The Kragen by Jack Vance

Jack Vance's novella The Kragen was originally published in 1969, but I believe the story first appeared in a different form several years earlier. The novella was eventually expanded into the novel The Blue World. I haven't read that much Jack Vance (only The Dying Earth and a few of his short stories), but when Subterranean Press announced a signed hardcover edition of The Kragen a few months back, I thought, why not? How many opportunities do you get to acquire a signed Jack Vance?

The Kragen takes place on a water world where a large number of humans have been marooned. The humans have adapted, creating "floats" as well as communities, commerce, and even castes. But you can smell trouble from the first sentence:

Among the people of the Floats caste distinctions were fast losing their old-time importance.

So we have a pretty good idea where things are headed. The people of the Floats have come to fear and practically worship a sea creature they call King Kragen, which comes by from time to time for his "tribute" of sustenance in return for protection from the lesser Kragens swimming around out there. But one man, Sklar Hast, is fed up with the whole thing and wants to revolt against King Kragen. The problem is they have no weapons.

The Kragen is not terribly original, nor are its characters very well developed. Vance's imagination, however, is always at work. Although it's never explained how the economy of the Floats was structured (How can you operate a bar on this world?), you have to respect the man's sense of wonder, which to me is the driving force of the book. The social and political nature of the book is interesting, but takes a backseat to the power of imagination.

Yet the whole time I was reading, I couldn't escape the social and political aspects. I kept thinking, "This was published in the 60s....this was published in the 60s...." It's true that probably explains a lot of what was behind The Kragen, but there has to be more, otherwise why would anyone be reading the book nearly 40 years later?

Imagination. Storytelling. Wonder.

Who can argue with such things? Not me.