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peter_xxx's review against another edition
2.0
One of the things that are missing from goodreads is the possibility to give half star ratings. especially with this book I really miss this. This book is better than a two star book but not quite three stars.
This is the story of Myron who by taking his job serious; get's stranded on some alien planet and has to enroll on a small spaceship. The whole book is filled with peculiar characters, strange situations and wierd places. And all this with a sligh humorous undertone and a beautifull archaic language.
But the problem with this book is that there is no real story. It seems to be a collection of random scenes that Jack Vance thought up and did put together without a real connection besides the travels of a spaceship.
This is the story of Myron who by taking his job serious; get's stranded on some alien planet and has to enroll on a small spaceship. The whole book is filled with peculiar characters, strange situations and wierd places. And all this with a sligh humorous undertone and a beautifull archaic language.
But the problem with this book is that there is no real story. It seems to be a collection of random scenes that Jack Vance thought up and did put together without a real connection besides the travels of a spaceship.
metaphorosis's review against another edition
4.0
Half a century after he started publishing, Vance showed in this story that he still had his gift. For Vance fans, the characters are familiar types, but the writing flows just as smoothly as ever.
Ports of Call is a travelogue, somewhat in the mode of [b:Big Planet|40881|Big Planet|Jack Vance|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369945539s/40881.jpg|936683] (but broader) or [b:Space Opera|1902264|Space Opera|Jack Vance|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1339345425s/1902264.jpg|1903959] (but less farcical). In brief, a young man is forced to make his way as a member of a spaceship crew, visiting all manner of planets. As always, the worlds are strange, the customs bizarre, the decisions whimsical.
The book has a broader range of well-developed characters than usual. Where Vance often relies on a fairly 'normal' narrator and weird, barely human companions or foils, here the crew of the spaceship are interesting and reasonable individuals in their own right.
Some of the decoration is familiar. For example, Vance expands slightly on one of his favorite risks - that innocent actions can lead to unexpected - and undesired - marriage. (Since he seems to have been quite happy with his own lifelong marriage, it's best not to read into this anything but humor.) But the total is nonetheless very entertaining.
So far, so good, and one of Vance's better books. Unfortunately, whether through editorial pressure, bad planning, or some other cause, the book stops at what one might feel is about the 2/3 or 3/4 mark. There's a quick epilogue (strange in a book so obviously designed for a sequel) that pretends to set up the sequel, but basically the book simply ends mid-stream. Given that the sequel, [b:Lurulu|40870|Lurulu|Jack Vance|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316131424s/40870.jpg|40455], is so slim, it's hard to escape the conviction that it was all intended to be published as a single volume. Had that happened, I'd have been very pleased. But this book, as it stands, is incomplete and unsatisfying.
Overall, the main portion of an excellent Vance work. If I end up buying all his work electronically (Spatterlight Press), I'll consider simply merging Ports of Call and Lurulu into the one volume I feel they're meant to be.
I do recommend this, provided you buy Lurulu at the same time. The two together make a good story.
CVIE VI
Ports of Call is a travelogue, somewhat in the mode of [b:Big Planet|40881|Big Planet|Jack Vance|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369945539s/40881.jpg|936683] (but broader) or [b:Space Opera|1902264|Space Opera|Jack Vance|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1339345425s/1902264.jpg|1903959] (but less farcical). In brief, a young man is forced to make his way as a member of a spaceship crew, visiting all manner of planets. As always, the worlds are strange, the customs bizarre, the decisions whimsical.
The book has a broader range of well-developed characters than usual. Where Vance often relies on a fairly 'normal' narrator and weird, barely human companions or foils, here the crew of the spaceship are interesting and reasonable individuals in their own right.
Some of the decoration is familiar. For example, Vance expands slightly on one of his favorite risks - that innocent actions can lead to unexpected - and undesired - marriage. (Since he seems to have been quite happy with his own lifelong marriage, it's best not to read into this anything but humor.) But the total is nonetheless very entertaining.
So far, so good, and one of Vance's better books. Unfortunately, whether through editorial pressure, bad planning, or some other cause, the book stops at what one might feel is about the 2/3 or 3/4 mark. There's a quick epilogue (strange in a book so obviously designed for a sequel) that pretends to set up the sequel, but basically the book simply ends mid-stream. Given that the sequel, [b:Lurulu|40870|Lurulu|Jack Vance|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1316131424s/40870.jpg|40455], is so slim, it's hard to escape the conviction that it was all intended to be published as a single volume. Had that happened, I'd have been very pleased. But this book, as it stands, is incomplete and unsatisfying.
Overall, the main portion of an excellent Vance work. If I end up buying all his work electronically (Spatterlight Press), I'll consider simply merging Ports of Call and Lurulu into the one volume I feel they're meant to be.
I do recommend this, provided you buy Lurulu at the same time. The two together make a good story.
CVIE VI
arthurbdd's review against another edition
3.0
Vance-by-numbers, Jack hitting his usual notes but with not much direction and lacking a strong through-line. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/2007/01/02/book-review-ports-of-call-and-lurulu/
spacesjut's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
dustymantle's review against another edition
2.0
It was kind of engaging, but I get the impression it's perhaps an odd first Vance book for me to have chosen to read. The grandiloquent and prolix flights of verbiage were appealing, the paper-thin female characters not so much.
myxomycetes's review
3.0
For all of Vance's inventiveness in making strange planetary societies I can't help but feel like they're all some iteration of that joke New Yorker cartoon caption of "Would you look at this asshole?"
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