Maske: Thaery

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Maske: Thaery
Maske-Thaery.jpg
First edition
Author Jack Vance
Cover artist Richard Powers
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Series Gaean Reach
Genre Science fiction
PublisherPutnam Publishing
Publication date
1976
Media typePrint (Hardback), mass-market paperback

Maske: Thaery is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, set in his Gaean Reach universe, which was first published in hardcover by Putnam, in 1976. It is about a young man's planet-hopping pursuit of the arrogant nobleman who almost killed him.

Contents

Maske: Thaery continues Vance's interest in richly textured, strongly xenological settings, in which an outsider protagonist comes into conflict with a bewilderingly complex social hierarchy, other examples being Emphyrio (1969) and the Durdane trilogy. Like many of Vance's novels of the 1960s and '70s, the narrative of Maske: Thaery might be described as a bildungsroman. [1]

Plot summary

A religious group seized part of the isolated planet Maske from earlier colonists and named it Thaery. To maintain their religious purity, they banned travel to other worlds.

Jubal Droad goes on Yallow, a rite of passage into adulthood, traditionally spent wandering and doing public works. He spends several weeks repairing a trail. One day, a man leading a group of soldiers ignores Jubal's urgent warning not to use the unfinished trail. He and his men cause it to collapse and seriously injure Jubal.

When Jubal recovers, his uncle Vaidro gives him a letter of introduction to Nai the Hever, one of Thaery's most powerful government officials. He arrives in the city of Wysrod during the consideration of Ramus Ymph for the high office of Servant. Jubal recognizes his nemesis. He informs Nai the Hever, the senior Servant, that he has discovered that Ramus secretly and illegally went off-world. This results in Ramus being rejected.

Nai the Hever offers Jubal a seemingly lowly position as Sanitary Inspector in unit D3. Jubal reluctantly accepts and learns that D3 is actually the intelligence service. He is now a secret agent in training. Nai the Hever is D3's head, and Vaidro had been a valued agent.

Ramus has Mieltrude, his fiancée and Nai the Hever's daughter, sign a warrant to subject Jubal to physical punishment. Jubal escapes with the assistance of Shrack, a ship captain. He procures a warrant against Mieltrude, but Nai the Hever persuades him to not serve it.

Jubal's first assignment is to discover what Ramus is plotting. He follows Ramus to the tourist world Eiselbar and learns that he is trying to raise money to purchase a space yacht.

Back on Maske, Cadmus off-Droad, Jubal's illegitimate brother, murders Trewe, head of the clan, asserting that he had been robbed of his rightful place. The clan gathers and brings Cadmus down after fierce fighting. However, Cadmus's masked chief accomplice escapes; Jubal is certain that it is Ramus. Without proof, however, Nai the Hever refuses to antagonize the powerful Ymph clan. In fact, Jubal has become such an embarrassment to him that Jubal fears for his own safety.

Ramus sails across the ocean to meet with the Waels, a peculiar people living in a barren land who have a deep spiritual connection with trees. Jubal takes Mieltrude into custody and sets off in pursuit. During the voyage, their mutual disdain begins to weaken. Mieltrude informs Jubal that her engagement to Ramus was a subterfuge to aid her father's investigation of Ramus. Ramus's mistress, Sune, had forged Mieltrude's signature to the warrant.

Jubal finds Ramus negotiating with the Waels for the use of part of their land for much-needed food and other resources. Jubal, disguised as a Wael, gets him to admit that he plans to construct tourist resorts on the land. (Ramus tried to lease Droad land for the same purpose.) The Waels reject his proposal. They do something to Ramus and insist that Shrack and Jubal take him away. During the return voyage, Ramus sprouts bark and leaves. When they reach Wysrod, Ramus runs off the ship, plants his feet in the soil, raises his arms, and essentially transforms into a tree.

Characters

Reception

Kirkus Reviews had a somewhat negative opinion of the novel, stating, "Vance is an adroit tale-spinner with a gift for inventing places, situations, and amusing background impedimenta. But the plot mechanics of this story smack of haste and thumbtacks." [2]

On the other hand, Black Gate reviewer John O'Neill considered it "one of the more unique works in Jack Vance’s oeuvre. Part bildungsroman, part cautionary, and all story, the master of imaginative science fiction and fantasy weaves yet another highly readable tale of intergalactic culture and adventure." [3]

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References

  1. Jean-François Jamoul, Les singulières Arcadies de John Holbrook Vance, Univers 1984, Éditions J'ai Lu, 1984, p. 301.
  2. "Maske: Thaery". Kirkus Reviews. October 1, 1976.
  3. O'Neill, John (March 14, 2018). "Vintage Treasures: Maske: Thaery". Black Gate.