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The Dragon Masters and other stories
Here in one unforgettable volume are three of Jack Vance's best novellas-rich adventures of humanity in crisis, showcasing Vance's stylistic flair, creative ingenuity, wit, and storytelling skill: the Hugo-winning "The Dragon Masters," Hugo and Nebula-winning "The Last Castle", and that gem of science re-born, "The Miracle Workers".
Resilient Joaz Banbeck of Aerlith sends his remarkable dragons against the non-human Basics. Xanten of Castle Hagedorn deals with the alien Meks, in their war of retribution on our own beleaguered, far-future Earth; the pragmatic Sam Salazar outdoes his betters, to save the last remnants of the human race on Pangborn.
Resilient Joaz Banbeck of Aerlith sends his remarkable dragons against the non-human Basics. Xanten of Castle Hagedorn deals with the alien Meks, in their war of retribution on our own beleaguered, far-future Earth; the pragmatic Sam Salazar outdoes his betters, to save the last remnants of the human race on Pangborn.
272 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1962
47 people are currently reading
1113 people want to read
About the author
Jack Vance
779 books1,529 followersAka John Holbrook Vance, Peter Held, John Holbrook, Ellery Queen, John van See, Alan Wade.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
April 5, 2016
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it here again: Science Fiction / Fantasy is best when it is allegory.
Dragon Masters, Jack Vance’s 1962 novella, is on the surface a cool SF story about a far future world where people breed and fight with dragons … and it is also so much more.
Vance explores themes of slavery, free will, destiny and mysticism in a setting that will make the inner nerd in each of us turn the page and look for more. Like Philip K. Dick, Vance figured out early how to pack a lot of message into a tight, economic package that entertains and provokes thought at the same time.
Obliquely reminiscent of Heinlein’s 1964 Farnham's Freehold, Vance tackles some heavy issues in a way palatable for SF/F fans and blends a seamless mix of science fiction and fantasy elements that is enviable even amongst his Grandmaster peers. Jack Vance was close friends with Poul Anderson and Frank Herbert and this work shows strong influences from both.
Like Philip K. Dick, Vance is able to tell the surface fantasy story but can also weave in tendrils of cultural, sociological, and psychological elements that provide for a more complex reading and analysis. Certainly there will be comparisons to Anne McCaffrey’s magnificent The Dragonriders of Pern series, which began in 1967; but Vance’s interconnected systems of slavery and interdependence provide a narrative depth perhaps not approached by McCaffrey’s fine work.
In addition to the story about the human tribes and the dragons, there is a third group that adds greater depth to the story. The Sacerdotes are mystic, esoteric humans who, Vance suggests, have evolved to a higher plane of existence. The tangent between the humans and the sacerdotes reminded me somewhat, and indirectly, like the Bleekmen in Philip K. Dick’s Martian Time-Slip.
Vance’s characterization, frequently a weakness in earlier “pulp” SF is spot on here and his protagonists are drawn in multi-dimensional and dynamic strokes. The central hero, Joaz, is especially interesting and may be on a short list of Vance’s most interesting characters. Joaz’ cross examination of the sacerdote is brilliant; but Joaz discussion with the Weaponeer is the pivotal moment of the story.
The title, like Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer, has a double meaning and I won’t add any spoilers but invite readers to discover this SF/F classic for themselves; it is highly recommended.
Dragon Masters, Jack Vance’s 1962 novella, is on the surface a cool SF story about a far future world where people breed and fight with dragons … and it is also so much more.
Vance explores themes of slavery, free will, destiny and mysticism in a setting that will make the inner nerd in each of us turn the page and look for more. Like Philip K. Dick, Vance figured out early how to pack a lot of message into a tight, economic package that entertains and provokes thought at the same time.
Obliquely reminiscent of Heinlein’s 1964 Farnham's Freehold, Vance tackles some heavy issues in a way palatable for SF/F fans and blends a seamless mix of science fiction and fantasy elements that is enviable even amongst his Grandmaster peers. Jack Vance was close friends with Poul Anderson and Frank Herbert and this work shows strong influences from both.
Like Philip K. Dick, Vance is able to tell the surface fantasy story but can also weave in tendrils of cultural, sociological, and psychological elements that provide for a more complex reading and analysis. Certainly there will be comparisons to Anne McCaffrey’s magnificent The Dragonriders of Pern series, which began in 1967; but Vance’s interconnected systems of slavery and interdependence provide a narrative depth perhaps not approached by McCaffrey’s fine work.
In addition to the story about the human tribes and the dragons, there is a third group that adds greater depth to the story. The Sacerdotes are mystic, esoteric humans who, Vance suggests, have evolved to a higher plane of existence. The tangent between the humans and the sacerdotes reminded me somewhat, and indirectly, like the Bleekmen in Philip K. Dick’s Martian Time-Slip.
Vance’s characterization, frequently a weakness in earlier “pulp” SF is spot on here and his protagonists are drawn in multi-dimensional and dynamic strokes. The central hero, Joaz, is especially interesting and may be on a short list of Vance’s most interesting characters. Joaz’ cross examination of the sacerdote is brilliant; but Joaz discussion with the Weaponeer is the pivotal moment of the story.
The title, like Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Sharer, has a double meaning and I won’t add any spoilers but invite readers to discover this SF/F classic for themselves; it is highly recommended.
September 19, 2021
The dragon masters fight both their fellow humans and enemy aliens using their genetically modified dragon slaves; their enemies, the dragon master-race known as Basics, fight the humans using their genetically modified human slaves. All's well that end's well as genocidal humans and aliens proceed to slaughter each other for reasons not even they appear to understand. It is simply their programming. As the ancient saying goes: it's not a bug, it's a feature.
Vance constructs a chilly treatise on how repellent and annhilating sentient thought and action will always inevitably be. This is the author at his most disdainful and misanthropic. As with The Languages of Pao and To Live Forever, it is almost completely lacking any of his hallmark wit. Despite never being the warmest of writers (although always my favorite of writers), I appreciate Vance the most when his disdain is at least somewhat tempered by an amusement at human foibles. The disgust is quite real here, although the tone itself is not an angry, disgusted one. Rather, it is... disinterested. This pulp "adventure" felt more like an intellectual exercise in proving a depressing thesis rather than a story that was made out of love for the genre or even for storytelling. That said, this excoriation was often very compelling and it made a couple timeless points.
As Norman Spinrad puts it:
Vance constructs a chilly treatise on how repellent and annhilating sentient thought and action will always inevitably be. This is the author at his most disdainful and misanthropic. As with The Languages of Pao and To Live Forever, it is almost completely lacking any of his hallmark wit. Despite never being the warmest of writers (although always my favorite of writers), I appreciate Vance the most when his disdain is at least somewhat tempered by an amusement at human foibles. The disgust is quite real here, although the tone itself is not an angry, disgusted one. Rather, it is... disinterested. This pulp "adventure" felt more like an intellectual exercise in proving a depressing thesis rather than a story that was made out of love for the genre or even for storytelling. That said, this excoriation was often very compelling and it made a couple timeless points.
As Norman Spinrad puts it:
...men have been reduced to something truly less than human by the Basics — not only have they been bred into specialized serving animals like dogs, but their brains can no longer encompass the opposite concept to servitude. But Vance does not even let go of it there — he does not even permit humanity the moral superiority of the victim's position in such a degrading situation. For when men get the chance, they do exactly the same thing, breeding monstrous brute dragons out of their sapient Basic prisoners. Both men and Basics are guilty of a racial crime that goes genocide one better. And who is to say that the dragons, who snarl and bicker in their servitude, have not retained more dignity than the transformed humanoids who sincerely worship their masters?Despite my feeling that this critically acclaimed and very coldblooded early work is one of his less appealing novellas, nearly all of Vance's lauded attributes are in full effect: elegant writing, an unpretentious nonchalance, fascinating but never overwhelming world-building, a wonderful skill at naming places, and above all, a potent ability to illustrate the toxic tunnel vision endemic to the human race. It won the Hugo for Best Short Story in 1963. Fortunately, things have certainly changed for the human race and human nature has certainly progressed since then, he said cynically, channeling Vance.
Read
July 30, 2019 New introduction by Norman Spinrad.
Frontispiece by Richard Powers.
The Dragon Masters first appeared in Galaxy magazine in 1962.
A curious race of people called "sacerdotes" inhabit caves in the tiny world of Aerlith. Every adult, to become a full member of the group, must complete a tand. Once the tand is completed, it is examined by a group of elders. Every curve and angle has a relationship to every other. It presages the ability of the young person to follow the Rationale, the strict code of conduct of the "sacerdotes".
'Tand' - A metal sculpture, made in contemplation, which has great meaning for the initiates.
Frontispiece by Richard Powers.
The Dragon Masters first appeared in Galaxy magazine in 1962.
A curious race of people called "sacerdotes" inhabit caves in the tiny world of Aerlith. Every adult, to become a full member of the group, must complete a tand. Once the tand is completed, it is examined by a group of elders. Every curve and angle has a relationship to every other. It presages the ability of the young person to follow the Rationale, the strict code of conduct of the "sacerdotes".
'Tand' - A metal sculpture, made in contemplation, which has great meaning for the initiates.
April 29, 2022
From the golden age of Science Fiction.
Lizard-men have captured all human planets except Aerlith by using genetically-altered humans as specialized brainwashed slave warriors. On Aerlith, humans have captured a party of invading "Basic" sauroids, and bred them into the same sort of specialized slave warriors.
That is the basic plot.
Now look at how magnificently Jack Vance made it into a tale of grand science fiction and high fantasy. The last stand of the last free humans.
Recent history
"You know the legends as well as I, perhaps better. Our people came to Aerlith as exiles during the War of the Ten Stars. The Nightmare Coalition apparently had defeated the Old Rule, but how the war ended — " he threw up his hands, "who can say?"
"There is a significant indication," said Joaz. "The Basics revisit Aerlith and ravage us at their pleasure. We have seen no men, except those who serve the Basics."
" 'Men?' " Carcolo demanded scornfully. "I call them something else. Nevertheless, this is no more than a deduction, and we are ignorant as to the course of history. Perhaps Basics rule the cluster, perhaps they plague us only because we are weak and weaponless. Perhaps we are the last men; perhaps the Old Rule is resurgent."
"We know nothing of the outer worlds. We are marooned on this miserable world of stone and wind while life passes us by. You assume that Basics rule the cluster, but suppose you are wrong? Suppose the Old Rule has returned? Think of the rich cities, the gay resorts, the palaces, the pleasure islands! Look up into the night sky, ponder the bounties which might be ours! You ask how can we implement these desires?"
The minstrel maiden offers her help in the war
"I will fight beside you," declared Phade, striking a brave attitude. "We will attack the great Basic spaceship, braving the heat rays, fending off the power bolts. We will storm to the very portal, we will pull the nose of the first marauder who shows himself!"
Alien invasion - classic Science Fiction.
And this time the humans have a cunning plan.
Enjoy!
Lizard-men have captured all human planets except Aerlith by using genetically-altered humans as specialized brainwashed slave warriors. On Aerlith, humans have captured a party of invading "Basic" sauroids, and bred them into the same sort of specialized slave warriors.
That is the basic plot.
Now look at how magnificently Jack Vance made it into a tale of grand science fiction and high fantasy. The last stand of the last free humans.
Recent history
"You know the legends as well as I, perhaps better. Our people came to Aerlith as exiles during the War of the Ten Stars. The Nightmare Coalition apparently had defeated the Old Rule, but how the war ended — " he threw up his hands, "who can say?"
"There is a significant indication," said Joaz. "The Basics revisit Aerlith and ravage us at their pleasure. We have seen no men, except those who serve the Basics."
" 'Men?' " Carcolo demanded scornfully. "I call them something else. Nevertheless, this is no more than a deduction, and we are ignorant as to the course of history. Perhaps Basics rule the cluster, perhaps they plague us only because we are weak and weaponless. Perhaps we are the last men; perhaps the Old Rule is resurgent."
"We know nothing of the outer worlds. We are marooned on this miserable world of stone and wind while life passes us by. You assume that Basics rule the cluster, but suppose you are wrong? Suppose the Old Rule has returned? Think of the rich cities, the gay resorts, the palaces, the pleasure islands! Look up into the night sky, ponder the bounties which might be ours! You ask how can we implement these desires?"
The minstrel maiden offers her help in the war
"I will fight beside you," declared Phade, striking a brave attitude. "We will attack the great Basic spaceship, braving the heat rays, fending off the power bolts. We will storm to the very portal, we will pull the nose of the first marauder who shows himself!"
Alien invasion - classic Science Fiction.
And this time the humans have a cunning plan.
Enjoy!
October 27, 2011
Wow, don't quite know what to make of this one. It was enjoyable enough and certainly aspires to a level of profoundness, although I'm not so sure I get it. Aliens enslave humans, genetically altering and breeding them into steeds and super-soldiers. Humans do same to said aliens, creating the "dragons" of the title. The question, I suppose, is whether this is any more ethical than what the aliens are doing. Riding around on dragons certainly seems less grotesque than lizard-like grephs galloping around on humans. There are a number of clashes, between the two main human factions, and, obviously, between humans and aliens. In the end, though, it didn't make a heck of a lot of sense. There is a nifty twist involving a third set of beings, the sacerdotes, which I thought was pretty satisfying. Perhaps I'm attempting to read to much into it...
This novel did win the Hugo award, in 1963, for best novella / short story and not best novel as the cover blurb will lead you to believe. It's Jack Vance, so it's not bad by any means, but this isn't his best work by a long shot. I much prefer the Planet of Adventure series and Tales of the Dying Earth to this.
This novel did win the Hugo award, in 1963, for best novella / short story and not best novel as the cover blurb will lead you to believe. It's Jack Vance, so it's not bad by any means, but this isn't his best work by a long shot. I much prefer the Planet of Adventure series and Tales of the Dying Earth to this.
December 29, 2019
How many times does a man die? What better way to lose a life than in the pursuit of glory?
January 25, 2010
4.5 to 5.0 stars. Jack Vance is THE Master. I just re-read this after having read it first years ago and I think I liked it even more the second time around. Jack Vance creates a great scenario in which on one side you have the "men" who breed dragons as soldiers and on the other the "dragons" who breed "Men" as soldiers. Classic science ficiton as only Jack Vance can do it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Winner: Hugo Award best Novella
Most recently read on Jaunary 24, 2010.
Winner: Hugo Award best Novella
Most recently read on Jaunary 24, 2010.
August 15, 2021
It's hard (and arbitrary) to pick one Jack Vance for a favorite, but I love this one. All of his strengths, few (if any) of his weaknesses. Due for a reread, I think.
Here's Michael Chabon:
“Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”
New York Times, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/mag...
An amazing story, one of Vance's best. Not to be missed.
Many rereads, over the years. Wikipedia article is a fine memory-aid but full of SPOILERS:
Online copy of original 1962 publication at Galaxy Magazine (which failed to renew the copyright):
https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v20...
Here's Michael Chabon:
“Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”
New York Times, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/mag...
An amazing story, one of Vance's best. Not to be missed.
Many rereads, over the years. Wikipedia article is a fine memory-aid but full of SPOILERS:
Online copy of original 1962 publication at Galaxy Magazine (which failed to renew the copyright):
https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v20...
June 10, 2010
What's amazing to me about this book is how much Vance accomplishes in so little space. In a mere 133 pages he establishes setting, character, multiple levels of conflict, and theme. None of these are explored in quite the depth that they deserve, but frankly I did not miss them as the story went rocketing by.
Vance explores the conflict between several mutually-incompatable viewpoints, each convinced that it is completely correct and completely unable to negotiate. The Basics/grephs act to bring disorganized life into their fold (that is to say, capture all humans or exterminate them). The sacerdotes passively wait for humanity to vanish, and interaction or interference with the outsid world spiritually pains them. Banbeck Vale and Happy Valley squabble between themselves in a completely human fashion.
It was certainly a good read, and shows some but not many of Vance's idiosyncrasies. The spiritualism of the sacerdotes--revolving around the analysis of a complicated physical/mathematical construction--is interesting and diverting. It is these little details that I enjoy most about his books.
Vance explores the conflict between several mutually-incompatable viewpoints, each convinced that it is completely correct and completely unable to negotiate. The Basics/grephs act to bring disorganized life into their fold (that is to say, capture all humans or exterminate them). The sacerdotes passively wait for humanity to vanish, and interaction or interference with the outsid world spiritually pains them. Banbeck Vale and Happy Valley squabble between themselves in a completely human fashion.
It was certainly a good read, and shows some but not many of Vance's idiosyncrasies. The spiritualism of the sacerdotes--revolving around the analysis of a complicated physical/mathematical construction--is interesting and diverting. It is these little details that I enjoy most about his books.
August 13, 2013
Two of Jack Vance's most well-regarded novelas from the 1960s are here, in this slim little volume, and they're both treasures of mystery, imagination and highly evocative prose. There is a theme running throughout of genetic augmentation, though handled in a rather unique way, as well as communication, or perhaps the failure of beings to communicate, be they humans theoretically on the same wavelength or else beings with such a gulf of difference between them that understanding simply cannot be reached.
The eponymous story is certainly the louder, brasher of the two works, and I could imagine this being turned into a huge feature film with an excessive budget but truly extraordinary visuals. It takes place on a distant planet in a far future, where two men stake out their territories in opposing valleys. The pioneers themselves are, of course, in the classic tradition, not very disposed to like one another. Joaz is rational and cool-headed, preferring to examine things from a scientific and investigative angle; Carcolo is an obnoxious warmonger without any degree of foresight or subtlety. Vance definitely stacks the deck in Joaz's favour, but they're both actually pretty ruthless and Joaz isn't exactly the kind of person you'd want to cross, either. On the other hand, cross Carcolo and he'd probably foam at the mouth a lot and charge you, and proceed to fall off his steed.
The people on this seemingly rather empty world have clearly forgotten much. Evidently the ancestors of these two landholders came several generations back, and being very much cut off from the bulk of humanity (which may have almost burned itself out due to a series of conflicts), technology is sparse and not terribly advanced. What they have learned to do, though, is breed beasts using the genetic materials of reptilian aliens who come to the planet every few generations. The aliens come to "harvest" humans for some unknown purpose, so it only makes sense that mankind should take its own hostages and do the same thing. Through their respective breeding programmes, they have amassed war dragons and various other beasts of burden. The whole thing seems rather bleak and cruel, especially when the denizens of the planet learn that the alien Basics have been harvesting human genetics for a very similar purpose. yes, the aliens return, but first Joaz and Carcolo face off against each other in a protracted, bloody and pointless battle that only saps both their resources. The spectacles of the various types of enslaved dragons goring one another, men falling everywhere all torn and bloodied, followed by the bloodbath that ensues once the Basics land, are all described in vivid detail by Vance, who shows that he can do complicated action/battle scenes as well as any of his other considerable literary talents.
I haven't even mentioned the brutal ending, or the utterly weird order of priests known as The Sacerdotes, who, perhaps, represent the story's greatest mystery as well as a hint as to what may have happened to the rest of humanity. The Sacerdotes, like the Basics' humanoid slaves, can communicate in the language of men, but do so in such a strange, obfuscative or simply obscure way that understanding and cooperation are all but impossible. Joaz is able to play the Sacerdotes into his hands only after exhaustive difficulty, and they're hardly friends at the story's conclusion. On the other hand, attempts to get the humanoid slaves to see "reason" are so ineffectual as to be laughable, and indeed, many chuckles can be had at the descriptions of verbal impasses and stonewalls reached every time some form of communication is attempted. It's not so much a language barrier as an extreme philosophical disconnect, a complete failure of two dialectics to connect in any fashion. TO a smaller extent, Joaz and Carcolo have the same problem. All the tools for cooperation are there, but the brains that would use them are so contrary that the logical courses of action simply don't suggest themselves. To his credit, Joaz always tries, a determination which he must have gotten from his ancestor (depicted in a flashback sequence to an early Basic landing near the beginning of the narrative), but he's not one to waste time or effort, either, as his fateful decision at the story's close illustrates.
The Last Castle is, on the other hand, an altogether more subdued and methodical affair. It lacks the grand set pieces and sweeping spectacle of its counterpart, but includes a good deal more characters, and thus, much more of Vance's trademark florid and flowing dialogue. Again, we have a future describing humanity existing in far-flung outposts and without much, if any, contact between planets. On this world "gentlemen", seeming to embody the rather pampered colonial spirit, live in lofty castles and exist in a state of luxury. No work is required of them and they spend all their time in scholastic and philosophical endeavours. There's a problem though: Their mechanical slaves, which are, again, some form of hybrid creature, are rebelling, besieging and destroying the castles one by one and brutally massacring the human inhabitants. Only the last castle remains, and its bastion of defenders is pitiful and inexperienced. It will take one man with a great deal of cunning to find a solution to this problem.
As may be clear from here and other reviews, I adore Jack Vance and even lesser work by the man is always eminently readable. This is a concise little book, and its two novelas would be an excellent way to dip into Vance's ouevre and get a taste for what this master writer can deliver. The prose is calculated to roll off the tongue and not just to be read, and while there are no far-flung imaginings and elaborate discourse as can be found in the Demon Princes or Tales of the Dying Earth, Vance's style is still very much intact even in these shorter works. Jack Vance died this spring, and it was at this time, amongst my sadness at a great man lost to the world and my positive feeling that he had lived a long and very productive life, that I realised I hadn't yet read The Dragon Masters, one of his most famous pieces. I found it to be a grand, nearly cinematic spectacle, and this perhaps made it stand out more than The Last Castle. the latter, however, may be a little more typical of Vance in terms of its examination of people and their foibles through the revelation of their many-faceted dialogues, and it also has stronger characters. Anyway, definitely recommended.
The eponymous story is certainly the louder, brasher of the two works, and I could imagine this being turned into a huge feature film with an excessive budget but truly extraordinary visuals. It takes place on a distant planet in a far future, where two men stake out their territories in opposing valleys. The pioneers themselves are, of course, in the classic tradition, not very disposed to like one another. Joaz is rational and cool-headed, preferring to examine things from a scientific and investigative angle; Carcolo is an obnoxious warmonger without any degree of foresight or subtlety. Vance definitely stacks the deck in Joaz's favour, but they're both actually pretty ruthless and Joaz isn't exactly the kind of person you'd want to cross, either. On the other hand, cross Carcolo and he'd probably foam at the mouth a lot and charge you, and proceed to fall off his steed.
The people on this seemingly rather empty world have clearly forgotten much. Evidently the ancestors of these two landholders came several generations back, and being very much cut off from the bulk of humanity (which may have almost burned itself out due to a series of conflicts), technology is sparse and not terribly advanced. What they have learned to do, though, is breed beasts using the genetic materials of reptilian aliens who come to the planet every few generations. The aliens come to "harvest" humans for some unknown purpose, so it only makes sense that mankind should take its own hostages and do the same thing. Through their respective breeding programmes, they have amassed war dragons and various other beasts of burden. The whole thing seems rather bleak and cruel, especially when the denizens of the planet learn that the alien Basics have been harvesting human genetics for a very similar purpose. yes, the aliens return, but first Joaz and Carcolo face off against each other in a protracted, bloody and pointless battle that only saps both their resources. The spectacles of the various types of enslaved dragons goring one another, men falling everywhere all torn and bloodied, followed by the bloodbath that ensues once the Basics land, are all described in vivid detail by Vance, who shows that he can do complicated action/battle scenes as well as any of his other considerable literary talents.
I haven't even mentioned the brutal ending, or the utterly weird order of priests known as The Sacerdotes, who, perhaps, represent the story's greatest mystery as well as a hint as to what may have happened to the rest of humanity. The Sacerdotes, like the Basics' humanoid slaves, can communicate in the language of men, but do so in such a strange, obfuscative or simply obscure way that understanding and cooperation are all but impossible. Joaz is able to play the Sacerdotes into his hands only after exhaustive difficulty, and they're hardly friends at the story's conclusion. On the other hand, attempts to get the humanoid slaves to see "reason" are so ineffectual as to be laughable, and indeed, many chuckles can be had at the descriptions of verbal impasses and stonewalls reached every time some form of communication is attempted. It's not so much a language barrier as an extreme philosophical disconnect, a complete failure of two dialectics to connect in any fashion. TO a smaller extent, Joaz and Carcolo have the same problem. All the tools for cooperation are there, but the brains that would use them are so contrary that the logical courses of action simply don't suggest themselves. To his credit, Joaz always tries, a determination which he must have gotten from his ancestor (depicted in a flashback sequence to an early Basic landing near the beginning of the narrative), but he's not one to waste time or effort, either, as his fateful decision at the story's close illustrates.
The Last Castle is, on the other hand, an altogether more subdued and methodical affair. It lacks the grand set pieces and sweeping spectacle of its counterpart, but includes a good deal more characters, and thus, much more of Vance's trademark florid and flowing dialogue. Again, we have a future describing humanity existing in far-flung outposts and without much, if any, contact between planets. On this world "gentlemen", seeming to embody the rather pampered colonial spirit, live in lofty castles and exist in a state of luxury. No work is required of them and they spend all their time in scholastic and philosophical endeavours. There's a problem though: Their mechanical slaves, which are, again, some form of hybrid creature, are rebelling, besieging and destroying the castles one by one and brutally massacring the human inhabitants. Only the last castle remains, and its bastion of defenders is pitiful and inexperienced. It will take one man with a great deal of cunning to find a solution to this problem.
As may be clear from here and other reviews, I adore Jack Vance and even lesser work by the man is always eminently readable. This is a concise little book, and its two novelas would be an excellent way to dip into Vance's ouevre and get a taste for what this master writer can deliver. The prose is calculated to roll off the tongue and not just to be read, and while there are no far-flung imaginings and elaborate discourse as can be found in the Demon Princes or Tales of the Dying Earth, Vance's style is still very much intact even in these shorter works. Jack Vance died this spring, and it was at this time, amongst my sadness at a great man lost to the world and my positive feeling that he had lived a long and very productive life, that I realised I hadn't yet read The Dragon Masters, one of his most famous pieces. I found it to be a grand, nearly cinematic spectacle, and this perhaps made it stand out more than The Last Castle. the latter, however, may be a little more typical of Vance in terms of its examination of people and their foibles through the revelation of their many-faceted dialogues, and it also has stronger characters. Anyway, definitely recommended.
January 2, 2016
What is particularly astounding about this short novel is how much Vance manages to pack into a small number of pages; and he does so without the result seeming cluttered or contrived.
So we are given a galaxy where men once had an empire but no longer do; a few scattered worlds where humans cling to life in unusual societies (something Vance is very good at creating); the power politics of those societies; a religious cult unfathomable to ordinary men; the conflict between these passive mystics and the more active will of Joaz Banbeck, the main protagonist; philosophy and the problems of inter-species communication, and a dozen other themes. Within just thirty pages Vance somehow manages to conjure up a hugely complete and satisfying vision. And the remainder of the book develops this vision as an integral part of the exciting plot.
There is a wonderful symmetry in the central conceit of men and their genetically engineered dragon slaves at war with dragons and their genetically engineered human slaves...
This book is an extraordinary achievement in the fantasy genre and Vance was an amazing writer.
So we are given a galaxy where men once had an empire but no longer do; a few scattered worlds where humans cling to life in unusual societies (something Vance is very good at creating); the power politics of those societies; a religious cult unfathomable to ordinary men; the conflict between these passive mystics and the more active will of Joaz Banbeck, the main protagonist; philosophy and the problems of inter-species communication, and a dozen other themes. Within just thirty pages Vance somehow manages to conjure up a hugely complete and satisfying vision. And the remainder of the book develops this vision as an integral part of the exciting plot.
There is a wonderful symmetry in the central conceit of men and their genetically engineered dragon slaves at war with dragons and their genetically engineered human slaves...
This book is an extraordinary achievement in the fantasy genre and Vance was an amazing writer.
June 20, 2018
Here's a link to the public domain PDF scan of Galaxy. I believe this is the best reading experience because it has maps and creature illustrations in a story where such things aren't always clear. The Kindle for Mac version is scrambled, so stick with PDF in your viewer.
https://ia601003.us.archive.org/3/ite...
Some kids can't choke down Brussel sprouts and make all kinds of ghastly faces. That was me trying to read and eventually listen to this. It took at least ten attempts to finish and the ending went over my head. Would have been better with the original illustrations.
It's uncomfortable when something should be in my purview, but is not. Vance was baffled by this Hugo and so am I. Here's some more whining: unclear point of view, soggy start, too many factions too fast on too small of a planet, not detailed enough, not grounded, and telly. Kind of wish someone would feed me the punchline so I know what the hubbub is all about.
Audiobook not recommended. The reader is not in agreement with other Vance readers pronunciations.
https://ia601003.us.archive.org/3/ite...
Some kids can't choke down Brussel sprouts and make all kinds of ghastly faces. That was me trying to read and eventually listen to this. It took at least ten attempts to finish and the ending went over my head. Would have been better with the original illustrations.
It's uncomfortable when something should be in my purview, but is not. Vance was baffled by this Hugo and so am I. Here's some more whining: unclear point of view, soggy start, too many factions too fast on too small of a planet, not detailed enough, not grounded, and telly. Kind of wish someone would feed me the punchline so I know what the hubbub is all about.
Audiobook not recommended. The reader is not in agreement with other Vance readers pronunciations.
May 28, 2024
Check out my full, spoiler free, video review HERE. This is a great novella or short novel from Vance. We’ve got humans genetically engineering aliens and aliens genetically engineering humans. The humans have a bit of a civil war going on and the aliens are coming. This one has many different levels to it and Vance’s writing is great. I found this one to be very thought provoking and you could probably read it in one day.
November 17, 2014
-Un Vance a medio camino entre su producción más “seria” y la más “sarcástica”.-
Género. Novela corta.
Lo que nos cuenta. Los rumores de que un sacerdote ha sido visto en los aposentos privados de Joaz Banbeck se extienden. Joaz, el líder de la comunidad de Valle Banbeck, es convocado por Ervis Carcolo, el canciller de Valle Feliz, para conferenciar. Y es que ambas comunidades han tenido muchos enfrentamientos, a lomos de sus monstruos o “dragones”, a lo largo de los años, interrumpidos en ocasiones por los ataques de los grefs, más conocidos como básicos, que en sus naves procedentes de fuera del planeta Airlith atacan a las comunidades y hacen prisioneros entres sus habitantes.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
Género. Novela corta.
Lo que nos cuenta. Los rumores de que un sacerdote ha sido visto en los aposentos privados de Joaz Banbeck se extienden. Joaz, el líder de la comunidad de Valle Banbeck, es convocado por Ervis Carcolo, el canciller de Valle Feliz, para conferenciar. Y es que ambas comunidades han tenido muchos enfrentamientos, a lomos de sus monstruos o “dragones”, a lo largo de los años, interrumpidos en ocasiones por los ataques de los grefs, más conocidos como básicos, que en sus naves procedentes de fuera del planeta Airlith atacan a las comunidades y hacen prisioneros entres sus habitantes.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
June 26, 2024
Letto subito dopo Coraline di Neil Gaiman, scopro che la stella che accompagna l'arrivo dei Basilari di chiama Coralyne...che strana coincidenza!!!
Sul brullo pianeta Aerlith vivono gli ultimi umani, organizzati in una società feudale, dove i signori si combattono a cavallo di ragni giganti per conquistare i territori, contando su diverse razze di draghi che utilizzano come armi. Il personaggio principale è il signore di Valle Barbeck che chiede al rivale della valle confinante di unirsi per combattere il reale nemico che viene dallo spazio e che ha previsto dovrà giungere a breve per renderli schiavi e portarli altrove nell’Universo.
Interessante il mondo creato da Jack Vance, di cui non avevo mai letto nulla. Le fazioni rivali sono ben caratterizzate, come pure I palazzi e le campagne dove si svolge la scena. I draghi sono considerati delle armi più o meno potenti, a seconda delle loro caratteristiche ed esiste anche una casta sacerdotale, rintanata nelle viscere della terra, di cui il protagonista vorrebbe carpire i segreti.
Particolareggiate le descrizioni delle battaglie, sia fra le fazioni rivali, in uno stile tipicamente medievale, sia quelle con gli invasori spaziali, decisamente più fantascientifiche.
Sul brullo pianeta Aerlith vivono gli ultimi umani, organizzati in una società feudale, dove i signori si combattono a cavallo di ragni giganti per conquistare i territori, contando su diverse razze di draghi che utilizzano come armi. Il personaggio principale è il signore di Valle Barbeck che chiede al rivale della valle confinante di unirsi per combattere il reale nemico che viene dallo spazio e che ha previsto dovrà giungere a breve per renderli schiavi e portarli altrove nell’Universo.
Interessante il mondo creato da Jack Vance, di cui non avevo mai letto nulla. Le fazioni rivali sono ben caratterizzate, come pure I palazzi e le campagne dove si svolge la scena. I draghi sono considerati delle armi più o meno potenti, a seconda delle loro caratteristiche ed esiste anche una casta sacerdotale, rintanata nelle viscere della terra, di cui il protagonista vorrebbe carpire i segreti.
Particolareggiate le descrizioni delle battaglie, sia fra le fazioni rivali, in uno stile tipicamente medievale, sia quelle con gli invasori spaziali, decisamente più fantascientifiche.
May 28, 2021
I have read this before; I think it came out in an Ace Double before reprinted in my 1981 Ace edition. Originally published in 1962, this is definitely 'light' Vance-- tongue and cheeky-- and a fun, quirky story. This takes place on an isolated planet-- Aerlith-- inhabited by the remains of humanity. The humans have been there for generations and basically have devolved into an almost feudal system of warring bands. There are also the 'sacerdotes'-- humans, yes, but living underground, naked and pledged to a peaceful existence. Did they predate the remnants of humanity on the surface? Vance leaves a lot of open ended questions here. In any case, Aerlith has been invaded several times by the 'basics', a reptilian space-faring race that kidnaps humans and breeds them as warriors, 'horses', giants, etc. These modified humans serve as the 'shock troops' to round up the new human slaves.
The last time the basics arrived, however, several of the basics were captured. Via an ongoing breeding program, the humans on Aerlith have produced a wide range of 'dragons' which they use in their ongoing battles among themselves. The two main characters are heads of two rival valleys and the tale begins with them at war. Nonetheless, we know the basics will be returning soon for the final denouement...
While not laugh out loud funny, I chucked many times reading this. Vance has one of the leaders consorts engage in ridiculous calming rites involving sticking out her tongue and covering her ears. The dialogue is also snarky and the story really rolls along. Nothing very serious is even broached here-- pure pulpy fun. 3.5 stars.
The last time the basics arrived, however, several of the basics were captured. Via an ongoing breeding program, the humans on Aerlith have produced a wide range of 'dragons' which they use in their ongoing battles among themselves. The two main characters are heads of two rival valleys and the tale begins with them at war. Nonetheless, we know the basics will be returning soon for the final denouement...
While not laugh out loud funny, I chucked many times reading this. Vance has one of the leaders consorts engage in ridiculous calming rites involving sticking out her tongue and covering her ears. The dialogue is also snarky and the story really rolls along. Nothing very serious is even broached here-- pure pulpy fun. 3.5 stars.
February 12, 2014
As in many of Vance’s ’lost colony’ tales, this is another society at the feudal level, descended from a planetary colony abandoned by the rest of Humanity. The communities – who breed dragons for sport and warfare – are preyed upon every few decades by grephs, creatures who arrive in long black ships and take away humans as slaves.
Joaz Banbeck is the leader (or lord) of one of the local communities, Banbeck Vale, intermittently at war with his irascible neighbour, Ervis Carcolo.
One of Joaz’s ancestors once captured the crew of the greph ship which came on one of its random raids to acquire human slaves. Since then the humans have bred the grephs into what have become the ‘dragons’ in a variety of breeds, for competition, warfare and transport.
The grephs have not visited for so long that the humans begin to believe that they will not return. Joaz however has come to the conclusion that their predations are cyclic, and that a raid is imminent. He has trained his people to have escape routes and hideouts.
Another community living amongst them is the Sacerdotes, a sect who live naked and grow their hair long.
The competition between Joaz and Ervis escalates and continues even when the grephs eventually return as Joaz predicted. The grephs, it appears, have also bred humans in the same way that the humans have bred the grephs.
It features a marvellous range of characters and a complex, fascinating setting all packed into a very brief narrative.
One of Vance’s best.
Joaz Banbeck is the leader (or lord) of one of the local communities, Banbeck Vale, intermittently at war with his irascible neighbour, Ervis Carcolo.
One of Joaz’s ancestors once captured the crew of the greph ship which came on one of its random raids to acquire human slaves. Since then the humans have bred the grephs into what have become the ‘dragons’ in a variety of breeds, for competition, warfare and transport.
The grephs have not visited for so long that the humans begin to believe that they will not return. Joaz however has come to the conclusion that their predations are cyclic, and that a raid is imminent. He has trained his people to have escape routes and hideouts.
Another community living amongst them is the Sacerdotes, a sect who live naked and grow their hair long.
The competition between Joaz and Ervis escalates and continues even when the grephs eventually return as Joaz predicted. The grephs, it appears, have also bred humans in the same way that the humans have bred the grephs.
It features a marvellous range of characters and a complex, fascinating setting all packed into a very brief narrative.
One of Vance’s best.
February 17, 2009
I've been eager to read The Dragon Masters for a long, long time. Back when I was a teenager, I spent a lot of time reading coffee table books about science-fiction, and something about the description "Men and reptiles wage war on one another using warriors genetically-engineered from the captured enemy" stuck with me for years after I'd read the two-sentence blurb underneath the cover photo. In my mind, I built-up a fairly comprehensive idea of what such a book would be like - a thought-provoking exploration of the contradictions inherent in being revolted at the debasement of ones own species for the purpose of warfare even as one set-about transforming sentient creatures into mindless combat drones. It seemed like a cool idea to me at time time, and a logical thematic thrust given the story's Cold War vintage. It was also completely and utterly wrong.
Instead, The Dragon Masters is yet another irritating example of something seemingly endemic to science-fiction stories of a certain vintage - it takes an absolutely brilliant central conceit and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with it. Yes, this is a story in which men and reptiles genetically-engineer each other into hideous mutants bred for combat, but this thematically rich material is little more than a background detail used to justify having the humans ride around on dragons and fight one another. In a book where people could be spending their time warring with a race of space-faring reptiles we instead get a land dispute between one arrogant human prick and another arrogant human, this one slightly less prickish. Yes, Jack Vance has treated us to yet another story about how people need to put aside their differences and stop being bloodthirsty jerks so that they can band together against a common threat. I suppose Vance has chosen this as the thematic thrust of his novel - he compares man's violent nature to that of the reptiloid Basics, who are literally incapable of conceiving of anything being otherwise than destiny declares it - but in the end he doesn't develop this idea beyond a half-baked notion. He tries a similar tact by creating a universe in which whole species are reduced to mindless killing machines, but it doesn't ever really come across as anything more than a colorful backdrop, even though Vance obviously meant it to be the central thrust of his novel. It pains me to say it, but a book like Shade's Children does the exact same thing far more effectively.
Putting aside reservations I have about the book, I should say that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's slight, having only the ghost of a plot, but it's readable and the central premise is certainly cool enough to carry such a short book (although my copy is a stand-alone one, this is actually just a novella). I wish the battle scenes had been handled with a little more detail, instead of bland passages describing how one of the types of dragon ran in one direction and attacked another type of dragon, but we can't have everything, and in any case I'm going to give Vance the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's trying to play the "suggestion over explicitness" card. Things pick-up at the end, when the human conflict is eclipsed by an invasion of the reptiles, but we're unfortunately never given any sort of access to the thoughts of the alien creatures. For that matter, the relationship between the humans and their dragon slaves is pretty poorly fleshed-out too, despite the fact that there's a wealth of material there worth exploiting.
In the end, this is a good book and an obviously influential one. At the same time, however, it never feels like anything more than a brief sketch for a much richer work that Vance never got around to writing.
Instead, The Dragon Masters is yet another irritating example of something seemingly endemic to science-fiction stories of a certain vintage - it takes an absolutely brilliant central conceit and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with it. Yes, this is a story in which men and reptiles genetically-engineer each other into hideous mutants bred for combat, but this thematically rich material is little more than a background detail used to justify having the humans ride around on dragons and fight one another. In a book where people could be spending their time warring with a race of space-faring reptiles we instead get a land dispute between one arrogant human prick and another arrogant human, this one slightly less prickish. Yes, Jack Vance has treated us to yet another story about how people need to put aside their differences and stop being bloodthirsty jerks so that they can band together against a common threat. I suppose Vance has chosen this as the thematic thrust of his novel - he compares man's violent nature to that of the reptiloid Basics, who are literally incapable of conceiving of anything being otherwise than destiny declares it - but in the end he doesn't develop this idea beyond a half-baked notion. He tries a similar tact by creating a universe in which whole species are reduced to mindless killing machines, but it doesn't ever really come across as anything more than a colorful backdrop, even though Vance obviously meant it to be the central thrust of his novel. It pains me to say it, but a book like Shade's Children does the exact same thing far more effectively.
Putting aside reservations I have about the book, I should say that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's slight, having only the ghost of a plot, but it's readable and the central premise is certainly cool enough to carry such a short book (although my copy is a stand-alone one, this is actually just a novella). I wish the battle scenes had been handled with a little more detail, instead of bland passages describing how one of the types of dragon ran in one direction and attacked another type of dragon, but we can't have everything, and in any case I'm going to give Vance the benefit of the doubt and assume that he's trying to play the "suggestion over explicitness" card. Things pick-up at the end, when the human conflict is eclipsed by an invasion of the reptiles, but we're unfortunately never given any sort of access to the thoughts of the alien creatures. For that matter, the relationship between the humans and their dragon slaves is pretty poorly fleshed-out too, despite the fact that there's a wealth of material there worth exploiting.
In the end, this is a good book and an obviously influential one. At the same time, however, it never feels like anything more than a brief sketch for a much richer work that Vance never got around to writing.
February 9, 2016
Lo mejor de la novela es el argumento, la idea central de una humanidad casi exterminada y una sociedad de vuelta a un estadio preindustrial. El desarrollo es simplemente una aventura entre aliens y hombres en un mundo primitivo. Simplemente entretenida, para matar un par de horas.
May 28, 2024
Dragon Masters is a 116 page novella that was first published in the Galaxy Magazine in 1962. It won a Hugo Award in 1963 for best Short Fiction. It has been released in numerous book editions, although none appear to be currently in print. My paperback copy was published by Panther Books and seems to be readily available as a used book. This is a very well known Vance work and should have rather widespread appeal to science fiction readers. It is a entertaining and enjoyable novel that involves much combat and action, most of it using interesting creatures referred to as dragons. I've read it twice now and liked it even better the second time.
For the most recent review and other Vance reviews please see:
https://vancealotjackvanceinreview.bl...
The story takes place on the planet Aerlith, a rocky planet with a few fertile valleys. One colony of humans, lead by Joaz Banbeck, lives in Banthen Valley and another, led by Ervis Carcolo, resides in Happy Valley. Another group of humans called the Sacerdotes live in underground tunnels and consider themselves to be a different species, referring to other humans as "Utter Men." They are mysterious ascetics who have long hair, never wear clothes and have golden torcs around their necks. Sacerdotes are devoted to truth and knowledge and cannot tell lies but often answer questions in a vague indirect way. Avoiding the affairs of the Utter Men, Sacerdotes consider themselves superior, and wait for the time when Utter Men all disappear so they can take over. Sacerdotes are also very secretive and are suspected of having some hidden advance technologies, possibly even advance weapons or spaceships.
Many years ago aliens called "graphs" or "basics" invaded Aerlith and kidnapped many humans. The graphs continue to sometimes return to Aerlith to bomb the towns (mostly huts) and to abduct humans whom they enslave and genetically modify to make warriors. Years ago some of the graphs were captured by the humans and served as the breeding stock to create fighting dragons. So the humans have dragon like fighters who are descendents of the graphs and the graphs have warriors who are bred from genetically modified humans.
The leader of Banthen Valley, Banbeck, meets with the leader of Happy Valley, Carcolo, to ask his assistance in preparing to defend the planet from another graph attack. He suggests that they align forces and that Carcolo follow his lead by making underground tunnels and caves so their citizens can retreat to them when the graphs return. Carcolo refuses to cooperate or assist, however, and is more interested in attacking the Sacerdotes or other humans and in expanding his territory. Banbeck also tries to enlist the aid of the Sacerdotes in defending against the graphs but they refuse to be involved in mutual defense or in any of the affairs of the Utter Men.
The different types of dragons developed in the breeding programs are explained and include Termagants, Murderers, Fiends, Blue Horrors, Juggers and Spiders. Each type has its uses in battle. Some have horns or pincers they use to fight with while others are trained to use pistols, swords or mace. Dragons come in a variety of sizes from human size to gigantic. This is also true of the soldiers the graphs use that are genetically modified humans. There is much strategy, action and drama as the different forces encounter one another in various battles and maneuvers. It is easy, engaging reading and should appeal to all Vance fans.
For the most recent review and other Vance reviews please see:
https://vancealotjackvanceinreview.bl...
The story takes place on the planet Aerlith, a rocky planet with a few fertile valleys. One colony of humans, lead by Joaz Banbeck, lives in Banthen Valley and another, led by Ervis Carcolo, resides in Happy Valley. Another group of humans called the Sacerdotes live in underground tunnels and consider themselves to be a different species, referring to other humans as "Utter Men." They are mysterious ascetics who have long hair, never wear clothes and have golden torcs around their necks. Sacerdotes are devoted to truth and knowledge and cannot tell lies but often answer questions in a vague indirect way. Avoiding the affairs of the Utter Men, Sacerdotes consider themselves superior, and wait for the time when Utter Men all disappear so they can take over. Sacerdotes are also very secretive and are suspected of having some hidden advance technologies, possibly even advance weapons or spaceships.
Many years ago aliens called "graphs" or "basics" invaded Aerlith and kidnapped many humans. The graphs continue to sometimes return to Aerlith to bomb the towns (mostly huts) and to abduct humans whom they enslave and genetically modify to make warriors. Years ago some of the graphs were captured by the humans and served as the breeding stock to create fighting dragons. So the humans have dragon like fighters who are descendents of the graphs and the graphs have warriors who are bred from genetically modified humans.
The leader of Banthen Valley, Banbeck, meets with the leader of Happy Valley, Carcolo, to ask his assistance in preparing to defend the planet from another graph attack. He suggests that they align forces and that Carcolo follow his lead by making underground tunnels and caves so their citizens can retreat to them when the graphs return. Carcolo refuses to cooperate or assist, however, and is more interested in attacking the Sacerdotes or other humans and in expanding his territory. Banbeck also tries to enlist the aid of the Sacerdotes in defending against the graphs but they refuse to be involved in mutual defense or in any of the affairs of the Utter Men.
The different types of dragons developed in the breeding programs are explained and include Termagants, Murderers, Fiends, Blue Horrors, Juggers and Spiders. Each type has its uses in battle. Some have horns or pincers they use to fight with while others are trained to use pistols, swords or mace. Dragons come in a variety of sizes from human size to gigantic. This is also true of the soldiers the graphs use that are genetically modified humans. There is much strategy, action and drama as the different forces encounter one another in various battles and maneuvers. It is easy, engaging reading and should appeal to all Vance fans.
September 29, 2012
There are two novellas in this volume: 'The Dragon Masters' and 'The Last Kingdom'. The latter I didn't like all that much, but you've got to admire the prose style and the narrative voice. The former I loved: it made me want to reread the Pern books (though I'm sure they'll seem rubbish a) in comparison and b) after loving them as a kid) for more engineered-dragon goodness.
I like that in such short stories Vance can evoke a whole world and make you care about the outcome -- not so much about the characters, in my case at least, just about the world and what happens to it as a whole -- and make you believe in it.
I like that in such short stories Vance can evoke a whole world and make you care about the outcome -- not so much about the characters, in my case at least, just about the world and what happens to it as a whole -- and make you believe in it.
January 11, 2022
“Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”
-Michael Chabon
September 1, 2017
DNF #3, not too proud to admit it. No idea how this Hugo'd, but it's getting downgraded a shelf.
February 2, 2024
C’était compliqué et un peu bizarre ngl
July 2, 2019
I'm comparing this with Weyr Search, both are very similar novellas written within five years of each other and both won the Hugo. Also the dragons are not magical creatures and there's no supernatural hijinks in either. A quick thumbnail comparison of these two works, Vance's has much more action in it and McCaffrey's is far more introspective and more literary in tone. The five years separating the two novellas were years of rapid change in the SF community, Vance's work has a pulp feel to it, while McCaffrey's could be called New Wave. It's interesting to see what two very different author's handle an almost identical theme.
In a short novella, Vance packs in a bizarre world, a few interesting characters and cultures and some exciting action. Its an excellent read even now and worthy of its Hugo award.
In a short novella, Vance packs in a bizarre world, a few interesting characters and cultures and some exciting action. Its an excellent read even now and worthy of its Hugo award.
January 20, 2019
An amazing amount of world-building for a novel under 200 pp long, ans a reminder of how tightly old-school SciFi/Fantasy authors could write. For example:
"The sacerdote paused, turned his head in mild inquiry. He was a young man, his face bland, blank, almost beautiful. Fine transparent skin stretched over his pale bones. His eyes — wide, blue, innocent — seemed to stare without focus. He was delicate of frame, sparsely fleshed; his hands were thin, with fingers trembling in some kind of nervous imbalance. Down his back, almost to his waist, hung the mane of long light-brown hair.
"There was an imperative, against which the sacerdote was proof. Any form of coercion known to Joaz — fire, sword, thirst, mutilation — these to a sacerdote were no more than inconveniences; he ignored them as if they did not exist. His personal inner world was the single world of reality; either acting upon or reacting against the affairs of the Utter Men demeaned him; absolute passivity, absolute candor were his necessary courses of action.
"Each curve symbolized an aspect of Final Sentience; the shadow cast upon the wall represented the Rationale, ever-shifting, always the same. The object was sacred to the sacerdotes, and served as a source of revelation. There was never an end to the study of the tand: new intuitions were continually derived from some heretofore overlooked relationship of angle and curve. The nomenclature was elaborate: each part, juncture, sweep and twist had its name; each aspect of the relationships between the various parts was likewise categorized. Such was the cult of the tand: abstruse, exacting, without compromise. At his puberty rites the young sacerdote might study the original tand for as long as he chose; each must construct a duplicate tand, relying upon memory alone. Then occurred the most significant event of his lifetime: the viewing of his tand by a synod of elders. In awesome stillness, for hours at a time they would ponder his creation, weigh the infinitesimal variations of proportion, radius, sweep and angle. So they would infer the initiate’s quality, judge his personal attributes, determine his understanding of Final Sentience, the Rationale and the Basis. Occasionally the testimony of the tand revealed a character so tainted as to be reckoned intolerable; the vile tand would be cast into a furnace, the molten metal consigned to a latrine, the unlucky initiate expelled to the face of the planet, to live on his own terms."
A handful of paragraphs, spread out across a dozen pages or so, and we have a clear picture of this strange sect. A lot of modern aithots would have needed 500 pages to tell this tale, and said little more.
My only complaint is that, due to the brevity, the protagonist is, and remains largely just a cipher, devoid of real characterization, and of necessity to the limited PoV, we learn nothing of the human's ancient enemies. Nevertheless, this a quick, interesting read and you can see the inspiration for a lot of SciFi that followed. (Ex: it is a straight-line from here to Pern.)
"The sacerdote paused, turned his head in mild inquiry. He was a young man, his face bland, blank, almost beautiful. Fine transparent skin stretched over his pale bones. His eyes — wide, blue, innocent — seemed to stare without focus. He was delicate of frame, sparsely fleshed; his hands were thin, with fingers trembling in some kind of nervous imbalance. Down his back, almost to his waist, hung the mane of long light-brown hair.
"There was an imperative, against which the sacerdote was proof. Any form of coercion known to Joaz — fire, sword, thirst, mutilation — these to a sacerdote were no more than inconveniences; he ignored them as if they did not exist. His personal inner world was the single world of reality; either acting upon or reacting against the affairs of the Utter Men demeaned him; absolute passivity, absolute candor were his necessary courses of action.
"Each curve symbolized an aspect of Final Sentience; the shadow cast upon the wall represented the Rationale, ever-shifting, always the same. The object was sacred to the sacerdotes, and served as a source of revelation. There was never an end to the study of the tand: new intuitions were continually derived from some heretofore overlooked relationship of angle and curve. The nomenclature was elaborate: each part, juncture, sweep and twist had its name; each aspect of the relationships between the various parts was likewise categorized. Such was the cult of the tand: abstruse, exacting, without compromise. At his puberty rites the young sacerdote might study the original tand for as long as he chose; each must construct a duplicate tand, relying upon memory alone. Then occurred the most significant event of his lifetime: the viewing of his tand by a synod of elders. In awesome stillness, for hours at a time they would ponder his creation, weigh the infinitesimal variations of proportion, radius, sweep and angle. So they would infer the initiate’s quality, judge his personal attributes, determine his understanding of Final Sentience, the Rationale and the Basis. Occasionally the testimony of the tand revealed a character so tainted as to be reckoned intolerable; the vile tand would be cast into a furnace, the molten metal consigned to a latrine, the unlucky initiate expelled to the face of the planet, to live on his own terms."
A handful of paragraphs, spread out across a dozen pages or so, and we have a clear picture of this strange sect. A lot of modern aithots would have needed 500 pages to tell this tale, and said little more.
My only complaint is that, due to the brevity, the protagonist is, and remains largely just a cipher, devoid of real characterization, and of necessity to the limited PoV, we learn nothing of the human's ancient enemies. Nevertheless, this a quick, interesting read and you can see the inspiration for a lot of SciFi that followed. (Ex: it is a straight-line from here to Pern.)
September 2, 2022
Pochi mesi fa mi ero gustato The Last Castle e non ho resistito al leggermi l'altro romanzo breve Premio Hugo del maestro Vance, appunto
The Dragon Masters
, e l'ho trovato leggermente inferiore ma comunque validissimo.
Partiamo dal fatto che come tematica generale i due romanzi condividono gli stessi ingredienti fondamentali, i quali evidentemente erano presenze ricorrenti nel cervello del Vance quasi cinquantenne: una colonia terrestre nello spazio profondo regredita a una società feudale, una tensione interna agli umani fra tradizionalismo pomposo e riformismo tecnico, una fazione umana che opta per un'alternativa ascetico-comunista, una specie aliena ostile e imperscrutabile, uno scontro con gli alieni che impone all'umanità di scegliere definitivamente il proprio percorso. Ora, indubbiamente The Dragon Masters forgia assieme questi elementi di base in una struttura significativamente diversa da quella di The Last Castle e di sicuro non si ha una sensazione di "doppione" o di "riciclo" (a differenza di quanto mi era successo nel corpus dei coniugi Kuttner-Moore con i romanzi The Dark World e The Mask of Circe), tuttavia è invitabile constatare che questo primo romanzo sia relativamente più "grezzo" del successivo: meno audace nei montaggi scenici, meno brillante nella riflessione filosofica, leggermente più monotono nella sua enfasi sulle situazioni militari – ancora più ingenuo nel dipingere positivamente l'eroe "tecnocrate", tratto sicuramente figlio del suo tempo ma alquanto straniante in epoca di CoVid-19. Ciò detto, questa "grossolanità" è comunque quella di Jack Vance, e la sua prosa brillante ricca di dialoghi spigliati eguaglia il Fritz Leiber di The Swords of Lankhmar e dà la polvere a qualunque tolkienista; in più, ho semplicemente adorato il senso di vacuità meditativa che pervade i paragrafi finali, spiazzanti e angoscianti assieme. Non il miglior Vance in assoluto, ma decisamente consigliato.
N.B.: il romanzo non dura davvero i 20 giorni che c'ho messo io a leggerlo, è che in mezzo ho fatto la pausa mare.
Partiamo dal fatto che come tematica generale i due romanzi condividono gli stessi ingredienti fondamentali, i quali evidentemente erano presenze ricorrenti nel cervello del Vance quasi cinquantenne: una colonia terrestre nello spazio profondo regredita a una società feudale, una tensione interna agli umani fra tradizionalismo pomposo e riformismo tecnico, una fazione umana che opta per un'alternativa ascetico-comunista, una specie aliena ostile e imperscrutabile, uno scontro con gli alieni che impone all'umanità di scegliere definitivamente il proprio percorso. Ora, indubbiamente The Dragon Masters forgia assieme questi elementi di base in una struttura significativamente diversa da quella di The Last Castle e di sicuro non si ha una sensazione di "doppione" o di "riciclo" (a differenza di quanto mi era successo nel corpus dei coniugi Kuttner-Moore con i romanzi The Dark World e The Mask of Circe), tuttavia è invitabile constatare che questo primo romanzo sia relativamente più "grezzo" del successivo: meno audace nei montaggi scenici, meno brillante nella riflessione filosofica, leggermente più monotono nella sua enfasi sulle situazioni militari – ancora più ingenuo nel dipingere positivamente l'eroe "tecnocrate", tratto sicuramente figlio del suo tempo ma alquanto straniante in epoca di CoVid-19. Ciò detto, questa "grossolanità" è comunque quella di Jack Vance, e la sua prosa brillante ricca di dialoghi spigliati eguaglia il Fritz Leiber di The Swords of Lankhmar e dà la polvere a qualunque tolkienista; in più, ho semplicemente adorato il senso di vacuità meditativa che pervade i paragrafi finali, spiazzanti e angoscianti assieme. Non il miglior Vance in assoluto, ma decisamente consigliato.
N.B.: il romanzo non dura davvero i 20 giorni che c'ho messo io a leggerlo, è che in mezzo ho fatto la pausa mare.
May 30, 2013
Jack Vance won the 1963 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for this little gem of a tale which is a favorite of many of Vance’s fans, your present reviewer included. The story takes place vast millennia into the future on a planet known to its inhabitants as Aerlith. Aerlith is a harsh world, where slow rotation leads to long nights and days (analogous to several “earth” days). The human beings living on the planet are descended from spacefarers who fled an earlier interstellar war and who have lost all industrial knowledge as well as the capability of space flight. They may or may not be the last remnants of humanity. Every few generations or so, alien spaceships descend and wreak havoc, capturing as many humans as they can, leaving those who escape to try to rebuild their backward civilization among the rubble. The invaders are the “Dragons” of the title, intelligent lizard-like creatures known as greps or ... Read More:
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October 20, 2019
7/10. Media de los 30 libros leídos del autor : 7/10.
Nada menos que 30 libros leí de Vance, la mayoría de joven lector de CF en editoriales míticas: Orbis, Edhasa, Ultramar, Nova,...
De imaginación desbordante, creaba mundos y sociedades como churros, desbordando imaginación y superando nuestra capacidad de asombro. Una media de 7/10 en tantos libros no es fácil de mantener.
Creó muchas sagas (ninguna mala o aburrida) y me quedo con la de "Tschai", que son 4 libros. Si hubiera de escoger uno que no sea saga, pues "Lámpara de Noche".
Un gran clásico, el Sr. Vance
Nada menos que 30 libros leí de Vance, la mayoría de joven lector de CF en editoriales míticas: Orbis, Edhasa, Ultramar, Nova,...
De imaginación desbordante, creaba mundos y sociedades como churros, desbordando imaginación y superando nuestra capacidad de asombro. Una media de 7/10 en tantos libros no es fácil de mantener.
Creó muchas sagas (ninguna mala o aburrida) y me quedo con la de "Tschai", que son 4 libros. Si hubiera de escoger uno que no sea saga, pues "Lámpara de Noche".
Un gran clásico, el Sr. Vance
October 16, 2019
Not Jack Vance's best, but entertaining enough. I feel like it tries to do too much in too little. It's got alien invaders, an esoteric religious order, an internecine feud, and of course, strange dragon-like creatures. Along with Vance's tell-tale language. In under 150 pages. That doesn't leave a lot of room to breathe. A writer less masterful than Vance wouldn't be able to pull it off at all. But somehow he manages to pull it all together by the end.
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