Araminta Station-Jack Vance novel, book review

Araminta Station-Jack Vance novel

AKA: Cadwal Chronicles Book 1

Araminta Station is a 554 page novel by Jack Vance that was first published in 1987 by Underwood Miller.  It is much longer than most of his novels and is a later work written when he was at the peak of his talents.  It is also the first novel of three that comprise the Cadwal Chronicles.  This the second time I've carefully read this novel and have found it to be the best of the three in the series and one of Vance's finest.  It is fascinating and intriguing novel, a masterpiece and one of Vance's greatest works.  Araminta Station was nominated in 1988 and 1989 for the Locus award for the Best Science Fiction Novel.

The setting is the distant future, mostly on the planet Cadwal.  Old Earth continues to exist and can be readily visited.  Cadwal is a planet in the Gaean Reach that was discovered by the Naturalist Society of Earth 900 years previously.  Now it is managed by the Naturalist Society under a Charter that has maintained the planet as somewhat of a natural preserve, mostly undeveloped.  It is managed by a Conservator plus six bureaus or families of 40 persons each (240 total) who reside at Araminta Station on the continent of Deucas.  Each bureau or house is composed of the descendents of families that are descendents of the original six administrators hundreds of years ago.  A rigorous social rating or caste system has been established so that only those who score the best (low scores or "index numbers" are better) are considered for possible appointment to one of the bureaus.  Once a person turns 21 he or she may be granted "Agency status" as a member of one of the six bureaus if they have a good enough rating, if there is an opening and if they pass an exam.  There is a 240 person limit (120 men and 120 women) so most persons at the age of 21 end up becoming "collateral" with almost no authority, minimal prestige and much less opportunity for employment or advancement.  Persons who become collateral remain members of the Naturalist Society. Many of them move to a colony called Stroma on the continent of Throy or leave the planet entirely.  Persons accepted into the bureau remain in the house of their birth and are considered Cadwal Agents.  There is a major division in the Naturalist Society between the Conservationists and the LPFers (Life, Peace and Freedom.)  The Conservationists want to adhere strictly to the Charter and keep Cadwal as a preserve.  The LPFers (many who are collaterals and reside on Stroma) do not want to follow the Charter and advocate reform by which they mean additional settlements or estates for themselves and allowing the Yips to move to Deucas on a permanent basis. 

Laborers are not included in this limit of 240 people, and most of the labor is done by Yips.  Yips are described as being tall, blonde haired, and biologically very similar to people but appear unable to interbreed with other humans.  Yips were brought to Cadwal as workers and most of them live on Lutwin Atoll in a city called Yipton.  They can sign up for temporary work at Araminta Station for six month periods but are not allowed to live anywhere else on the planet.  Yiptown has now become a tourist attraction and is ruled by the leader of the Yips called the "Oomphaw."  The population of Yips on the planet is around 100,000 so they far outnumber Naturalist Society members.  There are rumors that the Yips want to take over Araminta Station and the continent of Deucas, the most habitable of three continents on the planet because of its temperate climate.  Conservationists want to send most or all of the Yips to another planet for resettlement.  LPFers want to allow the Yips to expand and settle on the Deucas and elsewhere even though this would probably mean an end to the natural preserve, with Cadwal eventually becoming like any other planet.

Our main protagonist is Glawen Clattuc whose father, Schrade Clattuc, works with the local police called Bureau B.  Bureau B. has authority to enforce the Charter and maintain the peace on the planet but allows the Oomphaw of Yiptown to control things on Lutwen Atoll where most of the Yips live.  The Bureau also tries to insure that Yips do not have advanced weapons or airships, but there is evidence that Yips have been stealing weapons and parts to assemble a combat airship.  The assumption is that they are attempting to arm themselves in order to invade Araminta Station and all of the Deucas continent.

Much of the initial story involves Glawen's growing up as a teenager in this culture, striving and competing to obtain Agency status while being infatuated with several girls and dealing with a few adversaries.  He joins Bureau B and is involved in an elaborate on and off world investigation after his girlfriend suddenly disappears during a festival and is thought to have been kidnapped and murdered.  This leads to his becoming a captive of a bizarre religious cult on another planet where he is kept in an ancient tomb and expected to help repopulate the religious cult by breeding with the women there, all of the cult men having become infertile.  Glawen escapes after six months of confinement only to find that his father is either dead or imprisoned.  This promises to lead to another adventure in the sequel novel Ecce and Old Earth.

In Araminta Station and the other Cadwal Chronicles technological and scientific explanations are very minimal so they are science fiction mostly because they involve different planets and are in the distant future.  They are among the few Vance novels where a woman (Wayness Tamm) plays a very important role both in her romance with Glawen and in the action and plot.  In the next two novels in the series she even takes the lead role at times and her character continues to be developed portraying her as intelligent, tenacious, competent and independent.

Araminta Station is infused with action and brimming with police investigations, detective work, mystery, social satire, and creative descriptions of different people, cultures and planets. In addition to this superb world building there are many characters and much more character development than we usually find in shorter Vance novels.  Although I found it very engaging, the novel is dense with details so that for full appreciation careful reading is necessary and repeated readings continue to unveil interesting complexities.  This adds depth to the sociological, psychological and anthropological aspects of the novel while making the investigative and detective aspects of the story even more fascinating.  Araminta Station is an excellent novel by one of our great science fiction writers, a real masterpiece.  It can be read as a stand-alone novel, but the saga continues in two more volumes that are well worth reading, although not quite up to the same level.  Araminta Station is long, complex and detailed so would probably not be a good choice for a person new to the writings of Vance.  I’ve read it several times so far and rate it a 5 out of 5.