Big Planet-Jack Vance novel, book review

Big Planet-Jack Vance novel

Big Planet is a 155/211 page, very early, planetary adventure, science fiction novel by Jack Vance that will probably appeal more to Vance fans than the general reader. It was written in 1947 and first published in the pulp magazine Startling Stories in September of 1952. It was reissued in book form by Avalon Books and in an Ace Double in 1957 and by Gollancz in1978. Fortunately Big Planet was also released 2017 in a Spatterlight Press quality trade paperback edition that is still in print.

Big Planet is much larger than Earth and has been colonized by people and groups that left Earth, often to avoid persecution or prosecution. These diverse people, including many misfits and cultists, are not ruled by the government on Earth and are not at all united. All laws are highly localized and various groups, towns and tribes often are often in conflict or even at war with each other. There is no planetary government or leadership. There is also no metal on the planet so it has no industrial development, electricity or advanced technology. The standard of exchange are pieces of metal from other planets. Persons who have the most metal are the richest.

One local tyrant named Charley Lysidder has been attacking other towns with his army to attempt to be the planetary leader. He hopes to unite and rule the planet. He is also involved with the slave trade and with importing technologically advanced weapons that are forbidden on the planet. Authorities on Earth have sent representatives to negotiate with him but they rarely returned. This time they decide to send Claude Glystra and his crew by spaceship. But the ship is sabotaged and crashes on the planet 40,000 miles from its destination, the Earth Enclave where it would be safe. The crew abandon the craft and begin the long journey to the Earth Enclave but are pursued by dangerous wild creatures, tribes of cannibals, Charley Lysidder's army and many others. Each group they meet and village or town they encounter has a different culture with varying rules, laws and acceptable behaviors. These diverse tribes and cities are only minimally developed by Vance, but it is still interesting to read.

But basically this very early novel by Vance is not one of his finest. The plot is minimal and, except for the main character, Claude Glystra, there is almost no character development. You will find little of Vance's brilliant, often witty dialog that invigorates most of his later novels. Although there are some descriptions of interesting or unusual tribes and towns, there is really minimal "world building" in the complex, fascinating way that Vance develops in many of his later works. The love affair between Claude Glystra and "Nancy" is flat and unconvincing.

Despite these and other flaws, there is plenty of action, events move very quickly and I liked the novel better with after rereading it. But it is clearly not top notch Vance and will probably appeal mostly to Vance devotees who are interested in seeing how Vance developed as a great writer. I understand Big Planet also has historical importance in the development of early science fiction. Apparently because of the description of a new world ("world building") and its presentation of a "planetary romance" it was considered somewhat groundbreaking for a 1952 (written in 1947) pulp science fiction work. I’ve read this novel several times and rated it a 3 the first time but now give it a 4 minus.