Cugel's Saga

Jack Vance is one hell of a storyteller. I may have gotten off on a slightly wrong foot with the first Tales of the Dying Earth, but once I fell into the groove in the second novel, it and the third are a pure delight.

Why?

Because it's nonstop trickery, confidence games, theft, and conscience-less knavery. :)

We follow Cugel the Clever who falls into every situation on both feet, lying the most grandiose lies and cheating his way through every fantasy location only to get found out and run out of every town. He never stops running.

He amassed and lost massive wealth in equal measure to each chapter. Quite delightful. Wicked. And cruel. :)

What Vance lacks in worldbuilding and reasons for a dying sun is more than made up for in chicanery show more and amusement. :) show less

Cugel’s Saga and The Eyes of the Overworld are both described as picaresques, but in my mind, a key element of a picaresque is to take the absurdity and dial it up to eleven. Cugel as portrayed in the 1966 short stories has a kind of obtuse earnestness to his quest for revenge. Cugel in the 1983 novel is almost like a parody of his former incarnation.

The world changed a lot inbetween 1950 and 1983. The Dying Earth [Amazon affiliate link] did too. In a sense, we have something much like before. The episodic structure remains, as some chapters were previously published as short stories. However, Cugel himself seems a bit different.

I often laughed out loud while reading Cugel’s Saga, but I also struggled a bit to finish it. While it show more is funny, I don’t primarily look to adventure novels for laughs, so I found my interest in Cugel waning a bit in this volume. The earlier chapters are perhaps the most absurd, but this truly is Cugel’s saga, and there was a grander story lurking in the background. My initial impression was redeemed by the denouement.

One of the really fascinating things about The Dying Earth is how infrequently lethal violence is used between men. The world is plenty dangerous, with wild beasts and ravenous flesh-eating half-men in abundance, so in Cugel’s many journeys, I was honestly a little surprised at how infrequently he solved his problems by killing them.

In part, this is due to Cugel’s style, which is very much that of the confidence man. He is apt to skip town the second things start looking like they are going sideways. In The Eyes of the Overworld, the alien parasite nestled in his belly kept Cugel moving, but it turns out that Cugel himself doesn’t often hang around long, as his marks get wise to him.

The other part of it is this just seems to be how things are done in The Dying Earth. Iucounu didn’t simply kill Cugel for breaking and entering, he imposed a quest upon him instead. You see this style in other places too; revenge often stops short of death. This gives the series a unique flavor, and I appreciate the difference.

I very much see why Cugel was an inspiration to Gygax. Even though this volume came after the Dungeon Master Guide by some years, it still very much has the feel of the kind of adventure which D&D was intended to imitate. At least in my case, the whole was better than some of the parts, but that may be a matter of taste; if you like anti-heroes and the absurd, this may be just the ticket. show less

I've read this in the omnibus Tales Of The Dying Earth. Cugel's adventures continue in his own saga now, following The Eyes Of The Overworld. Here he again has to work his way back to reality, to get even with Iucounu, the magician who tricked him a second time.

Cugel experiences many adventures, gains wealth, has to bust his ass off for it, but only works enough to get the money (terces) and then continue his journey. He also encounters people that provide him with food, shelter and so on, but again Cugel uses the hospitality only to his advantage. On many occasions he does have to abandon his riches to save his life, but somehow he's like MacGyver or the A-Team; he always manages to escape, talk himself out of further trouble. Luckily show more for him he does get to fulfill his goal and trick Iucounu.

The story itself was much better, more attractive than The Eyes Of The Overworld. The writing is more enticing. However, I sometimes wished there would be less pages. Cugel may be a nice character, but after a while, one can become fed up with him, to be honest. Other than that, recommended reading it is: 8/10. show less

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Cugel “the clever” is one of the scummiest, nastiest, lowliest rogues in all of fantasy literature. He’s got no morals and no respect for women, he’s often a coward, he’s not good looking, nor is he particularly good with a sword. In the words of one of Cugel’s acquaintances, “who could imagine such protean depravity?” The answer, apparently, is Jack Vance. And that's why Cugel is one of my favorite “heroes” — because he belongs to Jack Vance.

Cugel’s Saga, book 3 of The Dying Earth and the direct sequel to The Eyes of the Overworld, begins ironically — with Cugel again fallen afoul of Iucounu, the Laughing Magician, who has now banished Cugel across the dying earth to show more exactly the same place he had sent Cugel before and from which Cugel had just returned to seek his revenge. Thus, Cugel begins another long journey back to Almery to get even with Iucounu, and of course it’s another series of hilarious misadventures. These usually involve Cugel entering a village, pretending to be a gentleman and getting involved in some profitable scheme, and eventually having to flee or being run out of town.

During each of these episodes, Jack Vance uses his characteristic humor to highlight absurd human behavior. For example, in chapter 3, after penniless Cugel has just narrowly escaped a man whose ship, wife, and daughters he kidnapped, he happens upon a town in which the men spend their days sunning themselves atop columns of stone while their wives work to pay Nisbet the quarryman to add additional stones to their husbands’ towers, thus elevating them, both literally and figuratively, above the other townsmen. Cugel, noticing how eager the women are to please Nisbet, sees this as an opportunity not only for monetary gain, but also perhaps to score benefits that Nisbet may not have imagined… Yes, Cugel is a scoundrel, but it’s hard to think too badly of him when most of the people he encounters are equally corrupt. Cugel himself explains it this way:

I am not one to crouch passively with my hindquarters raised awaiting either the kick or the caress of Destiny! I am Cugel! Fearless and indomitable!

Cugel’s various adventures do not become predictable and they never get stale — each is unique, fresh, and delightfully funny. Besides the sheer entertainment value, Jack Vance’s voice is consistently a pleasure to read. Nobody writes just like Vance and I never tire of it.

I listened to Brilliance Audio’s version of Cugel’s Saga, which was read by Arthur Morey, who has narrated their other Vance titles. He is excellent as usual — one of the finest audiobook readers I’ve ever listened to. He and Jack Vance have entertained me for many an hour as I commute back and forth to work. I’ll bet my colleagues wonder why I’m always chuckling wickedly when I pull into the parking lot. show less

Absolutely brilliant. The ending is a bit rushed, but the rest is just great and in a sense you can see how Vance became a better writer over the years. One difference between this and The Eyes of the Overworld: in the first book you might consider Cugel to be a serious asshole or a swindler. In this book, almost every character is a swindler. I did read Michael Shea's sequel, and I think this one is better - but that one is still enjoyable in its own right.

Poor Cugel, here he is way back up north again... Yes, it's basically more of the same a'la Eyes of the Overworld and anyone who enjoyed that will enjoy this, with the reverse true as well.

How does this compare to EotO? I consider them about the same in terms of quality. I think whilst Eyes was more consistent and felt more of a complete collection (which is odd given the episodic nature of its writing) the highs here in Cugel's Saga are greater, though the lows are slightly lower too. For instance, I hadn't read anything as hilarious as Cugel's various competitions with Bunderwal in a long time, whilst the final chapters as Cugel neared Almery somewhat dragged.

Overall though it's very entertaining and required reading for anyone who show more enjoys Vance's Dying Earth. show less

"Cugel the clever" in here comes off as a bit more likable than the previous book. He still lies, cheats and steals, but more often to those who have wronged him. Also the fact that most of the people he meets are scoundrels shows him in a better light.