Customer Reviews

Ports Of Call

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I heard that Jack Vance was slowing down in his old age, but I bought Ports of Call anyway, figuring that bad Vance is better than no Vance at all. Perhaps it was the reduction in my expectations from the negative opinions I'd heard about the book, but Ports of Call came as a very pleasant surprise to me.

It's true that there is nothing of the epic scope of some of Vance's other works in this book. It is also true that there is even less structure to the story of Myron Tany's career as a spacecraft crewman than Vance put in even nearly plotless picaresque adventures such as his Cugel books. Tany just wanders in search of adventure and exotic situations. But that's fine, because he gets in adventures and exotic situations, and they are beautifully written in Vance's elegant style and conceived by Vance's inimitable mind. They're a kick to read even if they don't seem to be leading to some huge climax down the road. The whole "life goes on," "one thing after another" feel of the book even evolves into a kind of theme in itself, causing me to reflect that life itself does not have an arc or a climax. I wonder whether Vance did this on purpose in case he does not have time to complete the series on Myron Tany he obviously contemplates.

When I think of how the other greats, like Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke, sold themselves at the end of their careers, allowing lesser writers to graft themselves to their finest works for marketing purposes, I love Vance even more for doing his own work and staying true to his own vision. Ports of Call proves that he remains the master we know and love. If he's slowing down a bit, becoming a bit more contemplative and deliberate, digressing a bit more, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Jack Vance is now almost 80 years old, and has been writing and publishing fiction for 55 years. (His first story was published in 1945). So it's hardly surprising that this routine space adventure story, while still rich with the inimitable Vance prose and dialogue, is somewhat languid and plotless. The premise is appealing enough, with the standard Vance hero journeying from one exotic locale to another. Unfortunately, this is territory that Vance has explored many times, and it isn't long before the plot runs out of steam, and trails off without any resolution. I'm hoping that Vance's health will allow him to write a sequel that will tie up the loose ends; but Vance has a history of losing interest in some of his stories and either letting them go, or tying them up in a perfunctory manner.

Still, Vance is one of the four or five best writers of SF and fantasy, and long time fans will enjoy this one for what it does have to offer. Those who are not familiar with Vance's work I would advise to try the Planet of Adventure series or the Demon Princes novels, two of Vance's most enjoyable works.

Ports of Call is Jack Vance's latest novel. It follows Myron Tany, who is taken by his eccentric Aunt on a space trip searching for a "fountain of youth", but is marooned by his Aunt when he objects to her falling victim to an apparent fortune-hunter. Myron joins the crew of a sort of tramp freighter, and they visit various typically Vancean worlds. There is next to no plot, and what plot there is is thoroughly unresolved. (I'm sure there is supposed to be a sequel.) Vance is usually discursive, but this takes the cake. Still, the novel is always amusing, and the little societies Vance depicts are as interesting as ever. Worth the time, but not Vance's best work.

As any devoted Jack Vance fan knows, Vance's level of focus varies wildly from book to book- from the tightly plotted and well thought out (Lyonesse, The Dying Earth) to gotta-pay-the-bills one-draft hackiness (the Alastor Cluster series).

I guess he had to pay some bills with this one.

For an author who wrote such a large amount of splendid books, this is rather poor. No magic or even a plot, but too many clichés in the many anecdotes about strange places and strange peoples. Even the 'hero' is rather colourless. It has its moments, but for the rest it is written without much inspiration. A pity.

Vance lovers are a cult, and they won't be disappointed by this offering. I thought Night Lamp was a tired regurgitation of most of Vance's old story ideas, but Ports of Call is much better especially when viewed in an autobiographical light. Most Vance lovers recognize the strong sea faring themes in many of his stories - obviouly he is drawing on his experience as a merchent mariner. Ports of Call nicely captures the flavor of adventure in port combined with Vance's usual imaginative and colorful planetary cultures. Ports of Call is (hopefully) the first in a series since there are a few plot threads not tied up at the end. I highly recommend it for Vance addicts. However it is not up to Vance's highest standards shown in the Planet of Adventure Series or Lyoness Series.

Jack starts this one on the money. It promises to be vintage Vance - well developed character and interesting plot. Sadly, he stumbles mid-way through and never gets back on course. Nice book, where's the rest of it?

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.

Vance has again returned to the Gaean Reach we first became acquainted with in Star King (1964), and the style and atmosphere is remarkably consistent with all the intervening works. This one is a series of vignettes, rather than a plot heading for a particular outcome, and some, expecting a more conventional form, may find this frustrating. You are left with a lot of unanswered questions at the end, which makes one hope that this is in effect just the first chapters of a larger novel in the works. Vance is a grand master, as has been finally formally acknowledged. He's probably nearing the end of his career, but we can hope for a sequel to this book, which keeps to his truly inimitable style admirably.

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.