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The inhabitants of a planet called Iszm, a species known as the Iszic, have evolved the native giant trees into living homes, with all needs and various luxuries.
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Ailie Farr is a human botanist who goes to Iszm like many others before him, of many species to try to steal a female tree, which might allow the propagation of the species off world and break the monopoly. The Houses of Iszm exhibits some of the stylistic elements that would come to characterize many of Vance's later works: a picaresque protagonist who unintentionally achieves the greater good in spite of himself, highly exotic locales populated by equally exotic sentient species, and the theme that more advanced sentient species are withholding vital technology or information in order to keep humanity in a subservient status.
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Jack Vance Book List - FictionDB
Works by Jack Vance. Ports of Call Lurulu. Penche who is allowed to purchase a limited quantity of trees of only one type. On Iszm they have been developing and perfecting these trees that turn into houses for two hundred thousand years. They even have some that grow into being wooden boats, although the rigging must be added artificially. The trees are also sentient beings and have personalities. Some trees are called sentry trees and will strike out and even kill trespassers if they don't know the password.
Even if a female seed should ever be stolen there is a very complex, secret process for growing the plants and only the Iszics know how to do this. Each tree also requires many hours of training called house breaking. The webbings must be cut; the nerves of ejaculation must be located and paralyzed.
The sphincters must open and close at a touch. The art of house-breaking is almost as important as house-breeding. Without correct breaking a house is an unmanageable nuisance--a menace. He also hopes to persuade the Iszics to allow exports of smaller, more affordable houses to help with housing problems on Earth.
Farr learns, however, that it costs the same to grow and ship a simple tree house as it does a multilevel one so the Iszics have no incentive to export cheaper houses. All visitors to Iszm are also suspected of wanting to steal some seeds of female trees and Farr is especially suspect because he is a botanist. The government on Iszm is constantly trying to monitor and thwart theft by using elaborate security systems, screenings and procedures.
Those who try to steal are usually killed or captured. If captured they are sent to a tree prison called the Mad House. This is a suspenseful, humorous, easy to read novella involving police, undercover agents, smugglers, murderers and a central character who tries to stay alive while figuring out what is going on. Vance fans will want to read The Houses of Iszm even though it is not one of his finest works.
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- The House of Iszm and Other Stories;
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Those looking for an odd, easy to read novella might also find this enjoyable. This is the second time I have read this recently and continue to rate it 3 "Liked it. Fletcher works on a barge on an alien planet where they harvest barnacles and sea slugs from the ocean to make chemical compounds.
One of his men turns up missing and a strange creature grabs Fletcher by the leg and tries to pull him into the sea. This is a planet where there are suppose to be nothing that is predatory toward people. All of the animals on the planet seem harmless, including the very common seal like marine creature called a dekabrach. But much more is going on with the habitants of the planet and also with his coworkers on another barge. The intrigue builds as Fletcher, who is stuck on the planet with his crew until relief arrives, tries to investigate the mystery. I found this enjoyable to read and I rated it a 4.
The Narrow Land This is a 23 page novelette that was first published in in Fantastic magazine. It is a fascinating story that I found totally engaging and thought provoking.
One thing that makes it very unusual is that the protagonist is an alien creature that hatches on a beach and then crawls to the water where it tries to survive while exploring its environment. Vance is a superb master at creating other worlds. In this story he creates a world from the perspective of an alien creature who must learn about his new world while trying to figure out who and what he is.
Through Vance's masterly use of language, I actually felt like I was viewing the world from the consciousness of this creature.
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It is amazing how much Vance can create in so few pages. Our main character, Ern, learns that he is one of what he refers to as "water children" and that there are different types of children, some with single crests and others with double crests. They are born with some minimal ability to speak. Ern finds out that he must be wary of predatory birds, a large dangerous creature he calls an "ogre" and "men" who come to the beach to capture water children. Ern learns to speak fluently and to eventually walk on land where he discovers what he is and encounters a frightening world were "children" are eugenically culled and where the single and double crested adult creatures kill each other as enemies.
A number of sociological and social psychological issues are presented as the story develops. I found this short work to be a masterpiece and one of Vance's finest writings. It is best read more than once to be fully appreciated. My rating: 5. Picking up shortly after the conclusion of Witch World , Web continues with the trials of the citizens of Estcarp and their allies as they fight to save Loyse of Verlaine from kidnappers and contain another attempt by the Kolder to return to the home dimension of the former witch Jaelithe, the Earth man Simon Tregarth, Loyse, Koris of Gorm.
Other than the hardships endured by their physical characteristics plain faced Loyse or oddly shaped Koris , or the duties of their positions Falconer, Witch, Border Warder, etc. To say that any one of them is persistent, brave or intelligent is too generic a statement since these descriptors apply to all of them.
Koris could be said to be the more brash of the primary protagonists, but even that is tempered by a seemingly universal understanding amongst the characters that the greater good of Estcarp and the protection of Loyse could be jeopardized with too much bravado. In both Witch World and Web of the Witch World there are precious few characters who will act outside of the universally held objectives of their respective groups — all Kolder native Kolder as well as their agents work for the goal of cross-dimensional conquest, and all Estcarp allies work for the wills of the Guardians.
Putting the two stories side by side the only characters who felt as if they evolved somewhat into distinguishable people were Aldis and Simon Tregarth. As mistress to Yvian, Aldis is in a precarious position of power that could easily be lost should Yvian tire of her company or if he should recapture his runaway bride Loyse and cement a union between his territory and Verlaine. We see her exhibit cunning, duplicity, manipulation and forethought in Witch World , as well as a hardened self-serving determination to survive in a society where women are secondary accessories to the lives of the men who rule them.
Sadly, only a little of this characterization survives into the plot of Web of Witch World before it is overridden by the mind control of the Kolder. Once an unpredictable and capricious character who added an edge to the chapters she appeared in, the Kolder force her to take wooden actions with nearly none of her classic cunning.
Jack Vance
Simon Tregarth, the man from another Earth, is one who I desperately wanted to see evolve from his flat personality in Witch World. Thankfully, in Web of Witch World he does mature somewhat as a character. Between the time when the first book ended and the second one begins Simon and Jaelithe have married. It feels like a massive waste not to have been privy to the turmoil that must have been present within Jaelithe during that time as she officially sacrifices her Witch power, her position amongst the leadership of Estcarp, and sole possession of her physical body for her love of Simon.
Apparently she must have come to terms with the trade, because things seem to be peaceful between them until one morning when both she and Simon feel a call of the power. He worries that her career as a Witch will pull them apart from each other physically as well as emotionally. He comes to see her as an equal and a powerful ally in the fight against the Kolder.
Again, as I said about Witch World , Norton has laid the foundations of a world with many interesting facets.
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The inter-dimensional travel, technology so advanced people have reverted to calling it magic, and deeply divided cultures are fun, but this world building takes far more precedence in the plot than the people within it. I liked the Vance books.