This novella won Vance his second Hugo Award and his first Nebula after it appeared in Galaxy in 1966. Vance’s specialty was a unique blend of science-fantasy riddled with exotic locales, star-faring feudalisms, and rich alien cultures, something that a Hard SF purist might blanch at. But without those motifs we wouldn’t have Jack Vance, and he’s got a sizable fanbase for a reason: what he creates is unique, and Vance is good at what he does.In the future, part of a super-cultured mankind has returned to Earth after exploring and colonizing distant galaxies; displacing the scattered humans still living on Earth, they build huge Castles as dwelling-places. They bring with them a menagerie of alien beings, modified to become servant races: Power-Wagons and irascible Birds for transport, slow and simple Peasants for daily labor, beautiful elfin Phanes to be viewed as works of art, and the Meks, a strange hive-minded race used to repair and operate mechanical devices. Now, after decades of service, the Meks revolt, slaughtering each Castle of humans one by one.We follow, off and on, a series of aristocratic gentleman within Hagedorn Castle, struggling to operate the machinery the Meks abandoned, much less come up with a plan for defense before they’re exterminated. Their detached arrogance is their major hindrance—using machinery or performing any kind of labor is unbecoming of a gentleman. Vance settles on Xanten for protagonist, a young aristocrat who’s sent out to determine the fate of their old spaceships, and to try and rally the original human inhabitants of Earth against the Meks. Meanwhile, the other Castles are sacked each in turn, save for Joneil and Hagedorn. Joneil faces its doomed fate in a powerful first chapter, leaving Hagedorn the titular last Castle.For me, the most interesting thing about this book was its metaphoric use of some rather prejudiced humans as protagonists: think antebellum plantation owners or "White Man's Burden" colonizers, who adapt other races as servitors and thus forget how to perform manual labor. For all their super-cultured culture and high ideals, they're kind of unlikable, which makes the book a lot more interesting when they're the recognizable humans, and their enemies are brutal and alien killing machines. In the end, the book becomes about adaptation: a very human theme.I only have two real complaints. First and most damning is that the resolution felt weak and unsatisfying: things that happen because that’s where the story needed to go, not because the characters developed that way. It’s implied that they did, but such development wasn’t shown, so it felt like deus ex machina. Second: for some reason Vance decided to integrate a lot of world-building into the text—cultural-societal and ancestry details—in the form of clinical footnotes or dry exposition. Which was very off-putting, since after a thrilling first chapter they dominated the story for several chapters. And this was after editor Frederik Pohl cut them down by about half.Some minor narrative flaws bring the book down, but they don’t ruin an excellent story. I think The Last Castle is a solid tale, worthy of its awards and acclaim. Vance combines his signature style with an intricate world and interesting concept, and it all works out very well. Piecemeal, the flaws are problematic—too slow after a great first chapter, too contrived at the end—but overall the novel follows an interesting arc, riddled with cool concepts and set in a breathtaking ornate world that only Vance could have designed. The story’s failings bugged me because they tarnished a fantastic little story. This is much closer to being Vance’s best, despite its contrived conclusion, with his prose and creativity firing on all cylinders.(Full review found here.)
This is the first Jack Vance novel that I've read. It is one of those novels in the grand SF tradition, providing a wide view of a particular "historical" moment with all its history and cultural quirks in the midst of an engaging story about the individuals caught up in it.The story concerns a society living on a future Earth that has "adopted" several alien species for use as workers, servants, and sexual objects. The society is indolent, ignorant, and arrogant (with a few notable exceptions). As the novel begins, rumours are floating around about an uprising of some of the alien species. The pampered humans either dismiss the rumours or are annoyed by what they regard as the impertinence and rudeness of the uprising. Although I wouldn't call this a heavy-handed novel, it would certainly be difficult to miss the message this novel offers on slavery and complacency. Vance's language is witty and engaging, however, and the novel reads so quickly you won't be bothered by the obviousness of its moral. The characterization of the indolent castle-dwellers alone makes the novel worth reading.
What do You think about The Last Castle (1986)?
- So what is this book about, dwarling?- Oh, another of those ghastly little science-fiction novels. The decadent aristocrats sit in their beseiged castle, which is being systematically undermined by the nasty, uncouth Meks. As one tower after another collapses in ruins, they try to decide which bottles of priceless old wine most urgently need to be drunk before the inevitable end. - What a frightfully unsubtle metaphor. I presume it's poorly written and stylistically uninventive?- Alas, you presume correctly. You must forgive me, I was only a teenager when I read it.- I forgive you, dwarling. Anything on the news?- More catastrophes in the third world, I believe. I'm afraid I lost interest after a minute and turned it off. Thought I'd go back to Proust.- Very sensible, dwarling.
—Manny
Βραβευμένη με Hugo και Nebula νουβέλα εκατό σελίδων του Τζακ Βανς, γραμμένη το 1966. Από Τζακ Βανς έχω διαβάσει τα δυο πρώτα βιβλία της Ετοιμοθάνατης Γης και οπωσδήποτε οι προσδοκίες μου ήταν υψηλές, μιας και αυτά τα δυο βιβλία τα βρήκα υπέροχα. Σε ένα μικρό βαθμό οι προσδοκίες μου εκπληρώθηκαν, σε καμία περίπτωση όμως δεν φτάνει το επίπεδο των άλλων του βιβλίων. Ουσιαστικά πρόκειται για ένα μείγμα φαντασίας και επιστημονικής φαντασίας, με την δεύτερη να είναι πιο έντονη. Σε εκατό περίπου σελίδες, εξιστορείται η επανάσταση των πλασμάτων Μεκ, που για εκατοντάδες χρόνια υπηρετούσαν τα Κάστρα της Γης, δίχως παράπονα. Κανείς δεν προέβλεψε την πιθανότητα της επανάστασης εκ μέρους των υποτακτικών αυτών πλασμάτων και έτσι η έκπληξη ήταν ακόμα μεγαλύτερη. Οι ευγενείς και οι κάτοικοι των Κάστρων, όμως, εξακολουθούσαν να έχουν την ίδια νοοτροπία απέναντί τους... Η βασική ιδέα σίγουρα είναι ενδιαφέρουσα και η εκτέλεση ικανοποιητική, όμως ήθελε πολλές περισσότερες σελίδες για να αναπτυχθεί καλύτερα. Κλασικά για βιβλίο του Βανς υπήρξαν κάποια πλάσματα πολύ ενδιαφέροντα, για τα οποία όμως ήθελα να μάθω περισσότερα. Οι χαρακτήρες μου φάνηκαν αδιάφοροι και μονοδιάστατοι και προτού καν μπω στο κλίμα της ιστορίας, αυτή τελείωσε! Γενικά, αν θέλετε μια καλογραμμένη science fantasy νουβέλα, με λίγη δράση και κάποια μηνύματα, σίγουρα δεν θα περάσετε άσχημα διαβάζοντάς την, απλά μην περιμένετε το επίπεδο της Ετοιμοθάνατης Γης. Και ένα σχόλιο για την μετάφραση: Έκανε την δουλειά της, δεν λέω, όμως ρε γαμώτο, σαν πολλά κόμματα δεν υπήρχαν; Εντάξει, δεν έκατσα να τα μετρήσω, αλλά δεκάδες από αυτά ήταν σε εντελώς άσχετα σημεία, δίχως νόημα, και όσο να'ναι έκοβαν την ροή του λόγου. Κοίταξα και τις πρώτες σελίδες της νουβέλας στ'αγγλικά στο amazon για να δω μπας και ήταν του Βανς αυτή η μανία με τα κόμματα, αλλά φυσικά δεν ήταν...
—George
Meh. It's the far future, and a few human clans fancy themselves amazingly sophisticated aristocrats. They've reclaimed Earth after some earlier exodus and exploration of space, including the discovery of various alien races, which have become slave species back on the reclaimed Earth. Some humans who never left still exist in the wild as Nomads. Some of the returned have rejected their decadent culture and gone native. Then one of these species rebels and the decadent human culture has a hard time letting go of its sense of superiority to such trivial things as actually doing anything yourself in order to survive. Underdeveloped, in my opinion; there's no real sense of depth or history to it, despite the occasional footnote designed to lend it some gravitas (I assume, anyway). And the ending is pretty flat. Mildly entertaining, but largely forgettable.
—Dominick
