Subject: Araminta Station - Jack Vance - review

From: [email-masked] (John Cherniavsky)
Date: 8 Jan 88 19:23:11 GMT

Araminta Station
                            Jack Vance
                Underwood-Miller  0-88733-059-2 $60.00

This is Book 1 of the Cadwal Chronicles. I generally like Jack Vance's
work (otherwise why spend $60.00 for the limited edition when Tor is
coming out with a hardcover in a month or so), and this is typical of his
more recent work. Cadwal is a planet discovered by a member of the 
Naturalist Society of Earth. The planet was to be maintained as a natural
preserve and not exploited. To enforce this non-exploitation, the Society
established Arminta Station - an area of 100 square miles. The original
administrators in charge of six agencies were named Wook, Clattuc,
Diffin, Offaw, Veder, and Laverty. The administrators and their descendents
established six houses taking the above names - each house limited to
40 individuals with "full agency status" (i.e. citizenship). Arminta
Station is the story of Glawen Clattuc from age 16 to 21.

At age 16 each individual from the houses is assigned an index. For 5
years, by study and luck, the index may be improved. At age 21 a decision
is made regarding full agency status. If the index is not low enough the
individual becomes a non-citizen - this means that residence at the
houses is no longer available and that emigration is likely. Araminta
Station concerns the coming of age in an unusual society of Glawen
Clattuc. It contains several sub-plots involving murderous 
mysteries and trips to various nearby planets - each with their own 
unusual societies - not to mention descriptions of two other societies
on Cadwal, the Yips of Yiptown and the Naturalists of Stroma. This is
a long (450 pp) and very rich book and the pace and writing style are closer to
Vance's Lyonesse series than his Alastor or Tschai series. I 
recommend the book to any Jack Vance aficionado.

John C. Cherniavsky
Georgetown University