Jack Vance, in other words: wonderful stuff, brain twists, brilliant language, terrific imagination.

In the not-too-distant future, humanity will be aided in its development by a much more advanced race. As usual, some people are very happy about this, while others grumble that it will not end well. Our protagonist is one of those Morgondians, but who he really likes is one of the foreign girls. Before things can change, Earth is attacked by another, less friendly race, the Klauk. The Klauk use entire planets as slave colonies to provide the background they provide to power their ever-expanding empire. However, man (or rather Human) is still new in this system. While the dozens of species presented in the book - although there are differences between them - all resign themselves to their fate, people ask questions and, of course, rebel. Actually, this is the biggest part of the story, i.e. the rebellion against the existing system/escape with a group of strangers.

Vance has some clever ideas for each race to make them unique (as unique as you can make them in a novel), and he also pays attention to the relationships between the various races. The parade of ideas can also include one or two interesting technological things, but the focus is on the relationship between the sometimes very different species - it's another matter that he doesn't always push this in our faces during the narrative, but that's (I am convinced that a story on the level of Sturgeon could have been made out of this in the length of a full novel.) Actually, my problem is mostly with the brevity, sometimes it's quite hasty and, typical of the era, sometimes too obscene. They talk and talk, and then suddenly the girl announces that she is pregnant. WTF? It can also be considered a simple stepping stone for his later works, but I think it is much more than that.

Summing up, a little bit of fluff from the late fifties period of vintage SF. But this was the trend at the time: a short series of events, not overly developed characters and a relatively simple storyline. There is no reason to blame Vance for this: this era wanted this kind of science fiction. This gave birth to today's generation of writers who think in at least trilogies and a larger font type books, often exceeding 1000 pages. It is still felt here that Vance started his writing career on the pages of the 16-page Wonder Stories. It's no coincidence that journeys, as such, runs through almost all of his works, including this one: Space, air or river, at least one of these is included in his works. Vance was a great "sailor". Well, let's say he sailed with crews like Frank Herbert and Poul Anderson This trio knew how to sail and write!

Appreciate Vance's writing skills!

NB: Comprises “Slaves of the Klau” and “Planet of the Damned”.



SF = Speculative Fiction. ( )

opnieuw een boek met meerdere korte verhalen. sommige leuk. andere mwah ( )

Gold and Iron play no more than a metaphorical role in this early Vance story. The original title, Slaves of the Klau, while considerably less poetic, is more accurate. The story concerns an Earthman and a woman from another, more advanced race, who are taken captive by the Klau.

This is a very John Campbell-esque story, in that it's apparent early on that only Earthmen, despite their low level of civilization, have the strength and dynamism to keep going in the face of adversity. There's little of the usual Vance wordplay and aloof would-be sophisticates come in only via the aliens. Instead, it's a straightforward adventure story. That said, it's still well-written, and worth reading.

Not a good introduction to Vance, but if you're looking for good old fashioned space opera, when men were men (and women were unfortunately mostly decorative), this fits the bill.

CVIE vol III ( )

Gold and Iron play no more than a metaphorical role in this early Vance story. The original title, Slaves of the Klau, while considerably less poetic, is more accurate. The story concerns an Earthman and a woman from another, more advanced race, who are taken captive by the Klau.

This is a very John Campbell-esque story, in that it's apparent early on that only Earthmen, despite their low level of civilization, have the strength and dynamism to keep going in the face of adversity. There's little of the usual Vance wordplay and aloof would-be sophisticates come in only via the aliens. Instead, it's a straightforward adventure story. That said, it's still well-written, and worth reading.

Not a good introduction to Vance, but if you're looking for good old fashioned space opera, when men were men (and women were unfortunately mostly decorative), this fits the bill.

CVIE vol III ( )

Gold and Iron play no more than a metaphorical role in this early Vance story. The original title, Slaves of the Klau, while considerably less poetic, is more accurate. The story concerns an Earthman and a woman from another, more advanced race, who are taken captive by the Klau.

This is a very John Campbell-esque story, in that it's apparent early on that only Earthmen, despite their low level of civilization, have the strength and dynamism to keep going in the face of adversity. There's little of the usual Vance wordplay and aloof would-be sophisticates come in only via the aliens. Instead, it's a straightforward adventure story. That said, it's still well-written, and worth reading.

Not a good introduction to Vance, but if you're looking for good old fashioned space opera, when men were men (and women were unfortunately mostly decorative), this fits the bill.

CVIE vol III ( )