House of Shards
Walter Jon Williams
309 pages
published in 1992

Together with Aristoi I'd bought a couple other Walter Jon Williams books, of which this is one. I thought I'd give this a try as well, as it looked like a nice light read. Which indeed it was.

Imagine a cross between a P. G. Wodehouse comedy of manners and Raffles the Gentleman Burglar, in space, and you got the basic idea of House of Shards. In this universe, humanity has long been ruled by the Khosali empire and has won back its independence only recently after a long period in the empire. Naturally, much of the Khosali customs have been taken over by humans, including the practise of licenced burglarly. It seems an early Khosali emperor was incurably kleptomanic --and since everything the emperor does has to be legal-- this tradition got started and codified.

Drake Maijstral is one of these Allowed Burglars, even if (or even because) he comes from an aristocratic background. His greatest rival is Geoff Fu George, who is ahead of him in the ratings war amongst Allowed Burglars, but not for long if Maijstral can help it. Both have come to the grand opening of Silverside Station, a small exclusive resort in the vicinity of one of the most spectacular natural wonders in the galaxy: the consumation of a star, gobbled up by its binary. Both are after the same target: the Eltdown Shard, a spectacular jewel which contains the flame of a dying star. And there are others lured to Silverside for its rich pluckings...

House of Shards really does read as something that Wodehouse could've written, with typically Wodehousian dialogues, a deft eye for the absurdities of good manners and a typically Wodehousian convoluted plot. One would almost expect Bertie Wooster to walk onto the stage. Very much recommended to anyone who likes Wodehouse.