Reviews for Nopalgarth

The average rating for Nopalgarth based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-11-10 00:00:00 John Adams Most Vance fans like this one less than I do. I love it because of the creative ideas, the fast-paced plot, and the satisfying conclusion. I also enjoy imagining that it's real in a "Shadow over Innsmouth" kind of way. The plot concerns invisible, slug-like creatures that live on our scalps and manipulate our thoughts. Many SF writers would pad this book out with an extra hundred pages of meditation on free will and cold war propaganda, but Vance leaves the meditating up to the reader and keeps this a tight, novella-length tale. I think the reason some fans hate this book is the basic ickiness of the premise. Also, this is set in "present" day America, rather than one of Vance's wacky planets. Nonetheless, I enjoy this book and recommend it. If you are a Kindle user, there's a great deal on this and four other very strong novellas in the Chateau d'If collection.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-12-31 00:00:00 Louis Ramey There is something very satisfying to me about Jack Vance novels. They aren't high art, but his weird imaginative approach to creation of alien worlds hits the right spot, and his balance of adventure and intrigue was the right antidote to the book I had to abandon a few days ago. Of the three stories in this volume, Nopalgarth was my favorite with its cosmic horror backdrop to a science fiction pulp action tale. As he frequently does, he provided the right amount of twist in the story without cheating. Also as is typical of Vance, the main character is pulled into the story by circumstance beyond his control, and does his best to survive while struggling against the forces arrayed against him. I also appreciate how each of these stories is economical in scope, with no padding. I do like big epics, but sometimes it is nice to just read a short novel that gets to the point and delivers the story. Vance is good at that.