#like i robot

The short version: Thissal is sent to be ambassador (I think) to an alien planet where the society and one’s place in it is determined by one’s musical skill (everyday conversation accompanied by a variety of etiquette-relevant instruments) and their mask, worn at all times.  Thissal tries to solve a murder, made more difficult by the masks and their interchangeability, all the while making one faux pas after another.

What I thought: Two points of context before we get into my opinion.  First, this was based on a short story.  Second, that story was published in 1961.
With that in mind, it certainly had the feel of a short story.  graphics usually don’t skip through months at a time without some intention of showing a change, but short stories do it all the time, and the pacing was similar.  I don’t know whether I would have liked the text version better or not; the number of musical instruments that every citizen carries with them just for communication is pretty intimidating, but in the graphic version, each speech was also given a beautiful illustration to show which instrument was in use, and a handy guide as to what those meant.  It did mean I had to keep flipping back to the guide, but at the same time, I quite liked the translation of sound into graphic.  Harsh clacks with two bricks for speaking to slaves made a dark red, triangular sound, while the formal lute-like instrument for addressing a superior had intricate, lacy curls and webs.  This all made for a complicated reading, but it was pretty useful as there was no way to get the emotion from looking at any speaker’s face due to the masks.
It was all very high sci-fi and a clever way to communicate sound and intention. 
But.
I have to forgive Vance for creating a story from a 1960′s American viewpoint.  I know this, but I still didn’t like that the aliens looked exactly like humans, the slave class looked like dark-skinned humans, and there were exactly two women in the story, one of whom is molested and the other who screams when she sees a man exposing himself.  Neither women nor slaves have active speaking roles, and that bothers me.  Thissal even mentions that he had a long conversation with a few slaves, offscreen, and it did not have to be that way.  It’s the same classist, racist, sexist bullshit that silver age sci-fi is just lousy with, and there’s no way to pretend it’s otherwise.
But it made me think.  That’s high enough praise to warrant a good look.
This is good for fans of old school science fiction and those who have either experimented with politics or suffered from synesthesia.

Read if you liked: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison, The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank Stockton, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, anything by Ray Bradbury