lyonesse compleat chronicle languages

books:

2 reviews

Subterranean, 2008

A great edition
Jim from Michigan should have done some research...any Jack vance fan would know of the original titles.the domains of Koryphon was the title Jack wanted and which the wonderful V.I.E (Vance Integral Edition) used in their sanctioned editions.I have the book and it is a beautiful and solid edition using high quality paper and with introductions from Robert Silverberg,Ursula K Le Guin and Mike ...

Planet of Adventure

43 reviews
Jack Vance

Orb Books, 1993

At almost 40 years old, this is still a fabulous series
Jack Vance may be my single favorite author, and this series showcases so much of why. I read this for the third time recently, and even though the series is nearly 40 years old you don't get any sense of dated or anachronistic notions, something I have run into, particularly with works this old or older. A major reason is that this is hardly sci-fi in the sense that it depends on science to ...

Ecce And Old Earth

4 reviews
Jack Vance

Tor Books, 1992

Great journey. The weak ending matters little.
After reading "Araminta Station", you can guess what this one will be about: the rescue of Scharde Clattuc (on Ecce) and the search for the original Charter (beginning on Old Earth). The "Old Earth" bit occupies most of the book. It's a fine hunt, with who knows how many people following who knows how many scents to the Charter; the momentum builds slowly but surely; and we get a classic ...

Tales of the Dying Earth

44 reviews
Jack Vance

Orb Books, 2000

Vance struck gold
Upon reading this title I thought it was a complete ripoff of Gene Wolfe's The Sword and the Claw series, which is one of the best Fanstasy/sci fi literary achievements ever in this genre. Cugel indeed is an unlikely character. He is the textbook definition of a book. Add to that he exhibits utter stupidity at times and resorts to theivery and con man games. But that is just what makes ...

The Compleat Dying Earth

2 reviews
Jack Vance

Sfbc Science Fiction

Must Read Genre Starter
The Complete Dying Earth is a must read if you like fantasy. Jack Vances hilarious stories and purposefuly obscure prose are truly entertaining. His world is deep, well thought out, and very effective in conveying mood. His characters are all cynics and the atmosphere is seeping in feelings of dread and doom but the action and the colorful world complement it perfectly. Jack Vance's ideas ...

The Demon Princes, Vol. 1: The Star King * The Killing Machine * The Palace of Love (Demon Princes)

26 reviews
Jack Vance

Orb Books, 1997

Demon Princes by Jack Vance
Vance is my favorite fantasy author. The Demon Princes is a fine example of Vance's story telling ability, in the vein of classics such as The Faceless Man. Extraordinary imagination, fabulous imagery, and a smooth style are the standard Vance trademarks.

Lurulu (Ports of Call)

13 reviews
Jack Vance

Tor Books, 2007

Fine Coda to Great SF Literary Career?
I've read Jack Vance's work off and on for years now, but it's only until I stumbled upon "Lurulu" - most likely his last novel - that I realize now that he may be one of science fiction's finest literary stylists. "Lurulu", the sequel to "Ports of Call", is more of an engaging fictional wanderjahr across the galaxy, than your typical space opera replete with starships blasting away at each other ...

Night Lamp

17 reviews
Jack Vance

Tor Books, 1998

Glorious, quirky, mind expanding, Vance at his best
Superbly eerie SF masterwork, there isnt another writer in the world like Vance. To criticise him for not describing the detailed functioning of spacecraft is to totally miss the point of this wonderful, haunting author, easily the finest prose stylist ever to work in the field.

The Demon Princes, Vol. 2: The Face * The Book of Dreams (Demon Princes)

16 reviews
Jack Vance

Orb Books, 1997

Vance the master
For a Science Fiction writer, Vance uses damned little science in his novels. What he does use is language; so beautifully that he has created Vance addicts all over the world. The Demon Princes novels are a rich mine of his wonderful prose and mordant humor. If you have not read Vance, they are a good place to start.

Alastor

4 reviews
Jack Vance

Orb Books, 2002

Vintage Jack Vance- highly recommended!
This collection of 3 novels shows Vance doing what he does best- creating detailed & exotic worlds with unconventional social systems, and telling an engaging story through interesting characters. 'Marune' finds a man without a memory- he slowly learns who he is, and who had stolen his mind and why. The answer leads him into Machiaviellian intrigue in a remarkable land of subtle noblemen. ...

The Book of Dreams (The Demon Princes, Book 5)

6 reviews
Jack Vance

DAW, 1984

"The affair is over. I am done."
In 1981, two years after the publication of 'The Face,' Jack Vance finally completed the Demon Prince series with 'The Book of Dreams,' the story of Kirth Gersen's confrontation with Howard Alan Treesong, the last of the criminals responsible for the rape and destruction of his home world. Once again, Gersen roams the Gaian Reach looking for clues to the identity of the most mysterious of men, ...

The Kragen

2 reviews
Jack Vance

Subterranean, 2007

Hidden Treasure
This is a short novel that was later expanded to form "The Blue World". In my opinion, this version is better, without the multiple plot elements of the later book. Also, of paramount importance, Amazon doesn't make it plain that this is a numbered, signed, limited edition!!! The price has virtually tripled since I bought my copy a few month ago, not that I care since mine isn't for sale.

Madouc (Lyonesse Book 3)

3 reviews
Jack Vance

Ace, 1991

A Charming Changeling
Madouc, the third book in Vance's Lyonesse Trilogy, is probably the best. The first two books, Suldrun's Garden and The Green Pearl, are wonderful, but the title character, Madouc, and her search for her pedigree, are among the most charming characters and quests in fantasy. She steals the show. Casimir, the relentlessly scheming king of Lyonesse, has learned the child he thought was his ...

Big Planet

3 reviews
Jack Vance

Gollancz, 2002

Great fun, aimed at a younger audience
This was the first Jack Vance novel I read, thirty or so years ago, and I've been a fan ever since. Vance is one of the great masters, and perhaps had the best use of the language of any SF writer before (at least) Zelazny. I'll always have a fond place in my heart for this one. It probably has more truly intriguing cultures tossed off in a couple of hundred pages than most authors manage ...

The Demon Princes

1 review
Jack Vance

SFBC, 2005

Superb Anthology
THE DEMON PRINCES is an anthology of five related science fiction novels written by the Grandmaster Jack Vance between the years 1964 and 1981, set about 1500 years in the future. The hero of the stories, Kirth Gersen, is a kind of "James Bond/Sherlock Holmes in Space"; who, as a young boy finds himself and his grandfather witnesses and sole survivors of a town massacre perpetrated by five ...

Throy (The Cadwal Chronicle, Book 3)

6 reviews
Jack Vance

Tor Books, 1994

Welcome conclusion to monumental trilogy
In the Cadwal Chronicles, as in all his work, Jack Vance's sparse and succinct but wonderfully idiosyncratic mode of expression allows the reader to flesh out specific imagery on the bones of his narrative. While the Demon Princes pentology may be his masterpiece, the Cadwal Chronicles set is definitely worth a read. Glawen Clattuc continues Vance's tradition of strong but vulnerable (if not ...

My Favorite Fantasy Story

4 reviews

DAW, 2000

A wonderfully eclectic volume of fantasy writing
I enjoyed last year's predecessor volume, My Favorite Science Fiction Story, but this volume is even better. The premise is that eighteen bestselling fantasy writers were asked to pick their all-time favorite fantasy story (by another writer). The result is a very eclectic assortment of tales. Most of these stories I had never seen before (even though I had read other stories by the same ...

The Languages of Pao

9 reviews
Jack Vance

I Books, 2004

You are what you speak
"The Languages of Pao," by Jack Vance, is set in part on the planet Pao, a world populated by the descendants of human colonists. Pao's huge population is extremely docile by nature. Because the people's passivity makes them easy prey for conquest and exploitation, the planet's monarch seeks help from Lord Palafox, an official from the technologically advanced world of Breakness. Palafox's ...

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