Jack Vance

Araminta Station

Rjyan C Kidwell

Oh man this is an outrageous book. The "F#@% you very much"/"But good sir, I would not think of denying you the full balance of f#$%s you have so diligently earned"-style dialogue that Vance deploys to such hilarious effect in The Dying Earth books and Showboat World is here elevated to Shakespearean heights. (Those aren't actual quotes, btw, just a sloppy characterization.) The story here is a total page-turner of a thrilling political space epic-slash-comedy of interplanetary manners, full of subtle twists and laced throughout with dry, dark humor. Vance is a treasure. I know this description might be off-putting to some, but ARAMINTA STATION kinda makes me think of Dune if it had been written by Steely Dan-- ie: Replace Herbert's earnest self-importance & mystical pretensions with a casual materialism & droll scrutiny of the more banal strains of malice that permeate our culture.

It feels nerdy af to level this at a book in which basically every single character is hilariously selfish a-hole, but: overall the gender roles/dynamics seem a little unimaginative. The human culture depicted in this book is bleak af . Of course, this was published 30 years ago, and like my boy Francis I says, our personal guilt is the large part of our eagerness to judge the past by the criteria of the present. Outside of this meta dimension, I think the craft itself on display here seems destined to endure, and this novel will be one of those that seems weirdly ahead of/out of time when read by our distant descendants.

Araminta Station

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