Book review: the Cadwal Trilogy: Araminta station; Ecce and Old Earth; Throy

I've been reading Vance for a while now; I've read these ones at least twice before. Occasionally, when wondering what to read, I've glanced over the shelves, seen these, and think "nah, I can recall the story too well" and passed them over; but enough time has passed that I can now re-read them. There's a review here; Goodreads also likes it. When "reviewing" Planet of Adventure I see I compared it to Cadwal; and yet I think I was somewhat wrong; PoE is better, in that shorter, and more compressed; these, while good, do go on a bit. So, whilst good, not his finest.

So with the usual things assumed said, let's get onto some criticism.

Justice: the central characters are part of Bureau B, effectively the police, and IPCC affiliates, giving them authority across the Gaean Reach. And this is used in strange ways (warning: spoilers). Consider Arles's attempted rape of Wayness, and subsequent castration: this is done in secret. Justice may be done, but is not seen to be done. This is half-way necessary for the storyline (a convicted-rapist Arles would not be available as a member of society in good standing for the rest of the books) but does grate. Consider: the killing of the police in Fexelburg: again, done in secret, their bodies dumped in the steppe, with no report to the planetary authorities. This level of discretion can only be done if the IPCC is incorruptible and yet there seem to be no checks or balances. Vance's heroes are typically ruthless (I applaud the ending of the Dragon Masters, where the losing warlord is just killed; in the circumstances there, it makes sense) but when they are the police, this seems careless; perhaps especially in view of some recent actions of the USAnian police. Perhaps I would call this carelessness on Vance's part: he has failed to adapt his characters to their new role.

Yips: the Yips do not have a good book. I think they look like "Nips"; or perhaps Chinese: a strange foreign inscrutable people, good for work if you can make them but not communicable. They are a stock element, again this is a bit lazy. Their (from the outside) impervious discipline as a society makes sense when a mysterious "Oomphaaw" runs them; but when this turns out to be Titus, or Smonny, it rather ceases to make sense: why would the Yips obey? They are treated as sub-human: people without volition, usually (with the possible exception of the one who slashes the Banter's blinders).

Stability: every book needs a villain to pull the story along, perhaps; yet the final result is that Cadwal society only just barely survives the malice of two sisters; which speaks to the weakness of their world; perhaps that's what you expect from somewhere with little democracy and an out-of-control police force :-). But would such a weak world really have survived so long? This is where Vance's easy-going Gaean Reach comes in: worlds generally keep to themselves, it seems. Similarly, the process whereby people acquire entire planets simply by being the first to find them seems unlikely.

My linked review complains about the sexual stereotypes, but I do not: the book is a product of its times and its author: just like Asimov's Foundation, the girls and boys interact like 1950's America.