- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Voyager (15 Feb 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006482120
- ISBN-13: 978-0006482123
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 946,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘Grand yarn-spinning’
Kirkus Reviews
‘Vance at his most effortless and pleasant: a romp’
American Library Association
On Night Lamp:
‘Buy it. It’s cheaper and at least as exotic as two weeks in the sun’
Financial Times
‘The quintessential Vance novel. Rush out and buy this glorious book’
Interzone
‘Night Lamp yields rich rewards in its humorous complexities’
Publishers Weekly
Product Description
New galaxy-hopping, picaresque adventure from a master storyteller.
Sf grand master Vance’s latest is a tongue-in-cheek swashbuckler about a young man, Myron Tany, who has taken a degree in space studies but has much to learn when he first boards a ship. Myron is in thrall to his zany aunt, who has heard of a faraway fountain of youth and sets off in her space yacht to find it. Her captain flatters her agreeably, and when Myron points out that the man is a swindler, she won’t hear of it and maroons poor Myron on an inhospitable planet with barely his passage home.
Luckily, the tramp cargo vessel Glicca is just then in need of a supercargo, and Myron signs on with cool, competent Captain Maloof, Chief Engineer/gambler
Schwatzendale, and Chief Steward/photographer Wingo. The four enjoy a string of rare adventures on a spectacular series of planets.
They acquire as passengers a group of pilgrims (and their mysterious luggage), or rather, pirates masquerading as religious pilgrims, and engage in to-the-death struggles with the pirates’ pursuers; on Terce, Myron narrowly avoids being skinned (there is a flourishing trade in human skins) and eaten.
Finally, they encounter a Swiftian, legalistic planet on which one may be punished or betrothed for the slightest whimsical offense. Myron is bound to commit one…
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First Sentence
As a boy Myron Tany had immersed himself in the lore of space exploration. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
As a boy Myron Tany had immersed himself in the lore of space exploration. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The story is somewhat absent, the characters are somewhat two dimensional, but nevertheless this is vintage Jack Vance. Characters with vaunting ego who live life to the full abound. It's probably not the best introduction to Jack Vance, but it is a stunning book.
The book is about a young man and his adventures through space. It ends somewhat abruptly, and it's unclear if this is deliberate, or else because the author got bored or the publisher impatient.
But the language is brilliant, the style is excellent, and there could be meaning here too. Life is just ports of call, and the present counts.
Format:Paperback
This was, I think, Vance's penultimate piece of fiction, and is really only a complete work with Lurulu (which he pretty much admits in the introduction to Lurulu). It feels quite like a rewrite of Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga - a series of travel vignettes, loosely joined, only this time around the Cugel character not is a bit of a prick, but rather a young dreamer setting out on his long-sought quest amongst the stars. If you have read Vance before, the Cugel reference is probably all it will take to help you decide if you want to read this book: if you haven't read Tales of the Dying Earth, that or Lyonesse are more accessible starting points, so go read them first, and if you like those, you will like this.
With Vance, plot is always secondary to language, so there is not much point going through "what happens" in any detail. Suffice it to say this is Vance spinning a yarn and poking fun at how people behave. Myron Tany gets his dream of traveling the spaceways in a tramp trader, with his fellow crew members being largely eccentric, and the planets he visits being dangerous - one in particular being infested with human-pelt hunters, which gives us an unforgettable scene of love lost.
There is a wonderful ensemble cast here on show - crazed Aunts, gold-diggers, gambling pilgrims, mouse-riding tricksters...sit back and enjoy the ride.
With Vance, plot is always secondary to language, so there is not much point going through "what happens" in any detail. Suffice it to say this is Vance spinning a yarn and poking fun at how people behave. Myron Tany gets his dream of traveling the spaceways in a tramp trader, with his fellow crew members being largely eccentric, and the planets he visits being dangerous - one in particular being infested with human-pelt hunters, which gives us an unforgettable scene of love lost.
There is a wonderful ensemble cast here on show - crazed Aunts, gold-diggers, gambling pilgrims, mouse-riding tricksters...sit back and enjoy the ride.
Format:Paperback
Rather disappointing overall; whilst Vance's usual language mastery is impressive, there's not a whole lot of story. The involving plots of his earlier books is missing, so there's little to drive the reader forward. Only the choice of phasing links this with greats like the Durdane or Planet of Adventure series.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Master of Science Fantasy
I've been reading Jack Vance's books for more years than I care to remember and at one time or another have owned nearly his whole collection. Read more
Published on 20 May 2002 by I. J. Lowe
Vance submerges us into another world and culture
Ive been reading Vance since the mid seventies and his stories always entertain.
His not a techno head sci-fi writer. Read more
His not a techno head sci-fi writer. Read more
Published on 27 Nov 2001 by harvey@brassmonkey.demon.co.uk
a journey to nowhere ?
jacks books are fasinating and a joy to read. There are very good peaks within, but like others I felt alittle disapointed that we didn't really go anywhere. Read more
Published on 26 Oct 2000
Nice journey, disappointing story.
Vance describe places so nicely that this book cannot be poor. Weird characters, exotic ambiences and absurd situations. Read more
Published on 15 Oct 1999 by v_saintandre@hotmail.com
Cool Travelogue of the Gaean Reach!
When Myron Tany finds himself abandoned by his zany great aunt, he has two choices - to go tamely back home to become a Financial Analyst like his father; or to go travelling... Read more
Published on 27 July 1999
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