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When Sklar questions the need to continue to worship and feed this predator, King Kragen appears, wrecks his home and kills his mentor. Rather than regard this as divine punishment, Sklar suspects that the conservative priesthood has enough control over King Kragen to kill those who oppose their
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tower operator â a prestigious position on the Blue World, a planet with no land at all. During the space of twelve generations, the descendants of a crashed prison ship have created a rudimentary civilization on the water-covered planet, living on huge sea plants. They have a hierarchy of
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The world is mostly safe. However, they must beware the kragen, giant, semi-intelligent predators which roam the ocean. The colonists eventually develop a relationship with one of these, King Kragen. It drives off other kragen in return for offerings of food organized by an entrenched
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184:. They also have no idea that their ancestors were criminals, believing them to have been the victims of oppressors. They have evolved a peaceful society, and ignore the hints in texts saved from the first generation of what their origins actually were.
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Sklar's mission is to convince his fellow citizens that they must kill King Kragen in order to be free. And, if so, to discover how can they do it in a world without materials to make weapons.
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quasi-religious priesthood built up over generations. King Kragen grows to become the largest and most powerful kragen, demanding more and more food as time goes by.
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Sklar Hast, the protagonist, had achieved a measure of success and prosperity by passing his examination to be a "Hoodwink", or
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criticised the novel's technological aspects as being highly unrealistic.
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named after the different classes of criminal: the highest caste is the
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This article is about the Jack Vance novel. For other uses, see
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221:in 1966. It was also a preliminary nominee for the
192:views, and to thus uphold their privileged status.
297:. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company. p.
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149:. The novel is based on Vance's earlier novella
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153:, which appeared in the July 1964 edition of
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421:
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332:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
289:Underwood, Tim; Chuck Miller (1980).
251:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
235:
13:
14:
1123:
316:
323:Jack Vance home page and archive
1112:Novels set on fictional planets
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266:
255:
1:
853:Strange People, Queer Notions
228:
1107:Fiction set on ocean planets
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7:
1097:1966 science fiction novels
10:
1128:
282:
274:"Fantastyka i futurologia"
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1036:
1018:
876:
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649:
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577:
541:
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398:The Eyes of the Overworld
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145:novel by American writer
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93:
81:
71:
61:
53:
43:
31:
846:The House on Lily Street
435:Songs of the Dying Earth
16:1966 novel by Jack Vance
1027:This Is Me, Jack Vance!
947:Men of the Twelve Books
1102:Ballantine Books books
919:Gateway to Strangeness
590:Trullion: Alastor 2262
412:Rhialto the Marvellous
217:was nominated for the
180:and the lowest is the
518:Servants of the Wankh
249:title listing at the
1092:Novels by Jack Vance
1087:1966 American novels
825:Galactic Effectuator
769:The Languages of Pao
954:The Miracle Workers
898:Cholwell's Chickens
891:The Brains of Earth
884:Abercrombie Station
755:Vandals of the Void
748:The Five Gold Bands
597:Marune: Alastor 933
501:Planet of Adventure
468:The Killing Machine
429:Dying Earth (genre)
28:
933:The Houses of Iszm
912:The Dragon Masters
776:Slaves of the Klau
667:Ecce and Old Earth
604:Wyst: Alastor 1716
561:The Brave Free Men
511:City of the Chasch
489:The Book of Dreams
475:The Palace of Love
26:
1074:
1073:
1010:Ullward's Retreat
961:Monsters in Orbit
742:
741:
718:Big Planet novels
651:Cadwal Chronicles
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443:
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105:Print (paperback)
94:Publication place
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860:The Deadly Isles
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660:Araminta Station
626:Suldrun's Garden
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83:Publication date
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996:Son of the Tree
940:The Last Castle
926:The Gift of Gab
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811:The Gray Prince
762:To Live Forever
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633:The Green Pearl
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391:The Dying Earth
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102:Media type
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66:Science fiction
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27:The Blue World
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317:External links
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272:StanisÅaw Lem
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246:The Blue World
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38:First edition
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1059:Ellery Queen
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905:Dodkin's Job
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219:Nebula Award
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163:Plot summary
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1049:Gaean Reach
783:Space Opera
381:Dying Earth
262:Book Review
1081:Categories
1065:Bad Ronald
832:Night Lamp
804:Bad Ronald
726:Big Planet
568:The Asutra
525:The Dirdir
372:Jack Vance
328:Jack Vance
293:Jack Vance
229:References
151:The Kragen
147:Jack Vance
76:Ballantine
48:Jack Vance
21:Blue world
989:Rumfuddle
554:The Anome
532:The Pnume
461:Star King
199:Reception
182:Hooligans
169:semaphore
156:Fantastic
143:adventure
72:Publisher
1037:See also
797:Emphyrio
616:Lyonesse
482:The Face
54:Language
580:Alastor
544:Durdane
422:related
330:at the
283:Sources
126:2304721
57:English
701:Lurulu
640:Madouc
305:
210:Awards
174:castes
44:Author
1003:Telek
982:Noise
674:Throy
368:Works
138:is a
110:Pages
62:Genre
1044:Grue
303:ISBN
120:OCLC
88:1966
370:by
299:228
113:190
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237:^
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360:e
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346:v
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23:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
