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Pawl Paxwax, the Gardener #1
Master of Paxwax
The first of four parts of a far-future drama of revenge and tragedy, involving a huge cast of humans and aliens. Seeking to bring about the fall of the autocratic, decadent, human galactic empire, the aliens manipulate Pawl Paxwax, second son of one of the eleven dynastic human families.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published July 29, 1986
5 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
About the author
Phillip Mann
29 books16 followersPhillip Mann was born in 1942 and studied English and Drama at Manchester University and later in California. He worked in the New China News Agency in Beijing for two years but has lived in New Zealand since 1969, working as a theatre critic, drama teacher and university Reader in Drama.
Series:
* Pawl Paxwax, the Gardener
* A Land Fit for Heroes
Series:
* Pawl Paxwax, the Gardener
* A Land Fit for Heroes
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 10, 2022
Phillip Mann is one of New Zealand's most august writers of SF, with a career that (so far) spans five decades. Mann has least two stone-cold classics of antipodean Science Fiction to his name (Wulfsyarn and The Disestablishment of Paradise).
Master of Paxwax is the first in a two part series he wrote back in the 1980s and it's a fun and compelling read, with an interesting, pathos-laden story.
Pawl Paxwax is second in line to the leadership of one of the great houses of the human imperium that has spread across the stars. Of course, like most human empires, this one has a left a trail of blood behind it. This time, however, that blood has spilled from countless alien species who have been pushed aside, crushed or enslaved by ceaseless human aggression.
Hidden away in a hollow planet, led by a godlike alien intelligence, are the remnants of the defeated extraterrestrials humanity has displaced. From their shell-world they plot to overthrow the greedy, blood-soaked human empire, and they have decided that Pawl Paxwax will be the unwitting tool they use to this end.
So starts a story of a grand but decadent Imperium, and the man who will unknowingly bring it down.
Mann, as usual, knows how to tell a story, and keep his reader engrossed. I smashed through this one in no time, eagerly eating up Mann's weird (yet plausible) multitude of oppressed alien species and the twisted, machiavellian upper echelons of the human society ruling them. There's a riot of imagination here, and a growing sense of incoming betrayal and tragedy that I found quite engaging.
Having read a number of Mann's works I spotted two of his hallmarks here - a sense for pathos that is rare in SF writing, and a focus on the destructive tendencies present in human nature.
This destructive (often self-destructive) impulse is a theme of Mann's work, from the personally destructive (Wulfsyarn) to the destruction of our own species (Pioneers) and the destruction of other worlds (The Disestablishment of Paradise). In Paxwax this impulse has extended to the wholesale destruction of alien societies.
Mann is also skilled at creating futures that don't date as badly as many older SF novels do. While Paxwax was written almost four decades ago the technology and culture in the novel still feels suitably futuristic, without the temporal markers (continual smoking, newspapers, reel-to-reel computers. etc.) that weigh down many older Science Fiction works.
Overall, Master of Paxwax is an entertaining novel, building to a conclusion in book two that I assume is going to be delightfully grim.
Four weird, melancholy aliens out of five.
P.S: If you're interested in Mann's work he posts on his website about his books and writing process - the entry regarding this bookand its sequel is quite interesting - originally both books were written as one larger novel, and splitting them was quite the headache. https://phillipmann.co.nz/books/maste...
Master of Paxwax is the first in a two part series he wrote back in the 1980s and it's a fun and compelling read, with an interesting, pathos-laden story.
Pawl Paxwax is second in line to the leadership of one of the great houses of the human imperium that has spread across the stars. Of course, like most human empires, this one has a left a trail of blood behind it. This time, however, that blood has spilled from countless alien species who have been pushed aside, crushed or enslaved by ceaseless human aggression.
Hidden away in a hollow planet, led by a godlike alien intelligence, are the remnants of the defeated extraterrestrials humanity has displaced. From their shell-world they plot to overthrow the greedy, blood-soaked human empire, and they have decided that Pawl Paxwax will be the unwitting tool they use to this end.
So starts a story of a grand but decadent Imperium, and the man who will unknowingly bring it down.
Mann, as usual, knows how to tell a story, and keep his reader engrossed. I smashed through this one in no time, eagerly eating up Mann's weird (yet plausible) multitude of oppressed alien species and the twisted, machiavellian upper echelons of the human society ruling them. There's a riot of imagination here, and a growing sense of incoming betrayal and tragedy that I found quite engaging.
Having read a number of Mann's works I spotted two of his hallmarks here - a sense for pathos that is rare in SF writing, and a focus on the destructive tendencies present in human nature.
This destructive (often self-destructive) impulse is a theme of Mann's work, from the personally destructive (Wulfsyarn) to the destruction of our own species (Pioneers) and the destruction of other worlds (The Disestablishment of Paradise). In Paxwax this impulse has extended to the wholesale destruction of alien societies.
Mann is also skilled at creating futures that don't date as badly as many older SF novels do. While Paxwax was written almost four decades ago the technology and culture in the novel still feels suitably futuristic, without the temporal markers (continual smoking, newspapers, reel-to-reel computers. etc.) that weigh down many older Science Fiction works.
Overall, Master of Paxwax is an entertaining novel, building to a conclusion in book two that I assume is going to be delightfully grim.
Four weird, melancholy aliens out of five.
P.S: If you're interested in Mann's work he posts on his website about his books and writing process - the entry regarding this bookand its sequel is quite interesting - originally both books were written as one larger novel, and splitting them was quite the headache. https://phillipmann.co.nz/books/maste...
June 30, 2015
This classic science-fiction tale has now been reprinted and rereleased in the New Zealand market - and thanks to Booksellers NZ, found its way into my reading pile. Now, I do not normally read science fiction, favouring fantasy, but as the synopsis sounded somewhat like a space opera, I figured it was worth reading.
And it was.
Highly enjoyable, highly original, with plenty of complex political wrangling, alliances and enemies. At the centre of it all, young Pawl Paxwax, suddenly summoned back to his home planet following the death of his younger brother. Suddenly he finds himself heir of the estate, and a freak accident adds further complications to his plans for marriage and a simple life.
The alien races are truly that - alien. Never described in too indepth detail, creatures like Odin and the spiderings populate the story, adding a fantastical, and slightly frightening, element. Compounded with that are the various deformations suffered by the mostly-humans. Pawl, for example, is hunched and disfigured, another bears a ruff of feathers and most seem to suffer from some sort of physical malady. Truly, Mann has brought these (slightly demented) otherworlds to life.
The prose is excellent and enticing, the language rich and evocative. The lightly scattered humour, the unfortunate comedy-of-error-esque plotting and the diabolical schemings all make for an entertaining and relatively fast read. I look forward to finding out where Pawl's life leads him next, and cannot help but feel that his somewhat selfish behaviour is likely to bring further pain to those he cares for.
And it was.
Highly enjoyable, highly original, with plenty of complex political wrangling, alliances and enemies. At the centre of it all, young Pawl Paxwax, suddenly summoned back to his home planet following the death of his younger brother. Suddenly he finds himself heir of the estate, and a freak accident adds further complications to his plans for marriage and a simple life.
The alien races are truly that - alien. Never described in too indepth detail, creatures like Odin and the spiderings populate the story, adding a fantastical, and slightly frightening, element. Compounded with that are the various deformations suffered by the mostly-humans. Pawl, for example, is hunched and disfigured, another bears a ruff of feathers and most seem to suffer from some sort of physical malady. Truly, Mann has brought these (slightly demented) otherworlds to life.
The prose is excellent and enticing, the language rich and evocative. The lightly scattered humour, the unfortunate comedy-of-error-esque plotting and the diabolical schemings all make for an entertaining and relatively fast read. I look forward to finding out where Pawl's life leads him next, and cannot help but feel that his somewhat selfish behaviour is likely to bring further pain to those he cares for.
April 26, 2025
Mann's Erstling "Das Auge der Königin" hat mich recht beeindruckt, er gilt zurecht als einer der besten Schilderungen von fremdartigen Außerirdischen.
Dies ist nun ganz was anderes. Es ist eine Space Opera mit einer Aristokratie. 11 Familien, die zufällig am rechten Ort waren, als Transmitterverbindungen zu den Sternen entdeckt wurden, beherrschen nun die Menschheit. Sie arbeiten zusammen, sie intrigieren, sie bekämpfen sich.
Pawl, der plötzlich der Herrscher von Paxwax wird, als Vater und erstgeborener Bruder sterben, findet langsam raus, dass die 2 Schwestern vom Xerxes Clan ihm ans Leder wollen.
Ein eher harmloser Spass, aber recht unterhaltsam und voll Phantasie. Er erinnerte mich an Cordwainer Smiths "Instrumentality of Mankind"- Romane.
Dies ist nun ganz was anderes. Es ist eine Space Opera mit einer Aristokratie. 11 Familien, die zufällig am rechten Ort waren, als Transmitterverbindungen zu den Sternen entdeckt wurden, beherrschen nun die Menschheit. Sie arbeiten zusammen, sie intrigieren, sie bekämpfen sich.
Pawl, der plötzlich der Herrscher von Paxwax wird, als Vater und erstgeborener Bruder sterben, findet langsam raus, dass die 2 Schwestern vom Xerxes Clan ihm ans Leder wollen.
Ein eher harmloser Spass, aber recht unterhaltsam und voll Phantasie. Er erinnerte mich an Cordwainer Smiths "Instrumentality of Mankind"- Romane.
December 12, 2024
The road less travelled for science fiction, but highly recommended none the less.
Elegiac in tone, tragic in direction, and boldly imaginative in outline and in detail - Mann's vision must be one of the rare surprises and highlights in the genre that I've read, next to the rarefied work of Vance, Herbert, and Le Guin.
Do read.
Elegiac in tone, tragic in direction, and boldly imaginative in outline and in detail - Mann's vision must be one of the rare surprises and highlights in the genre that I've read, next to the rarefied work of Vance, Herbert, and Le Guin.
Do read.
October 12, 2014
I raced through this book. it is well written and very easy to read. the subject is a little silly. Aliens trying to over throw the evil human over lords who have split into competing fanctions. Now mutated so they are as much alien as the aliens, each family has its own mutation. one lot has feathets, some other guys have tusks etc. etc. A bit silly but engaging and I am looking forward to getting the sequel
July 11, 2018
It was a joy to sail through and the colourful characters made it a fun, even though at time precarious, journey.
Though immediately sold to Pawls plight, I was left feeling not particularly emotionally connected to it, nor was there emotional pay off for me.
However, I'm looking forward to continuing onto the sequel.
Though immediately sold to Pawls plight, I was left feeling not particularly emotionally connected to it, nor was there emotional pay off for me.
However, I'm looking forward to continuing onto the sequel.
September 6, 2022
It took a while to get into the Gardener - the opening quarter or so reminded me significantly of Dune, and I found it tricky to get past that perception. However, I'm really glad that I did - once the characters and their motivations had been established, and the action really started rolling, I couldn't put it down!
December 11, 2025
Weak 2.5* from the golden age of scifi when they didn't get the tech right and it was mostly tech-high fantasy with feudalism included. Major redeeming point: not particularly annoying/offensive.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews