Talk:The Book of Dreams (Vance novel)

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Inconsistency

Like much of Vance's work, this story has major inconsistencies. The most obvious is why Treesong, last of the Demon Princes is not aware of the fate of the other four. The first two, the alien and the Methuselah, are shadowy figures, but 3rd and 4th are well known and their deaths would have widely publicized. Treesong would have been anticipating danger, and with his vast resources been engaged in protective and proactive measures. But he completely unaware until he sees his picture on Cosmopolis's cover.

So what does Teesong do when he sees the cover? He tries to infiltrate the contest with one young women, who has no training in espionage. This is also illogical and inconsistent: Treesong would have dispatched a large team of investigators to discover what was happening at Cosmopolis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:2D80:882A:0:914E:B65:6E91:2975 (talk) 22:22, 1 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

So going over those deaths in order: Malagate dies on a world in the Beyond that is known to only four people (Gersen himself, Pallis Atwrode, Rundle Detteras and Kagge Kelle), none of whom have any reason to talk about it. Kokor Hekkus dies on a world that is equally remote and the only people on Thamber who are in the know also have no reason to even mention that Kokor Hekkus died there. Viole Falushe also dies on his own private planet and there are few people even present on the ship that he gets thrown out of, let alone be actual witnesses to the killing. Only Lens Larque meets his end anywhere remotely civilised and there is still nothing much to show for it - he would have been found dead in his office, and while investigation would reveal that he died of cluthe, Gersen wasn't leaving evidence about the place to tie him to the death. While Treesong might have been curious to know what was going on at Cosmopolis, he had no reason to suppose there was a monomaniac going around the Oikumene hunting down Demon Princes; it's not as if these five arch-criminals were even regular associates or operated together more than once. None of the five ever mentions the others and even in Treesong's final appearance, where he gets to meet and talk with Gersen, he says nothing that suggests he was especially aware of the death of the others or any concern over a mysterious assassin. He had spent the preceding years on larger matters; becoming Lord of the Overmen, trying to become head of the IPCC, trying to become the Triune of the Institute -- nearly becoming the first Emperor of the Gaean Worlds. There was no reason to concern himself overmuch with a few of his former associates with whom he'd only linked up the once, and who certainly weren't deserving of being mentioned in the same breath as him. Captain Pedant (talk) 07:35, 8 January 2020 (UTC)[reply]