The novel “Marune: Alastor 933” by Jack Vance was published for the first time in 1975. It’s the second book in the Alastor trilogy and follows “Trullion: Alastor 2262“.
A man who arrived at the Carfaunge Spaceport appears to have no memory of his identity and there are no indications of the planet he has arrived from. He’s named Pardero after a hussade player but only so that he has a name. The psychologists he’s advised to consult try to awaken some memory in him but with no success.
Having established the impossibility of obtaining information about his origin from the man himself, an investigation is conducted based on his body language and appearance. The results point to Marune, a planet in the Alastor Cluster illuminated by four suns. After he arrives on the planet, he must get used to the customs of the Rhune people, of which he remembers nothing and consequently they seem completely alien to him.
The creation of societies with peculiar customs was the main trademark of Jack Vance’s works. This is more than ever true in “Marune: Alastor 933” because the Rhune society is truly exotic even by the author’s standards. In this case, the whole setting is out of the ordinary.
The novel begins with the mystery of a man who arrived on the planet Carfaunge without any memory. This initial part is rather short because it serves to establish the protagonist’s situation and to allow him to find his home planet, Marune. The rest of the novel is used by the protagonist to understand how he lost his memory, assuming that it was an enemy who caused his amnesia.
When the protagonist arrives on the planet Marune, the investigation into his situation becomes an immersion in the Rhune society, with all its peculiarities. Rules and customs are strongly influenced by Marune’s unique situation with the four suns that illuminate it except for some periods in which the astronomical configuration makes the night fall.
The protagonist tries to understand customs that he has completely lost familiarity with and finds himself involved in various intrigues. Due to his lack of memory, he sees everything with an alien eye but must try to immerse himself in what used to be his environment. That’s crucial to understand what is happening in the kingdom of Scharrode where he was born and raised, who might be his friends, and who might be his enemies. Customs and intrigues are strongly connected and greatly influence the plot and the protagonist’s choices.
The novel ends in a way that seems rather rushed, with all the pieces of the puzzle regarding everything that is around the protagonist’s personal story only in the last pages. It’s a case in which the journey, in this case into the peculiarities of the Rhune society and the intrigues surrounding the kingdom of Scharrode, must be considered more important than the destination.
The Alastor trilogy is set in a large star cluster in which there are three thousand inhabited planets united by a single authority, the ruler called Connatic, but this is the only element the three novels have in common. The second and third novels were published in a different order depending on the edition but that’s not a problem precisely because they’re autonomous. Jack Vance’s strong stylistic imprint is what, in my opinion, makes “Marune: Alastor 933” a novel that is still very valid as well as intriguing to read. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
