George R.R. Martin and Gene Wolfe’s Favorite Book? | The Dying Earth by Jack Vance Book Review

[@miketaylor3189]

Jack Vance is wildly inventive. I've read a lot of his works. They are pulpy but clever. I highly recommend his Lyonesse series. The premise is that it is in the time of King Arthur on an island that will one day sink beneath the sea. It is the location where Arthur eventually finds the Holy Grail (it is barely mentioned in the story. What amazed me is that I had no idea that would happen next. There are three books that tell three very different stories and all three are fantastic. Main characters from one story become background characters in the following books. There are some fantastic characters!!! Madouc is one of my favorite characters of all time.

[@iSamwise]

I’ll have to check those out! Thanks for the rec!

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

I absolutely love Vance for his style. His dry wit and huge imagination.

[@iSamwise]

That’s fantastic. I’m pretty new to him as an author so what other works of his do you recommend?

[@jeroenadmiraal8714]

@@iSamwise His Lyonesse trilogy is fantastic. It's more of a loose trilogy, not as tightly connected as modern trilogies. And for his SF series, I recommend the Planet of Adventure series and the Demon Princes series. They are a bit more serious, not as droll as his fantasy, but they showcase his enormous talent at inventing weird societies almost on the fly.

[@iSamwise]

@ I hadn’t heard of Lyonesse until very recently but it sounds good!

[@AContemplativeReader1]

Great video! Somehow, I missed these books growing up in the 70s and 80s when I was reading sword & sorcery - a genre I still love today. This series sounds like an excellent addition to my TBR list once I finish Book of the New Sun.

[@iSamwise]

@@AContemplativeReader1 I definitely recommend BOTNS over The Dying Earth, although it makes an interesting comparison after the fact.

[@NICKREADSFANTASY]

Very insightful! I read it last year, and I never reviewed it because I wanted to see how time affected it. I knew it wasn’t my favorite, I enjoyed it about the same to less than most, and yet found myself thinking “I want to re-read that”. And overtime, I have found some of the characters, stories, and overall atmosphere sticking with me. I’m excited to give it a reread this year. You made several interesting observation! Great work as usual.

[@iSamwise]

Thanks Nick! I enjoyed the book but as I said, it’s a three star book for me. I can see why many authors love Jack Vance though.

[@fourcornersofthepage]

Have you tried Songs of the Dying Earth? It’s a collection of short stories set in the same universe - Glen Cook, George Martin and Dan Simmons are all contributors! Apologies if you mention this in the video - I’m saving it for later

[@iSamwise]

I haven’t! I’ve heard of it but haven’t read it. Any good?

[@fourcornersofthepage]

@ they vary a lot - Martin’s one is stellar!

[@iSamwise]

@ haha. That makes sense. I’ll have to look into it.

[@camerontaylor4008]

Loved Solar Cycle so picked this up, thought I’d love it but sadly didn’t enjoy it for the most part. Found I usually enjoyed a couple paragraphs towards the climax of each story but felt bogged down in a lot of noise through most of the book. The prose just didn’t work for me this time

[@iSamwise]

Vance’s prose is what probably aged the least well tbh.

[@LiamsLyceum]

I read this about this time of year in 2021. I’ve wanted to reread it, some parts are very memorable. It’s so short, I should read it again. Was one of my first exposures to sword and sorcery type of story and the dying earth genre, etc. THE gold book

[@iSamwise]

Haha. That’s right! THE gold book. Liam you’ve read other Jack Vance since this one, right?

[@LiamsLyceum]

@@iSamwiseYes, I finished the Dying Earth books, the Lyonesse trilogy, and the Demon Princes series. I have a few more things by him, I’m not sure what I’ll try next.

[@shroom2ma]

Every time I bore folks by banging on about how great Malazan is, there's always at least one voice ready to bore me right back banging on about Book of the New Sun! I really ought to get round to it this year.

[@iSamwise]

@@shroom2ma they are correct! Haha. I definitely get that. As a BOTNS fan I get told to start Malazan quite a bit.

[@titantv4567]

Hey Sam, I need a sci fi trilogy or series to mix up in between all the fantasy stuff I'm reading. Do you have any recommendations? I have already read Sun Eater, Dune, Children of Time trilogy, Book of the New Sun, Hyperion Cantos, Three Body Problem trilogy and Foundation trilogy. Sorry if I made it a little hard!

[@iSamwise]

Haha. No worries, thanks for asking! It’s more a part of a larger subseries but Matthew Stovers Star Wars novels are fantastic. His Revenge of the Sith novel is one of the best sci fi books I’ve read and although Shatterpoint (his Mace Windu novel) isn’t as good as RotS, it’s still got a lot of great elements. If you want my personal favorite scifi series (after BOTNS) it would have to be C. S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy. It’s more about aliens and spiritual dimensions and dark powers than it is about technology, but it’s amazing. Book one is an interplanetary adventure that’s a fun fast read. Book two is more of a scifi take on Paradise Lost with some really thought provoking parts. Book three is a dystopian thriller that ties the trilogy together while even bringing in parts of Tolkiens mythology and elements from the ancient parts of Genesis. Each book is wildly different from the last, so I recommend it if you haven’t read it!

[@titantv4567]

@iSamwise C. S. Lewis it is, thanks!

[@iSamwise]

@ yesssssss!!!