Trullion: Alastor 2262-Jack Vance novel, book review

Trullion: Alastor 2262-Jack Vance novel

AKA: Alastor Book 1

Trullion: Alastor 2262 was first published in March of 1973 in digest form in Amazing Science Fiction magazine.  It was released as a 247 page paperback novel later the same year.  It is currently in print in a high quality trade paperback by Spatterlight Press. In 1974 Trullion: Alastor 2262 was nominated for and placed sixth for the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.

The Alastor Cluster consists of thirty thousand live stars and three thousand inhabited planets with a human population of about five trillion.  All of the people share a common language and are ruled by the Connatic who lives on the planet Numenes.  The Connatic uses his wits and a powerful military like police force to keep the peace, especially focusing on space pirates called starmenters.  Trullion is also known as Chamber 2262 and is the lone planet of a small white star.  It has one narrow continent called Merlank that is divided into twenty prefectures.  There are thousands of waterways and many islands on Trullion.  An aristocratic class is at the top of the hierarchy in society with the nomadic Trevanyi at the bottom.  Residents of Trullion, with the exception of Trevanyis, are called Trills.

Our main character is Glinnes Hulden who was born one hour earlier than his brother Glay.  When Glinnes turned seventeen he enlisted in the military like police force called the Whelm.  The main narrative begins ten years later when Glinnes resigns from the Whelm to return home.  Glinnes oldest brother had taken over as head of the family after their father was killed by merlins, an indigenous, semi-intelligent, humanoid like creature that lives mostly in water but often emerges at night to search for food, sometimes killing humans.  But Glinnes learns that his oldest brother has been missing for two months and is likely dead.  If his brother is dead, Glinnes is the next oldest by one hour and will be head of the family estate.

Glinnes is surprised to learn that his twin brother Glay recently sold Amber Isle, one of the family estates with its manor house.  Not only did he not have any legal authority to do so, but he sold it at a very low price and then donated the proceeds to the leader of a philosophical cult, called the Fanschers, of which Glay is a member.  Glay also allowed a family of gypsy like Trevanyi to camp on their main family estate on Rabendary Island.  They are very irresponsible and destructive, chopping down old trees, killing most the game and destroying plants that are relied on for food.  Glinnes insists that they, the Drosset family, leave his island.  This creates intense animosity, almost a family feud, by the Drosset family, directed at Glinnes, that continues throughout the novel.

Glinnes could cancel the sale of the other family estate if he had the money to reimburse the new buyer, but he does not have the funds.  He is unable to borrow the money from the bank because he is not technically the head of the estate since his oldest brother is not considered legally dead yet.  It would take four years to declare him dead if the body is not found.  When Glinnes learns about the creation of a local hussade team he decides to join the team after negotiating with the owner.  Hussade is the fanatically popular team sport played throughout the Alastor Cluster, and Glinnes is a highly skilled player.  Hussade team owners share a portion of their winnings with the players.  If he is on a winning team Glinnes might be able to make enough money to buy back the estate on Ambal Isle.  This seems to be his only realistic option. 

About 61 pages of the novel are devoted to describing the organizing of the hussade teams, their practices and some play by play action of actual games.  Some readers report really enjoying reading these sports scenes.  Others seem less enthusiastic.  Vance, of course,  does a very good job of describing an odd sport in a lively way.  Hussade involves two teams that try to charge over runs above four feet of water to attempt to get into the other team's territory.  The defending team tries to body block opponents from crossing, hopefully pushing them into the water.  Either team may use trapezes to swing sideways over the water to reach a different run.  The wings, strikes and rovers of each team attempt to reach the end of the opponent's field where a girl called the "sheirl" is stationed on a platform.  Each team has guards who mostly defend the sheirl.  If a player reaches the opposing team's sheirl, he takes hold of a ring on the sheirl's clothing (a white gown) and "ransom" must be paid by the other team or he pulls the ring with all the clothing off the sheirl.  If the ring is pulled a team is disgraced and loses the game.  Players and fans are both extremely passionate and committed.

Vance does an excellent job of interweaving different themes, elements and plot lines.  In addition to the sport of hussade, we have space pirates called starmenters, human eating merlings, the Fanscher cult, gypsy like Trevanyi, sibling rivalry, romances, family feuds, thefts, murders, a sacred burial ground called Vale of Green Ghosts, an arrogant aristocracy with its strict class system, and many interesting characters.  Vance not only pulls all of this together but presents us with an excellent and unpredictable ending.

I found the novel to be engaging, although there were a few sections about the game of hussade where my attention lagged slightly the second time I read it.  Overall the action, adventure, world building, interesting characters and talented writing prevailed for me.  All Vance fans will probably want to read this novel, and some general readers might like it although I can think of many other Vance novels I'd recommend more readily for those new to the writings of Jack Vance.  I’ve read this novel several times and rated it a 4 or “Really liked it.”

Alastor Cluster-Jack Vance Series

1. Trullion: Alastor 2262 (1973)
2. Marune: Alastor 933 (1975)
3. Wyst: Alastor 1716 (1978)