Showboat World [Paperback]

Jack Vance (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: DAW (October 6, 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879976608
• ISBN-13: 978-0879976606
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,118,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rascals and Rogues Galore!, January 24, 2002

By 

chilke "chilke" (Troy, MT United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Showboat World (Paperback)

Showboat World is probably my favorite Vance story. Some of my other favorites include Trullion, Araminta Station, and The Moon Moth. Apollon Zamp has more character flaws than almost any other Vance "hero" besides Cugel. In my humble opinion, this story would adapt well to film. Brad Pitt would have to put on a few pounds but would be a natural for Zamp. I know there is a role for Patrick Stewart in there somewhere. Can you imagine the showboats? The opera singers and orchestras? The jugglers, clowns, contortionists, midgets, mimes, actors, and so much more! Where is Cecil B. DeMille?

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Picaresque Classic, June 22, 2000

By 

James Beerbower (Hochheim, Germany) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Showboat World (Paperback)

Tells the story of ship captain Apollon Gamp's journey upriver to play at a kings showboat competition - a rather simple framework for a compelling and gorgeous collage of thieves, artists and discordant cultures. The Showboat itself is a gorgeous hybrid of Mississippi boat and travelling opera; requiring stage magicians, dancing girls, catapults and a hereditary caste of engineers.

Along the way Zamp has to deal with (for example) a town that are run by the 'Actuarialists' who require the removal of all references to death or birth from the theatre program. Or Port Whant where wearing yellow is a sexual invitation. Indeed all luxuriance of imagination that we have come to expect from Vance.

Of course he must deal with equally rascally competitors - Lemuriel Boke who wore 'striped garments of black, red and brown, and adorned his head with the triple tiered bonnet of an Ultimate Pantologist; he blanched his skin stark white and spoke in a cellar deep voice.' Or Umber Stroon who, in contrast, 'used terms of grandiloquent vainglory in connection with himself and equally striking figures of disparagement in regard to his competitors.' And a dozen others. Naturally both the journey and winning the contest require every resource of artistry and connivery.

Obviously the novel has a number of similarities with the better known 'Space Opera' but the episodes are probably a bit better because the show boat captains are mixing with human (albeit exotic) rather than alien cultures -- where Vance is a little weaker. The plot, meanwhile, is considerably stronger and just as witty.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Enjoyable, August 1, 2001

By 

Dan Clore (Columbia City, OR United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Showboat World (Paperback)

_Showboat World_ takes place on Big Planet, which was introduced in _Big Planet_ (duh). Here we follow the story of Apollon Zamp as he attempts to travel a great length to enter a showboat contest. The novel is a vastly entertaining picaresque, as he depicts how rival showboat owners attempt to sabotage each other's efforts; how the showboat owner must manage his performers, who do not shrink from stealing from him; how entertainments must be modified to avoid riling the inhabitants of the various towns and cities along the river, each with its own unique culture. The beguiling female lead, Damsel Blance-Aster, provides an element of mystery that is only resolved at the end of the novel. Highly recommended.