- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Underwood Books; Ltd Sgd edition (June 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1887424180
- ISBN-13: 978-1887424189
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Jack Vance has specialized in science fiction decadence since his first stories in 1950. This novel's decadent world is called Fader, whose inhabitants have only leisure to pursue since they have a genetically engineered slave class to do their hard work. Fader is threatened by many dangers, but the pleasure-seeking inhabitants are paralyzed by lack of will. Vance has developed his own vocabulary, sometimes tricky to decipher, to convey an alien speech, but the meaning of his invented words emerges as the story unfolds.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Young Jaro comes home to find a man torturing his mother. The boy repels the stranger, then obeys his mother's command to kill her in order to end her pain. Then the fleeing Jaro is nearly beaten to death by malicious older boys. Brain-damaged, the memory of his early life mostly gone, he is nursed back to health by a childless couple. Adopted by them, Jaro leads a mostly happy life, but though his new parents want him to be an academic, he yearns to become a spaceman and to discover the truth behind his mysterious past. Vance (Throy, 1993), who has been publishing SF for close to half a century and has won just about every major award during that time, is near the top of his form in this leisurely tale of interplanetary adventure and financial skullduggery. The pleasure of Vance's books lies in his mannered, heavily ironic language, and in the bizarre societies he creates. His characters, most of whom are rogues, love verbal fencing and often alternate rapidly between violent hyperbole and terse understatement. His cultures abound in strange social customs, preposterous academic pursuits and elaborate costuming. This new novel is unlikely to appeal to the MTV crowd, but it will yield rich rewards to those with the patience to savor its humorous complexities.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Toward the far edge of the Cornu Sector of Ophiuchus, Robert Palmer's Star shone brilliant white, its corona flaring with films of blue, red and green color. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Toward the far edge of the Cornu Sector of Ophiuchus, Robert Palmer's Star shone brilliant white, its corona flaring with films of blue, red and green color. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
My favorite Vance book...,
This review is from: Night Lamp (Paperback)
This is Vance at his absolute best. Wry humor, imagination, action, great characters, in short, everything a good book needs is right here and done so masterfully! Any Vance is special, this particular Vance is extraordinary. An absolute must-read...
5.0 out of 5 stars
Glorious, quirky, mind expanding, Vance at his best,
By A Customer
This review is from: Night Lamp (Paperback)
Superbly eerie SF masterwork, there isnt another writer in the world like Vance. To criticise him for not describing the detailed functioning of spacecraft is to totally miss the point of this wonderful, haunting author, easily the finest prose stylist ever to work in the field.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Evocative, imaginative, and creative: vintage Vance,
By
This review is from: Night Lamp (Paperback)
Jack Vance is now in his nineties, yet his creativity seems to be unbounded. This book will appeal to both newcomers and those who are already accustomed to Vance's unique style. The (great) story is littered with hundreds of ideas, persons, even whole worlds. Cruelty is always balanced with dry humor, and Vance manages to create believable and likeable (although sometimes quite peculiar) characters. A definite must-read.
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