Rating: 
Summary: Pleasing 1st book of an apparent series
Review: This has got to be the first book in a series and I'm eagerly awaiting the next one. I've always felt that Vance was a tourist and was thankful to be allowed to trail along. This book is strongly in that vein. The crew of the Glicca are great companions and their various adventures are by turns comical, threatening, and exciting. Vance's marvelous universe, the Gaean reach provides the backdrop. Mysteries are suggested, moods evoked, a great sweep of human history is laid out, and it's all wonderful. It does move at a slower pace, but once the language and rhythm pull you in, it could go on forever! I feel sorry for the folks who found it lacking.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing to this jaded SciFi reader
Review: This was my first Jack Vance read, and to my surprise, I was sucked right into the ride with the rest of the characters. While some people were displeased with the lack of direction, I found it enjoyable to just wander along with Vance wherever the plot took me. The various worlds are colorful, and the characters interesting and varied. Vance's writing style is refreshingly different after so many SciFi novels that sound the same. There are no cliches - the ideas are fresh, the people are fresh, the dialogue is fresh - it's hard to describe why exactly it feels so different without having you read it for yourself. So do it - if you're a SciFi snob like me, you'l find a good read here.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing to this jaded SciFi reader
Review: This was my first Jack Vance read, and to my surprise, I was sucked right into the ride with the rest of the characters. While some people were displeased with the lack of direction, I found it enjoyable to just wander along with Vance wherever the plot took me. The various worlds are colorful, and the characters interesting and varied. Vance's writing style is refreshingly different after so many SciFi novels that sound the same. There are no cliches - the ideas are fresh, the people are fresh, the dialogue is fresh - it's hard to describe why exactly it feels so different without having you read it for yourself. So do it - if you're a SciFi snob like me, you'l find a good read here.
Rating:
Summary: Not Vance's best work, but...
Review: Vance does with the book what he does best. He creates vivid imagery, great and quirky characters, charming situations, and new and unusual cultural perspectives. On the negative side, the book lacks a cohesive story and has very little plot. Is is almost just a series of vignettes. It is very likely meant to be the first book in a series as it has no real conclusion. For all of that, a true Jack Vance fan will enjoy it, because it gives healthy dose of the Vance experience. The fragments the story divides itself into are interesting enough and done with sufficient mastery to make the book well worth reading. For those drab souless people with no grandness of vision who do not like Jack Vance, there probably will be little appeal to the book.
Rating:
Summary: Not Vance's best work, but...
Review: Vance does with the book what he does best. He creates vivid imagery, great and quirky characters, charming situations, and new and unusual cultural perspectives. On the negative side, the book lacks a cohesive story and has very little plot. Is is almost just a series of vignettes. It is very likely meant to be the first book in a series as it has no real conclusion. For all of that, a true Jack Vance fan will enjoy it, because it gives healthy dose of the Vance experience. The fragments the story divides itself into are interesting enough and done with sufficient mastery to make the book well worth reading. For those drab souless people with no grandness of vision who do not like Jack Vance, there probably will be little appeal to the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Picaresque in form, vintage Vance in style
Review: Vance has again returned to the Gaean Reach we first became acquainted with in Star King (1964), and the style and atmosphere is remarkably consistent with all the intervening works. This one is a series of vignettes, rather than a plot heading for a particular outcome, and some, expecting a more conventional form, may find this frustrating. You are left with a lot of unanswered questions at the end, which makes one hope that this is in effect just the first chapters of a larger novel in the works. Vance is a grand master, as has been finally formally acknowledged. He's probably nearing the end of his career, but we can hope for a sequel to this book, which keeps to his truly inimitable style admirably.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic Vance Yet More Autobiogrphical Than His Norm.
Review: Vance lovers are a cult, and they won't be disappointed by this offering. I thought Night Lamp was a tired regurgitation of most of Vance's old story ideas, but Ports of Call is much better especially when viewed in an autobiographical light. Most Vance lovers recognize the strong sea faring themes in many of his stories - obviouly he is drawing on his experience as a merchent mariner. Ports of Call nicely captures the flavor of adventure in port combined with Vance's usual imaginative and colorful planetary cultures. Ports of Call is (hopefully) the first in a series since there are a few plot threads not tied up at the end. I highly recommend it for Vance addicts. However it is not up to Vance's highest standards shown in the Planet of Adventure Series or Lyoness Series.
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