Tales of the Dying Earth

This collection of four books, sharing the same setting, appears on the famous-in-certain-circles "Appendix N": the "inspirational and educational reading" section of one of the early D&D rulebooks. (In fact, D&D's technique of spells needing to be memorised each day, then being forgotten when they are cast is known a "Vancian magic", after the author of this book). Vance mostly obliterates the line between antagonist and protagonist, so if you like to root for the main characters when you read, this probably isn't your book. Pretty much all the characters are selfish and, at best, kind of dickish, but still fascinating. Likewise, if you are looking for strong, or even slightly two-dimensional female characters, look elsewhere, as there are none to be found here.returnreturnThe collection contains four books, written over wide timespan. The first of these, a collection of stories from 1950 clearly stands above the others, featuring a chain of characters, where a secondary character in one story becomes the main character of the next. The last (1984), also episodic, features the same cabal of characters and also shines. The center pair, which follow a single scumbag's misadventures, still entertain, but less strongly than the others.returnreturnAll the characters in the last days of the earth speak in stylised language, which will have you saying things like "I do not care to listen; obloquy injures my self-esteem and I am skeptical of praise" for weeks after reading (though, I confess using my Kindle's dictionary lookup feature a lot while reading this one). This style, particularly the dialogue, make this book a delightful read, even when (especially when) all the characters are out to sabotage each other.