Planet of Adventure

City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume

By: Jack Vance

Narrated by: Elijah Alexander

Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.

Against a backdrop of baroque cities and haunted wastelands, sumptuous palaces and riotous inns, Reith will encounter deadly wastrels and murderous aliens, dastardly villains and conniving scoundrels - and always the random beauty in need of rescue.

©1968, 1969, 1970 City of the Chasch © 1968 by Jack Vance. Servants of the Wankh © 1969 by Jack Vance. The Dirdir © 1969 by Jack Vance. The Pnume © 1970 by Jack Vance (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Still a great story

I read all all 4 books when they 1st came out and remembered enjoying them. Now that I'm an old fart, I decided to pick up the audio book and am glad I did. The narrator did a great job. High adventure on a far planet where the hero gets the girl and doesn't take any crap from aliens. lol

"his new life. . . held zest and adventure"

Planet of Adventure is a set of four short novels by Jack Vance: City of the Chasch (1968), Servants of the Wankh (1969), The Dirdir (1969), and The Pnume (1970). They depict the adventures of a resourceful earthman, Adam Reith, as he attempts to buy, steal, or make a spaceship in which to return to Earth from the planet Tschai, where he has been stranded (212 light years away). His goal is difficult because "On Tschai both virtue and vice were exaggerated." Its denizens lack chivalry and decency as they pursue personal advantage and are prey to volcanic joys and rages that make the people of earth seem sedate. "Evil?" A character asks Reith at one point. "On Tchai the word has no meaning. Events exist--or they do not exist." His goal is also difficult because the locals treat his supposed earthly origin as dangerous heresy. (Hence he becomes evasive: "I have learned that candor creates problems.")

Tschai is populated by four sentient alien species, the Chasch, Wankh, Dirdir, and Pnume, by their modified human servants (Chaschmen, Wankhmen, Dirdirmen, and Pnumekin), and by a "bewildering diversity of human types," ranging from pirates, cannibals, and marsh-folk, to nomadic mechanics, ultra-civilized Asiatics, and gray mongrels. As a local tells Reith, "men are as plastic as wax." Being a vivid world (possessed of pink and blue moons), Tschai also hosts all manner of exotic and often dangerous flora and fauna.

What in the first book is heading for a John Carter pastiche (with Adam Reith bringing independence to subjugated people and starting a romance with a Dejah Thoris type) morphs into something else by the second. Although the backbone of the novels is basically what Reith says more than once, "We are men," and in his peregrinations he tries to instill in the people of Tschai a little human get go and pride, far from seeking to liberate and unite all cultures on Tschai and settle there, he wants to return to earth, primarily to warn humanity there of the threat posed by the Dirdir (who millennia ago visited earth to get human slave stock to use on Tschai).

Planet of Adventure is full of Vance's ironic understatement ("The inhabitants are far from cordial"), dry humor ("A person who calls facts absurdities will often be surprised"), roguish conmen (everyone is out for the main chance), strategic manipulation of contractual language (when bargaining for the return of a friend be sure to stipulate that the person be returned alive), episodic plotting ("Events sometimes display a vitality of their own"), and vivid descriptions of exotic scenes ("For a long period the sea rose and fell in fretful recollection, but dawn found the Charnel Teeth standing like archaic monuments on a sea of brown glass"), cities ("plazas and piazzas of wind scoured concrete"), creatures ("It was over eight feet in height, in its soft black hat and black cloak, like a giant grasshopper in magisterial vestments"), and couture ("They wore long-billed black caps crowned by jawless human skulls, and the plume of hair rose jauntily just behind the skull").

It also features neat Vanceian philosophy:

"It occurs to me that the man in his religion are one and the same thing. The unknown exists. Each man projects on the blankness the shape of his own particular world-view. He endows his creation with his personal volitions and attitudes. The religious man stating his case is in essence explaining himself. When a fanatic is contradicted he feels a threat to his own existence; he reacts violently."

It is also full of cool Vanceian concepts, among them the sentient Emblems that shape the behavior of the steppe nomads who wear them; the cult who correctly believes that humanity derived from another world but who irrationally tries to contact the planet via telepathy; and "the multiple sexuality" of the Dirdir, whose males each have one of twelve varieties of sexual organs and whose females each have one of fourteen, most of which are incompatible with each other.

Although Vance imagines myriad exotic cultures with outre systems of fashion, alimentation, reproduction, recreation, religion, punishment, and music, he conveniently arranges things so that everyone speaks essentially the same language, glibly explaining the phenomenon as deriving from the intensely heterogeneous nature of the inhabitants of Tschai. (That said, he does interestingly play with language by giving English words outlandish spins, as with "boisterous" for the Pnumekin; giving different cultures different non-English words and translating them into English, as with the Yao word "awaile"; and creating an exotic and subtle, chime-based writing system for the Wankh.)

Vance is no feminist here. In the first book appear grotesque man-hating Priestesses of the Female Mystery, in the second book something shocking happens to the Dejah Thoris figure, in the third and fourth books Reith and Vance have completely erased her from their memories, in the fourth book Reith muses about a new companion, "She was female and inherently irrational, but her conduct seemed to exceed that elemental fact," and the main players in all four books are male.

Elijah Alexander reads the audiboook perfectly, with clear pronunciation, effective pacing and emphasis, and just enough emotion and amusement for Vance's dry irony. He does a solid Reith (earnest and gruff) and is great with Reith's mismatched complementary friends, Anacho the renegade Dirdirman (condescending and drawling) and Traz the renegade nomad (youthful and terse).

Although Reith can sure kill and is not above stealing at a pinch, he is the moral compass of the novel, acting in good faith, sticking by his friends, and avoiding needless killing in cold blood. His superiority to the venal and treacherous people he meets is one reason I find Planet of Adventure less impressive than Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy and Dying Earth books, populated as they are by anti-heroes. It's also less consistently and convincingly realized. So I recommend those other works before Planet of Adventure.

Great Story, Poor Reader

This is one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. Unfortunately, the narrator reads it poorly and doesn't seem to 'get' the characters. Adam Reith comes across as a confused American tourist and many of the other characters have strange regional accents that would be amusing if they were not so at odds with their personalities. The narrator is not able to convey Vance's wit or unique language--with the result that much is lost. It is too bad that the narrator for Lyonesse was not employed for this book. As it is, the book is strong enough to withstand the narrator, but it is too bad that such a brilliant book was given to such a poor speaker

Great Narration!

One of my favorite stories. This was narrated so well it transports you to the planet tschai (sp?).
I even got pulled iver for speeding because I wasn't paying attention the story was so well done.

Jack Vance, the best of the best.

Just one of the many masterpieces from one of the greatest authors of SciFy. More of Vance's books should be audiobooked.

It delivers on the title.

These stories are similar to the adventures of John Carter of Mars and Tarzan. The hero is intelligent, honorable, resourceful, and physically better than other men. The history of the alien world, its alien races and strangely human inhabitants is colorful and interesting.

Although it's unfair to demand more from this genre at the time, female readers might not enjoy this one because women mostly serve as objects to be rescued. I'm fine with that, but ladies might not be.

Cheesy title, Great story

Jack Vance delivers a great sci-fi epic. I was hesitant with a generic title like Planet of Adventure, but I loved listening to this four part series.

the best

I loved it so much. I've read this book many times and experiencing it this was wonderful. Great reader. Jack Vance is truly a master of science fiction.

Another wonderful work by Vance

Vance can take a simple premise and make a remarkable story out of it. Truly a master of his craft.
The Demon Princes saga is my favorite of his but this is a great sf series. A great value

this is an amazing journey

Which character – as performed by Elijah Alexander – was your favorite?

All of them. I give life to them. Naturally Anacho stands a bit higher because he is so well interpreted

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes absolutely. This is a book that has you traveling across an entire planet to find your way home again.

Any additional comments?

Tschai is apart. It hasn't aged and it remains a delight. The audiobook is extremely good to make it alive. Great job.