This book binds together two of van Vogt's better stories, "The Weapon Makers of Isher" and "The Weapons Shops of Isher," published in sequel-prequel order back in 1946 and 1951. These time-hopping, politically convoluted tales follow the struggle between the oppressive (but beautiful) Empress Innelda and the superadvanced libertarian Weapon Shops ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free," reads the storefront sign). Much of the melodramatic plot revolves around the Shops' immortal, ultragenius founder Robert Hedrock, his conflict with the Empress, and their differing visions for the future of humanity, but don't fret too much over the details: van Vogt keeps your head comfortably a-swim in a steady stream of whiz-bang gadgetry, plot twists, and breakneck action. --Paul Hughes About the Author A. E. Van Vogt was a SFWA Grand Master. He was born in Canada and moved to the U.S. in 1944, by which time he was well-established as one of John W. Campbell's stable of writers for Astounding Science-Fiction. He lived in Los Angeles, California and died in 2000.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great book from my youth,
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This review is from: The Empire of Isher (The Weapon Makers and The Weapon Shops of Isher) (Hardcover)
It was so fun to rediscover this classic from my youth. Amazing how timeless some of the issues remain in current society.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally got this book after looking for years!,
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This review is from: The Empire of Isher (The Weapon Makers and The Weapon Shops of Isher) (Hardcover)
I really wanted to read this book again after reading it many years ago. It combines both stories into one book. I'm not a hardcover fan but the price was right.
The story is excellent and the author is one of the best in Sci-Fi. The story is as valid today as it ever was. No local bookstore had this and no used bookstore had ever had it. Glad I found it on Amazon.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You Should Read This Book Now,
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This review is from: The Empire of Isher (The Weapon Makers and The Weapon Shops of Isher) (Hardcover)
I don't know whether Vogt's wonderful short story "The Weapon Shop" preceded these novellas or came after, but I'll bet most of us read that first. It's great to find more on Isher and the Weapon Shops societies, especially now, in a U.S. presidential election year, with all the intense focus on politics and civil liberty. The duo stories deal with some fundamental humans-vs.-government issues which could make you suddenly want to read Thomas Paine.
Vogt seems to have been more interested in writing about the sociological future of men than the technological, although the stuff made possible by the "vibration process" in the story is rather stunning. The problem with the technology, though, is that every time you turn around, one side has a bigger weapon than the other, or a better spy mechanism, or something. There's no static catalog of gadgets; the inventory keeps growing. I found it kind of frustrating not to know just what the good guy had in his arsenal. However, those guns that the Shops are so famous for are hardly even in sight. The guns are really more for smaller, hand-to-hand fighting. This book is about the big picture. You won't be reading this for the gadgetry. You'd better care about mankind and his social organization, or leave this alone. The main thrust of these stories is about the ongoing battle against totalitarian government -- and the parts of the story that happen in the small village of Glay show that bad government affects the entire nation/empire, not simply the urban centers. The biggest and most important weapons are psychological, not material. And that is what makes machinist Fara Clark's experience riveting (bad pun not intended), as he finds out what his little village is actually part of. The scenes in which he is whisked to Information Center, a massive building/machine, are fabulous. Here is where Vogt's perfect attention to detail is evident: the sights and sounds of the place, the reactions of everyone as their names are lighted up, and so on. Vogt knows human behavior well. The story is extremely didactic (Go liberty! Go libertarians), but lots of us don't care, I know I can forgive it -- because it's really satisfying to watch Fara Clark discover that the situation he's in is not bigger or more powerful than he is. By the way: When someone hands you a brochure, you should read it. I won't say more on that. For those who are familiar with "The Weapon Shop" in the short story version -- which presents only Fara Clark's experience-- the book presents some nice twists when we find his son (now a major character) isn't what we thought, and the Weapon Shops' inner workings are revealed. The Weapon Makers, which comes second in this book but was written years earlier than The Weapon Shops of Isher, is much less pedantic, as if Vogt needed several years to think about what he wanted to teach us. That lack of pedantry is a relief, but the earlier work is less developed in other ways too -- it lacks some of the beauty of characterization, fine details, and clarity of plot he achieved for the later story. Hedrock, his original character, is less interesting than the Clarks, or Lucy, or the Empress, yet Vogt tells much of both stories through Hedrock. I don't know why an impersonal observer (I won't tell you what else he is) riding through the cosmos should be the one to make the story real. He doesn't do that so well. I prefer the portions told through other points of view. A.E. Van Vogt was closely associated with L. Ron Hubbard (from whom he may have discovered a love of initials) and evidently even ran a Scientology shop with him for a while. Even so, I find none of the distasteful sexism, worship of capitalism, or pompousness that Hubbard's writing smacks me in the face with, in Vogt's work at all. In fact, corruption in capitalism is given rough treatment here. It is the core of much of the oppression occurring in the story. What Vogt does seem to share with Hubbard is an impressive skill for analyzing human behavior and psychology. But Vogt, in his wide-ranging imagination that came up with this interesting 2-part society, a convincing technological setting and the ability to make the close scenes ring authentic, is by far a superior writer. Remember those brochures.
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