Cugel's Saga

Written by Jack Vance

Narrated by Arthur Morey

Cugel’s Saga, published 17 years after Eyes of the Overworld, is the second novel that features the scoundrel and trickster, Cugel. Again, Cugel tests wits with Iucounu and acquires rudimentary powers himself.

“Cugel the Clever [is] a rogue so venal and unscrupulous that that he makes Harry Flashman look like Dudley Do-Right. How could you not love a guy like that? .... Judging from the number of times that Cugel has come back ... you can’t keep a bad man down.” —George R.R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire

“Cugel the Clever [is] a liar and thief in a doomed world of liars and thieves.... Probably the least attractive hero it would be possible to find, struggling through a universe like a Hieronymus Bosch painting, a hero only in that nearly everybody else he encounters in that universe is on the make too, and yet the Cugel stories are howlingly funny.” —Kage Baker, author of Empress of Mars

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Apr 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781441814715

Jack Vance

Jack Vance (richtiger Name: John Holbrook Vance) wurde am 28. August 1916 in San Francisco geboren. Er war eines der fünf Kinder von Charles Albert und Edith (Hoefler) Vance. Vance wuchs in Kalifornien auf und besuchte dort die University of California in Berkeley, wo er Bergbau, Physik und Journalismus studierte. Während des 2. Weltkriegs befuhr er die See als Matrose der US-Handelsmarine. 1946 heiratete er Norma Ingold; 1961 wurde ihr Sohn John geboren. Er arbeitete in vielen Berufen und Aushilfsjobs, bevor er Ende der 1960er Jahre hauptberuflich Schriftsteller wurde. Seine erste Kurzgeschichte, »The World-Thinker« (»Der Welten-Denker«) erschien 1945. Sein erstes Buch, »The Dying Earth« (»Die sterbende Erde«), wurde 1950 veröffentlicht. Zu Vances Hobbys gehörten Reisen, Musik und Töpferei – Themen, die sich mehr oder weniger ausgeprägt in seinen Geschichten finden. Seine Autobiografie, »This Is Me, Jack Vance! (»Gestatten, Jack Vance!«), von 2009 war das letzte von ihm geschriebene Buch. Jack Vance starb am 26. Mai 2013 in Oakland.

Reviews for Cugel's Saga

[bespen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[crypto3willobie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Tedious. Not funny.

[drfp_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

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 enjoys Vance's Dying Earth.