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  • The Eyes of the Overworld

The Eyes of the Overworld

Dying Earth #2 / 4
by Jack Vance
The Eyes of the Overworld (Dying Earth #2) by Jack Vance
★ 7.20 / 5
123145167289110

Actual title Cugel the Clever. Cover art by Geoff Taylor. Another cover: Stephen Fabian. Underwood-Miller, 1978. 

Contents:

  • The Overworld (1965)
  • Cil (1966)
  • The Mountains of Magnatz (1966)
  • The Sorcerer Pharesm (1966)
  • The Pilgrims (1966)
  • The Cave in the Forest (1966)
  • The Manse of Iucounu (1966)

In the dim far future of Earth, when the sun had shrunk to a small red disk in the dark sky and the race of man lived in isolated cities that echoed with the vastness of the world's history, science, myth and magic had become one. Sorcerors who read the books of ancient times held great power, and fearsome monsters created in ages long forgotten stalked the land.

In this world of mystery and danger, the adventurer known as Cugel the Clever was forced to undertake a quest for Iucounu the Laughing Magician – a quest that was to take him to lands stranger than any he had dreamed of, and pit his wits and his sword against powers from beyond time itself.

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FantasyShort Stories
Release date: 1966

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Jack Vance

Jack Vance

John Holbrook "Jack" Vance (1916–2013) was an American mystery, fantasy and science fiction writer. Though most of his work has been published as by Jack Vance, he also wrote 11 mystery novels using his full name John Holbrook Vance, three under the pseudonym Ellery Queen, and once each using the pseudonyms Alan Wade, Peter Held, John van See, and Jay Kavanse.

Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 1984 and he was a Guest of Honor at the 1992 World Science Fiction Convention in Orlando, Florida. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America made him its 14th Grand Master in 1997 and the Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted him in 2001, its sixth class of two deceased and two living writers.

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Among his awards for particular works were: Hugo Awards, in 1963 for The Dragon Masters, in 1967 for The Last Castle, and in 2010 for his memoir This is Me, Jack Vance!; a Nebula Award in 1966, also for The Last Castle; the Jupiter Award in 1975; the World Fantasy Award in 1990 for Lyonesse: Madouc. He also won an Edgar (the mystery equivalent of the Nebula) for the best first mystery novel in 1961 for The Man in the Cage.

A 2009 profile in The New York Times Magazine described Vance as "one of American literature’s most distinctive and undervalued voices." He died at his home in Oakland, California, May 26, 2013, aged 96.

Selected works

Early novels:

Big Planet (written in 1948)
The Rapparee (1949)
Gold and Iron (1952)
The Houses of Iszm (1953, a novella)
Clarges (1955)
The Languages of Pao (1956)
The Miracle Workers (1957, a novella)
The Dragon Masters (1961, a novella)
The Blue World (1963, novella version The Kragen)
Space Opera (1964)
The Last Castle (1965, a novella)
Emphyrio (1967)

Dying Earth:

Dying Earth (1944)
Cugel the Clever (1963) & Cugel: The Skybreak Spatterlight (1973–81)
Rhialto the Marvelous (1970–79)

Demon Princes:

1. The Star King (1960)
2. The Killing Machine (1964)
3. The Palace of Love (1965)
4. The Face (1978)
5. The Book of Dreams (1981)

Alastor:

Trullion: Alastor 2262 (1973)
Marune: Alastor 993 (1975)
Wyst: Alastor 1716 (1978)

Lyonesse:

1. Suldrun's Garden (1982)
2. The Green Pearl (1984)
3. Madouc (1989)

Cadwal Chronicles:

1. Araminta Station (1986)
2. Ecce and Old Earth (1990)
3. Throy (1992)

Other novels:

Tschai (1967–69, 1979)
Durdane (1970–71)
The Domains of Koryphon (1972)
The Galactic Effactuator (1973–74)
The Magnificent Showboats (1974)
Maske: Thaery (1975)
Night Lamp (1995)
Ports of Call
(1997, 2004)

Dying Earth

The stories of the Dying Earth series are set in the distant future, at a point when the sun is almost exhausted and magic has reasserted itself as a dominant force. The various civilizations of Earth have collapsed for the most part into decadence. The Earth is mostly barren and cold, and has become infested with various predatory monsters (possibly created by a magician in a former age).

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The Moon has disappeared and the Sun is in danger of burning out at any time. A certain fatalism characterizes many of the inhabitants as a consequence.

The series shows the influence of the picaresque tale, applied to a science fiction/fantasy setting.


Dying Earth consists of four primary books, and includes eight additional books that complement the series but are not considered mandatory reads. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

The Dying Earth (Dying Earth #1)
★ 7.84 / 13
The Eyes of the Overworld (Dying Earth #2)
★ 7.20 / 5
Cugel's Saga (Dying Earth #3)
★ 10.00 / 2
Rhialto the Marvellous (Dying Earth #4)
★ 8.00 / 2
A Quest for Simbilis (Dying Earth)
Unrated
The Seventeen Virgins (Dying Earth)
★ 10.00 / 1
Morreion (Dying Earth)
★ 7.00 / 2
The Bagful of Dreams (Dying Earth)
★ 10.00 / 1
Tales of the Dying Earth (Dying Earth)
★ 9.50 / 4
The Laughing Magician: The Adventures of Cugel (Dying Earth)
★ 6.00 / 2
Songs of the Dying Earth (Dying Earth)
★ 7.50 / 2
The Guiding Nose of Ulfänt Banderoz (Dying Earth)
Unrated


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