Showboat World
Showboat World, written in 1975, is the second novel in a pair of science fiction novels by Jack Vance, called Big Planet.
Setting and plot
Showboat World is set on a notoriously anarchsitic world called Big Planet and follows the adventures of Appolon Zamp and his troupe of Acrobats, magicians and actors as his showboat, Miraldra's Enchantment, is bound for the distant city of Mornune, where an ultimate prize awaits to whomever stages te most spectacular show, and succeeds in entertaining a ruthlessly apathic king.
The journey is perilous, as the rivers cut trough hostile territories, and the people inhabiting these strange lands exhibit uncommon believes and strange, often violent customs.
The plot thickens as Appolon Zamp meets the mysterious Lady Blanche-Aster and, in order to reel in the famous prize, engages both in an unlikely partnership with one of his contenders, and in rivalry for the hand of Lady Blanche-Aster.
As an ongoing theme, the story often refers to Shakespeare's famous piece Macbeth, which is continiously adapted and readapted to the tastes of varying audiences.
Style and meaning
Showboat World is written in Vance's traditional dry, often witty style. The goal of the book is both to further explain and expand the fictional world which was created in Big Planet, and to amuse the reader with an unconventional, hilarious account of an absurd voyage.