Slan

Finally got around to reading this vintage scifi classic! It came highly anticipated, since it is the basis for a show I quite enjoyed; but the source material is rather different. The main character’s name and the ‘slan’ concept, very loosely, are more or less the extent of the adaptation. I’m glad I give this a chance, though, and I am curious to explore Vogt’s other works (as well as other scifi from this time period, just to compare).

Vogt’s writing struck me as rather unique; he has a way of writing a stunning sentence or two, then going back to a fairly lowbrow, pulp-y description. I’m just grateful he isn’t verbose on descriptions. I did find myself stopping to appreciate his imagery several times, so Vogt did have some intentionality to his words. Moreover, for a pulp, the writing wasn’t bare-bones. Still, the plot does have an incredulous amount of narrative convenience, and the character’s plot armor is thicker than the Earth’s atmosphere. Devices and events are ‘cleverly’ contrived to suit the plot, rather than proceeding in a logical manner.

As to it being written during the golden age of scifi, it does seem an odd fit; there is a space opera element to it, but it doesn’t loom as large as I had anticipated. Some of this may be Vogt’s strange style—he apparently wrote short stories and stitched them together, with not much smoothing around the seams. There is, however, a very linear and straightforward plot; there are some surprise elements thrown in, but nothing earth-shattering, for the most part. I did find some twists of the narrative to be somewhat confusing or nonsensical; occasionally, I would have to re-read a few sentences to find my place. I’ll chalk that up to Vogt’s peculiar style.

When you think of golden age scifi, of course, the plot and narrative themes tend to subsume consideration of other elements; however, I was delightfully surprised that the characters had some depth. Jommy Cross, our protagonist, is pretty typical—overpowered, tragic backstory, hero’s arc, etc. However, I was impressed that Vogt devoted some characterization to the side characters, too—Kathleen Layton, primarily. Vogt’s decision to have her voice her own agency (and the concept of consent) felt ahead of its time for a female character in the 1940s, let alone in scifi; unfortunately, her bewildering character arc and actions fall short of the mark. Secondary characters were quite interesting, if a bit shallow—Kier Gray, Joanna Hillory, etc.

The ideas are paramount here, and yet, somehow still not as satisfying as I would hope. Partially, this is because the book is rather short, and Vogt doesn’t give himself room to expand and really develop these ideas (and characters) are thoroughly as they might have been. The book’s ending did feel rather abrupt, and the pacing in the last part was completely off the charts. There is a lot to be unpacked here about the discrimination slans face and the superiority of their ‘race’ over human beings. There is also, of course, the age-old theme of following one’s destined path vs. charting a new course. Slan got me to consider quite a lot of ideas, but it was unsatisfying that it never seemed to quite go as far into them as I’d hoped. Moreover, most of the worldbuilding is info dumped at the reader towards the end, which really did not serve the story at all.

Perhaps this book is a product of its time and its author’s idiosyncrasies; I did appreciate the chance to try an older scifi book (even older than Dune this time!). I am curious enough that I may check out Vogt’s sequel to this book, but it isn’t a high priority. I may need some mental adjustment before I try to process his odd writing style again; that said, it did have its moments, so my motivation is not entirely lost.