Customer Reviews

To Live Forever

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Written in 1956, it was the first scifi novel ( at least that I read) that seemed to deal with adult themes. I don't mean erotics, I mean the kinds of issues that are beyond the sort of juveile space-opera that seemed to be the standard fare of the 40s and 50s. Without giving away the plot, it describes a civilization that, although decadent, has discovered the secret of immortality. But: it cant be given to everyone. A complex system of merit and accomplishment is set up. Advance up the ladder fast enough & you are given immortality. Fail, and you are euthanized. Of course, one strong individual challenges the system, etc. etc. Brilliant! --Michael Reynolds

Wonderful book in the "Man vs. Society" vein. Will never be out of date because it is really a character book and does not dwell on technology. Just read it!

A great book (in quality, it's a pitty it's so short) that reminds me Isaac Asimov's great novels!

The background Vance describes is extremely rich and depicts a Huxley's Big Brother society where all work hard and do their best in order to achieve society's recognition and thus immortality (what is money compared to everlasting?).

I am sure you'll have a lot of fun reading this!

Immortality - and malthusian economics - are at the core of this little tale by Jack Vance. It begins in a carnival, moves onto a perfectly structured society which is beginning to creak under the strain, and ends in a mixture of hope and despair.

The protagonist - not hero - is Gavin Waylock, an immortal sentenced to death for the killing of another immortal. Only as the tale goes on does the harshness of this punishment become apparent. Waylock has spent seven years in hiding, essentially waiting for the time limit on his death sentence to expire, only to provoke another immortal into trying to ruin him, since his role as a "Monster" cannot be proved. Ultimately, Waylock may have to bring down the perfectly ordered society in order to save himself, and is willing to do this without remorse.

This is think-piece sci-fi, but thrillingly told as an adventure. In a society where eveyone can be immortal, everyone cannot be: there are insufficient resources in Clarges for everyone if so. Expanding over the rest of the barbarous world will merely defer the problem, and so is dismissed as a solution. Instead, only the most worthy achieve immortality - and worthiness is determined by a combination of market forces and bureaucracy, although wealth alone will never buy eternal life. When your span is up, your "assassins" arrive in a black limousine, and that's that. Society and humanity are ceaselessly mocked here in ths early Vance work, and for all that's it's a very pretty dystopia in a post-apocalyptic world, there is no great movement for justice here, just a man - and not necessarily a good one - being pushed into a corner and pushing back ruthlesssly.

Ultimately though, Waylock's rebellion may lead to good, even if that is not his intent: perhaps mankind's future lies in the stars after all. The story ends on a little note of hope, that perhaps civilisation is not lost.

Jack Vance has a way with stories. It has been a few years since I read my last Vance book, and I found a copy of this book in my attic. I started reading it a few days ago and found myself reading it from end to end until I was finished. Jack Vance can paint a story like no other. He can set up adult themes and problems and make us laugh with his wit - even on material that from a view should not be funny? I tried to tell a friend of mine to read this book, because I found it very entertaining and amusing. I told them it involved a society that forced citizens to work for the greater good, in order to earn points so they could become immortal - but that slackers would be assassinated. Doesn't sound very funny when you look at it that way! Anyway, it appears I have read every long novel Vance has written, so this is a sad end - I wish he had written more!

This book have a very interesting premise. Some years from now science discovers how to stop the aging process, as a result no one ever dies and the world quickly becomes overpopulated. The following far for resources have devastated society and only one city is left, a huge, enormous metropolis where everything anyone thinks about is attaining immortality. You see the government found a way to solve the overpopulation issue, when they turn eighteen most people in this setting enters a race where they are given treatments to stop their aging, but they are also given a certain number of years to live, when those years are spent they are killed, now advancing in ones chosen profession, gaining a higher and higher social standing or creating things like celebrated works of art or breakthroughs in science will great a person more years, and the most successful gets granted the right to live forever and also have clones made of themselves so that if they die their consciousness is downloaded to a copy.

The "hero" of this book is a man who attained the status of Amaranth, but because he murdered one of the clones of another Amaranth he looses everything. To Live Forever follows this protagonist as he tries to gain back his station in society and again become an Amaranth, this is laced with an amazing presentation of this rather dark future world, some murder plots and lots of other goodies.

The characters of his book is excellent, they have personality and soul. The main character is neither good, nor evil, he is a decent man who is willing to go to extreme lengths to get what he wants, and all the supporting characters to are amazing, nothing in this book is black and white. If I where to complain about anything in this book it is that at times the language is a bit clumsy and some sections get a bit slow. But all in all this is an adult, intelligent and different science fiction book discussing a very interesting topic. It is well worth a read.

This is the first Vance novel I have read. It is definitely old-school science fiction, almost pulp-ish, with a many-twisted plot that is sometimes hard to follow and some thinly drawn characters (particularly the women). But I appreciated Vance's big ideas about the lure of immortality and the lengths people will go to achieve it.

I love this book. At about 185 paperback pages, it is not long, but Vance develops a world that is completely convincing and involving, at least for me. I hated to come up for air and have happily re-read it.

It is written in what I would call a literary fashion, as opposed to an action-oriented fashion. The book starts off with a couple of pages of narrative to describe the location and set the context. This is in contrast to much science fiction which, by intention, starts off with action or snappy dialogue to "hook" the reader. Vance's approach is more literary.

One note: I believe that Silverberg's, "To Live Again" may be a tribute novel to this one. Just a thought, but there are parallels. That one is really good too.

This was a used book but it looked new. I got it very soon after ordering. I would buy from this person again.