Rhialto the Marvellous

Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 4

By: Jack Vance

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In the interlocking Tales of the Dying Earth Vance explores the world at the end of time when sun is guttering. Light itself is different and Vance’s landscapes —described in language that is lyrical, seductive, and partly self-invented —are wild and surreal, full of opportunity and danger. On the Dying Earth, the rules of physics as we know them have been amended and replaced by magic. The laws of evolution have spun out creatures that are humanoid, hybrid, and often terrifying. The interpenetrating world of ghosts is equally fantastic. Religion and philosophy are diversified and rewoven into myriad theories, creeds, and dogmas. Human culture is archaic, vaguely medieval European or feudal Japanese. There is nothing quaint or allegorical about the Dying Earth stories. We’re not in Oz anymore, nor Narnia either. Voldemar is a harmless grouch compared to Chun the Unavoidable. Yet, at the same time, these works are as weirdly funny as the poetry and journals of Edward Lear or the fantastic yarns of Dr. Seuss.

©2010 Jack Vance (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Dark and Wonderful

I'm new to Jack Vance, that gone through the entire dying Earth series in a rush. His writing is compelling, vivid, and mysterious. What a wonderful imagination!

A refreshing change of pace

The Dying Earth series has quickly become one of my favorite settings. I greatly enjoy the misadventures of Cugel, but I found Rhialto to be a refreshing change of pace. If instead the author would have penned another Cugel story it may have worn out its welcome at this point. The different perspective made it feel as if I was visiting the setting again, but for the first time.
Side note, having recently read an Ian M Banks' novel I noticed certain similarities to these author's famous settings. You have to squint and not look too close, but Dying Earth almost feels like a dystopian end to Ian M Banks' utopia. The power to do the impossible with trivial effort. The constant search of pleasure and novelty. There are similar vibes even if they are on the complete opposite spectrum of -topias.

Join the club

Except that this club is formed of very powerful magicians. Whole the other three books in the series almost feel like parables or allegories on life, this book is a good primer for anyone joining a club thinking about running for a leadership position and ought to be read first. The author’s imagination is pretty amazing as he details the different events occurring within the magician’s club. Certainly a worthwhile read, but the least successful of the series, its primary benefit, being to give the role playing game, dungeons and dragons the iTunes stones.

You'll Regret It

Incoherent, rambling, and dull. Here you'll find all the pedantic verbosity of the earlier Dying Earth books without any of the wit, interesting characters, or world development that made them worthwhile. Particularly if you've enjoyed Vance's other books, do yourself the favour of avoiding this one.

Short tales of a magician in the Dying Earth serie

Rhialto the Marvellous is Jack Vance’s fourth installment in his Tales of Dying Earth series which is set far into the future where the sun is dying out and magic has manifested itself. This installment consists of three short stories revolving around Rhialto, a magician who has rubbed certain other magicians the wrong way and finds himself the target of attacks. There’s also a tale of needing to recover a certain artifact that involves some creative, but convoluted time travel episodes.

Vance continues with the theme of society at the end of its run with most individuals out for them-selves and little else. Most interactions involve double crossings with Rhialto mostly seeming to come out ahead.

The narration is quite well done with solid character distinction. Pacing runs to the brisk.