The Dragon Masters / The Last Castle

This was simultaneously my first Jack Vance read and my first ace double read. Two interesting stories that left me impressed.

First was The Last Castle. Space-faring humans have returned to Earth in sizeable numbers after the planet was 'lain fallow' after some sort of war/apocalypse. They live in high technology enclaves known as 'castles', and rely heavily upon a series of aliens divided into slave castes to serve their every need. The story begins when the lowest of those castes, occupied by an alien species called Meks, leaves the castles en masse and starts a violent revolt against their human oppressors.

This is definitely the stronger of the two stories. I think it's an allegory for slavery in the United States. Vance is pretty unapologetic in his view of the oppressors, and the story is told in a sophisticated way. Vance has a broad vocabulary, and is not afraid to adorn his sentences with seldom used words or turns-of-phrase. The story has clear direction and purpose, and the world is wonderfully drawn.

The second story, The Dragon Masters, is much more fantastical and swash buckling. The planet that humans inhabit is one of, if not the, last bastion for humanity. The humans are split up into several warring factions that are raided by a space-faring reptile race who enslave humans and breed them into several different mutated forms. During one of these raids, some of the reptiles, known as 'basics', are taken as prisoner by the humans, and are bred in a similar way, leading to a much different fight when they return the next time. There's also a secretive religious order who lives under ground. It' a pretty wild one for sure.

Admittedly, I enjoyed it less than The Last Castle. There was a lot of focus on a few lengthy battle scenes that dragged on way too long. The world itself is less interesting, as are the aliens. I enjoy that there's still some good theme work here, focusing on the morality of humanity, Vance clearly has a pessimistic view of that.

I would give The Last Castle a 4, and The Dragon Masters closer to a 3. Both were certainly worth the time spent. What really shines between the two stories is Vance's ability to create a verdant world in a really short amount of time. He excels at writing short stories with large scope, something that I don't think every writer can do.