CUGEL SAGA

Rating:
Summary: Jack Vance's unique style of language is unmatched.
Review: Cugel is the most unorthodoxed person I've ever read about.He's a thief,lier,con,a true jack of all trades and master of none.You'll hate him,like him;laugh at and with him;feel sorry for him,BUT MOST OF ALL,you will be on an adventure with him.I enjoyed the books so much that the only way to discribe one is to say read for yourself,you want be sorry.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely fantastic!
Review: Cugel's Saga is the sequel to Eyes of the Overworld. Jack Vance's questionable hero, Cugel, struggles southward to avenge himself upon the Laughing Magician, encountering some of the most inventive situations ever put to paper. Always self-centered and vain to a flaw, Cugel nevertheless is possessed of a cruel and delightful sense of justice. As he wreaks havoc, either intentionally or by blind dumb luck, on the deserving of the world, one cannot help but cheer the miscreant on. Jack Vance is the greatest fantasy writer of our time. This book is part of the Dying Earth series, including The Dying Earth, Eyes of the Overworld, and Rhialto the Marvelous.

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Summary: Cugel, hahahaha........I can't help it hehehe
Review: I first read Cugel's Saga purely by accident. I had just read Micheal Shea's "A Quest for Simibils" and was surprised to find that he had based the tale upon the "Eyes of the Overworld" with kind permission from Jack Vance. 20 years later I still have a smirk upon my face whenever I think about the book. Jack Vance is a brilliant student of human nature and is fully aware of the often hidden machivellian depths that are usually masked by pretensions of decency. That Cugel is a rouge is never in question but when held up against his enemies and quite often his allies he is a proverbial knight in shining armour. Read how he schemes his way across the dying earth to frustrate the designs of Innoccu the laughing magician, and along the way enjoy the language and that impeccably dry sense of humour that is Jack Vance. The man is a master of minimalism when it comes to narrative prose a skill that mere mortals like myself should acquire and learn to apply.

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Summary: Cugel... Schmugel !
Review: I've loathed this personnage.You see, an Italian economist ,Carlo M. Cipolla ,described the stupid as a person who causes damage to other people whilst gaining no advantage for himself,or causing himself damage. Well, that's all Cugel, who has absolutely nothing charming,sympathethic or funny about himself. He is only a bungling,unfeeling,nondescript negative anti-hero. Jack Vance's great writing can't help making me like this sorry being,or laughing at his well deserved misfortunes. And that's saying much! I've felt more sympathetic whit The Laughing Magician.

Rating:
Summary: Pure Gold
Review: Many years ago, in the depths of a crushing depression, I picked up Cugel's Saga and began reading. Vance's sentences tolled like bells; his humor made me laugh in ways I never had before; his characterizations made real people seem shallow and indistinct. I got over the depression, but not Vance. Since then I've collected almost all his books - twice. Once I thought I was through with Vance and tossed the ragged paperbacks in the trash. Before long, however, I began sifting through dusty used bookstores literally coast to coast to replenish my shelves. It was worth every step, every penny and every sneeze. I will never let go of my Vances again. He is the best writer this writer and book reviewer has ever read. Cugel's Saga is his best book.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hilarious!
Review: Set in the world of Vance's Dying Earth series, when the sun has all but sputtered out, this book, continues the story of Vance's anti-hero Cugel, a vain popinjay of a man who finds himself once again stranded half a world away from home by his arch-enemy Iocunnu (better known as the Laughing Magician because of his penchant for playing morbid jokes upon his enemies).

Vance's Dying Earth is a world of Machiavellian sorcery and science, where a person's every deed is viewed with suspicion - and a good deed even more so! Magicians and monsters vie with everyday mortals for power in the form of powerful runes, ancient amulets, otherworldly gems, etc. "Trust" and "compassion" are basically forgotten terms, as is "generosity" and "goodwill." How bad is this place? It can best be seen by the conversation between Cugel and the fiendish sorceror Fauculme (whom a suspicious Cugel ties up before even introducing himself):

Fauculme: How then is one to distinguish between enemy
and altruist?

Cugel: It is not an important distinction...

Cugel's adventures are absolutely hilarious, as he schemes and scams his way back home across a world of "dangers and woners abundant."

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hilarious!
Review: this book is just so funny. i loved it. every page. every sentence. every bizarre character. i loved Cugel, who is not nice, or successfull, but so damn funny. Cugel is swept away far from his home by an evil wizard and tries to get home. and of course he tries to get rich, fool people and other things. i simply can not help finding it so funny. one of the best books i have ever read.
hmm. i know this wasn't a very descriptive review. but i'm counting on that you are reading all the other, long, reviews too. and i know that my english is that of a 12-year old swedish child.