The Dying Earth

Jun 14, 2013 Algernon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

I lived beside the ocean — in a white villa among poplar trees. Across Tenebrosa Bay the Cape of Sad Remembrance reached into the ocean, and when sunset made the sky red and the mountains black, the cape seemed to sleep on the water like one of the ancient earth-gods ... All my life I spent here, and was as content as one may be while dying Earth spins out its last few courses.

cover

Two bright stars on the science-fiction / fantasy firmament have gone to sleep: Jack Vance and Iain M. Banks. I know o...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Keely rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, novel, reviewed

Strange to think that this was the series that inspired Martin and Wolfe in their fantasy endeavors. Going from their gritty, mirthless rehashes of standard fantasy badassery to Vance's wild, ironic, flowery style was jarring--going directly from Anderson's grim, tragic Broken Sword to this was tonal whiplash.

At first I didn't know what to make of it: the lurid, purple prose, the silly characters, the story which jumped from idea to idea with abandon. I mistook it at once for the unbridled pulp...more

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Aug 13, 2010 Kat Hooper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

The Dying Earth is the first of Jack Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth and contains six somewhat overlapping stories all set in the future when the sun is red and dim, much technology has been lost, and most of humanity has died out. Our planet is so unrecognizable that it might as well be another world, and evil has been "distilled" so that it's concentrated in Earth's remaining inhabitants.

But it's easy to forget that a failing planet is the setting for t...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

The Dying Earth is the first of Jack Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth and contains six somewhat overlapping stories all set in the future when the sun is red and dim, much technology has been lost, and most of humanity has died out. Our planet is so unrecognizable that it might as well be another world, and evil has been "distilled" so that it's concentrated in Earth's remaining inhabitants.

But it's easy to forget that a failing planet is the setting for the Dying Earth stories, for they are neither depressing nor bleak, and they're not really about the doom of the Earth. These stories are whimsical and weird and they focus more on the strange people who remain and the strange things they do. Magicians, wizards, witches, beautiful maidens, damsels in distress, seekers of knowledge, and vain princes strive to outwit each other for their own advantage.

What appeals to me most is that The Tales of the Dying Earth are about how things could possibly be in an alternate reality. All speculative fiction does that, of course, but Jack Vance just happens to hit on the particular things that I find most fascinating to speculate about: neuroscience, psychology, sensation, and perception. These are subjects I study and teach every day, so I think about them a lot. One thing I love to consider, which happens to be a common theme in Vance’s work, is how we might experience life differently if our sensory systems were altered just a bit. I find myself occasionally asking my students questions like "what would it be like if we had retinal receptors that could visualize electromagnetic waves outside of the visible spectrum?" (So bizarre to consider, and yet so possible!) They look at me like I'm nuts, but I'm certain that Jack Vance would love to talk about that possibility. And even though The Dying Earth was first published in 1950, it doesn’t feel dated at all — it can still charm a neuroscientist 60 years later. This is because his setting feels medieval; technology has been forgotten. Thus, it doesn’t matter that there were no cell phones or Internet when Vance wrote The Dying Earth.

I also love the constant juxtaposition of the ludicrous and the sublimely intelligent. Like Monty Python, Willy Wonka, and Alice in Wonderland. [Aside: This makes me wonder how Johnny Depp would do at portraying a Jack Vance character…] Some of the scenes that involve eyeballs and brains and pickled homunculi make me think of SpongeBob Squarepants — the most obnoxious show on television, yet somehow brilliant. (Jack Vance probably wouldn't appreciate that I've compared his literature to SpongeBob Squarepants. Or maybe he would!)

Lastly, I love Jack Vance’s “high language” (that’s what he called it), which is consistent and never feels forced. This style contributes greatly to the humor that pervades his work — understatement, irony, illogic, and non sequiturs are used to make fun of human behavior, and I find this outrageously funny. As just one example, in one story, Guyal has been tricked into breaking a silly and arbitrary sacred law in the land he’s traveling through:

“The entire episode is mockery!” raged Guyal. “Are you savages, then, thus to mistreat a lone wayfarer?”

“By no means,” replied the Castellan. “We are a highly civilized people, with customs bequeathed us by the past. Since the past was more glorious than the present, what presumption we would show by questioning these laws!”

Guyal fell quiet. “And what are the usual penalties for my act?”…

“You are indeed fortunate,” said the Saponid, “in that, as a witness, I was able to suggest your delinquencies to be more the result of negligence than malice. The last penalties exacted for the crime were stringent; the felon was ordered to perform the following three acts: first, to cut off his toes and sew the severed members into the skin at his neck; second, to revile his forbears for three hours, commencing with a Common Bill of Anathema, including feigned madness and hereditary disease, and at last defiling the hearth of his clan with ordure; and third, walking a mile under the lake with leaded shoes in search of the Lost Book of Kells.” And the Castellan regarded Guyal with complacency.

“What deeds must I perform?” inquired Guyal drily.

If you want to find out what three deeds Guyal had to perform, you’ll have to get the book!

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s production of The Dying Earth and the reader, Arthur Morey, was perfect. He really highlighted the humorous element of Vance’s work. It was a terrific production and I’m now enjoying the second Dying Earth audiobook (which is even better than this first one!). By the way, I want to say that I’m extremely pleased with Brilliance Audio for publishing these stories!

Jack Vance is my favorite fantasy author. His work probably won’t appeal to the Twilighters, but for those who enjoy Pythonesque surreal humor written in high style, or for fans of Lewis Carroll, Fritz Leiber, and L. Frank Baum, I suggest giving Jack Vance a try. If you listen to audiobooks, definitely try Brilliance Audio’s version!(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Molly Ison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: westeros-sff-book-list

This is a small collection of mostly interrelated stories set in the same world. The stories got progressively more involved, more clever, and in my opinion, better, further into the book. To a large extent, you need to be enjoying Vance's writing style to enjoy the stories, as the characters are mostly not easy to relate to - they have a fairy-tale-like distant amorality - and the endings are often resolved by magic. The language is often beautiful. The one thing that I feel I didn't quite "get...more

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Mar 22, 2010 Kat Hooper rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

The Dying Earth is the first of Jack Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth and contains six somewhat overlapping stories all set in the future when the sun is red and dim, much technology has been lost, and most of humanity has died out. Our planet is so unrecognizable that it might as well be another world, and evil has been "distilled" so that it's concentrated in Earth's remaining inhabitants.

But it's easy to forget that a failing planet is the setting for t...more ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

The Dying Earth is the first of Jack Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth and contains six somewhat overlapping stories all set in the future when the sun is red and dim, much technology has been lost, and most of humanity has died out. Our planet is so unrecognizable that it might as well be another world, and evil has been "distilled" so that it's concentrated in Earth's remaining inhabitants.

But it's easy to forget that a failing planet is the setting for the Dying Earth stories, for they are neither depressing nor bleak, and they're not really about the doom of the Earth. These stories are whimsical and weird and they focus more on the strange people who remain and the strange things they do. Magicians, wizards, witches, beautiful maidens, damsels in distress, seekers of knowledge, and vain princes strive to outwit each other for their own advantage.

What appeals to me most is that The Tales of the Dying Earth are about how things could possibly be in an alternate reality. All speculative fiction does that, of course, but Jack Vance just happens to hit on the particular things that I find most fascinating to speculate about: neuroscience, psychology, sensation, and perception. These are subjects I study and teach every day, so I think about them a lot. One thing I love to consider, which happens to be a common theme in Vance’s work, is how we might experience life differently if our sensory systems were altered just a bit. I find myself occasionally asking my students questions like "what would it be like if we had retinal receptors that could visualize electromagnetic waves outside of the visible spectrum?" (So bizarre to consider, and yet so possible!) They look at me like I'm nuts, but I'm certain that Jack Vance would love to talk about that possibility. And even though The Dying Earth was first published in 1950, it doesn’t feel dated at all — it can still charm a neuroscientist 60 years later. This is because his setting feels medieval; technology has been forgotten. Thus, it doesn’t matter that there were no cell phones or Internet when Vance wrote The Dying Earth.

I also love the constant juxtaposition of the ludicrous and the sublimely intelligent. Like Monty Python, Willy Wonka, and Alice in Wonderland. [Aside: This makes me wonder how Johnny Depp would do at portraying a Jack Vance character…] Some of the scenes that involve eyeballs and brains and pickled homunculi make me think of SpongeBob Squarepants — the most obnoxious show on television, yet somehow brilliant. (Jack Vance probably wouldn't appreciate that I've compared his literature to SpongeBob Squarepants. Or maybe he would!)

Lastly, I love Jack Vance’s “high language” (that’s what he called it), which is consistent and never feels forced. This style contributes greatly to the humor that pervades his work — understatement, irony, illogic, and non sequiturs are used to make fun of human behavior, and I find this outrageously funny. As just one example, in one story, Guyal has been tricked into breaking a silly and arbitrary sacred law in the land he’s traveling through:

“The entire episode is mockery!” raged Guyal. “Are you savages, then, thus to mistreat a lone wayfarer?”

“By no means,” replied the Castellan. “We are a highly civilized people, with customs bequeathed us by the past. Since the past was more glorious than the present, what presumption we would show by questioning these laws!”

Guyal fell quiet. “And what are the usual penalties for my act?”…

“You are indeed fortunate,” said the Saponid, “in that, as a witness, I was able to suggest your delinquencies to be more the result of negligence than malice. The last penalties exacted for the crime were stringent; the felon was ordered to perform the following three acts: first, to cut off his toes and sew the severed members into the skin at his neck; second, to revile his forbears for three hours, commencing with a Common Bill of Anathema, including feigned madness and hereditary disease, and at last defiling the hearth of his clan with ordure; and third, walking a mile under the lake with leaded shoes in search of the Lost Book of Kells.” And the Castellan regarded Guyal with complacency.

“What deeds must I perform?” inquired Guyal drily.

If you want to find out what three deeds Guyal had to perform, you’ll have to get the book!

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s production of The Dying Earth and the reader, Arthur Morey, was perfect. He really highlighted the humorous element of Vance’s work. It was a terrific production and I’m now enjoying the second Dying Earth audiobook (which is even better than this first one!). By the way, I want to say that I’m extremely pleased with Brilliance Audio for publishing these stories!

Jack Vance is my favorite fantasy author. His work probably won’t appeal to the Twilighters, but for those who enjoy Pythonesque surreal humor written in high style, or for fans of Lewis Carroll, Fritz Leiber, and L. Frank Baum, I suggest giving Jack Vance a try. If you listen to audiobooks, definitely try Brilliance Audio’s version! (less)

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Jul 05, 2011 Aerin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: apocalyptic, fantasy, short-stories

This is a book that should be read aloud, even if only to yourself. It has this elegant, primeval, oral-tradition quality that just doesn't resonate as well when it's only bouncing around inside your head. For example:

The light came from an unknown source, from the air itself, as if leaking from the discrete atoms; every breath was luminous, the room floated full of invigorating glow. A great rug pelted the floor, a monster tabard woven of gold, brown, bronze, two tones of green, fuscous red and

...more

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Sep 27, 2011 Apatt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Meh, what on earth?

I went into the book expecting to like it, and it is nice and short, but after a good start it just went downhill for me. The first couple of stories about a wizard and two identical girls created by magic are great, but the subsequent stories just bored me. The prose is nice and elegant but sometime the extreme eloquence just leave me floundering. Also, in this cynical day and age the Abracadabra! (not to be confused with the more lethal Avada Kedavra) kind of unsystematic ma...more

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Jun 06, 2008 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: hidden-gems, 2007_read

A pretty good book. I would have given it 3.5 stars if I could. The prose style is incredibly interesting and wholely unique for science fiction/fantasy. You would be wise to study the syntactic structures if you happen to be an aspiring writer.

-m

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Jan 17, 2008 Kirt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read the original Dying Earth novel by Jack Vance, which is less a novel and more a set of short stories set in the same universe. The universe? The last days of Earth, with a red Sun, where sorcerers are the most powerful thing around, and most people live in an oddly amoral, low-tech way.

There's a certain formality of speech and informality of morals that makes the book utterly charming despite some of the terrible things that happen to people, admittedly in most cases through their own wick...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Jerry Don rated it 4 of 5 stars

I did not like this book. Initially. The more I read, the more enraptured I became with Jack Vance's strange world of the last days of Earth. The actual dying of the Earth is not the point with this book. It is merely the backdrop for the fantastical characters, peoples, and stories set in a time when the sun is soon to go dark forever.

This is less a novel and more of a series of interconnected short stories, each focusing on a different protagonist, and these protagonists are fascinating, even...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Jeffery rated it 5 of 5 stars

I can't believe it took me all these years to read this book! I've known about it for decades, threatened to read it just as long, and yet have always put it off. The book is actually a collection of the earliest Dying Earth stories. Each tale focuses on a different character for the most part, but they are not the main focus of the book anyway. Not to say that the characterization is not there. It definitely is. Liane the Wayfarer is fleshed out in just so many pages more so than many character...more

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Nov 21, 2012 andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: wwe-grand-master-challenge

I really enjoyed this book. It was clearly old-school sf, especially the way women are depicted, but I absolutely loved loved the world he created. It was so shocking to be caught up in the storyline and all of a sudden, very casually, the protagnist would mention the color of the setting sun, and it would clearly show that the sun had changed from what we knew and was getting ready to die and take the Earth with it. Like any moment. Truly freaky. And, as always, I love cultures and histories an...more

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Oct 24, 2007 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read this one straight through last night. What a wealthy imagination! I enjoyed the format of interconnected stories that just keep getting better and weirder. Vance delivers the action with a stunning clarity and a delicious darkness. The Dying Earth is a place of careless decadence, surreal beauty, hideous deformity and startling cruelty. As the wizard Pandelume says: "There is evil on Earth, evil distilled by time...Earth is dying and in its twilight..."

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Jul 16, 2011 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Steve by: Aerin

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi-and-fantasy

First off, I strongly recommend Aerin's review, since it's her review that lead me to the book. For me, briefly, I pretty much knew, within about 50 pages or so, that Dying Earth was special. You can read oceans of speculative fiction, enjoying a great deal of it, but it's only on occasion that you run across something that strikes you as Original, that exists beyond the time in which it was written. (I would probably liken this reading experience (espicially so with Vance's use of "high languag...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Christian rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Niinpä hän lausui Phandaalin Salakähmävaipan loitsusanat ja häipyi näkyvistä."

Jos kirja sisältää yhdenkin noin upean lauseen, niin voiko kokonaisuus olla yhtään sen vähempää upea?

Tämä oli kolmas kerta, kun luin Jack Vancen Iltaruskon maan läpi. Outoa kyllä, kahdelta aiemmalta kerralta en muista yhtään mitään, paitsi jonkun häivähdyksen kaukokaipuista tunnelmaa punaisen auringon valaisemassa kuolevassa Maassa. Entäs nyt kolmannen kerran jälkeen, muistanko yhtään sen enempää? Kirja alkaa jo pari...more "Niinpä hän lausui Phandaalin Salakähmävaipan loitsusanat ja häipyi näkyvistä."

Jos kirja sisältää yhdenkin noin upean lauseen, niin voiko kokonaisuus olla yhtään sen vähempää upea?

Tämä oli kolmas kerta, kun luin Jack Vancen Iltaruskon maan läpi. Outoa kyllä, kahdelta aiemmalta kerralta en muista yhtään mitään, paitsi jonkun häivähdyksen kaukokaipuista tunnelmaa punaisen auringon valaisemassa kuolevassa Maassa. Entäs nyt kolmannen kerran jälkeen, muistanko yhtään sen enempää? Kirja alkaa jo parin päivän jälkeen haipumaan mielestä kuin kaunis uni. Mutta, ehkä jos kirjoitan pari sanaa, voin pelastaa osan siitä vielä itselleni.

Iltaruskon maa lasketaan yhdeksi kaikkien aikojen sci-fi/fantasia klassikoista. Se on kokoelma kertomuksia kaukaa kaukaa tulevaisuudesta, ajasta jolloin aurinko säteilee viimeisiä väsyneitä säteitään ikäloppuun maahan ja ihmiskunta on suurimmaksi osaksi hävinnyt historian hämärään. Vain muutamia sivilisaation murusia on jäljellä ikiaikaisen vanhoissa rauniokaupungeissa.

Vance kuvaa kuolevaa Maata rauhallisesti, kauniisti ja nokkelasti. Hänen kuusi tarinaansa eivät niinkään ole tyypillisiä fantasiaseikkailuita kuin fantasian viittaan verhottuja faabeleita ja sieltä voi helposti poimia muutamia ikimuistoisia henkilöhahmoja, kuten tyttö, joka ei tuntenut kauneutta, tai poika, joka kyseli liikaa. Lisäksi mukana on lukuisia huolettomia ja vähemmän huolettomia taikureita ja maankiertäjiä, joista yhden, Turjanin, Miirin valtiaan, edesottamuksista yllä oleva hyvinkin huoleton lausahdus on vohkittu.

Vancea on yleisesti ylistetty hienosta kielenkäytöstään. Sattuneesta syystä minulla ei ole muuta kuin tämä suomennettu versio, joten en ole lukenut häntä suoraan englanniksi, kääntämättömänä. Pitänee ehkä neljäs veto sitten aikanaan suorittaa alkuperäiskielellä. Kirjan kieli on kuitenkin eittämättä upeaa suomennettunakin. Ihan vaan huvin ja vertailun vuoksi menin etsimään alkuperäisessä muodossaan tuon upean lauseen, jolla tämän kirja-arvioni aloitin ja se meni näin: "So, uttering Phandaal's Mantle of Stealth, he faded from the sight of all men." Jaa-a. Sattaa olla, että suomennos voi olla jopa alkuperäistä parempi. Ainakin tämän yhden lauseen perusteella. Mene ja tiedä.(less)

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Jan 25, 2013 Valerio rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I really liked the last two stories, "Ulan Dhor" and "Guyal of Sfere" for their partial SF setting: I've always loved stories in which there's some long-forgotten, astonishing, unimaginable knowledge to be salvaged. Although I preferred "Ulan Dhor" for its good ending, I gotta say that the absence of any infodump during the final pages of "Guyal of Sfere", and its subsequent incluing, caught my attention and made me want to know how the story ended (in a cliffhanger, if you ask me).
The first fou...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Under the deep red sun of a far, far future wizards and sorcerers, sorceresses and creatures, blends of animal and plants, creatures un-thought of wander across an Earth in ruins where pockets of people still live, awaiting the end when the sun goes out.

Sounds dramatic doesn't it? This is considered a classic of it's kind and has been built on since. I found it mildly interesting over all but to be honest by the end I really didn't care much anymore. The blush was off the rose so to speak. From...more

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Jun 08, 2013 John Cowell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, old-shool-fantasy

The Dying Earth is a collection of six 'short' stories (some of them linked) that introduce you to the 'dying' earth in which three subsequent novels are set.
The stories are:
1. Mazirian the Magician: In an Earth where magic has supplanted science and people live their lives in an exotic land under a red, dying Sun, Mazirian the Magician, a ruthless man in the pursuit of his desires, is captivated by an alluring woman and chases her to the ends of the earth to subdue and possess her.
2. Turjan of...more The Dying Earth is a collection of six 'short' stories (some of them linked) that introduce you to the 'dying' earth in which three subsequent novels are set.
The stories are:
1. Mazirian the Magician: In an Earth where magic has supplanted science and people live their lives in an exotic land under a red, dying Sun, Mazirian the Magician, a ruthless man in the pursuit of his desires, is captivated by an alluring woman and chases her to the ends of the earth to subdue and possess her.
2. Turjan of Miir: A man in pursuit of specific knowledge must go on a quest to acquire it, and in so doing he meets an 'almost perfect' woman, whose 'flaw' he wishes to fix.
3. T'sais: A beautiful woman, who is cursed to see only vileness and horror in things, pursues beauty and love in a world bent on showing her only its horrors.
4. Liane the Wayfarer: A cocksure, swaggering, morally repulsive man is sent on a quest by a beautiful woman he wishes to possess but finds more than he bargains for.
5. Ulan Dhor Ends a Dream: A man, sent on a quest to retrieve ancient magic, encounters a strange people and a millenia-old mystery only he can unravel.
6. Guyal of Sfere: A man possess of an insatiable lust for knowledge goes on a quest in search of the one man all agree on has the answer to every question he could possibly ask.

As a writer of fantasy, Vance has an exotic, rich, fertile imagination, evident in every facet of the world he has created, that matches his vivid prose in a way that makes his work a pleasure to read. His stories often have deep and sometimes profound thought at their cores though this aspect is often sidelined by the end in pursuit of an 'exciting' and tidy plot. As is probably evident in the above descriptions, Vance's stories predominantly revolve around the subjects of Magicians, quests, beautiful women and the themes of dominance, barbarous cruelty, love and the pursuit of knowledge. In every story he handles these with varying degrees of success, but it is in the character and individuality of his female characters that I feel he fails most completely: all the women are beautiful or hags, and are pursued in one way or another by the male protagonists who often seek to steal away their autonomy through dominance or to rescue them from some dire event; the only the story with a female protagonist, the incredibly interesting and emotionally sympathetic T'sais, which breaks this mold is hijacked in the end by, for all purposes, the male love interest.
That said, I understand it was a different time in which he wrote; I just wish the imagination and variety he employed in every other aspect of his work was employed here. Still, I enjoyed The Dying Earth for its vivid prose, richly drawn world and exotic 'other'ness, and while I enjoyed the stories, they are by no means without flaw.
3.5 stars, I think.
(And I really want to read the next book, a novel: Cugel the Cleaver.)

(less)

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Jun 13, 2013 Daniel Roy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, fantasy, dying-earth

An all-time fantasy classic by Vance that spawned an entire sub-genre as well as D&D's magic system. How can I not like it?

Well, given that pedigree, this book was actually a disappointment. Oh, it's a beautifully-written book, with elegant and evocative prose. And true to Jack Vance's reputation, it's a breathtaking bit of world-building as well. Thing is, it's just not that engaging. The novel is composed of six loosely interconnected stories, with little or no dramatic arc building across...more

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Mar 05, 2012 Morgan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Bizarro Ur fantasy novel. This pretty much created D&D magic. This has a fantastic setting where the world is moving toward its inevitable conclusion. The tones explores a sense of survivalism, something that you rarely see in fantasy. His characters are cold and intricate, but really involving. This makes the ham-fisted Thomas Covenant anti-hero look as contrived as it is, and breathes life where Earthsea just broods. So for dark fantasy this is the big one. This is a strange dreamlike mood...more

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Mar 31, 2011 Donald rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011, sci-fi-fantasy

This book/series has a fantastic premise, the far future where the sun (and thus the earth) is on it's last legs. Magic abounds, and for the time this was written (the 50's) it is truly a trailblazing work that influenced a lot of what came afterwards.

The book is a series of connected short stories following several characters adventures through the world known as the Dying Earth. The emphasis is on the fantastic nature of everything, giving us wild landscapes, strange creatures, and powerful ma...more

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Oct 02, 2012 Tim rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This 1950's tale of a far-future Earth in which the Sun is old and dying is really a straight-up picaresque fantasy of unlikely creatures and unconnected events. The state of the Sun is irrelevant to the lives of the characters and the events of the story. In fact, the state of everything is largely irrelevant from one chapter to the next, as the tale skips between characters and events.

I have to say that I really didn't get this. The characters were all unpleasant, any trace of plot absent, an...more

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May 10, 2012 Seak (Bryce L.) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 2012

I've known for quite a while that George RR Martin thinks highly of Jack Vance and The Dying Earth and last year I had the opportunity to read his anthology, Songs of the Dying Earth, where a number of authors wrote short stories set in The Dying Earth.

I loved it. It remains, and easily so, the best anthology I've ever read. And that only meant one thing, I had to read the original tales.

I'm also very glad I read the anthology, even though one of the stories in The Dying Earth was spoiled a bit...more

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Jul 03, 2010 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this. But I didn't. The characters didn't seem fully fleshed out--especially the women. Because of this, the relationships really didn't seem real. Especially in the first two chapters, women are literally creations of men and the men are relieved of the burden of treating them like real people. There is unique diction and the concept is definitely unique, and interesting when it isn't completely off the wall. Destroying a demon by unraveling it into 60 bobbins of demon t...more

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Jun 04, 2012 David Caldwell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, fantasy, collection, short-stories

A classic fantasy novel.

The setting is the last days of the planet Earth, when the sun is a dull red orb in the sky and the moon is long gone.Man has reached amazing heights and fallen from them.Science and math has combined to the point where it akin to magic.Nothing new is being learned and most of the information from the past has been lost.A few magicians and wizards still possess small bits of this lost magic.These are interconnected stories about these few wizards.

The language is stylized...more

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Mar 19, 2013 Olethros rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

-Más pícaro que épico, más educado que cordial.-

Género. Ciencia-Ficción.

Lo que nos cuenta. En el futuro lejano, en una Tierra cuya vida tiene los días contados porque el sol está muriendo, plagada de restos de un pasado glorioso y una civilización avanzada, de extrañas especies vegetales y animales, la tecnología se confunde con la magia y la magia con tecnología. Primer libro de la tetralogía de La Tierra Moribunda, cuyos libros pueden leerse de forma independiente pero cuya lectura en grupo s...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Chance rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories

I found this at a flea market. A loosely connected series of short stories, The Dying Earth is an entertaining enough diversion in short doses. It's more fantasy--with swords and sorcery--than it is science fiction, but I knew what to expect going into it. The stories are morally ambiguous tales with clever, colorful characters. None of them are very developed, but they're still fun to read about. I enjoyed the twins, one who hated everything beautiful, and another who was a little more sensitiv...more

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Jun 26, 2010 Josh rated it 3 of 5 stars

A strange sci-fi tale with strong fantasy underpinnings. In face, "tale" does not really describe it. Rather "tales", as the book has no obvious major plot, each chapter follows a different main character and they seldom interact. I'm not really sure why it is a novel and not a collection of short stories. As short stories they are quite intriguing and evocative. I especially liked the idea of a woman who can only see everything as ugliness. I wonder what she would see true evil as (beauty?). Th...more

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Mar 28, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, fantasy, classic, swords-and-sorcery, science-fiction

This collection of short stories set in Vance's Dying Earth is old school fantasy and may suffer from the phenomenon of seeming to be derivative by virtue of being the thing that everyone else has been imitating. It's swords and sorcery mixed with hints of lost technology in a far future age when Earth's sun is going out and magic has replaced science, or perhaps they have simply merged to become the same thing. The red sun, the lands and peoples whose names bear no resemblance to that of our wo...more

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Jan 27, 2011 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Well now.

Even though I was dying for this book to be over by the time it finished, I can't pan it.

Mostly, because it's pretty creative. The Dying Earth is a pretty interesting place to hang out in and I think that if I were not in my current frame of mind - one that is looking for economical story telling - I would have enjoyed this a good deal more.

That being said, it was quite a chore to get through.

That also being said, maybe reading one of the stories would have sated my need for overwrought...more

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topics	posts	views	last activity
Beyond Jack Vance: Authors like Jack Vance	5	19	Jun 01, 2013 06:13am
Sci-fi and Heroic...: The Dying Earth	13	47	May 29, 2013 06:32pm
Sci-fi and Heroic...: April 2013 Short Story nominations	9	31	Mar 26, 2013 07:15pm

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The Dying Earth (The Dying Earth #1)

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