Book Review: The Languages of Pao – Jack Vance (Mayflower Books 1974 – first published 1957)

I’ve never read anything by Jack Vance before and I didn’t find the title of this book too exciting, but what a good story this turned out to be.

The book is more science-fantasy than straight science-fiction and reminded me a little of Ursula K Le Guin’s books in that there is a richness in the descriptions of socio-political activity, ethnicity and diversity.  However, Vance’s story is predominantly about men (of various planets).  Indeed, one planet is inhabited solely by men and their sons, women being sent away when they have stopped giving birth to sons.

Rather than being an anachronistic throwback to the casual sexism of the 1950’s, Vance seems to be exploring the logical conclusion of the basic drives of men being taken to their extreme.

The  story begins on Pao, home planet to a docile, homogeneous population of 15 billion.  The Paonese are not a warlike race and deal with threat and invation by being sullen and difficult, which appears to take the pleasure out of victory for invaders.

The Emperor, or Panarch, of Pao is seemingly assassinated by his brother.  The Panarch’s son and heir, Beran, is taken to the planet Breakness by the mysterious and powerful Palafox.  Beran’s life is saved but he soon discovers that he is a pawn in a very complex and long political game.

Breakness is the planet populated by men and their sons.  Palafox is patriarch of a research institute where every person, except  Beran, is his son.  On Breakness, the prestige of a man is increased by the number of sons he has.  Palafox seeks a kind of immortality by stamping his genes on the future population.  Pao is the long-term target of Palafox’s plans.  He is a megalomaniac but is powerful enough for his plans to be realistic.

Beran’s uncle realises that he needs Palafox’s help to stop Pao being a galactic whipping-boy.  Palafox’s solution is to change the nature of the Paonese gradually by introducing new languages and, therefore, new patterns of though and behaviour.  These are the Languages of Pao from the title.  Separate languages are created for military, commercial and research purposes.

Jack Vance makes a very interesting point about how the structure of a language can shape thinking, beliefs and action.

Beran grows into a young man on Breakness and trains to be a linguist.  He becomes increasingly homesick and concerned by news from home, which indicates that the essence of the Paonese is being lost.  

Beran returns to Pao where a reckoning with his uncle and the seemingly omnipotent Palafox await.

This story is gripping and the ideas it propounds are absorbing.  It is interesting to consider the influence that language has on thought and action, even if you come to different conclusions to Jack Vance.  The writing is of a high quality and will certainly be aiming to read more by Jack Vance in the future.  Recommended. 



Book Review: Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb (Harper Voyager 2011)

This book is old enough and Robin Hobb is successful enough for a review to be essentially meaningless, a bit like reviewing The Lord of the Rings or Terry Pratchett.

However, two factors have led me to review this book;

1. It was free on Kindle.
2. I’m reviewing every book I read.

The story centres on a young boy, the illegitimate offspring of a king in waiting and one who displays powers to communicate telepathically with animals. The boy is referred to as ‘boy’, ‘newboy’, ‘fitz’ or ‘bastard’. I did find the frequent use of the word bastard to be quite jarring, perhaps it’s my delicate English sensibilities! Bastard can still be a grave insult if said with sufficient vitriol but the thing that grated most was the fact that adults were using the word with malice against a child. This felt just cruel and wrong and it must surely have been the intention of Robin Hobb to make the reader empathise with the boy, whose real name is FitzChivalry Farseer, by giving him an upbringing that is so tough and downright medieval.

The world in which Fitz lives is a typical feudal model from the Middle Ages with interesting twists. The king rules by divine right and all others know their place. This is not to say that the rulers are ruthless megalomaniacs. King Shrewd (royals are given names to reflect personal qualities or in the hope that they will act in a manner befitting their name – hence princes Chivalry, Verity and Regal) cares deeply for his kingdom and works tirelessly to protect it using Machiavellian political intrigue and ‘the skill’, a form of telepathic suggestive control.

FitzChivalry is brought up by royal stable master Burrich, one of the strongest and most upright characters in the book. Whilst he is a disciplinarian Burrich is the closest thing that Fitz has to a father.

Although he is a ‘bastard’, Fitz cannot be ignored given his father’s position and is dragged into the dangerous world of political scheming. King Regal decides that he should be taught by his faithful assassin, Chade, who is another compelling character and displays some compassion for young Fitz despite the unsavoury nature of his trade.

Fitz, as son of the heir to the throne is seen as an asset by some but as a threat to be disposed of by others. He is dragged into situations not of his making and his life is often in danger because of who he is. Many of us will not feel wholly in control of our lives on occasion and Robin Hobb demonstrates how much more acute this is for children.

The book follows Fitz as he grows up and develops relationships with those inside and outside the royal court. The King’s Fool is an especially intriguing character who talks in riddles and seems to take an interest in helping Fitz, albeit in oblique ways. The book unfolds at a leisurely pace that is just perfect for giving real insight into the characters. Robin Hobb is obviously a very skilful writer but nobody who has read one of her books needs me to point that out.

Towards the end of the book the tension ratchets up as a royal wedding takes Fitz, and much of the Court, to a neighbouring kingdom where he finds himself in danger and seemingly out of reach of his protectors.

I have to admit that the resolution to the book felt a little rushed, as if Robin Hobb was already mentally writing her next book. Had a few more pages been devoted to the ending it would have been more fitting given the painstaking way in which the tale unfolded. Having said that, this is a very good book which has been, and will continue to be, enjoyed by many, many people.

Book Review: The Atomic Sea – Jack Conner

I tend not to finish books that I’m not enjoying on the basis that life is too short and there are plenty of others out there that I will like.

To date, I have not reviewed a book I haven’t finished as I thought it might be unfair on the author and I would leave myself open to suggestions that if I had read it to the end I would have enjoyed it.

However, a WordPress contact suggested that I write a review and explain why I didn’t finish the book and that is what I am doing here.

Jack Conner hails from Austin, Texas and has written a number of popular fantasy/alternative fiction books.

This is by no means a bad book and I enjoyed parts of it. The idea of the Atomic Sea itself, a churning, boiling, radioactive ocean full of magic and nightmares is excellent. The early part of the book, set on board navy ship G.S. Maul is captivating. Terrified sailors and whalers carry out their duties whilst attempting to shield themselves from the contaminated water and the creatures that emerge from it.

I was drawn into the story and was convinced that I’d stumbled across a great find.

The central character is naval surgeon, Dr Avery, a 42 year old man with a comb-over. Dr Avery is a slightly unusual leading figure and maybe he is designed to appeal to fantasy fans who are in the mould of Comic-Book Guy from The Simpsons. Dr Avery is also the ‘on call’ sexual partner of cigar smoking, no-nonsense ship’s captain Sheridan, another interesting character.

The ship is part of the naval forces of Ghenisa, which is in a desperate fight for survival against the forces of neighbouring Octung. To me, Octung sounds like a cross between the Scottish exclamation ‘Och’ and the German word Achtung (baby!). Because of this I found it difficult to take the name seriously.

I know it can be easy to mock the names in SF and fantasy books but there were a few incredible names in the book that made me roll my eyes, Muirblaag being one. In the book, this is the name of a man/fish hybrid but it should surely be a sound effect for somebody vomiting violently. MUIRBLAAG !!…. sorry, too much to drink last night.

Dr Avery discovers that the ship, and Ghenisa itself, is packed with spies and saboteurs. Almost simultaneously, a mysterious woman is found in the sea who has supernatural powers and seems to offer the chance of ending the war.

The action then moves away from the sea to land and became, for me, less interesting and more of a conventional fantasy quest style book. This is the first in a series of books and it felt as though much of the story was either scene-setting or ‘filler’ to ensure that an epic of the required length could be produced.

The plot involves a lot of chasing and attempts to make contact with ‘friendly’ gods whilst avoiding the agents of Octung and malevolent gods.

Unfortunately, my interest faded when I was around 2/3rds through the book and I abandoned it. I had carried on reading to that point to see if the story would return to the Atomic Sea with all of the mystery and atmosphere it promised but, sadly, it didn’t.

Whilst interesting, the characters are not particularly likeable or sympathetic. Some appeared just as ciphers or makeweights for the band starting on the quest.

In summary, I feel there was a very good story idea here but it was lost by spreading it across a multi-part epic rather than just concentrating on what could have been one cracking book.