Big Planet

© 1957 by Jack Vance

I’ve had a recent love-hate relationship with Jack Vance. I remember reading him perhaps twenty years ago (Trullion: Alastor 2262) and finding the world he created absolutely fascinating. I mean, sports! Of all things, alien sports! About five years ago I read another of his classics (The Languages of Pao). Again with the intense, colorful detail. This time, linguistics! Of all things, alien linguistics! Then, I read one of his works picked at random off a used book store shelf (The Brave Free Men) and completely, utterly hated it, and vowed not to waste my time with another Vancian work.

Then, remembering the joy I had wandering through the worlds of the first two novels, I repented. Big Planet is arguably regarded as Vance’s best work, so when I had the opportunity to pick it up, I did not hesistate.

I’m going to pay Vance the best compliment I can give a writer: I really, really, really wished his book was twice as long as it was. At least.

As it is, Big Planet admittedly is perfect. The story begins – literally – with a bang. A crash landing on Big Planet, a vast repository for any group seeking voluntary exile from an Earth six centuries hence. Big Planet lives up to its moniker: the safe zone for these stranded Earthmen is 40,000 miles away. The gritty band of survivors, whose goal it was to actually reform the planet’s government before things went awry, must now physically and mentally fight their way, with no technology greater than a stun gun, through jungles and deserts and over mountains and rivers. Gypsies, bands of guerilla warriors, stone age regressives, malicious monks, swamp serpents, and countless other dangers await them.

I was kinda surprised with the frequency of good guy deaths. I actually worried the hero might not even make it to the end of the novel. But that’s good, because it keeps the reader on his toes. No character gets a free pass. Alive one at the top of a page, brutally killed at the bottom. And to up the ante, Vance throws in a few betrayals and false identities here and there, lest you get comfortable in your big comfy arm chair and your big comfy non-Big Planet life.

The best word to describe the book is “travelogue.” Life-and-death travelogue, of course. Travelogue with a vengeance. Like his previous novels I enjoyed, there’s that diversity of rich cultural heritages that are only hinted at here due to the brisk pace of the story. I wished for a more leisurely stroll through this dangerous world. Perhaps a compromise: slow down the Earthmen’s 40,000 mile trek a bit but ratchet up the stakes or the dangers. If possible. There are some dangers within these pages not for the squeamish. Not to spoil anything, but they involved, for me, a suggestion of cannibalization and a pretty nasty hypodermic needle.

Big Planet is a brisk, compact race-for-survival over a patchwork landscape. The end ties well with the beginning, the conclusion is satisfactory come-uppance, and all questions are answered. If it was written today, I could foresee literary agents and publishers salivating over the potential for a ten or twelve book series. Which I would have no complaint with.

I give it a borderline B-plus / A-minus.


N.B. I don’t remeber exactly why I hated The Brave Free Men so. There are vague memories of lazy characterization and a plot devoid of suspense. I got the sense Vance was phoning it in. Plus, it would have to be a very powerful novel to handle the great expectations I had after reading Alastor and Pao. For the record, I will continue to read Jack Vance.