- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Orb Books (July 5 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312869525
- ISBN-13: 978-0312869526
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.9 x 3.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 440 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #442,515 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“Jack Vance is one of the truly important science fiction writers of our time.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Jack Vance’s characters dwell within elaborate structures of social and linguistic artifice, in societies as intricately elegant as Fabergé eggs.” –Locus
“Jack Vance’s characters dwell within elaborate structures of social and linguistic artifice, in societies as intricately elegant as Fabergé eggs.” –Locus
Product Description
Here, collected in one volume, is his Alastor trilogy: three classic SF adventure novels that are Jack Vance at his best.
Trullion: Alastor 2262 / Marune: Alastor 933 / Wyst: Alastor 1716
The Alastor Cluster: A sprawling system of thirty thousand live stars and three thousand inhabited planets, the cluster is ruled by the mysterious Connatic. He sees all and knows all, but with five trillion people contained within such far-flung boundaries, sooner or later something is bound to give.
Trullion: Alastor 2262: An idyllic world where food is bountiful, the oceans are clear, and no one is ever wanting, World 2262 of the Alastor Cluster is in for a rude awakening. The Trill, a once-peaceful race populating the waters of Trullion, are now gambling their lives away on the planet-wide game hussade. What reward could be worth such risks?
Marune: Alastor 933: Though the Connatic knows all, there is one man of whom he knows nothing, one man who knows nothing of himself. Pardero is determined to find out who he is and what cruel enemy forced him to forget his own life. But when he finally returns home to Marune, World 933 of the Alastor Cluster, the mystery only deepens.
Wyst: Alastor 1716: On Wyst, World 1716 of the Alastor Cluster, millions of people live together in harmony, work only a few hours each week, and share the fruits of their labor equally. Wyst seems a utopia. But the Connatic, knowing better than to take utopia at face value, one day decides to investigate-a decision that may cost him his life.
Trullion: Alastor 2262 / Marune: Alastor 933 / Wyst: Alastor 1716
The Alastor Cluster: A sprawling system of thirty thousand live stars and three thousand inhabited planets, the cluster is ruled by the mysterious Connatic. He sees all and knows all, but with five trillion people contained within such far-flung boundaries, sooner or later something is bound to give.
Trullion: Alastor 2262: An idyllic world where food is bountiful, the oceans are clear, and no one is ever wanting, World 2262 of the Alastor Cluster is in for a rude awakening. The Trill, a once-peaceful race populating the waters of Trullion, are now gambling their lives away on the planet-wide game hussade. What reward could be worth such risks?
Marune: Alastor 933: Though the Connatic knows all, there is one man of whom he knows nothing, one man who knows nothing of himself. Pardero is determined to find out who he is and what cruel enemy forced him to forget his own life. But when he finally returns home to Marune, World 933 of the Alastor Cluster, the mystery only deepens.
Wyst: Alastor 1716: On Wyst, World 1716 of the Alastor Cluster, millions of people live together in harmony, work only a few hours each week, and share the fruits of their labor equally. Wyst seems a utopia. But the Connatic, knowing better than to take utopia at face value, one day decides to investigate-a decision that may cost him his life.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Out toward the rim of the galaxy hangs Alastor Cluster, a whorl of thirty thousand live stars in an irregular volume twenty to thirty light-years in diameter. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Out toward the rim of the galaxy hangs Alastor Cluster, a whorl of thirty thousand live stars in an irregular volume twenty to thirty light-years in diameter. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Master of Words and Worlds,
By Thomas Buchmann (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alastor (Paperback)
Jack Vance is one of the all time great authors in any style. His writing sparkles like a bright mountain stream that twists every which way but always knows where it is going. He creates highly imaginative worlds that come alive to the reader and peoples them with characters that are as real as the folks next door. Alastor was the first I read and is still my favorite but all three are great!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Jack Vance- highly recommended!,
By
This review is from: Alastor (Paperback)
This collection of 3 novels shows Vance doing what he does best- creating detailed & exotic worlds with unconventional social systems, and telling an engaging story through interesting characters.'Marune' finds a man without a memory- he slowly learns who he is, and who had stolen his mind and why. The answer leads him into Machiaviellian intrigue in a remarkable land of subtle noblemen. 'Trullion' is a water world with a mania for a competitive sport known as Hussade- and Glinnes Hulden has more to worry about than keeping his team together. All is not well among the deceptively tranquil islands. 'Wyst' is a look at a perfectly egalitarian society that is by no means a Utopia. "The trouble with Utopia is people". This book is worth the price for the settings alone- Vance is the best creator of imaginative and vibrant worlds. The plots are interesting as well- icing on the cake. Vance is a master science-fantasy stylist.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good read,
By A Customer
This review is from: Alastor (Paperback)
Alastor is a compendium of three novels set in the same science fiction universe: Trullion:Alastor 2262 (first published in 1973), Marune:Alastor 933 (1975), and Wyst:Alastor 1716 (1978). The name Alastor refers to a political entity of 3000 worlds comprising trillions of humans all ruled by the Connatic, a benevolent autocrat. Each story is centered on a particular world of Alastor, each with its own peculiar customs, a staple of Jack Vance's writings.Trullion is the weakest of the three stories. Unlike most of Vance's stories, this one never captures the attention of the reader. The wrap up of the murder mystery that is central to the plot is unconvincing as are some of the more arcane plot twists. It should be mentioned that the plot outline of Trullion in the book description above, as well as on the back of the book itself, bears little resemblance to the actual plot. Trullion is about a man who leaves his home to serve in the Connatic's space navy and returns years later to claim his rightful inheritance. Marune is a typical Vance story. The protagonist is a sympathetic character and the world of Marune contains all of the bizarre social conventions that one expects from Vance. My only complaint is that he pulls a deus ex machina to resolve the story. Wyst is a blatant critique of communism. Vance has a grand time ridiculing the inherent contradictions of a society that attempts to enforce a radical brand of 'egalism'. One aspect that makes this story unusual is the personality of Jantiff Rovenstroke, the protagonist. For much of the story Jantiff is a weak willed, unsympathetic, character. Towards the end, he is forced to fend for himself and surprisingly demonstrates much ingenuity and self-reliance. This transformation makes Wyst the best of the three Alastor stories.
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