Customer Reviews

The Asutra

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Why do people always relate on the Tchai saga? This Durdane adventure reveals all the richness of Jack Vances' talent.Follow the driven heroe in his colourfull encounters: people, beasts, behaviors, with the "stranger in a strange land" feeling. It's not just "science fiction".

This is the only Durdane book I've read so far, unfortunately they seem to be out of print. It's a typical Vance book; Our hero has strange and resourceful travelling companions. He acts on impulse at critical junctions and saves the day? It's a fast paced book, entertaining and engrossing.

WOW, what a stunning conclusion to the "Durdane Trilogy." Although the ending was somewhat anti-climactic, this is an extraordinary story from the master in this genre. The premise of the storyline is masked until the end of the first book and becomes more apparent in the next two sequels and believe me it's startling and unique. What a journey, absolutely wonderful...

Third volume of the Durdane trilogy. After the previous two, and especially "The Brave Free Men" I found this a bit of a disappoint. Basically it seems like a competent standalone, not very connected to the preceding volumes. That's a bit of a shame given the potential for pulling foreward the character work and political development, instead we're left with a basically stock Vancian character doing stock Vancian things--investigating an alien threat, bluffing his way across borders, getting captured, rescuing himself, triggering major alien social collapse. The details all work fairly well but the larger picture ends up being a bit lacking. I think I prefer Jack Vance when he's a little outside of his comfort zone.

Better than: Planet of Adventure by Jack Vance
Worse than: The Brave Free Men by Jack Vance