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The Dying Earth

Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1

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The Dying Earth

By: Jack Vance
Narrated by: Arthur Morey
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Summary

The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty - lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home in Vance’s lyrically described fantastic landscapes, like Embelyon, where, “The sky [was] a mesh of vast ripples and cross-ripples and these refracted a thousand shafts of colored light, rays which in mid-air wove wondrous laces, rainbow nets, in all the jewel hues....”

The dying Earth itself is otherworldly: “A dark blue sky, an ancient sun.... Nothing of Earth was raw or harsh—the ground, the trees, the rock ledge protruding from the meadow; all these had been worked upon, smoothed, aged, mellowed. The light from the sun, though dim, was rich and invested every object of the land ... with a sense of lore and ancient recollection.” Welcome.

©2010 Jack Vance (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Action & Adventure Anthologies & Short Stories Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Sword & Sorcery Adventure
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Critic reviews

“ The Dying Earth and its sequels comprise one of the most powerful fantasy/science-fiction concepts in the history of the genre. They are packed with adventure but also with ideas, and the vision of uncounted human civilizations stacked one atop another like layers in a phyllo pastry thrills even as it induces a sense of awe [at] ... the fragility and transience of all things, the nobility of humanity’s struggle against the certainty of an entropic resolution.” (Dean Koontz)
"There are few enough of the writers I loved when I was 13 that I can imagine myself going back to in 20 years from now. Jack Vance I will read forever.” (Neil Gaiman)
All stars
Most relevant
.., and despite what others have said, I thought the performance really fitted the book perfectly.

Really enjoyed this…

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No part of this is great prose or great literature, but it certainly is an original idea and a unique vision of the future.

It's different

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This is a real gem. The sun is dying and mankind has evolved. There are strange creatures & men have learned magic. My biggest annoyance, and it it not resticted to this series, is that this series is in 4 parts. Parts 1 & 3 are availlable in audible. What about part 2," the eyes of the overworld"? I have purchased this on amazon, so it is availlable. What is the point of making part 3 availlable and not part 2.

Classic Sci Fi

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Imagine cooking together some Grimm Fairy Stories alongside a Dungeons and Dragons spell book, and then adding a flavour of the Canterbury Tales for good measure. Baste well and roast to perfection. The result is earthy, colourful and very engaging. I really loved it.

Ripe with ideas and peculiar characters

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Just listened to the audiobook. Fantastic imagination far ahead of his time and with writing that draws you in and takes you away to a far off land with such vividness. I have read the book at least twice when I was younger. I have read over 30 of Jack Vance's books, most more than once.

One of greatest writers of the 20th /21st centuries

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