Posted by Henri Gooren on April 09, 1998 at 01:55:17:
In Reply to: (spoiler!): About Ports of Call posted by Menno vd leden on March 29, 1998 at 03:54:20:
: I hate to say it, but I find the book disappointing. (sorry ;)
: Opinions anyone?
: Menno
To summarize the BBS discussion on PoC so far: there are four people who feel `disappointed' or `unfulfilled' by the book (Menno v/d Leden, Gene Muehlbauer, Kris Sperry and Willem Timmer) and two who argue it should be appreciated as a `picaresque romance' in Cugel's Sage style: Mike Berro and Jay Palmisano. Mike hopes that Myron will continue to develop and Jay calls PoC a `good read' compared to Night Lamp or Throy.
I also felt disappointed with the book, which I finished in Dutch last night. I agree wholeheartedly with the first group that there is virtually no plot to speak of. I also agree with Gene that Myron is no leading character like Reith or Gersen. His development seems to consist mostly in learning not to get killed and the fine art of price haggling (Peter, beware! :-). As an aside, I was disturbed by the casual killings of the femme fatale and the farmer. I often felt that the writer was not taking this book very seriously; Vance was going through all his usual motions (cliches, Willem rightly said) of the pilgrims, the travel party, the femme fatale, the many colorful sunsets, the inns, the mysterious aliens, etc... But they did not really come to life for me, and all that planet hopping (how many? five?) did not help either.
Willem talked about `unrelated events', very different from the meticulous plotting of To Live Forever. He compared it to Space Opera and Showboat World - considered two of Vance's weaker novels. I was also strongly reminded of Space Opera and I found this sentence by agent Ralph Vicinanza (in Issue 5 of the Vance Phile, Feb. 1995) describing a future novel "about a musical group touring the galaxy and encountering the strange inhabitants of a dozen worlds only Vance could create!" I imagine somebody told Mr Vance he had already used this theme in Space Opera, and he made some changes, which eventually resulted in the `piecemeal' (Kris Sperry) plot of PoC.
Incidentally: Jack Vance is notorious for starting trilogies and tetralogies very strong, and getting progressively weaker in parts three and/or four (like in Planet of Adventure, Durdane, Cadwal). Could it be that in PoC we actually find the *reverse* situation: a somewhat weak `teaser' (Gene) being a prologue for one (or two? Mike: does it end with Lurulu?) strong sequel(s)? I really hope so! We'll have to wait two years to be sure.
Henri