Review:
I had not read Jack Vance in a while, and it's my first time reading it in english. It's the first time I prefer the translated work.
The needlessly old-fashioned vocabulary (why scold when you can objurgate!) makes for a difficult read, and the plot is thin enough already. The one-dimensionality of the characters, specially the main one, is explained away on a thin motivational basis.
Of course it also has the classic Vance world-building, a feeling that it all makes sense and is part of a much larger "everything", which is the main redeeming factor.