4 / 5 Stars
This paperback edition of ‘Big Planet’ (217 pp) was published by Ace Books in May 1978; the cover art is by Vincent Di Fate.
The premise is simple: a team of Federation diplomats and
human rights observers are en route to Big Planet, an earth-like world settled
centuries earlier. The ruler of Big Planet, a sadistic tyrant known as the
Bajarnum, would prefer that the team never arrives at their destination,
and in due course, the spaceship
carrying the team crash-lands in a remote province of Big Planet.
The crash survivors are led by Claude Glystra, the leader of
the diplomatic team; Glystra is a resourceful man, deliberate and thoughtful in
his actions. But his decision to travel 40,000 miles across the planet in order
to take shelter at the Terran Enclave strikes his fellow survivors as fraught
with risk. However, knowledge that the Bajarnum will seek to investigate the
crash site, and imprison any survivors, moves the diplomats to ally with Glystra and
undertake the journey.
Because Big Planet is devoid of metal deposits, any travel
must rely on low-tech wind- or water-power, making for a long and wearying
journey. And although the survivors have modern blasters in their possession,
the power packs for these weapons are running low, meaning that conflicts with
the bandits and marauders infesting the route must be avoided.
But failing weaponry is the least of Glystra's problems, for it emerges that at least one member of his party likely is an agent for the Bajarnum. Can Glystra identify the
traitor before they deliver everyone into imprisonment or even death ?
One thing’s for sure: as the team of survivors sets out on
their transit of Big Planet, all manner of perils and adventures await……..
‘Big’ was first published in ‘Startling Stories’ in 1952,
and then as a hardback novel in 1957. Despite being 65 years old, it reads as a
‘modern’ novel, something that very few sf novels of the 50s can be said to do.
In many ways I found Big Planet to be the forerunner of Majipoor, the
super-size Earth-like world that Robert Silverberg first introduced in his
novel Lord Valentine’s Castle (1980).
Perhaps because this was originally a digest novel, Vance’s
prose style is less ornate and more economical, making ‘Big’ very readable. The
plot moves at a quick clip, and there are some twists and turns that make for a
satisfying denouement.
Whether you’re a Vance enthusiast or someone you just likes
a good adventure tale, ‘Big Planet’ is well worth picking up.
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