The Anome

It is no secret that I adore the work of Jack Vance. My favorite Vance book/series is always changing, depending on many things. But for quite a while now I have considered this book, The Anome a.k.a. The Faceless Man, to be in my top three all time books.

This book follows a young man named Mur from a very young age. He lives a small town, called a canton by Vance, which is controlled by a fervent all-male cult. Boys are expected to leave their mothers and join at the age of twelve, but Mur, after finding out some details about his absent father, has other ideas.

The world of Durdane is, IMO, one of Vance's greatest feats. The country of Shant, divided into cantons, is ruled by a nameless unknown called the Anome or the Faceless Man. Each citizen of Shant is fitted with an explosive torc around his/her neck that can be remotely detonated by the Anome at any time and for any reason, taking, as the book states, that person's head.

Travel in Shant, at least for long distances, is done via hot-air balloons. Each canton has a balloon-way; the balloons are tethered to lines and are switched at various stations along the routes. Needless to say, Vance does a much better job of descibing this than I, so I will leave that to him.

Music plays a big part in this book and throughout the entire trilogy. The main character is a musician and is part of a musical troupe. Vance has created several intruments, each one plausible and realistic but so very original. The tunes played, while we cannot, unfortunately, hear them, are described in such loving and apt detail that I could almost hear them as I read.

As I said, this book is one of my top three favorite books by anyone. The other two books in the trilogy are wonderful as well. Many reviewers seem to label this book and indeed the entire trilogy as "second-rate Vance" or "Sub-par" in comparison with Vance's other work. I whole-heartedly disagree. At any rate, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. And will again.