Tales of the Dying Earth: The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga, Rhialto the Marvellous

"Tales of the Dying Earth" is a collection of 4 novels written over 35 years - "The Dying Earth" (1950), "The Eyes of the Overworld" (1966), "Cugel's Saga" (1983) and "Rhialto the Marvellous" (1984). All are set in the far future as the sun flickers and dies, with magicians, lost marvels, time travel and trickery.The Dying Earth is a succession of linked short stories, with the protangonist of story A becoming a bit player in story B, and so on. The chapters cover the adventures of Turjan, Mazirian, the "sisters" T'sain and T'sais, Liane the Wayfarer - and the unforgettable Chun the unavoidable.The real jewel of the collection - although this is to distinguish Miss Universe from the mere runners-up - is the centre novels Overworld and Saga, both of which deal with Cujel the Clever (admittedly self-titled) who is not so clever after all, as a rule. Cugel is a thief, swindler, rogue, and rake, who is motivated by greed, lust and revenge. Both novels are about Cugel's long quest to avenge himself on Iucounu the Laughing Magician, who had the temerity to catch Cujel robbing his manse, and set him a hard task as penance.Cugel's view of the world is unique - his ego astonishing, his cunning low. Yet, he somehow manages to escape any danger, usually without funds, treasure, or willing woman.Rhialto the Marvellous is a last collection of 3 stories, after the magician of the same name. Rhialto is more sinned against than sinner, although a cursory thought about the state of witches in the world - ie, there are none, as is made clear by the first tale - shows him as no saint. Rhialto deals with potential ensqualmation, jealousy and more in his comparatively simple life.All of these characters are individuals, well written and placed in an intriguing world. Vance is a true wordsmith, both in the creation of dry, witty dialogue and in the description of the dying earth itself. There are layers of meaning and imagery in each sentence - sometimes, it seems, in each word - and it is a joy to read, even if a dictionary is required on occasion.These are pure stories - nominally "fantasy" or "science fiction" or whatever - but really modern adult fables. They are about people, and human nature, and the flaws that come with being human. There is no preaching or exhortation to self-improvement; what is, is, and this book can simply be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys reading.

I had been recommended Jack Vance many times but never picked him up. I saw the change to get the whole Dying Earth collection so figured it would be a great time. This collection is three different story collections from original short fiction submissions that were serialized. The first is the most chaotic, lots of scattered stories about post-apocalyptic Earth with the sun burning out. But the stories are much more about magic than they are futuristic, as the notable people all have magical powers, the ability to retain spells/rituals and all have dozens of awesome magic items. So it feels like a series of Dungeons and Dragons stories. In fact the Vancian magic system of memorization of spell slots is the basis for the DND magic system. Also plenty of the items referenced in the collection made their way into the game as well, most prominently Ioun Stones.The 2nd collection is the most stable and consistent, Cugel's Saga. Cugel the Clever is a very hard luck character, mostly because very early his lack of any morality is introduced, and he is constantly rewarded for his bad behavior by bad luck. These are also the most entertaining stories in the entire collection.The 3rd collection is Rhialto the Marvelous, a magician in the cabal of the most powerful magic-users in the area. These stories were interesting, but Rhialto doesn't come across as fun a character as Cugel. The universe is still fascinating and these stories have a lot of wizard vs. wizard, and some devious intrigue. But they weren't as much fun as the first series and paled in comparison to Cugel's Saga. Still well worth reading though.Overall I went through this fairly lengthy collection in a week or so and prioritized the reading, which is usually a pretty good sign as I have a huge library. I recommend it whether you are an old Vance fan or someone who has never read the Dying Earth. You won't regret it.

I grew up playing the original basic and advanced D&D so how the author describes the mechanisms for spells jumped out at me. It has to be the source material for how magic works in D&D. Lot's of rpg tropes on display like questing, party forming/Intel gathering in taverns, outfitting supplies from retailers. All masterfully handled and probably inspiration for countless campaigns.

Original D&D precursor

Buono che sia la trilogia completa

Book was delivered in excellent condition, and in a timely manner

an absolute essential for Sci and Fantasy enthusiasts