Planet of Adventure
City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume
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Narrated by:
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Elijah Alexander
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By:
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Jack Vance
About this listen
Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.
Against a backdrop of baroque cities and haunted wastelands, sumptuous palaces and riotous inns, Reith will encounter deadly wastrels and murderous aliens, dastardly villains and conniving scoundrels - and always the random beauty in need of rescue.
©1968, 1969, 1970 City of the Chasch © 1968 by Jack Vance. Servants of the Wankh © 1969 by Jack Vance. The Dirdir © 1969 by Jack Vance. The Pnume © 1970 by Jack Vance (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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The Star King
- The Demon Princes Series, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter - and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hardboiled space opera.
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A longtime favorite, perfectly narrated
- By Gan on 03-05-22
By: Jack Vance
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The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
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A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
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Suldrun’s Garden
- Lyonesse: Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of 10 contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him.
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Not my cup of tea
- By Ann on 01-10-11
By: Jack Vance
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Tschaï
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Matthieu Dahan
- Length: 25 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Alors qu'il effectuait une mission de reconnaissance autour de la planète Tschaï, le vaisseau Explorateur IV a été abattu par un missile d'origine inconnue. Unique survivant du crash, Adam Reith découvre un monde d'une beauté et d'une âpreté sans pareilles, une terre d'aventures aussi dangereuse qu'attachante. Obsédé par l'idée de rentrer chez lui, le Terrien va traverser d'immenses et splendides paysages, rencontrer d'autres humains aux moeurs baroques et des extraterrestres belliqueux, vivre mille péripéties, perdre ses certitudes et trouver l'amitié.
By: Jack Vance
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Swords and Deviltry
- The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
- By: Fritz Leiber
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Neil Gaiman (introduction)
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life, while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon facing thieves, wizards, princesses, and the depths of their desires and fears.
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Fafhrd/Gray Mouser
- By melody333 on 08-21-08
By: Fritz Leiber
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The Wolfe at the Door
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
The circus comes to town . . . and a man gets to go to the stars. A young girl on a vacation at the sea meets the man of her dreams. Who just happens to be dead. And an immortal pirate. A swordfighter pens his memoirs . . . and finds his pen is in fact mightier than the sword. Welcome to Gene Wolfe's playground, a place where genres blend, and a genius's imagination straps you in for the ride of your life. The Wolfe at the Door is a brand-new collection from one of America's premiere literary giants, showcasing some material been seen before
By: Gene Wolfe
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The Star King
- The Demon Princes Series, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter - and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hardboiled space opera.
-
-
A longtime favorite, perfectly narrated
- By Gan on 03-05-22
By: Jack Vance
-
The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
-
-
A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
-
Suldrun’s Garden
- Lyonesse: Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of 10 contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him.
-
-
Not my cup of tea
- By Ann on 01-10-11
By: Jack Vance
-
Tschaï
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Matthieu Dahan
- Length: 25 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alors qu'il effectuait une mission de reconnaissance autour de la planète Tschaï, le vaisseau Explorateur IV a été abattu par un missile d'origine inconnue. Unique survivant du crash, Adam Reith découvre un monde d'une beauté et d'une âpreté sans pareilles, une terre d'aventures aussi dangereuse qu'attachante. Obsédé par l'idée de rentrer chez lui, le Terrien va traverser d'immenses et splendides paysages, rencontrer d'autres humains aux moeurs baroques et des extraterrestres belliqueux, vivre mille péripéties, perdre ses certitudes et trouver l'amitié.
By: Jack Vance
-
Swords and Deviltry
- The Adventures of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser
- By: Fritz Leiber
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Neil Gaiman (introduction)
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life, while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon facing thieves, wizards, princesses, and the depths of their desires and fears.
-
-
Fafhrd/Gray Mouser
- By melody333 on 08-21-08
By: Fritz Leiber
-
The Wolfe at the Door
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The circus comes to town . . . and a man gets to go to the stars. A young girl on a vacation at the sea meets the man of her dreams. Who just happens to be dead. And an immortal pirate. A swordfighter pens his memoirs . . . and finds his pen is in fact mightier than the sword. Welcome to Gene Wolfe's playground, a place where genres blend, and a genius's imagination straps you in for the ride of your life. The Wolfe at the Door is a brand-new collection from one of America's premiere literary giants, showcasing some material been seen before
By: Gene Wolfe
What listeners say about Planet of Adventure
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jefferson
- 12-31-18
"his new life. . . held zest and adventure"
Planet of Adventure is a set of four short novels by Jack Vance: City of the Chasch (1968), Servants of the Wankh (1969), The Dirdir (1969), and The Pnume (1970). They depict the adventures of a resourceful earthman, Adam Reith, as he attempts to buy, steal, or make a spaceship in which to return to Earth from the planet Tschai, where he has been stranded (212 light years away). His goal is difficult because "On Tschai both virtue and vice were exaggerated." Its denizens lack chivalry and decency as they pursue personal advantage and are prey to volcanic joys and rages that make the people of earth seem sedate. "Evil?" A character asks Reith at one point. "On Tchai the word has no meaning. Events exist--or they do not exist." His goal is also difficult because the locals treat his supposed earthly origin as dangerous heresy. (Hence he becomes evasive: "I have learned that candor creates problems.")
Tschai is populated by four sentient alien species, the Chasch, Wankh, Dirdir, and Pnume, by their modified human servants (Chaschmen, Wankhmen, Dirdirmen, and Pnumekin), and by a "bewildering diversity of human types," ranging from pirates, cannibals, and marsh-folk, to nomadic mechanics, ultra-civilized Asiatics, and gray mongrels. As a local tells Reith, "men are as plastic as wax." Being a vivid world (possessed of pink and blue moons), Tschai also hosts all manner of exotic and often dangerous flora and fauna.
What in the first book is heading for a John Carter pastiche (with Adam Reith bringing independence to subjugated people and starting a romance with a Dejah Thoris type) morphs into something else by the second. Although the backbone of the novels is basically what Reith says more than once, "We are men," and in his peregrinations he tries to instill in the people of Tschai a little human get go and pride, far from seeking to liberate and unite all cultures on Tschai and settle there, he wants to return to earth, primarily to warn humanity there of the threat posed by the Dirdir (who millennia ago visited earth to get human slave stock to use on Tschai).
Planet of Adventure is full of Vance's ironic understatement ("The inhabitants are far from cordial"), dry humor ("A person who calls facts absurdities will often be surprised"), roguish conmen (everyone is out for the main chance), strategic manipulation of contractual language (when bargaining for the return of a friend be sure to stipulate that the person be returned alive), episodic plotting ("Events sometimes display a vitality of their own"), and vivid descriptions of exotic scenes ("For a long period the sea rose and fell in fretful recollection, but dawn found the Charnel Teeth standing like archaic monuments on a sea of brown glass"), cities ("plazas and piazzas of wind scoured concrete"), creatures ("It was over eight feet in height, in its soft black hat and black cloak, like a giant grasshopper in magisterial vestments"), and couture ("They wore long-billed black caps crowned by jawless human skulls, and the plume of hair rose jauntily just behind the skull").
It also features neat Vanceian philosophy:
"It occurs to me that the man in his religion are one and the same thing. The unknown exists. Each man projects on the blankness the shape of his own particular world-view. He endows his creation with his personal volitions and attitudes. The religious man stating his case is in essence explaining himself. When a fanatic is contradicted he feels a threat to his own existence; he reacts violently."
It is also full of cool Vanceian concepts, among them the sentient Emblems that shape the behavior of the steppe nomads who wear them; the cult who correctly believes that humanity derived from another world but who irrationally tries to contact the planet via telepathy; and "the multiple sexuality" of the Dirdir, whose males each have one of twelve varieties of sexual organs and whose females each have one of fourteen, most of which are incompatible with each other.
Although Vance imagines myriad exotic cultures with outre systems of fashion, alimentation, reproduction, recreation, religion, punishment, and music, he conveniently arranges things so that everyone speaks essentially the same language, glibly explaining the phenomenon as deriving from the intensely heterogeneous nature of the inhabitants of Tschai. (That said, he does interestingly play with language by giving English words outlandish spins, as with "boisterous" for the Pnumekin; giving different cultures different non-English words and translating them into English, as with the Yao word "awaile"; and creating an exotic and subtle, chime-based writing system for the Wankh.)
Vance is no feminist here. In the first book appear grotesque man-hating Priestesses of the Female Mystery, in the second book something shocking happens to the Dejah Thoris figure, in the third and fourth books Reith and Vance have completely erased her from their memories, in the fourth book Reith muses about a new companion, "She was female and inherently irrational, but her conduct seemed to exceed that elemental fact," and the main players in all four books are male.
Elijah Alexander reads the audiboook perfectly, with clear pronunciation, effective pacing and emphasis, and just enough emotion and amusement for Vance's dry irony. He does a solid Reith (earnest and gruff) and is great with Reith's mismatched complementary friends, Anacho the renegade Dirdirman (condescending and drawling) and Traz the renegade nomad (youthful and terse).
Although Reith can sure kill and is not above stealing at a pinch, he is the moral compass of the novel, acting in good faith, sticking by his friends, and avoiding needless killing in cold blood. His superiority to the venal and treacherous people he meets is one reason I find Planet of Adventure less impressive than Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy and Dying Earth books, populated as they are by anti-heroes. It's also less consistently and convincingly realized. So I recommend those other works before Planet of Adventure.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Expat
- 10-21-16
Great Story, Poor Reader
This is one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written. Unfortunately, the narrator reads it poorly and doesn't seem to 'get' the characters. Adam Reith comes across as a confused American tourist and many of the other characters have strange regional accents that would be amusing if they were not so at odds with their personalities. The narrator is not able to convey Vance's wit or unique language--with the result that much is lost. It is too bad that the narrator for Lyonesse was not employed for this book. As it is, the book is strong enough to withstand the narrator, but it is too bad that such a brilliant book was given to such a poor speaker
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- James Weaver
- 03-16-16
Great Narration!
One of my favorite stories. This was narrated so well it transports you to the planet tschai (sp?).
I even got pulled iver for speeding because I wasn't paying attention the story was so well done.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Alessandro
- 05-10-18
Jack Vance, the best of the best.
Just one of the many masterpieces from one of the greatest authors of SciFy. More of Vance's books should be audiobooked.
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- Alex Donovan
- 02-27-24
It delivers on the title.
These stories are similar to the adventures of John Carter of Mars and Tarzan. The hero is intelligent, honorable, resourceful, and physically better than other men. The history of the alien world, its alien races and strangely human inhabitants is colorful and interesting.
Although it's unfair to demand more from this genre at the time, female readers might not enjoy this one because women mostly serve as objects to be rescued. I'm fine with that, but ladies might not be.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-05-20
Still a great story
I read all all 4 books when they 1st came out and remembered enjoying them. Now that I'm an old fart, I decided to pick up the audio book and am glad I did. The narrator did a great job. High adventure on a far planet where the hero gets the girl and doesn't take any crap from aliens. lol
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1 person found this helpful
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- DeGrey
- 07-01-24
Awesome adventure on another world
I have enjoyed listening to this story twice now. This is probably one of my favorite stories. The narrator does an excellent job! Definitely recommend!
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- Tyler E
- 10-13-20
Cheesy title, Great story
Jack Vance delivers a great sci-fi epic. I was hesitant with a generic title like Planet of Adventure, but I loved listening to this four part series.
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- Diogenes
- 05-14-23
the best
I loved it so much. I've read this book many times and experiencing it this was wonderful. Great reader. Jack Vance is truly a master of science fiction.
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- Blake Burkholder
- 07-11-23
Another wonderful work by Vance
Vance can take a simple premise and make a remarkable story out of it. Truly a master of his craft.
The Demon Princes saga is my favorite of his but this is a great sf series. A great value
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