Customer Reviews

Maske: Thaery

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

 

 

If one book could be said to sum up all Jack Vance's fantasy in one story I would recommend Maske Thaery. Its the most typically Vancian of Jack Vance's fantasy works. Im not saying its his best fantasy work - Planet of Adventure is, closely followed by the Demon Princes. But it encapsulates the best of Vance in one single book. It has a good plot, the swift pace and involved caste system, the outsider hero, and the cold distant - high born love interest (the love interests in Jacks books are always cold distant high born and beautiful). The commical and inevitable bartering over money is present - in this case not between the hero and the inevitable inn keeper - but over the hero's salary. It gives the food, customs, geography, architecture and the local flora and fauna the usual prominent place we expect in a Vance book. The dialogue is classic Vance.

It also has a few delicious twists with a good one right at the end. And the expensive space yatch is thrown in as well.

Vance, simply put, is one of the best (if not *the* best) modern Sci-fi/Fantasy authors. What one must understand is that Vance is not lauded for revolutionary story ideas (though in some cases, he should be). What Vance is regarded for is his ability to create believeable, motivated, intelligent characters with as much (or more) depth than most real people and place them in equally realistic places. His descriptions and explanations of planets, lifeforms, cultures, and technologies are fleshed out with more attention to detail than one would find contained 10 tourist guides of real places.

Maske: Thaery is no exception. While the themes are not exceptional(coming of age, political intrigue, etc), Vance's prose is. The plot and subplots are gripping, the characters are sympathetic and endearing. This is an excellent read from cover to cover. The only negative aspect of the book is its brevity. A sequel is in order, Jack!

More a mystery than a sci-fi, Maske: Thaery has all the elements that make for a classic Vancian read: arch dialogue, a melancholic cynicism toward society, a rippin' plot that keeps one turning the pages, and an abiding fondness for food, tipple, and trees. I'd actually rate this book higher than three stars, but the particular edition depicted by Amazon is a recent reprint from ibooks that utilizes the efforts of the VIE Project, whose volunteers remove edits made by prior publishers so as to restore Vance's works to their original text. It's a noble but ultimately naive objective, as indicated by the unfortunate repetition of sentences on page 4 of the VIE edition. Readers new to Vance might want to instead seek out the original (1976) edition of this book.

I read this book as a teenager and then found it years later...and I confess that I enjoyed it even more. Most fantasy books are so predictably swashbuckling that it's tiresome. Not so with virtually any book by Vance.
In this book, a young man sets out to find his fortune; burdened by a sort of caste system, he is forced to call up all his craft and political savvy, becoming embroiled in a greedy plot with very dangerous people, and he must use every ounce of wit to not only survive,but profit as well!
Set in a fascinating setting and filled as usual with Vance's unique culture, the book is a light but enjoyable read.

I read this book as a teenager and then found it years later...and I confess that I enjoyed it even more. Most fantasy books are so predictably swashbuckling that it's tiresome. Not so with virtually any book by Vance.
In this book, a young man sets out to find his fortune; burdened by a sort of caste system, he is forced to call up all his craft and political savvy, becoming embroiled in a greedy plot with very dangerous people, and he must use every ounce of wit to not only survive,but profit as well!
Set in a fascinating setting and filled as usual with Vance's unique culture, the book is a light but enjoyable read.

From reading the book about ten years ago, I remember considering it at the time as his best so far. It is, in a way, a witty first draft of "Araminta Station", the story of a young man set to discover the world and getting embroiled in politics.

I got this book very quickly after I ordered. Looked brand new. I am very pleased.I would order from this person again

Sometimes I hear people saying how they like the science fiction by Jack Vance, and I tried to read some. I seem unable to find any SF by Jack Vance, his stories always appear adventure stories set against a murky fantasy background. This is a pretty good example of non-SF book by Jack Vance not worth reading.