| Author: | Jack Vance |
| Copyright: | 1968 |
| Date Reviewed: | 8/19/01 |
| Rating: | 6.0 |
Synopsis: An Earth ship responding to an emergency call arrives at the planet Tschai and dispatches a spaceboat with two scouts to investigate. The ship is destroyed and the boat crashes. Hanging from a tree, one of the scouts watches and the other is killed by a band of humans. While the humans are looking over the spaceboat, the Blue Chasch arrive and the men flee. Soon the Dirdir arrive and fight the Blue Chasch over the downed spaceboat and any prizes that may lie within. Each alien race is served by men who have been altered to look a little like them. The Blue Chasch drive away the Dirdir and take the boat.
The band of humans return and capture Reith. These people are superstitious. Each wears an emblem that they believe has history and personality. The emblem controls the man. Women are not respected in this society and they do not wear an emblem; they only serve. Since Reith wears no emblem, is he considered a slave. When a young girl that he likes is killed for kissing him, he kills the murderer and another in personal combat and claims an emblem. This gives him some status, if only grudgingly. The leader of the band, Traz Onmale, is a young boy who hardly seems a born leader. However, he manages because Onmale is the emblem of leadership. When the evil moon Baz eclipses the good moon Az, it is taken for a bad sign. As leader, Traz is supposed to kill himself, be cremated, and sent to Baz to stand judgement. However, Reith convinces him to throw away the Onmale emblem and they leave the camp. Their first destination is the area where the spaceboat landed. Reith finds his emergency pack, including a device that shows the spaceboat, his only possible avenue of escape, is in a city 600 miles northeast.
Traveling northeast, Reith and Traz find rest in an abandoned city. Here they meet a Dirdirman and kill a Pnung who is harassing him. Though pedantic about his master's race, Anacho joins Reich and Traz on their way towards Pera which is near where the boat should be. The three join a caravan so they can travel safely. Reith sees a beautiful slave girl, Ylin-Ylan, who has been captured by a female cult. When the princess is kidnapped by Ilanths scouts for their pleasure, Reith saves her but the high priestess takes her back into their control. Now enemies, the high priestess captures Reith but he escapes. Walking back to find the caravan, he discovers the priestess torturing men and a beast about to harm Ylin-Ylan. He frees the men who kill most of the priestesses and he and Ylin-Ylan escape. They meet up again with the caravan.
Just outside Pera, the caravan is attacked by Green Chasch. When they see the battle is lost, our four travelers continue on foot to Pera. Pera is a poor, desperate town ruled by a tyrant, Naqa Goho, and his soldiers. Reith finds that the other boat is in Dadich, 20 miles west of Pera, the domain of Blue Chasch. The Blue Chasch are even more ruthless and capricious than Green Chasch. Reith and Ylin-Ylan fall in love and hare secret names. Though she doesn't like it, Reith must still go to Dadich to find out about the condition of the spaceboat.
While Reith and Anacho reconnoiter Dadich. Naqa Goho kidnaps Ylin-Ylan for his pleasure and orders Traz hung for defending her. Reith arrives back in town just in time to save Traz and Ylin-Ylan and defeats Naqa Goho. He orders Naqa hung for his crimes and advises the town people to form a government and militia to prevent other tyrants from taking over the city.
Reith hires Emmink, a Drayer, to take him to Dadich. He sees the boat inside a factory, but leaving the Dray raises suspicions and he must run for cover The next day Traz and Emmink sneak him out of the city. For having disposed the tyrant, Reith is asked to become Chief of Pera. He organizes a new government and militia and defeats Blue Chasch army that comes to dispose him. He then takes the war to the enemy and attacks Dadich. Many of the Blue Chasch are killed or driven to the cities of the south. Now free to investigate the factory, Reith learns that only the hulk of the spaceboat remains, all of the components have been remove. He will be here for a long time.
Review "City of the Chasch" set up an interesting premise but never quite delivered. I bought two of the four book series about 20 years ago but put off reading them until I could find the other two. That opportunity came out of sheer luck. One was in the nursing home library where a friend resided and the other I bought used thanks to Amazon.com.
The author described a little of the many races of Tschai and the humans who served them. However we never met them. All we ever really learned of them was that they made war against themselves and humans. Most of the book is a travelogue following the adventures of one Earthman and the fights he gets into. Tschai is described as the Planet of Adventure and there is much adventure to go around. However a good story has a strong plot, not just one fight scene after another. Later in the book, when Reith forms a new government, I became to hold off the Blue Chasch, I became more engaged. I was also annoyed at how capable the main character is. As a scout he would have received excellent training but this one seemed to be more capable than all of the "James Bonds" put together. I hope the other books are more insightful about this alien world.