Chasch, The-Jack Vance novel, book review

Chasch, The-Jack Vance novel (author’s preferred title)

AKA: City of the Chasch

Planet of Adventure 1

Tschai Book 1

The Chasch, also known as The City of the Chasch, was first published as a paperback novel in 1968. My copy is 141 pages long. It is the first of four novels in the Planet of Adventure series about the planet Tschai. It is in print in paperback along with the other three novels under the title Planet of Adventure by Orb books and is also available in a trade paperback edition by Spatterlight Press.

Each of the four novels in the Planet of Adventure or Tschai series includes the main character, Adam Reith, and the same basic storyline. There are four main civilizations on Tschai. Each involves an intelligent, scientifically advanced species. Three of them originally came there from another planet. Each seems to hate the other species and use humans as servants. The series is more science fiction than fantasy but with the emphasis on fiction rather than science. Much of the focus in the series is on world building and fascinating descriptions of intelligent alien beings and their cultures. Following Reith on his adventures is both interesting and entertaining.

The storyline in The Chasch begins when an Earth starship far from home receives an unusual signal from a planet that is 212 light years from Earth. It indicates that intelligent beings might inhabit a previously unknown world. When the ship arrives at the planet Tschai the crew decides to send down two of their scouts in a 30 foot scout-boat resembling a miniature spaceship. Scouts are highly trained, resourceful, athletic, special forces like crew members and our main character, Adam Reith, is one of the two who leave the main ship. A few moments after they depart, however, a missile strikes the main ship, totally destroying it and damaging the scout-boat. The two scouts are able to repair the damages enough to crash-land on Tschai. Reith survives but is stuck up in a tree, and the other scout lives only long enough to be beheaded by a primitive looking man with a sword and a strange silver emblem on his hat. (Reith later learns that these are called Emblem Men.) The man is harshly reprimanded by a person who appears to be the leader, but their interaction is suddenly interrupted by the sound of a sky raft above.

The group of men with emblems on their hats (Emblem Men) depart and hide when a sky raft approaches. It turns out to be a group of massive creatures and what appear to be their human servants. Reith later learns that these are the Blue Chasch and their Chaschmen. The Blue Chasch are non-human, intelligent creatures. "The typical individual was massive and powerful, scaled like a pangolin with blue pointed tablets. The torso was wedge-shaped, with exoskeletal epaulettes of chitin curving over into a dorsal carapace. The skull rose to a bony point; a heavy brow jutted over the ocular holes, glittering metallic eyes and the complicated nasal orifice." The humans with them wear headpieces and costumes to make them look somewhat like the Blue Chasch, but they are humans and they clearly do the bidding of the Blue Chasch.

Soon another space ship approaches so the Blue Chasch and their Chaschmen hide themselves and their sky-raft. This ship belongs to the tall, thin, technologically sophisticated Dirdirs and they are accompanied by Dirdirmen who are humans who are modified with dress wear and by possibly genetic engineering to look somewhat like their Dirdir leaders. As soon as they land the Blue Chasch ambush them and chase them away after killing some. They then take Reith's scout-boat and depart. When the Emblem Men return, Reith calls out to them because he is still hanging way up in a tree and has no means of getting down. Fortunately he has better luck than the other scout and they help him down from the tree and adopt him as a servant.

Reith learns the language of the Emblem Men and by challenging them to hand to hand combat he is able to rise in status. The Emblem Men and their lifestyle are fascinatingly described with their worship of the two moons, religious beliefs, customs and taboos. Reith also learns about the Chasch, Wankh, Dirdir, Pnume and other intelligent beings who inhabit the planet. The Pnume are the original inhabitants. The others arrived by spaceship from other planets. The Wankh and Dirdir have been at war with each other for many years. Encounters by different species outside of cities, often result in death by combat or ambush. Each group of beings have humans as servants who are adapted by costumes and headgear to look somewhat like their masters. Each group of humans thinks they are the only true humans and that they will eventually be like their masters. The Chasch go so far as to cut open a dead Chaschman or Chashwoman and insert a Chasch imp into the dead body. They then bring it out for display to other Chaschman and tell them that that they are currently Chasch larvae and that when they die they will become real Chasch and rule other Chaschman. It is all a ploy to give humans a sense of hope while keeping them enslaved. Humans who are not modified and used as servants but live on their own, such as the Emblem Men, are considered human mutants and are called sub-men. Sub-men are all looked down upon by everyone else. Each group of human servants also considers itself superior to other groups. Reith concludes from discussions with others that the Dirdirs were the ones who visited Earth long ago and kidnapped humans to be slaves. Eventually the Wankh, Chasch and Pnume also obtained humans from the Dirdirs and raised them as servants that they claimed were a subspecies to themselves.

Of the four novels that comprise Planet of Adventure, The Chasch is the weakest, but it is still well worth reading. I slightly prefer The Wannek, but the real masterpieces are the last two novels, The Dirdir and The Pnume. I recommend starting with the first book and reading all four in order. They are very short novels at 141, 131, 125 and 122 pages each.  They are all engaging, action oriented, interesting and easy to read.  I’ve read The Chasch twice so far and rated it a 4 both times.