Emphyrio

I found the first part of this book to be gripping. It is set on a planet where the majority of people live under the yoke of a small privileged class. It is a totalitarian society where mass production is banned. This includes printing. Everything has to be bespoke. In return, obedient hardworking citizens qualify for a sort of basic income. But they live under strict supervision of the bureaucracy and the church.

The central characters are a father and son who find themselves unable to tolerate this tyranny. They face perils and revelations as their rebellion intensifies. Vance creates compelling characters and the story unfolds through their passions and personalities. His language is rich, you will learn a lot of new words if you stop to look them up... if you don't then the context will define them enough to keep the story rolling.

Perhaps it was just my mood as I read the last section of the book, but towards the end it seemed to be a bit rushed, it was a lot of exposition without the same page-turning pace and character-driven plot. Other readers might be more attuned to the way Vance is unpacking a mythology of the future. Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the otherworldly Punch and Judy show and its puppet master at the start of the book.

Nonetheless I greatly enjoyed this novel. Vance is one of those legends of the genre who haven't quite found mainstream fame, and somehow I'd missed out on reading any of his books. I like playing catchup, even I'm more than 50 years late. As usual, these old books invariably reflect the prejudices and privileges of the time they were written. Vance does a really terrible job with female characters. I have also been re-reading Cordwainer Smith, active in a similar period. He's flawed too, but he proves that it was possible for a male writer to create prominent female characters with vibrancy, power and agency, so the likes of Vance should not be excused.