Araminta Station, by Jack Vance

[essentialsaltes]

Araminta Station is pretty solid SF that I think must have had a bit of a retro vibe even when it was fresh from the printers in 1987. It might easily have hopped out of the pages of Astounding in the 1940s. Nevertheless, it's solidly put together and has some interesting themes and details here and there. However, the worst thing about the book is clearly the Boris Vallejo cover:



PS Jack Vance is still alive and kicking, at 96.