Ports of Call (Paperback)

~ (Author) "As a boy Myron Tany had immersed himself in the lore of space exploration..." (more)
Key Phrases: four spacemen, ten sols, junior guardian, Dame Hester, Captain Maloof, Dame Betka (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jack Vance, an undisputed king of science fiction, outdoes himself in this space exploration novel. Myron Tany has been given command of a space yacht by his crazy aunt Hester, giving him the perfect chance to live out his childhood fantasies of intergalactic adventure, alien encounters and exotic romance. Set in Vance's Gaean Reach universe, Ports of Call is a veritable catalog of adventures, replete with richly-detailed encounters and characters worthy of the series that will no doubt follow this book. This is a light, often comedic space adventure that suffers only a bit from a meandering plot. Vance fans will revel in a terrific read. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Classic space opera is alive and kicking in this latest interstellar spree from Vance (Night Lamp), who turns 82 this year. In the far future, young Myron Tany seems destined to be a misty-eyed dreamer, pining away for interstellar intrigue, until his rich and eccentric great-aunt, Dame Hester, gains ownership of the space yacht Glodwyn and pushes Myron into the captain's chair. The stresses of family relationships prove too difficult, however, and Hester soon kicks Myron out on his own, forcing him to sign on as a majordomo for the cargo ship Glicca. As one of a hearty and fearless crew, Myron begins the education that makes him a sailor of the spaceways, learning how to placate difficult passengers, romance women of exotic worlds and make it back aboard ship with his purse intact. While his future is unclear at the novel's end, Myron has grown into a confident and capable fellow, if not exactly a swashbuckler. Readers who demand a complicated, hard-science milieu might find Vance's narrative occasionally too chauvinistic, or too simple, or just too plain silly, but this jaunty, politically incorrect tale provides first-rate escapist entertainment.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; Revised edition (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312864744
• ISBN-13: 978-0312864743
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #759,622 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No one writes like Vance, April 29, 2001

By	Daniel H. Bigelow (Cathlamet, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Lesser Work from the Grandmaster, September 3, 2000

By	C. S. Junker "soul_survivor" (Burien, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Amusing but frustratingly incomplete, September 6, 2000

By	Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.