Lurulu-Jack Vance novel, book review

Lurulu-Jack Vance novel

Lurulu was the last novel Jack Vance published.  It was first published in 2004.  My out of print hardcover copy has 167 pages of text.  Lurulu is a continuation of the novel Ports of Call that was first published six years earlier. 

Lurulu is a word from myths and legends that represents a mysterious search or yearning for something meaningful, a wistful longing for a real reason for living.  The first two chapters (17 pages) of the novel summarize what happened in the novel Ports of Call which ended suddenly in mid flight.  At the end of Ports of Call our main character, Myron Tany, was on the spaceship Glicca with three other crew members and some passengers and were on their way to the spaceport of Coro-coro on the planet Fluter.  The Glicca is a cargo ship that flies from planet to planet stopping at ports to pick up or deliver cargo and sometimes passengers.  At each port the crew and passengers have a new experience and encounter different cultures and people.

In Lurulu we learn about Captain Maloff's history and that he is searching for his mother who left her home planet of Traven just a few days after her husband died in a suspicious boating accident.  She had some dementia and seemed to need constant entertainment so had taken up with a much younger man who called himself Loy Tremaine with whom she was infatuated.  Her family noted that while Tremaine was with her he "made no effort to hide his boredom."  Maloff suspects that this younger man wanted his mother's money and that he might even have been involved with the death of Maloff's father.  His only lead was that Tremaine had an unusual tattoo and had mentioned to others that he was originally from the most beautiful planet in the Gaean Reach.  Maloff consulted with an expert and was told this planet was most likely the planet of Flaut.  Maloff visited Flaut once but officials were very uncooperative with him and he could find no leads.  Maloff wants to visit the planet again to conduct a more intensive search and Myron asks to assist him.  This leads to three more chapters of a fascinating search and rescue effort.

Adventures continue when the spaceship the Glicca arrives in Port Palactus to drop off some freight.  The people on the planet are famous for their handmade rugs (the main export of the planet) and even have the custom that if a man openly admires a woman's rug he makes a commitment to marry her.  The adhesive that binds the rugs is called Schmeer and is highly valued on the planet.  The cargo being delivered by the Glicca is Kasic one of the ingredients that is required to make Schmeer.  Their cargo is therefore very valuable.  But no one is available to unload the cargo or to transport it to its final destination.  A crew is on its way to pick it up the Kasic and to deliver handmade rugs as cargo for the Glicca so the crew needs to wait for a few more days.  But they will also need to be wary of the tribes of thieves called Lallankars who roam the area and often try to steal cargo.  The Lallankars present another encounter and adventure.

There are other adventures including a great business opportunity selling rugs, encounters with hairy, wild acrobats called Futin Putos and a search for Myron's great aunt who was on her way to the planet Naharius to visit a rejuvenation clinic.  All of these are fairly interesting and, unlike the novel Ports of Call, in Lurulu we eventually have some plot resolution and a real ending.  I’ve read it twice so far and rated it a 3 “Liked it.”