- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books (Jan 15 1999)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312864744
- ISBN-13: 978-0312864743
- Product Dimensions: 21.7 x 14.4 x 1.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #297,921 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Jack Vance, an undisputed king of science fiction, outdoes himself in this space exploration novel. Myron Tany has been given command of a space yacht by his crazy aunt Hester, giving him the perfect chance to live out his childhood fantasies of intergalactic adventure, alien encounters and exotic romance. Set in Vance's Gaean Reach universe, Ports of Call is a veritable catalog of adventures, replete with richly-detailed encounters and characters worthy of the series that will no doubt follow this book. This is a light, often comedic space adventure that suffers only a bit from a meandering plot. Vance fans will revel in a terrific read.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Classic space opera is alive and kicking in this latest interstellar spree from Vance (Night Lamp), who turns 82 this year. In the far future, young Myron Tany seems destined to be a misty-eyed dreamer, pining away for interstellar intrigue, until his rich and eccentric great-aunt, Dame Hester, gains ownership of the space yacht Glodwyn and pushes Myron into the captain's chair. The stresses of family relationships prove too difficult, however, and Hester soon kicks Myron out on his own, forcing him to sign on as a majordomo for the cargo ship Glicca. As one of a hearty and fearless crew, Myron begins the education that makes him a sailor of the spaceways, learning how to placate difficult passengers, romance women of exotic worlds and make it back aboard ship with his purse intact. While his future is unclear at the novel's end, Myron has grown into a confident and capable fellow, if not exactly a swashbuckler. Readers who demand a complicated, hard-science milieu might find Vance's narrative occasionally too chauvinistic, or too simple, or just too plain silly, but this jaunty, politically incorrect tale provides first-rate escapist entertainment.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
As a boy Myron Tany had immersed himself in the lore of space exploration. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
As a boy Myron Tany had immersed himself in the lore of space exploration. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
great vance material, does lack any plot direction,
By A Customer
This review is from: Ports of Call (Paperback)
As a big vance fan, I enjoyed this book a lot. It is almost like a scrapbook of various vance-designed worlds and cultures, paraded one after another as the protagonist travels from world to world. The book could be 10000 pages long and I wouldn't get tired of this, but as I said, I am a Vance fan.The big problem some readers might have with this book is the lack of any overall plot or conflict. I wonder how much of this is a function of Vance's desire not to write the first half of a story without any real guarantees he would be able to finish it (he is quite elderly). In the event, he has finished the sequel, Lurulu, which should be printed late 2004.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Vance,
By James Windle "jimbo" (Canberra Australia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ports of Call (Paperback)
Ports of Call has all the classic Vancean ingredients, interesting travel to a variety of wierd and less than wonderful dystopic worlds where the locals are to say the least idiosyncratic, slippery and all shades on the way to vile. Vance is the master of local colour and characterisation. I particlarly like how he takes out his typical descriptive weapons - detailed descriptions of outre clothing, climate, geography, buildings, the inevitable "Local Bar", local customs and especially the food served at the "local bar" or the hotel that the characters inevitabley book into. Very reminicent of Cudgels Saga and Planet of Adventure. I notice eel is always on the menu somewhere in a vance book. Also inevitably some local huckster it trying to take the hero down.Its as if Jack has rifled through his entire output and picked up bits and peices, sown them into a verbal quilt and called it "Ports of Call". Thats OK - you get good solid Vance in this book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Refreshing to this jaded SciFi reader,
By
This review is from: Ports of Call (Paperback)
This was my first Jack Vance read, and to my surprise, I was sucked right into the ride with the rest of the characters. While some people were displeased with the lack of direction, I found it enjoyable to just wander along with Vance wherever the plot took me. The various worlds are colorful, and the characters interesting and varied. Vance's writing style is refreshingly different after so many SciFi novels that sound the same. There are no cliches - the ideas are fresh, the people are fresh, the dialogue is fresh - it's hard to describe why exactly it feels so different without having you read it for yourself. So do it - if you're a SciFi snob like me, you'l find a good read here.
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