The sun Carina 4269 had passed into the constellation Tartusz, to mark the onset of Balul Zac Ag, the "unnatural dream time," when slaughter, slave-taking, pillage and arson came to a halt across the Lokhar Highlands.

Adam Reith, lone human stranded on the distant planet Tschai, enjoys a brief respite from danger as he walks the crowded streets of a market town during Balul Zac Ag festival time. After confronting two of the four alien species inhabiting the planet (the Chasch in book 1 and the Wankh in book 2), Adam is no closer to getting his hands on an interstellar space craft than he was when his scout vessel crash landed on Tschai. His eyes drift towards a group of newcomers to the festival:



... impressive creatures, harsh, mercurial, decisive. They stood approximately at human height, and moved with sinister quickness, lizards on a hot day. Their dermal surfaces suggested polished bone; their crania raised into sharp blade- crests, with incandescent antennae streaming back at either side. The contours of the faces were oddly human, with deep eye-sockets, the scalp crests descending to suggest nasal ridges. They half-hopped, half-loped, leopards walking erect.

These are the Dirdir, the most dangerous of the aliens competing for supremacy on Tschai and owners of some extensive facilities for shipbuilding. Unfortunately, Dirdir prefer to eat their enemies instead of enslaving them and are extremely reluctant to let any stranger approach their technological hub. Time for Adam Reith and his two local friends to get back into the fray:

Here had been the single interim of peace and security he had known on Tschai; now events were forcing him once more into the unknown. In a hollow voice he said, "We need fifteen minutes to collect our gear."
Anacho said in a dismal voice, "The situation does not accord with my hopes ... But I must make the best of it. Tschai is a world of anguish.

Anacho the Dirdirman (men who emulate an alien species, in his case the Dirdir) would be even more anguished if he knew how Adam Reith plans to get the money needed to purchase a spaceship. Because there's a place on Tschai where money literally grows a weed from the ground. The catch? Have you seen the movie "Predator"?



"For money there is always the Carabas."
Anacho nodded. "Every desperado of Tschai will tell you the same. But wealth does not come without extreme risk. The Carabas lies within the Dirdir Hunting Preserve; tresspassers are fair game. If you evade the Dirdir, there is Buszli the Bandit, the Blue Band, the vampire women, the gamblers, the hook-men. For every man who gains a handful of sequins, another three leave their bones, or fill Dirdir guts."

The Carabas adventure is one of the high points of the "Planet of Adventure" series, completely amoral and incredibly dangerous, with Adam Reith as a sort of John Carter on benzedrine, written with Vance signature style: violent, sly, irreverent, darkly humorous, unexpectedly poetic in the middle of carnage.

Where cowards never venture, heroes find splendor.

But once you find the splendor, you need to get back to civilization and put those sequins to use. Civilization though has a different meaning in the Dirdir sector of the planet and as the heroes approach the industrial center Sivishe, they better be as wary as they were in the Dirdir Hunting Preserve in the Carabas:

A warning: the city seethes with intrigue. Folk come to Sivishe for a single purpose: to win advantage. The city is a turmoil of illicit activity, robbery, extortion, vice, gambling, gluttony, extravagant display, swindling. These are endemic, and the victim has small hope of recourse. The Dirdir are unconcerned; the antics and maneuvers of the submen are nothing to them. The Administrator is interested only in maintaining order. So: caution! Trust no one; answer no questions!

—«»—«»—«»—

Will Adam Reith finally get his hands on a spaceship and fly back to Earth? Knowing that there is one more final book in the series, you can imagine that he does not. He'll be thrown once again to the lions, to fight a Roman gladiator in the Dirdir Arena while his hard earned fortune is wasted on bribes and black market parts for his ship.
But does Adam really want to go back home? Do I really want my vicarious pleasure of watching him hack and slash his way through a horde of aliens to come to the finish line?

In general, reflected Reith, life on Tschai ranged a wider gamut than did life on Earth. Passions were more intense: grief more poignant, joy more exalted. Personalities were more decisive. By contrast the folk of the Earth seemed pensive, conditional, sedate. Laughter on Earth was less boisterous; still, there were fewer gasps of horror.
As he often did, Reith wondered: Suppose I return to Earth, what then? Can I adjust to an existence so placid and staid? Or all my life will I long for the steppes and seas of Tschai>



I say, Bring it on! Onwards to the next adventure!
201837 s Dirk Grobbelaar595 1,155

Thus continues the adventures of Adam Reith, the earthman inadvertently stranded on the planet Tschai. As clichéd as this kind of thing has become since John Carter first left his footprints in the dusty soil of Barsoom, this little gem of a four-book series has yet to disappoint. Written in the sixties, this is probably one of the last truly great examples of this kind of “pulpy” SF adventure.

Don’t be fooled – you’ll go a long way before finding better writing than this. Jack Vance is quite the writer, and the dialogue is an absolute delight, peppered as it is with dry wit. He also manages to say much more in fewer pages than most authors, even taking some time off to reflect, without breaking stride. The ways in which Reith keeps outsmarting the locals are a joy to read, as usual, although this novel presents him with what is arguably his greatest challenge. In fact, he at last gets a nemesis of sorts. This is the third book in the series, preceded by the amusingly titled Servants of the Wankh. There is a dark edge to these stories that sets it aside from the s of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ more upbeat ones. The hunting habits of the Dirdir in this specific novel are a case in point.

One of the biggest strengths of this series is the world building. It is remarkable, to say the least. There are many, many cultures and species that inhabit Tschai, each with their own peculiarities. This is something I touched on in my earlier , respectively of City of the Chasch and Servants of the Wankh, but it really is worth mentioning again.

The next, and last, book in the series is The Pnume. I think the only widely available print of these books are the ones collected in the omnibus edition (Planet of Adventure). science-fiction29 s Lyn1,909 16.8k

Jack Vance’s tribute to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom novels continues in this third installation in his Tschai series.

Taking from Burroughs the idea of a lone Earthman on an alien world Jack Vance makes this concept his own. Adam Reith is our inadvertent representative on Tschai and continues to make us proud.

This time around, Reith makes contact with the alien Dirdir.

As readers have discovered in the prior two novels, four competing alien races populate Tschai, each having a subservient human client sub-race, and then a mix of human tribes and hybrids. This is really the great strength of this series, Vance’s creation and exploration of the vast groups dynamic across the cultural breadth of the planet.

The Dirdir are different and more sinister than either the Chasch or the Wankh (Wankers!). Descending from a remote predator ancestor, the Dirdir keep hunting as an integral part of their culture. And they to hunt – and eat – humans.

Apparently we taste pork.

Vance, ever the fictional anthropologist and xenologist, has described an intricate and complicated hierarchical and sociological structure to the Dirdir race. And as with the other alien races, humans on Tschai have evolved as sub-alien races and the Dirdirmen are especially menacing, though not as byzantine as the nefarious Wankhmen. The Dirdir, as all of the series, has a dark and edgy element that further distinguishes this work from Burroughs’ campy pulp classics.

Vance’s writing is as good as ever and it is evident ( to this SF/F reader at least) that his literary talent is as good as any in the field and better than most. The Dirdir is the best of the first three and now I am on to finish this magnificent tetralogy with Vance’s 1969 The Pnume.

42 s TJ227 4

The Dirdir was first published as a paperback novel in 1969. It has also been called Planet of Adventure #3 and Tschai. The Dirdir is the third of four novels in the Planet of Adventure series involving the planet Tschai. It appears to still be in print in the four novel omnibus titled Planet of Adventure. My copy of The Dirdir is 125 pages long. This is the second time I have read it recently and I rated it a 5 both times. I highly recommend it. It is a haunting novel, beautifully written by a master writer and is rich in symbolism, world building and social satire. The Dirdir and The Pnume are the two finest of the Planet of Adventure series, but I recommend that all four novels be read in order.

The novel continues the story of Adam Reith who is marooned on the planet Tschai where four major, intelligent civilizations exist, each ruled by a different species and an enemy of the others. They are the Chasch, the Wankh, the Dirdir and the Pnume. Each of these considers itself superior to others and has humans as servants. The humans try to resemble their masters by through the use of costumes, headgear, props, surgery and perhaps genetic manipulation. These human underlings are called the Chaschmen, Wankhmen, Dirdirmen and Pnumekins. Each group considers itself to be the only real humans. There are other creatures such as the crazy Phung, tall, powerful grasshopper creatures who wear black hats and capes. They are always alone, dangerously unpredictable and thought to be related to the Pnume. There are also various enclaves of free humans who are not servants, but they are referred to as sub-men and are considered inferior to all others.

In the first novel Reith interacted mostly with the three types of Chasch. In Servants of the Wankh he engaged mostly with the Yaos in the city of Cath and then with the Wankh and their underlings the Wankhmen. Now he encounters the Dirdir, the most unpredictable and deadliest of the four species. In all three novels he has been assisted by two recent friends, Traz Onmale (an Emblem Man) and Ankhe at afram Anacho (a Dirdirman). Reith's main goal (besides surviving) is to steal or build an airship to escape Tschai and return to Earth. He wants to alert humans on Earth to the presence of the four advanced civilizations on Tschai and inform them that humans, originally from Earth, are being kept as servants and slaves. He is also concerned about the safety of humans back on Earth because both the Dirdir and now the Chasch have spaceships and know about Earth and the humans who reside there.

All four of the Planet of Adventure novels are difficult to review without revealing spoilers. In The Dirdir we have almost constant suspenseful action as the Dirdirs hear about Reith and decide that they want to track him down, interrogate him and then kill him. Reith is in a human Lokhar village but flees. Anacho is very helpful to Reith because he is a renegade Dirdirman and has a deep understanding of the Dirdirs and their culture and behavior. But Reith, as usual, meets danger head on by confronting it. Not only does he decide to try to outwit and defeat the Dirdirs who are pursuing him, but he makes plans to build a space ship by purchasing parts from the Dirdirs to assemble one. Unfortunately this will be very expensive, and he has no funds so must come up with a plan for finding money or sequins.

The currency on the Tschai planet consists of different colored sequins. Each color is worth a specific amount. These sequins actually grow as crystal nodes from the chrysospine plant in a large uranium enriched valley called the Carabas or the Black Zone. Humans, human hybrids and others travel to the Carabas to try to gain wealth by locating sequins. Unfortunately about a third who visit there are killed and eaten by Dirdirs because Carabas is the Dirdir Hunting Preserve and is used as a sports hunting grounds by the Dirdirs. Although they are a highly intelligent, technologically advanced species, the Dirdirs are also fierce predators who love to hunt for sport and have a special fondness for human flesh which they compare to pork. When the Dirdirs hunt they switch into the primitive predator portion of their brain and become vicious killers. Anybody who is able to get in and out of Carabas with sequins may keep them but very few become rich this way. Reith carefully calculates the chances and decides that he has to develop some sort of innovative plan to turn the odds to his advantage.

After being both hunted and a hunter in suspenseful engagements in the Dirdir hunting grounds, Reith has to deal with a scoundrel of an innkeeper who tries to steal from him and who betrays even his own neighbors. Then he elects to hire Aila Woudiver, a want to be Dirdirman, who is deceitful, cruel and unethical but seems to be the only one able to coordinate the assembling of a spaceship. Reith has the good fortune to meet an honest, industrious person, Deine Zarre, whose integrity and good deeds bring him only misfortune. We also encounter the Glass Box hunting complex in the Dirdir city where Reith's friend, Anacho, after being captured, is to be hunted in a public sporting event. Reith plans to enter the complex and to help his friend escape while armed with a power gun, explosives and a rope.

Dirdirs think that any living creature that is not a Dirdir is not worth consideration. They feel that they are superior to all other intelligent species and they view humans as vermin. The other dominate species on Tschai feel the same way about themselves. Their human servants are treated as inferiors and these servants in turn think that free humans are subhuman and not real human beings. There are times in our own history when one group of people considered another group to be inferior or of lesser value and all societies seem to have criteria for social status and prestige. And humans obviously treat other species differently than their own.

What would happen if we encountered nonhuman alien beings? We might respect them and treat them as equals, but they could be thought of as subhumans or nonhuman animals. I imagine their level of intelligence would be a major consideration, but religious beliefs, military strength, wealth or other variables could be deciding factors. These aliens might be far more intelligent and advanced than us and consider us as inferiors or even as pets or slaves. We clearly make distinctions between humans and other animals and between animals such as dogs and others such as insects. Among persons, groups and societies there are often attitudes and judgments about prestige, status and social worth.

Vance creates unfamiliar worlds where there are many unclear social, cultural and other boundaries among and between species. Many different, often unfamiliar, values and other considerations are used in these worlds to make judgments and determinations. Vance does not offer us solutions, but he does prompt us to look at ourselves and our religions, laws, customs, ethics, values, cultural biases, belief systems and social structures.

But even if anthropological, and psychological issues are of no interest to a reader, even if a reader wants pure entertainment and nothing to think about, Vance still creates fascinating, imaginative, engaging worlds with almost non stop action, much suspense, amazing dialog, ironic humor, dazzling linguistic flourishes and more substance in just over a hundred pages than many other writers provide in many hundreds of pages with less humor and imagination. Of course curiosity and sense of humor will greatly enhance a reader's understanding and love of Vance's writings.

I don't know how Vance creates so much in so few pages. In The Dirdir he demonstrates imaginative, creative world building at its finest. Reading Vance is somewhat eating chocolate. Not everybody loves it, but those who do love it can become pleasantly addicted. Imagine the finest Belgian or Swiss chocolate and you have a taste of Vance.7 s Jim Kuenzli232 12

This third book in the series is the best so far. I have always heard great things about this series, but this is excellent. Classic Vance.science-fiction sword-and-planet5 s Derek1,286 8

What becomes apparent as the series progresses is that Adam Reith embodies the essence of John Carter from Burroughs's Barsoom series: in matters of general combat (and here expanded to wit and deviousness), he has no equal. When it comes down to an actual fight, the outcome is rarely in doubt, and part of the deliciousness of this series is how Vance seems to accept this as given and veer Reith away from outright battle and into situations which require more from the hero.

As usual, Vance constructs a race of textured aliens with a unique biology and society, and motives drawn from a barely-scrutable psychology. I'm not sure that the Dirdir would withstand close examination in terms of realism, but the portrayal is interesting enough and Vance writes them well enough that this would be sheer nitpicking. I would to know why the Dirdir allowed humans--Dirdirmen--into their society. Un the Chasch and Wankh of the previous books, this seems without motive.

Vance has a particular character type which he deploys occasionally, here embodied in the character of Aila Wuodiver, who acts as more an obstruction to progress than as an adversary. The type generally grinds my gears, and I find the book's energy level dwindling while the person has not been dealt with.sword-and-planet4 s Kai219 19

The Adventures on the planet of Tschai continue. As the title suggests, they now meet the devilish Dirdir. Reith changed his strategy, in order to finally obtain the spaceboat he had been after for the past two novels already, his plan is now to build one himself.

As the previous novel, The Dirdir is again a two-part story. For the purpose of building a spaceboat, Reith needs money, a lot of money. Or "sequins", as the universal currency of the planet is called. The resource is scooped from chrysopin that only grows in the Carabas, which is part of the Dirdir territory. In the second half, they use their new-found riches to build the spaceboat in the decadent city of Sivishe.

The events in the Carabas are again quite adventurous, comparable to the journey over the rivers and through the swamps in the predecessor, and I d the goldrush setting. Of course, it's not quite as easy as just picking up the crystalline substances. The Carabas form the hunting grounds on which the Dirdir (setting out from Khusz) live out their prehistorical bestial nature (the so-called "old status"), devouring their prey they did on their home planet millions of years ago. Reith and his party turn the tables and cunningly make hunt for the hunters, stealing the stolen sequins from their victims.

One scene in particular was great. After their last night of hunting, they are walking through the dark night. They are burdened with their heavy loot and Traz's leg is injured. Dirdir show up, searching for their missing hunting groups. Eventually, the monsters are chasing after them, getting ever closer as our heroes approach the gate of hope. Suddenly, Traz again becomes the mighty Onmale, the persona he wore when Reith first met him. He takes two heavy bundles from Reith and Anacho and as they arrived at the gate, he turns around and is ready to fight the Dirdir. When they run, he breaks down. It's really quite picturesque.

The second half is dominated by the series' first real villain. When they arrived in Sivish, they need an influential partner to acquire the construction site, the resources and parts, and the workers to build their spaceship. They find a fellow campaigner in Woudiver, a despicable man who has his hands in various pockets and whose outer appearance mirrors his depraved soul. Tension comes from the fact that he is hardly trustworthy, but that they need to trust him in order to achieve their aims.

I loved the conflict-ridden negotiations and renegotiations that are ongoing until the very end. Their necessary leap of faith puts them in an intricate position, their relative bargaining positions are shifting, and neither side can trust the other. There is also the constant fear that the money won't suffice. To this comes Woudiver's erratic behavior when he returns from his orgies and Reith is more and more losing his initial high ground.

The events go head over heels when Reith gets back from his trip to pick up the rest of the money and finds that the Dirdir have imprisoned the fugitive Anacho (the Dirdir man that had been with Reith since the first book). At that point I really hated Woudiver passionately. Anacho is held captive in Hei, a Dirdir city nearby. There they have arena in a glass building. The facility is modeled on their home planet, Sibol, and it's used to teach the young Dirdir to hunt by throwing in delinquent humans. In order to save his friend (that's what he is at this point), Reith enters deliberately, but he didn't come unarmed. After some time, Traz will set off an explosion and they would escape, they just have to survive long enough. They run and hide in the shadows. When there is no escape, they kill. The arbitrators are furious. After the explosion they are able to escape through the breach.

The thrilling developments continue. Now they will storm Woudiver's estate. He turns out to he even more disgusting than I thought when they meet Deyne Zarre there, a kind-hearted old-man that oversees the construction of the spaeship. He informs them that Woudiver abused and killed his nephew and niece. Still confident when they confront him, Woudiver insults them as mice with teeth and our heroes fall for his trap. The situation really seems quite desperate, especially when it turns out that Traz and Anacho were captured too. But through a ruse, Reith is able to prove his innocence by killing an immaculate Dirdir man in a final great action confrontation (well, action beats logic). Oh, the gratification when they finally have the rueful Woudiver under their thumb.

I again loved the depiction of cultures. Reith's trick is made possible by the compulsions that are still part of the Dirdir's nature. The Dirdir don't form a real society, essentially they accept their fellow men and women at their leisure. To make cooperation possible, certain screams trigger patterns of behavior automatically. Moreover, their cooperation is very strictly class-based, in a system that also encompasses the Didir men. There is also the tradition of the tschau'gsh as institutionalized act of revenge.

Other peoples are interesting, too. There are the dangerous Khor. They are described as having different personalities during the day and after dark. They hate verbosity and are very wary of submissiveness. Well, and they are very well-versed in throwing their spears, which they often do when something is against their ideas of human interaction. In Sivish, on the other hand, mistrust and debauchery reign. No one speaks his mind. There is gambling, poor diet and obesity, and they show a sick complexion. Woudiver is only the worst of a degenerate people.

The Dirdir is another page-turner in a great series of pulpy sci-fi fantasy. It's so easy to read and still just a lot of fun. I cannot wait to read how the story comes to an end. Probably the most exciting epic of someone who wants nothing more than to get a spaceship.

Rating: 4/5science-fiction3 s Olethros2,665 490

-Pistas de las evoluciones futuras del autor.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Adam Reith, Anacho y Traz se han escondido en la ciudad de Smargash, en Kachan, territorio de los Lokhar en el que en estos momentos se celebra el Balul Zac Ag. Reith comienza a notar que está siendo vigilado y cuando descubre que es objetivo de la caza de los Dirdir, tendrá que huir de la localidad junto a sus amigos hacia el este de las Tierras Altas. Tercer libro de la saga El Planeta de la Aventura, también conocida como Ciclo Tschai.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
3 s Olethros2,665 490

-Pistas de las evoluciones futuras del autor.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. Adam Reith, Anacho y Traz se han escondido en la ciudad de Smargash, en Kachan, territorio de los Lokhar en el que en estos momentos se celebra el Balul Zac Ag. Reith comienza a notar que está siendo vigilado y cuando descubre que es objetivo de la caza de los Dirdir, tendrá que huir de la localidad junto a sus amigos hacia el este de las Tierras Altas. Tercer libro de la saga El Planeta de la Aventura, también conocida como Ciclo Tschai.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...3 s JohnnyAuthor 10 books130

Part of the rotation of novels I’ve been reading has been the work of Jack Vance. This year, I’ve consumed The Demon Princes pentalogy and one of his Marune works called Marune: Alastar 933, as well as the first two books of his Tschai: Planet of Adventure series. The latest I’ve read is The Dirdir, the third in the series. As covered in earlier , marooned spacer Adam Reith was forced to crash land on the planet Tschai, and undergo several pilgrimages in his obsession to get back to Earth. Un John Carter of Edgar Rice Burroughs fame, he knows how to get back; he just needs a space-worthy ship to get him there. The problem is that the alien races who control the planet consider him to be a sub-species and they think that his talk of Earth is heresy, that he is a madman.

In an epic journey of stymied efforts and, sometimes, tragic encounters, Reith has visited most of the civilizations on the planet. In so doing, he has encountered betrayals, ambushes, injustice, and more. Yet, his creative mind has, thus far, met the challenges. As one joins Reith on his journeys, the most enjoyable part of the story (at least for me) is the world-building, both ecological and cultural, that Vance does. In The Dirdir, we only meet one new creature, the smur, a sinuous half-reptile beast (pp. 57-58). On the cultural front, however, we not only discover the strange anatomy and social customs around Dirdir mating and procreation [starting on p. 127 -- let’s just say there are more combinatorial aspects to their process than I could have imagined], but we also read of the cruel Zhurvag’s and their maiming of child captives to enslave them as legless weavers in their carpet industry (p. 14).

At one point, Reith is observing a local folk dance in which it originally appears to have very little variation in movement. Then, he makes an enlightened observation, “ the rancid black sauce which drowned the food, the music required an intensive effort even to ingest; appreciation and pleasure must remain forever beyond the reach of a stranger.” (p. 91) Beyond this description, the amazing extremes to which these beings will go to differentiate themselves as to social standing, is incredible—even to the point of surgically sculpting one’s genitalia. This must have been wild reading in 1969 when the book was originally published and transsexual operations less prolific than today.

I enjoyed The Dirdir more than the second volume in the series Servants of the Wankh. Motivations and events made better sense for me—even when betrayal was in the offing. And as for all the inevitable inconvenient turns of events, I loved the phrase used by Anacho, the former Dirdirman and companion of Reith, “…the innate perversity of circumstances.” (p. 77) Even though it was published 20 years after the USAF engineer coined the famous law where anything that can go wrong WILL go wrong, “…the innate perversity of circumstances” is the cleverest phrasing of the law I can remember.

As usual, Vance surprised me with imaginative world-building and clever turns of phrase. To me, this one practically stands on its own. Readers should love it, even without the first two books of the series, but as always, it’s better when one has “bonded” with the characters.
science-fiction3 s Phil1,920 181

Vance continues with Adam Reith's adventures on the planet Tschai; each book in the series features a different set of aliens on the planet. All the aliens are hominids of a sort, but differ quite a bit; three alien races arrived thousands of years ago on Tschai while the indigenous Pnume have retreated to live underground. After his exploits with the Chasch, who commandeered his spaceboat after Reith crash landed on Tschai, the second volume featured the Wankh, relative late comers to Tschai where Reith tried to steel a space boat to return to Earth. TD moves on to the third set of aliens.

Reith, with his traveling companions (a nomad and a Dirdirman on the lam) decide that they should be able to make or buy a spaceship from the Dirdir, probably the most advanced aliens on the planet technically. The only problem is that they are basically broke. So how to make a quick buck (or sequin as the local currency is known) on Tschai? Reith learns that sequins derive some some sort of plant that grows on a desolate area controlled by the Dirdir; people (humans) are free to go seek the plants, but as they do, they become prey to Dirdir hunting parties. Reith and company come up with a striking idea on how to get rich quick; then they only need to worry about the spaceship...

While this is a series, today it would most ly be a single book; I am sure there is an omnibus of these stories. In fact, TD ends with a serious cliff hanger that feeds right into the next volume. Vance brings his vivid imagination to explicate the aliens and their motivations, along with the various human societies that live on Tschai. Vance's trademark anthropological pulp hits a high gear here, as it is coupled with lots of action and moves at a fast pace. After a rather slow start to the series, each volume seems to pick up the pace just a little more. 4 solid pulpy stars!!4 s David McGroganAuthor 7 books33

This is a beautiful, funny, moving, sad and wonderful book, and a real testament to Vance's emotional range and the fertility of his imagination. Everybody knows Vance was a master of efficiency in his prose; everybody knows he had a fabulously sardonic wit. Both of those qualities are much in evidence here. But this book carries an emotional heft that goes far beyond what one would normally associate with his work. The three main characters are so able, their relationship so convincing, their conversations so endearing. The villain, Aila Woudiver, is so brilliantly nasty and so deliciously hateful. And the world of Tschai is so cleverly realised and imaginative - it must surely rank up there with the most convincing and interesting settings in the genre - that you actually really do come to care what happens in it. The entire Planet of Adventure series is a joy, but it just gets better and better with each volume. Tremendous. 3 s Ivan Stoner147 19

The Tschai books are, in my view, Vance's best pure adventure yarns. They're fun, exciting, and set against Vance's usual wildly imaginative and thoughtful alien backdrop. Hero Adam Reith is a badass who can do anything, and it works because it's that type of story.

The only drawbacks to this one: Vance s to put his heroes in traps. It almost seems an exercise where he dreams up an impossibly perilous situation, and then tries to imagine a way out. In The Dirdir, the traps are great (Reith needs money -- the only way to get money on Tschai is by digging it up in an enormous desert where vicious predatory aliens hunt you!). The solutions are... less imaginative though (the Dirdir hunters fall for a pretty simple ruse).

But it's Vance, so it's great. Excellent prose, lots of color, etc.vance3 s Tina836 39

I didn’t realize when I bought it that this was part 3 of a quadrilogy (despite it saying so right on the cover), but I still decided to read it. I definitely enjoyed the book, though it’s rather dry at times. I really wish I had book 2, simply because it’s called Servants of the Wankh. I’m immature, ok?

The Dirdir is a compelling story about a man and his friends evading aliens that have serious Predator vibes. And given those are some of my favourite vibes, I was into the story from the get-go!

Possibly because this is book 3, the main character, Reith, isn’t very deep. His motivations are quite simple: get off the planet. Yet, while he professes to want to get to Earth, we’re not told why. I get it: Tschai kinda sucks as a planet, but does he have loved ones back on earth? He never mentions anyone, so it’s clearly not an emotional reason. Even if this was touched on in book 1, you’d think a passing mention of his family would transfer into book 3.

The other characters are interesting but we also don’t learn anything about them. Again, I’m chalking this up to it being book 3, but still. We do get their personalities though, such as Anacho is a rather optimistic and cheerful pragmatist, and Traz is sullen and serious. I wish we’d had more scenes of them interacting with one another as they made for a fun mix.

The first half of the book is far more compelling than the second (aside from the last 10 pages), as the second half deals with Reith trying to barter with a man for use of his workshop and supplies to build a spaceship. So much time is focused on this. It makes sense in the end, but while reading I was … can we move on from these petty talks about money?

The selling point of the novel for me was the alien cultures. I think Jack Vance and I would have been great friends. He and I could talk weird alien reproductive systems together, as that is a favourite topic of mine.

This book is filled with intricate alien cultures, the most interesting aspects being how each of the four species occupying Tschai has a subservient human sub-race, which, from how I understood it, were either bred into the main species or had to apply to be one of them. There were also various human tribes. Apparently, these humans got to the planet by being kidnapped thousands of years ago by the aliens.

The action scenes were concise and easy to follow, though there is less fighting than avoidance. While a little less exciting, it makes sense, because the Dirdir hunt in packs of four and to eat their human captives.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, it moved at a quick pace, the ending was … interesting, and the world-building of Tschai is fascinating. adventure aliens author-i-love ...more2 s Elessar253 57

4/5

Los Dirdir es la tercera parte de esta aventura en cuatro tomos que es el ciclo de Tschai. De los tres que he leído, creo que es el que más acción contiene. Hay momentos de auténtica tensión. El estilo de Vance es sencillo pero con una sorprendente riqueza léxica. Los diálogos parecen monólogos, no por su extensión, sino porque los personajes muestran una especie de distancia entre ellos al hablar. Extraña sensación esta, pero que en mi caso me encanta. De nuevo, como en los anteriores, el protagonismo de la raza que da nombre al libro es bajo, aunque en esta ocasión Adam Reith, el protagonista, sí entra más en contacto con ellos. Aila Woudiver es el personaje mejor creado del libro, un pesetero que causa un gran rechazo, pero que se convierte en el auténtico conductor de la historia de la segunda mitad del libro.

A pesar de ser una tetralogía, cada libro apenas supera las doscientas páginas, por lo que se leen en un suspiro. Uno se ve obligado a racionárselos. Leer a Jack Vance es nostalgia y le da un color al verano que no pensé que pudiese tener...ciencia-ficción fantasía2 s Chris Gager2,008 81

Reviewed in my review of "Planet of Adventure" ...2 s Perry Whitford1,956 68

Unsuccessful in his attempt to capture a spaceship from the unfathomable (and unfortunately named) alien species the Wankh, Adam Reith decides that he is going to have to make his own to take him back to Earth. He will need plenty of the local Tschai currency, known as sequins.

Sequins grow organically and can be mined in the Carabas region, which sounds easy enough but for the presence of Dirdir, the alien species that first brought men to Tschai, deadly hunters with skins of polished bone who move swiftly and powerfully upright leopards.

Aware that the stories of his off-world origins are starting to make him conspicuous, Reith no longer denies them, but hopes that good hard currency can buy him what he needs. To this end and against his better judgement he hires Aila Woudiver, a Siviche businessman of both gross size and appetites, to help him. Can he be trusted?

The third and penultimate installment of the Planet of Adventure series is spent latgely on Kislovan, Tschai's south-eastern continent and the main residence of the Dirdir, who have contempt for men and use them for sport, both in the Carabas and in the Glass Box, an imposing amphitheater in their home city.

As previously, Vance delivers some frenetic action interspersed with some fascinating details on the unique cultures and rituals of his created world, with an evocative vividness by virtue of his elegant way of describing landscapes, such as in this example:

'Surf dirty beer-foam swept across the beach, close to the boles of the black dendroms which shrouded the foreshore. The upper fronds twisted to gusts of wind, turning up glossy gray undersides; roiling patterns moved across the black upper surfaces.'

For an ignorant and (relatively) feeble intruder from Earth amongst ancient races of immense strength and intelligence, Reith once again showcased incredible courage and confidence.

As his friend Anacho notes, "Tschai is a world of anguish,",yet he must wonder just what kind of planet Earth is if all its people are as brazen and reckless as Reith.2 s Derek1,022 75

This picks up where Servants of the Wankh left. Adam Reith, Traz and Anacho, even Zarfo the Lokhar are in Smargash, when Adam realises he's being followed. Preliminary investigation shows that the Dirdir are after him. And they want him bad. Adam, Traz and Anacho escape and go to Maust and Carabas, places where it's been said a gambling man can find wealth. They need the money to be buy a new ship at Sivishe. At Carabas, the trio murder and loot a bunch of Dirdir, thereby becoming marked men. In Sivishe, they ally with one, Ai Woudiver to help them build a ship. As usual, we expect intrigue, mystery and betrayal at every turn. Still, at the end, we're left pining for one more book, hoping that in the next, The Pnume, Adam Reith might get to go to Earth, while at the same time wishing he stays a little bit longer, coz the journey is one helluva thrill in the Planet of adventure.read-in-2015 speculative-fic3 s Mohammed Abdikhader Firdhiye 418 4

The Dirdir is the most interesting book in this series, with the Dirdir being the most enigmatic of all the alien races Adam Reith has encountered so far in Vance's Planet of Adventure series. The ending was unexpected, satisfying and a great twist.

Vance's world building in less than 200 pages novel is stunning,so effective that i thought i was reading a huge book with epic scope.favorite-books jack-vance science-fantasy ...more3 s Jannelies1,091 89

This series belongs to my absolute all time favorites. I think I've read these books ten times or more and they are still interesting, great to read and fun.
For people who would to try and start reading science fiction: please choose something by Jack Vance. books-i-own science-fiction2 s Michael933 150

In the course of reading older sci fi books the last couple of years, I’ve found myself repeatedly wondering what the authors were so mad about? Not all of the novels elicit this response, but a certain sub-group, typified by for example Plague of Demons and Demu Trilogy, and to a lesser degree Masters of the Maze and even The Jupiter Theft, wherein the authors have created exotic and fascinating alien races, apparently solely in order to give their protagonists something to kill. And kill with the utmost brutality and vengeful rage, at that. It’s as if the authors’ imagination, when allowed to flow free, triggers some reaction of threat and fear, which leads to them hating their own creations with a bizarre passion, and wanting to beat them to death with their own hands.

Which brings me to the Dirdir. I picked this book up precisely because of the alien species named in the title, but I actually didn’t learn much more about them here than in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature. That’s because the book doesn’t really focus on them, except as something dangerous for the protagonist to avoid, evade, battle, and kill. It’s a bit unfair, because this is the third book in a four-book series, so I couldn’t expect too much background information, but I was expecting a bit more focus on the society and behavior of the aliens. We do learn that they hunt and kill humans for sport, that they have a highly formalized culture with many ritualized activities and behaviors, that their philosophy that regards other species as inferior, and that they come from the planet Sibol. There’s also a strange digression about their multifarious genitalia, but this never really affects the plot. I suppose it’s a partial explanation as to their mysterious and introverted perspective.

But, what was Vance trying to say with this novel? I think the title of the series, “Planet of Adventure,” is hint. Vance was probably a typical white middle class sci fi fan who grew up reading Edgar Rice Burroughs and wanted to create adventure stories he read when he was a kid. Alas, the world had become too “sophisticated” for such black and white perspectives by the mid-sixties, and so he had to complicate the story, have a morally ambiguous protagonist, and motivate him with the constant threat of immanent death or torture in order to justify his brutal and callous behavior towards the cultures he encountered. His frustration at not being able to write the kind of story he wanted to write comes out in the constant violence and frustration of that protagonist.

I would to think that sci fi has advanced past this sort of graphic-violence-for-its-own-sake into something more interesting and meaningful for the reader, but this is still out there if it happens to be your cup of tea.pulp-fiction science-fiction2 s TJ227 4

The Dirdir was first published as a paperback novel in 1969. At 125 pages it is a fairly short novel. It has also been called Planet of Adventure 3 and Tschai Book 3. The Dirdir is the third of four novels in the Planet of Adventure series involving the planet Tschai. It is a haunting novel, beautifully written by a master writer and is rich in symbolism, world building and social satire. The Dirdir and The Pnume are for me the two finest of the Planet of Adventure series, but I recommend that all four novels be read in order.

The Dirdir continues the story of Adam Reith who is marooned on the planet Tschai where four major, intelligent civilizations exist, each ruled by a different species and an enemy of the others. They are the Chasch, the Wankh, the Dirdir and the Pnume. Each of these considers itself superior to others and has humans as servants. The humans try to resemble their masters by wearing costumes, headgear, and props, plus the use of surgery and perhaps genetic manipulation. These human underlings are called the Chaschmen, Wankhmen, Dirdirmen and Pnumekins. Each group considers itself to be the only real humans. There are other creatures such as the crazy Phung, tall, powerful grasshopper creatures who wear black hats and capes. They are always alone, dangerously unpredictable and thought to be related to the Pnume. There are also various enclaves of free humans who are not servants, but they are referred to as sub-men and are considered inferior to all others.

In the first novel Reith interacted mostly with the three types of Chasch. In Servants of the Wankh he engaged mostly with the Yaos in the city of Cath and then with the Wankh and their underlings the Wankhmen. Now he encounters the Dirdir, the most unpredictable and deadliest of the four species. In all three novels he has been assisted by two recent friends, Traz Onmale (an Emblem Man) and Ankhe at afram Anacho (a Dirdirman). Reith's main goal (besides surviving) is to steal or build an airship to escape Tschai and return to Earth. He wants to alert humans on Earth to the presence of the four advanced civilizations on Tschai and inform them that humans, originally from Earth, are being kept as servants and slaves. He is also concerned about the safety of humans back on Earth because both the Dirdir and now the Chasch have spaceships and know about Earth and the humans who reside there.

All four of the Planet of Adventure novels are difficult to review without revealing spoilers. In The Dirdir we have almost constant suspenseful action as the Dirdirs hear about Reith and decide that they want to track him down, interrogate him and then kill him. Reith is in a human Lokhar village but flees. Anacho is very helpful to Reith because he is a renegade Dirdirman and has a deep understanding of the Dirdirs and their culture and behavior. But Reith, as usual, meets danger head on by confronting it. Not only does he decide to try to outwit and defeat the Dirdirs who are pursuing him, but he makes plans to build a space ship by purchasing parts from the Dirdirs to assemble one. Unfortunately this will be very expensive, and he has no funds so must develop a plan for finding money or sequins.

The currency on the Tschai planet consists of different colored sequins. Each color is worth a specific amount. These sequins actually grow as crystal nodes on the chrysospine plant in a large uranium enriched valley called the Carabas or the Black Zone. Humans, human hybrids and others travel to the Carabas to try to gain wealth by locating sequins. Unfortunately about a third who visit there are killed and eaten by Dirdirs because Carabas is the Dirdir Hunting Preserve and is used as a sports hunting grounds by the Dirdirs. Although they are a highly intelligent, technologically advanced species, the Dirdirs are also fierce predators who love to hunt for sport and have a special fondness for human flesh which they compare to pork. When the Dirdirs hunt they switch into the primitive predator portion of their brain and become vicious killers. Anybody who is able to get in and out of Carabas with sequins may keep them but very few become rich this way. Reith carefully calculates the chances and decides that he has to develop some sort of innovative plan to turn the odds to his advantage.

After being both hunted and a hunter in suspenseful engagements in the Dirdir hunting grounds, Reith has to deal with a scoundrel of an innkeeper who tries to steal from him and who betrays even his own neighbors. Then he elects to hire Aila Woudiver, a want to be Dirdirman, who is deceitful, cruel and unethical but seems to be the only one able to coordinate the assembling of a spaceship. Reith has the good fortune to meet an honest, industrious person, Deine Zarre, whose integrity and good deeds bring him only misfortune. We also encounter the Glass Box hunting complex in the Dirdir city where Reith's friend, Anacho, after being captured, is to be hunted in a public sporting event. Reith plans to enter the complex and to help his friend escape while armed with a power gun, explosives and a rope.

Dirdirs think that any living creature that is not a Dirdir is not worth consideration. They feel that they are superior to all other intelligent species and they view humans as vermin or food. The other dominate species on Tschai feel the same way about themselves. Their human servants are treated as inferiors and these servants in turn think that free humans are subhuman and not real human beings. There are times and places on Earth where one group of people considered another group to be inferior or of lesser value and all societies seem to have criteria for social status and prestige. And humans usually treat other species differently than their own.

What would happen if we encountered nonhuman alien beings? We might respect them and treat them as equals, but they could be thought of as subhumans or nonhumans. Their level of intelligence would probably be a major consideration, but religious beliefs, military strength, wealth or other variables could be deciding factors. These aliens might be far more intelligent and advanced than us and consider us as inferiors or even as pets or slaves.

Vance creates unfamiliar worlds where there are many unclear social, cultural and other boundaries among and between species. Many different, often unfamiliar, values and other considerations are used in these worlds to make judgments and determinations. Vance does not offer us solutions, but he does prompt us to look at ourselves and our religions, laws, customs, ethics, values, cultural biases, belief systems and social structures.

But even if anthropological, and psychological issues are of no interest to a reader, even if a reader wants pure entertainment and little to think about, Vance still creates fascinating, imaginative, engaging worlds with almost non stop action, much suspense, amazing dialog, ironic humor, dazzling linguistic flourishes and more substance in just over a hundred pages than many other writers provide in many hundreds of pages. Of course curiosity and sense of humor will greatly enhance a reader's understanding and love of Vance's writings.

It is amazing that Vance can create so much in so few pages. In The Dirdir he demonstrates imaginative, creative world building at its finest. I’ve read The Dirdir twice so far and I rated it a 5 both times. I very highly recommend both this novel and the series.

Benjamin1,204 19 Read

In one of my previous for Vance's Planet of Adventure stories, I mentioned that Vance sure does love an episodic structure with a very loose throughline, which kind of slowed me a bit in the second book. But this might be the least episodic of the Adventure stories and I still found myself drifting from the plot a bit.

That is, whereas the first found Adam Reith on Tshai, trying to survive (and gathering friends) in several separate episodes, ending with him spearheading a battle to free humans from alien control; and the second saw him losing and meeting new friends across several different but longer episodes (mostly: palace intrigue in Cath and trying to steal a Wankh spaceship), eventually ending with him freeing aliens from human control (ah, what a nice mirroring there); this third book follows Reith and friends as they prospect for a bunch of money in a place where the Dirdir hunt humans for sport, and then spend that money on a spaceship, including an episode where one of them is arrested and then--hunted for sport.

So, the throughline here is very focused: they need a spaceship, they can't steal one from the Dirdir (the three of four major alien species on Tshai), so they get money from the place where money just spontaneously appears. (Which is bad economics but good adventure fodder.) The weird thing is how focused the story is, especially with most of the danger being "we are being hunted." (The fact that Reith has to go into the hunting zone twice doesn't help it feel less repetitive, especially when the punishment that awaits him is getting hunted again.)

This is also the only one of the three that ends on a real non-ending, with Reith not in any settled position at the end of the book: he still is trying to build a spaceship. After the first two books -- especially with their mirrored endings about human and alien interaction -- this third book felt too slight in that regard.

That said, as with the others, there is at least one moment where I thought "ah, this is saying something to our time," when the Dirdirman (human-alien) Anacho explains the multiple male and female genders of the Dirdir, and how they are secrets, because the culture has different ideas of what each of those genders should be and if people find out your gender, they will be disappointed by how you don't match up with the expectations.audiobook library-borrowed sword-and-planet1 Phil GiuntaAuthor 21 books28

American astronaut Adam Reith, stranded on the alien planet Tschai for at least a year and desperate to return to Earth, has no choice but to find a way to build a new spaceship from scratch. The scout ship in which he and his late colleague, Paul Waunder, crashed on Tschai was long ago confiscated by one of the alien races and stripped for its technology. Reith’s previous two attempts to acquire a ship failed (as chronicled in City of the Chasch and Servants of the Wankh).

After acclimating as much as possible to Tschai’s motley cultures and customs, Reith sets off through treacherous Dirdir territory with friends Traz Onmale and the fugitive Anacho in order to raise enough funds (called sequins) to construct a vessel.

After killing a group of Dirdir hunters who tracked them, Reith, Traz, and Anacho take their attackers’ sequins, bury a percentage of them in a secret location, and venture to the shipyards of Shivishe where they strike a deal with an unsavory and obese opportunist named Woudiver. The investor rents them space in his warehouse and assists in acquiring the parts to build their vessel—at the highest prices, of course. Woudiver threatens to turn the trio over to the Dirdir authorities unless they concede to his demands.

Will Reith finally be successful in constructing a vessel to take him home or will he, Traz, and the Dirdir traitor, Anacho, be executed for murder?

The Dirdir is the third book in Jack Vance’s Planet of Adventure series, which has the feel of John Carter of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs. This time, much of the story sees Adam Reith negotiating and haggling over costs of travel, lodging, and information with various strange and eccentric beings as he makes his way to Shivishe, where his skills of negotiation are put to the test against the repulsive and dangerous Woudiver.

As with the previous two installments in the series, Vance masterfully builds the world as the story unfolds, often through dialogue between Reith and Anacho or another indigenous creature who instructs Reith on the ways and philosophies of the four major races who rule the planet Tschai.1 Trike1,627 171

After Star Wars, publishers were trotting out their SF back catalogs, so I got to read a lot of crazy-ass stuff best left forgotten. All I remember from this was that it was basically a rewrite of The Most Dangerous Game and that the money on the alien planet was sequins. Given that I read this in the 1970s, that last bit was hilarious to me. If the barbarians of this book ever saw The Donny & Marie Show or Sonny and Cher, they would have lost their minds.fantasy1 Hector66 21

So far the weakest of Vance's Planet of Adventure series (we'll see how book #4 ranks). Despite an excellent premise, the book lacks adventure, especially in the second half. Protagonist Adam Reith finds himself wanted by a starfaring race that evolved from arboreal predators, and who continue to keep hunting as the basis of their culture. With such impressive enemies, it's a disappointment that the main antagonist of the book is an unscrupulous businessman. And in any case, none of these panther- predators are ever much of a problem for Reith.1 Ryan Curry117 16

Probably my favorite book in the series so far! Really all of Reith's interactions with the Dirdir. I thought the Carabas was a pretty neat and interesting idea. Psyched to read book 4science-fiction1 Jaro276 30

First and second reading in Swedish (legimus)
Third time in Blackstone audiop-jack-vance-novels t-marooned t-planetary-romance2 s Jamie1,255 155

Great continuation of the series.1 Carly21 8

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