made of seaweed surrounding a large central village with a lagoon, marketplaces, taverns, and a meeting hall, while each village depends on a series of semaphore towers for news and communication. Indeed, this seems like a utopia situated on an aquatic paradise. But all is not smooth sailing.

The population is divided by castes based on various jobs in the community, but the one most clothed in secrecy is the priest-like Intercessors who worship a 60-foot sea monster named King Kragen. King Kragen is called upon by the priests to get rid of smaller kragen which threaten their fishing, and in turn, King Kragen is allowed to pillage the village food farms. When the monster gets too greedy and gluttonous for comfort, one man starts fulminating the seeds of revolution by making plans to kill the giant beast. This greatly upsets the priests, but is it because of concern about King Kragen's retribution, or because of more nefarious and selfish reasons?

I love books that bring to life deep concepts in a highly entertaining story. Here, author Jack Vance explores how myth and religious dogma are traditions that pass down generational memory, but as time makes us more remote from the source, these traditions become more vague and mysterious, their truths even distorted until new knowledge comes along to unlock the code. And if any class of persons had access to the source knowledge, would this ever be revealed to the general population? If not, why not? Are there perhaps good reasons to believe a society might be better off following the lessons from religious myth rather than knowing the truth, or is discovering truth justified no matter what the cost?

This is a very clever sociopolitical satire with a vividly beautiful fantasy setting. The world-building is skillfully and believably executed, remaining rich without being overly expository or annoyingly "otaku". The language is classy and highly descriptive, though a little on the dry and clinical side. I think that if Jack Vance had instilled a little more personality into his characters, or if the prose was infused with a modicum of spice and funk, this would be a perfect novel.

But as it stands, "The Blue World" is a class-act of science fiction, full of thought-provoking ideas in a setting that feels like a place I would love ,to visit.

SCORE: 4 kragen out of 5

[Carlex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half water lilies

If you have read some of my previous reviews you will realize my taste for aquatic science fiction (among other things). Well, here is another aquatic world, this time from the grand master Jack Vance.

As usual in the author, the most remarkable thing about this novel is the very interesting worldbuilding. Let me explain: a totally aquatic planet in which human beings inhabit a species of giant water lilies and that they have built (that is, that the author has imagined) a society perfectly adapted to this environment. In a world without seasons, with a pleasant climate for humans -but for example without metals-, in which time is measured in generations since the original starship crashed into this sea world. Of course, in this society a conflict arises and… ah!, there is the Kragen, a sea monster that threatens this peaceful existence (I have told you that giant monsters are another of my favorite issues?).

To my regret I have not read as much as I would like of Jack Vance's books but I think I glimpse some patterns in his novels. Apart from the worldbuilding that I have already mentioned, there are the characters who seem a bit eccentric to me, and among them there is the iconoclastic hero who wants to fight an unjust system. About the characters, I do not know exactly what to think. They are a little weird in their behavior, they are so… insubstantial or one-sided; even the hero who is supposed to be the better depicted; and yet they manage in some way to captivate you, so I really don't know what to think.

In short, there is fight, yes, but in the quiet way the author typically describes, and there is also adventure and discovery, all based on this magnificent world without name. So with these ingredients it is easy to get a very entertaining novel that in addition is a “standalone” story, contrary to the sagas that the author has us used to.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Blue World is a 183 page novel that was written by Vance in 1963 and first published in 1966. It is a major expansion of the 62 page novella called The Kragen that Vance had written earlier in 1963. The Kragen is well worth reading on its own but focuses mostly on the giant sea creature called King Kragen and has much less world building and satire. The Blue World should appeal to many general readers and not simply to Vance fans. It would also be a good novel to begin with for those who are not already familiar with the amazing writings of Jack Vance. This is the third time I have read it, and I appreciate it even more now, changing my rating from a 4 to a 5.
For the most recent review and other Vance reviews please see:
https://vancealotjackvanceinreview.bl...

Vance is often at his very best when he creates new worlds, sometimes futuristic ones, often on other planets. They might involve a traveler who visits various planets or different cultures on the same planet. Sometimes, as in the case of The Blue World, it involves people who came from a technologically advanced society who are now marooned, abandoned or simply out of contact with previous knowledge and technology. Usually these tales are infused with wit, irony, social psychological insights and many cultural anthropological issues. Frequently they involve philosophy, religions, manners, customs and various unusual or even bizarre ways of thinking, behaviors and environments. Sometimes our laws of physics are changed or telepathic or other unusual forces are introduced. Vance invariably constructs these worlds with a masterly use of language and amazing imagination and creativity. In The Blue World he creates a wonderfully complex, fascinating, and thought provoking world.

In this stand alone novel, that is not part of any series, Vance introduces a water world society of people whose ancestors originally came from a scientifically advanced society that flew to the Blue World twelve generations ago. Although now largely forgotten by the current generations, these ancestors were convicts being flown to a penal colony on another planet to be imprisoned. But they took control of the ship and force landed it on the Blue World. Each person now belongs to a group or caste of people that is named after the crime their ancestors committed. Each caste has specific job duties and an hierarchal position in the Blue World society. These include Hoodwinks, Bezlers, Hooligans, Swindlers, Intercessors and others. The Hoodwinks, for example, are in charge of the semaphore communication between the towers on various clusters of water pads. They wink their hood to communicate. Swindlers are the fisherman, etc. After twelve generations the total population has increased from 200 people to around 20,000.

There is no land in this water world, only small islands of lily pad like plants anchored by very deep roots to the bottom of the sea. Families or groups of people live on the various pads in simple huts. Each pad cluster uses a 60 to 90 feet high communication tower to flash visual communication signals (lamps or white targets) to other pads. For many generations the residents have provided food for and even worshipped an intelligent, giant squid like sea creature called a kragen, naming this one "King Kragen." At 60 feet long and 30 feet wide he is much larger than other kragens that seem to range from four to fifteen feet in length, with a few monstrous sized ones at 20 feet, a mere third of King Kragen's length. King Kragen has four propulsive vanes, a tough black cartilage, four mandibles, eight palps and a giant turret with four eyes over a foot wide each with two eyes in the front and two in the back. The "Intercessors" are a priestly caste who coordinate the worship, feeding, communication and ceremonies surrounding King Kragen. They claim to have a covenant with King Kragen and communicate with the creature through underwater sound waves and other secret means. They also are at the top of the caste hierarchy and live in luxury while doing little work. Intercessors have a strong vested interest in preserving tradition and the status quo.

King Kragen feeds off the sponges that the people grow for food on arbors around their pads. He also chases away smaller kragens that might try to steal the sponges. In addition to eating much of their food supply, King Kragen also will not allow people to make sea voyages and will attack the person or property of those who speak ill of him or otherwise anger him. Most of the citizens are content with things as they are, although there is some resentment that the Intercessors do not do much work, live in comparative luxury and consider themselves superior.

Sklar Hast is a very independent, resourceful and rather irreligious citizen who objects to what he considers the tyranny of King Kragen, referring to this as "ignoble servility" and "groveling to a sea-beast." When King Kragen fails to protect Sklar's sponge garden from an invading smaller kragen, he decides defend his main food source. His attempts at protecting his property, however, bring him into direct conflict with tradition, the Intercessors who see their authority challenged, and with King Kragen himself. The social, political and psychological manipulation and maneuvering of the citizens is intriguing, highly entertaining and something of a Swiftian satire of other societies.

There are no metal deposits on the water planet of Blue World so tools and weapons are made from bone. By utilizing innovative scientific procedures Sklar and his friends try to create iron and copper by extracting it from blood and other biological sources. In The Blue World we encounter more pure science than in any other Vance novel. It provides insight into how an intelligent population of people survive and evolve their society in a world that has severely limited natural resources.

After my third reading of The Blue World, my appreciation for this captivating novel continues to increase. It is essential reading for any Vance fans, but should appeal to many other readers who might be open to reading an imaginative, creative, well written science fiction novel with Swift like satire.

[Evan Leach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do not be fooled by the cheesiness of this book’s cover, friends. I am ashamed to admit that, in the hubris of youth, I used to walk past Jack Vance’s novels at the used bookstore, smirking at the dated little novels with the goofy cover art. And my copy is apparently not even the cheesiest version of this book…check out this number:



Fortunately, I eventually saw the light and learned that I was oh so wrong. Behind these campy covers is some of the best prose you will find in sci-fi/fantasy (or indeed anywhere). Vance is in my personal holy trinity of sci-fi/fantasy prose writers along with Tolkien and T.H. White, which should come to no surprise to anybody who’s ever read his crisp, flawless writing. Vance’s books tend to be short, often under 200 pages, but that’s just because they don’t have an ounce of fat on them and Vance rarely wastes so much as a single word. This is my sixth Vance book (although my first stand alone novel) and he hasn’t let me down yet.

The Blue World is set on an aquatic planet where the human population live on giant floating “pads” of vegetation. Twelve generations ago, a starship crashed on this nameless world and the survivors’ descendants have been eking out a low-tech existence ever since. Making matters more difficult is that the humans live at the mercy of a giant sea-monster called a Kragen. This monster eats a lot of the humans’ food, and in exchange it doesn’t eat them. It’s not the greatest arrangement from the humans’ perspective, and Sklar Hast decides to finally do something about it. Unfortunately for Sklar, a significant portion of the human population has grown to worship the Kragen as a god, so Sklar’s efforts to rid humanity of the Kragen threatens to tear apart society itself.



Release the Kragen!!!

The plot is great and I’ve already made clear how much I enjoy Vance’s style. This book is probably not the easiest to find, but if you see it hanging around at your local bookstore I recommend you take the plunge.* 4 stars.

*And if you can’t find it, I highly recommend checking out The Demon Prince series or Dying Earth series, which are currently in print and can be found anywhere. If you enjoy science fiction you’ll be glad you did.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published in 1966, TBW revolves around a familiar plot, at least one familiar to Vance and authors like Harry Harrison: a relatively young, somewhat surly guy rebels against the status quo. What is unique to this story concerns the wonderful world Vance develops to tell the tale. 12 or 13 generations ago, it seems a spaceship heading toward a penal planet crashed into the Blue Planet. The blue planet is a water world, although the native flora produces 'pads', something like huge lily pads, that serve as islands for the survivors. Over the generations, the survivors have learned many skills and organized themselves into castes accordingly. The names of the castes are funny as they are derivative of old occupations found in the 'Old Worlds'; advertisemen, scribners, hood-winks, rogues, etc.

Now numbering some 20,000 people from the original stock of 200 or so, most live in relative abundance going about their traditional tasks. Vance builds the world almost in passing-- he is a wonder of utilizing just enough description so the reader feels like a part of the society, knows their technology and so forth. Regarding fauna, the only menace seems to be the kragen, a somewhat intelligent fish thingie. Over the years, one particular kragen, known aptly as 'King Kragen', feeds on the various sponges and so forth grown on the pads; in return, the King keeps lesser kragen at bay. This is a short book, so I will stop with the detailed plotting; basically, one man, Sklar Hast, has had enough with the King Kragen. His first attempt to kill the beast resulting in a huge conclave, where the orthodox members of society condemning him while many in the younger generations applauded his actions. Hast, along with 2000 others, agrees to leave the settled pods and basically start a new colony. The orthodoxy is not pleased with this, however, and among them one man vows to destroy the 'heretics'...

Quick, fast and fun, TBW delivers just the pulp that enamored me to science fiction in the first place-- a strange new world with humans adapting to their new environment. Vance, also as usual, gives us a subtle critique of our society and deftly probes at the human condition. 4 fishy stars!

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

One is immediately immersered in this strange world and somewhat degenerate human society and then the story of a revolution quickly begins.

These people are the descendents of those who fled to this planet escaping from oppression to begin a new life. On this planet devoid of land the world over, only deep blue seas and sporadic floating pads of vegetation that they inhabit, they have revereted to a state of primitiveness, partly due to their lack of metals and other resources, but also due to the ease at which they may subsist on the floats, their thirst for knowledge has disappeared.

Their only problems are the sentient yet monsterous sea creatures that roam the seas helping themselves to the people's farmed food whenever they feel like it. Powerless to oppose them, one in particular makes the vicinity it's permanent residence, and grows large and powerful and becomes known as King Kragen.

I loved the way that they so venerated their ancestors for having the gumption to escape tyranny and leave for a new home while at the same time clinging so devoutly to the tyranny of the King Kragen.

This story is an allogory for every subjegated peoples ever. There will always be those who simply want a peaceful life, those who want freedom no matter what the cost and those who benefit from the subjegation, who's positions of power rely on the tyranny itself. A fascinating exploration of the moral dilemas laid bare when one strives for freedom. Does the end justify the means? Is it best to live on subjegated but in peace? How many lives are worth sacricing before the price of freedom is too high.

All done with Vance's usual eloquence and superb turn of phrase. Reading this has re-invogarated my enthusiasm for his writing. My only criticism is that perhaps it was just a trifle too short; it didn't develop enough upon the protagonist's relationships with his closest companions, nor explore the dreams of his beloved Meron to create a new centre of learning and reinvigorate the people's thirst for knowledge. But this is only minor criticism really, not enough to detract from my verdict that this is a five star classic.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

(4.5) Jack Vance's punchy style drives you through this hyper-masculine look at control, belief, and social interpretation in society. Despite the trappings of being set on another world with strange alien creatures, this book has more in common with 20th century adventure books than it does with what I expect from the sci-fi genre. It is good fun.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is 81 of 111 signed and numbered copies.

[Andrew Hamblin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twelve generations after a "Ship of Space" bound for a penal planet was overthrown by the prisoners and crashed on an entirely ocean planet, the descendants have established a caste society on floats of essentially giant lily pads. They pay a danegeld of delicious sponges to a giant sea monster, King Kragen, who in return protects them from smaller specimens of his kind. But one man, Sklar Hast, rejects the status quo and polarizes the small population of the planet.

This was a great little book. The castes are cute: Hoodwinks communicate between floats using a semaphore of lamps "winked" by removable "hoods"; Swindlers catch ("swindle") fish; Advertisermen (being in advertising is a crime in the future?) handle freediving activities, etc. People make do with limited resources in ingenious ways, although Sklar Hast's group of iconoclasts eventually make technological gains.

In typical Vance fashion, the plot is driven by clever characters scheming against each other. Also in typical Vance fashion: the climax is short with no denouement to speak of (you can see the end of the book fast approaching and wonder how things could possibly resolve). But when the "happily ever after" ending arrives, it almost lends the book a fairy tale quality.

One of my favorite standalone Vance novels so far.

[Jaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come

[Roddy Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vance’s heroes tend to be dour, practical realists, who don’t suffer fools gladly and are often cynical opponents of the hypocrisy of dogma, particularly in relation to politics or religion.
Sklar Hast is no exception. Sklar is a hoodwink, i.e., one who winks the hoods of semaphore-esque lamps which are the means of communication between the communities who exist on archipelagos of giant lily pads on a water-covered world.
The inhabitants of this world are the descendants of survivors of a prison ship which (the reader is led to believe) was taken over by the prisoners whilst on its way to a penal planet and crash-landed in this watery paradise. Though the descendants carry their ancestor’s felonies as caste names - the hoodwinks, the larceners, the hoodlums, the incendiarists etc - the people of the Blue World have no idea as to the collective nature of their ancestral roots.
Vance loves these small details of society, and is one of the few authors who goes to great lengths to create functioning societies, in that hierarchies are defined, customs, trade, industry, professions etc., sometimes, it has to be said, to the detriment of character. Vance’s dialogue is often a little mannered, but somehow it generally melds in with the exotic backgrounds and the richness of detail.
Vance makes important points, though. He’s an author very aware of the human capacity for religious need and the human capacity for exploiting that need. In many of his novels the hero sets out to expose a religious leader or figure, who is manipulating or controlling an all too gullible populace for political or financial gain.
In this novel, interestingly, Vance looks at a religion-in-the-making. The populace are being encouraged to think of King Kragen - a large semi-intelligent tentacled crustacean - as a form of benign god. They are thus encouraged by the Intercessors - a group of men who have set themselves up as middle-men between the populace and the sea-beast who keeps their settlement free of lesser Kragen in return for tributes of food.
It’s a short, but clever novel, funny and intriguing, and yet masks a serious examination of society, hypocrisy, religion and the fallibility of tradition and our deepest beliefs.

[Joel J. Molder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine a world of endless ocean. It’s all you’ve ever known since 11 generations before your ancestors—former outlaws—escaped prison and crash-landed on the Blue World. Now your life is ruled by sea-beasts that control society by their voracious appetite until someone says: “Enough is enough!”

If you cross the fable of “The Ant and the Grasshopper” with the film “Waterworld”, the result is this pulpy, well-written tale that rushes ahead at a glorious clip! Something is always happening; and at a mere 175 pages, there’s a lot of story compressed into this little book!

No, the characters aren’t going to wow you, but they’re serviceable. They do their job to sell the concept of a world pressing forward beyond the boundaries of society and reaching new heights. It’s optimistic, and that’s why I love it.

As my first Jack Vance novel, I was impressed with how fast-paced it went. His prose moves along quickly, trusting his reader to grasp the complexity of the world without spelling everything out. He doesn’t hold your hand, but he also doesn’t make his world too murky.

In short, a great adventure novel that gripped me and wouldn’t let go. I’ll definitely be reading more Vance. 5/5 stars.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Blue World by Jack Vance
aka The Kragen

The Blue World is a science fiction novel with an interesting setting of a vast, open ocean world without any landmass. The story behind the idea for the book is that, apparently, Frank Herbet discussed his idea for the novel Dune—which is set in a harsh desert world—with Jack Vance prior to its release, and Vance responded by writing the novella, The Kragen, which was then later expanded into this novel.

The people of the Blue World live in small colonies on a string of large, lilly-pad like floats, and their lives are terrorised by the giant sea creatures known as kragen, who they worship and respect in an almost god-like way. Life for the people of the floats has remained largely the same since their ancestors first arrived on the Blue World, and—whilst never explicitly stated—Vance continually hints that the people came to the planet when a prison ship crash landed, leaving the survivors stranded. The interesting nomenclature of the various peoples who inhabit the floats is testament to this, with groups of people know as the smugglers, swindlers, malpractors and hoodwinkers, which give a clue as to what their ancestors were on that prison ship for.

The story itself focuses on the life of Sklar Hast, a protagonist who, in some ways, is similar to Cugel the Clever, in so much as he shows little emotion and is quite brutal with his actions and words. It becomes apparent early on that he is not happy with the way his fellow people submit to the kragens, and the story revolves around his struggles to convince them to instead stand-up to them. Sklar Hast is first introduced by Vance in the sample below.

A relatively young man, Sklar Hast had achieved his status by the simplest and most uncomplicated policy imaginable: with great tenacity he strived for excellence, and sought to instil the same standards into the apprentices. He was a positive and direct man, without any great affability, knowing nothing of malice of guile and little of tact or patience. The apprentices resented his brusqueness but respected him; Zander Rohan considered him overpragmatic and deficient in reverence for his betters – which was to say, himself.

The real strong point of The Blue World is the witty and amusing dialogue, particularly between the protagonist, Sklar Hast, and those who oppose his point of view, such as Zandar Rohan in the sample below. People who enjoyed Cugel the Clever, Cugel: The Skybreak Spatterlight or Rhialto the Marvellous, will surely enjoy The Blue World in this regard.

Sklar Hast gave Zander Rohan a long slow inspection, as before. He sighed and made his decision. ‘There’s also a passage to the effect that a man shall be Guild-Master only so long as he maintains a paramount proficiency. I challenge not only your right to pass judgment but your rank as Guild-Master as well.’
Silence held the inn. Zander Rohan spoke in a choked voice. ‘You think you can outwink me?’
‘At any hour of the day or night.’

The Blue World is a very entertaining and intriguing novel, and it demonstrates many of Vance's best traits as a writer. It features an intriguing, yet believable fictional world, some very enjoyable dialogue and underneath it all, there is a good science fiction idea there, which is executed very well. This would be a good place to start for those new to Jack Vance's works since it is a short, stand-alone read, and it is a nice blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Blue World" was a bit of a nostalgia trip for me, the last important science fiction novel by Jack Vance I had yet to read.

It sits among "The Dragon Masters", "The Last Castle" and "The Miracle Workers" as one of the tales of societies in turmoil that Vance wrote during the sixties (perhaps reflecting on his own society in turmoil). It should have stayed a short novel like the other three, because the story loses steam towards the end.

By a fortunate chance, I happened to attend an ethnoarchaeology lecture while reading the novel. This put Vance's detailed descriptions of the "material culture" of the floats under a new light! In fact, much of Vance's work could be understood as science-fictional anthropology.

The novel displays Vance's penchant for low-tech mechanical contraptions. Derricks! Pulleys! Signal towers! Vance worked in mining as a youth during the Great Depression, maybe he got the taste for them there.

The signal towers in particular seem to be inspired by a real world technology, the "semaphore line" or "optical telegraph" (which was used in my country, Spain, during the Carlist Wars).

One doesn't close the covers of a Jack Vance novel without having learnt a few words. This time, they were epiphyte and coracle.

[Metaphorosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

CVIE edition

The Blue World is an longer version of Vance's novella "The Kragen". They're very similar, though the novel tells the story with a little more finesse. Essentially, Sklar Hast, one among the descendants of a crashed human ship, becomes dissatisfied and runs into trouble with the authorities. So far, standard Vance.

Sklar, however, is one of the most appealing and sympathetic of Vance's characters. Not only that, but his love interest, Meril Rohan, is unusually independent. The story itself covers how Sklar and others deal with King Kragen - a giant among the native sea life. King Kragen is clearly intelligent, and it's disappointing that Vance spends virtually no time exploring that aspect of the world - not even the history of how humans and kragen first communicated.

The story is in many ways not one of Vance's best, but it is among the most optimistic. Good things consistently happen to good people, and that's unusual in itself in a Vance story.

As always, there's great fun with language. In this case, for example, society is stratified by caste, including Hoodwinks (who, naturally, wink hoods), Advertisermen, and Swindlers.

Worth a read by anyone, and not a bad place to start with Vance. Non-serious fans won't need to read both this and the novella.

[Vanessa Gikas · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a weird and absurd old sci-fi. It was an interesting world with a lot of ridiculous characters, so it was hard to take it seriously at times, but then something really dark would happen that heightened the drama and made everything seem a little less silly. As far as writing, it was well done and it's refreshing to read a book with some elevated vocabulary and sophisticated sentence structure. It gave a sarcastic or arrogant tone to the story, but it was fitting. The whole concept was an analogy full of references to the many phases of civilization and society changing over time, the age of enlightenment, political tyranny and industrial development. But that also goes hand in hand with some pretty outdated ideas around colonization and the arrogant belief that humankind should control nature and expand without limit. I felt sorry for the sea beasts because they were just trying to eat some damn sponge and end up getting their brain nodes ripped out. Reminded me of Moby Dick a bit, and it just doesn't really feel like a relevant take these days. Also, as is typical for a scifi from the 60s, it definitely does not pass the Bechdel test and the one female character who has a voice is treated like she has so much potential (and she definitely does) but despite this she is of little importance, and the men all consider her opinions to be trivial, adorable little ideas. There was even a part where she is said to have a really interesting idea about their ancestors who crashed on this planet centuries before and the author can't even bother to put her theory into words, only mentioning that the heroic male main character was taken aback by her ideas, that the reader never gets to hear but is just left to speculate over. As a side note, there were some really clever ideas and some that seemed almost Dr. Seussian to me, but it was a funny little adventure in the end.

[Rodolfo Santullo · Rating 4 out of 5]

En este año mi lectura de Ciencia Ficción ha estado básicamente dedicada a mi nuevo favorito Robert Silverberg y a aprovechar afortunados descubrimientos en librerías -cómo ocurrió en este caso, en la coqueta Los Miserables- de Jack Vance, quien se cuenta desde hace años entre mis preferidos. Acaso podemos imaginar a Kevin Costner cuando planeaba Waterworld con esta novela entre sus manos, ya que sus premisas son bastante parecidas: nos encontramos en un mundo -en este caso, no es la Tierra- completamente acuático. Los pocos humanos que lo habitan -que iremos entendiendo por diferentes datos y por el nombre de sus castas cómo es que han llegado allí- están instalados en “flotadores”, léase grandes aglomeraciones de plantas acuáticas a las que han aprendido sacar hasta el más mínimo jugo. Son comunidades pacíficas y casi que bucólicas, siempre y cuando mantengan contento a un enorme monstruo conocido cómo el Rey Kragen -algo escapado de la imaginación de HP Lovecraft- quien a su vez los protege de kragens menores, pero al altísimo costo de dejarlos frecuentemente sin cosecha. Pero esta relación con el ser ha crecido hasta volverse religión, por lo que será un antes y un después cuando Sklar Hast decida que es hora de eliminar al déspota. Una aventura desbordante de imaginación, tensión y una reflexión por completo vigente al respecto de la religión, Mundo Azul es imposible de dejar de leer de tan adictiva que es. Acaso si el final no está a la altura de la gran novela que Vance venía construyendo a lo largo de sus poco más de 250 páginas, pero nunca desmerece lo escrito.

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack Vance tiene el don de contar historias en las que no sobra ni falta ninguna frase. Sabe lo que quiere contar y cómo contarlo, sin enredarse en descripciones superfluas. Por eso la lectura de sus libros es tan amena.

En 'Mundo azul' nos presenta un planeta completamente formado de océanos, sin nada de tierra. Los habitantes de este planeta, antiguos colonos humanos, están divididos en castas: los Embacaudores, los Estafadores, los Publicistas... Viven en enormes hojas flotantes y se comunican mediante señales luminosas entre flotador y flotador.

Se dedican a la pesca y a estudiar las antiguas Memorias de su pasado. Todo parece idílico, pero no es así, ya que están sometidos a los continuos ataques de unas bestias, los kragen, que les roban su sustento. Antiguamente, se llegó a un pacto con una de estas bestias, el rey Kragen: a cambio de acabar con otros kragen, se le dejaría pastar a voluntad. Este es el planteamiento de la historia, que recuerda a los relatos de Verne y Melville.

'Mundo azul' es una novela con aventuras, muy entretenida y que deja un buen sabor de boca.

[Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would happen if a group of human beings were stranded on a planet whose surface is almost entirely water? How would they survive and what kind of society would they develop? And what if the water held huge, destructive beasts that need to be mollified with food? That's basically the premise of The Blue World and Jack Vance has created a fascinating setting that's largely believable as well, down to little details such as how the meaning of certain words have changed over time. The book is however somewhat short and unambitious; none of the characters stick out as particularly memorable and it ends exactly as you expect it to. In sum it's one of those books where the setting and premise are far more interesting than the narrative itself.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having now read a majority of Vance's works, I can fairly certainly state that of his stand non-series alone works I found this the best one in terms of setting, pacing, and being original. If one was looking for a single novel length story of Vance's with no prequels and sequels I believe this would be the one I would suggest.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. Hard to put down. It has both hard science fiction elements and a sort of meditative, myth-like quality to the language, which is really nice, and unlike anything else I've read that I can think of. Good story. A great read.

[Mohammed Abdikhader Firdhiye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another show of quality world building detail,ideas,story,characters by Vance.

Not his best written book but themes wise,story wise one of his best ones.

The people of the floats,their history,culture and King Kragen was a vivid,fascinating story. The scenery he painted was great too.

[Tomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun book set in a fantastic setting that never really lives up to its potential. Basically it's a bunch of people living on an ocean worshipping/fighting a kraken (or kragen as they are called in the book). The setup is great, and there's some very clever world building, but the story itself never really amounts to anything.

It actually felt like the first third of a longer book, or the start of a series. I wasn't sure the book was actually going to end until the very last chapter when suddenly everything was tied up in a neat little bow.

I enjoyed the book for the most part, but it's a hard book to recommend unless you enjoy pulpy sci-fi.

[Paul]

#15 1988

[Daryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great Vance novel. I never cease to be impressed by his economy of text; he describes so much with such few well-chosen words, and he does this consistently. The political overtones embedded here are welcome reading at this point in time; I will always approve of my post-WWII narratives about the evils of fascist thought being served with a healthy dose of Vance-sized plot and style. The man never disappoints.