Customer Reviews

Fools Errant

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Young Filidor Vesh whiles away his days, seeking shallow pursuits until his uncle, the Archon, sends for him. Unable to escape Gaskarth, the small man(or dwarf)his uncle has sent, young Filidor Vesh finds himself traveling unwillingly from country to country one step behind the mysterious Archon. At each country young Filidor blunders to find himself unwillingly, and generally unawaringly helping the local citizenry. But even Gaskarth becomes worried when a magician decides that he wants something in Filidor's possession. Even worse, young Filidor soon realizes that the fate of the world may rest upon the shoulders of a dwarf--and himself--a fool errant.

This is a delightful first book. While it is not as original as Vance's "Jack of Shadows", it has that fantasy-science fictiony flavor. It is set in a world on the cusp of both magic and science. While it is not as funny generally as Robert Aspirin's work, it has its moments. This book falls short of truly excellent in that it has slow spots (such as when Filidor reads about Osfeo, a former Archon)and the plotting is not totally seemless. However, it is a great first book. I would definately be inclined to buy Matthew Hughes' second book.

A delightful picaresque adventure in the style of Jack Vance's THE DYING EARTH series, especially Cugel's Saga. A reluctant Pilgrim's Progress through a variety of cultures and societies found in Earth's far future.

The distinction between science fiction and fantasy in this milieu is blurred, and in fact, irrelevent. The setting is believable and appropriate either way you choose to look at it. The story is exciting and humourous, and the dialogue witty and sparkling (and more than a little reminiscent of PG Wodehouse.).

I feel that this book is both suitable and appealing for all ages.

Being a Jack Vance fan it was inevitable to run into Matthew Hughes at a certain point... And where I feared that the comparison with Jack Vance might put the expectations very high, Matt succeeded in creating a wonderful fantasy/SF world with all it's funny inhabitants and colorful places.

It's the first time that a new writer manages to catch the Vance feeling in his writing ! Especially the magnificent blend of fantasy with science fiction is unique in Matt's decor's !

Well done Matthew !!! We want more !!!

PS. The second book "Fool me twice" is even better !!!

If you like Jack Vance, you'll be pleased with Hughe's writing style. His command of the language, especially where dialogue is concerned, is refreshingly sharp with subtle nuances of irony and sarcasm. A must for someone who feels like smiling after finishing the final lines.

If you like Jack Vance, you'll be pleased with Hughe's writing style. His command of the language, especially where dialogue is concerned, is refreshingly sharp with subtle nuances of irony and sarcasm. A must for someone who feels like smiling after finishing the final lines.

Fools Errant is a novel set in the age of Earth just prior to that portrayed by Jack Vance in his classic The Dying Earth. It follows the peregrinations of Filidor Vesh, a rather shallow young man whose only accomplishment is the accident of his birth -- he is the nephew and heir of the Archon, head of the Archonate that rather loosely rules this future Earth (or at least the part of it we see). As the novel opens he is summoned by a dwarfish associate of his uncle, one Gaskarth, who tells him the Archon wishes to meet him. But it seems the Archon is in another city. So Filidor must accompany Gaskarth to this city, by whatever means of transportation Gaskarth chooses. However, once their, it seems the Archon has already gone on ahead to the next city. And Filidor and Gaskarth must follow -- though apparently the Archon would prefer that his nephew perform some service for the locals while he is there.

You can see where this is going -- the Archon remains a step ahead of Filidor and Gaskarth, and so Filidor is exposed to society after society of the Archonate. He sees such places as Ektop, so ecologically committed that the residents refuse to interfere with nature at all -- wearing no clothes, eating nothing that has not fallen from a plant, building no houses; or Zeel, where perpetual competition and innovation is the rule; or Tarend, where the inhabitants are obsessed with physical beauty. There is also plenty of danger -- they are captured by ant-people and by giant beavers, they are marooned by a revolutionary blimp crew, and they are pursued by a dangerous magician. All comes to a somewhat expected but still pretty satisfying resolution.

The book is exceedingly derivative of the works of Jack Vance. The tone is similar, the dialogue captures Vance well, the strange societies are very reminiscent of Vance's societies. At times it seems too derivative -- it's a relief to be able to note that Hughes's more recent stories and novels, while still showing their roots in Vance, display a more individual voice. But even though this early novel is very much a Vance imitation, it's a fairly successful one, and I would think anyone who enjoys Jack Vance would enjoy Fools Errant.

In Olkney, Filidor Vesh enjoys his hedonistic life, as one would expect from a young heir to the Archon, of Old Earth's human inhabitants. However, his fun time at the Logodaedalian Club ends when a dwarf Gaskarth informs Filidor that his Uncle Dezendah the Archon summons him. The lad tries to sneak away, but the persistent guide forces Filidor to accompany him on what is surely a FOOLS ERRANT.

Gaskarth escorts Filidor out of the city to the lands of Binch, Ektop, Zeel, and Jamb. At each site, Filidor learns that he just missed his uncle and where he is expected to go next. Also at each locale, Filidor learns first hand about different behaviors by always landing in trouble. As he treks from one location to another, Filidor begins to enjoy his travels, but wonders when he will finally catch up to his elusive relative and just who is his guide anyway?

FOOLS ERRANT is a wonderful science fiction novel that combines a coming of age relationship tale with a satirical look at the extremes of society. For example, the uncompromising members of the environmentalists and the industrial developers are swiftly ridiculed for failing to seek a modest proposal for the betterment of society as a whole. Other humorous bashing highlight that Matthew Hughes has written a wonderful tale that will find genre fans wanting more adventures of the interesting lead characters in the near future.

...

I wanted very much to like this novel but could not get past its verbiage. I love Jack Vance, and am well aware of his distinct and unusual style, in which peasants speak like dignified lords, and archaic vocabulary abounds. These things help to make Vance what he is--but they do not fully define him.

This book recalls a series of Vance parodies that appeared in a newsletter called the Vance-phile. These short stories lovingly tweaked Vance's sometimes-florid and unusual style. They did not have to stand on their own; these were comic lampoons, not full-length novels.

This novel likewise emulates some of Vance's quirkiest grammatical traits, but it lacks Vance's literary command. Vance is a master, throwing all sorts of tricky words, concepts, and subtleties at you and then daring you to figure it out. In this book the archaisms and over-elaborate structures are present, but the word choice is not always spot-on, and you sometimes get the sense that the verbiage is there for its own sake.

It's also important to note that while Vance does use strange, overly-formal, and often curious words and sentence structures, he is also a very terse writer. He did not allow himself to get bogged down in description, or trip over his own words. That seems to be happening here.

I will take a look at some of the author's later works, and see if his command of the language improves. He has chosen a good master to emulate; he just needs to realize that the qualities he's emulated aren't necessarily the most important ones.

I first saw Matt Hughes's name when reading an article about Jack Vance online. At that time, he had published Fools Errant, Fool Me Twice, and Black Brillion, as well as some short fiction in F&SF. The first book of his that I read was Black Brillion. I really enjoyed it, so I went and bought the e-book version of this book, here on Amazon, back when it was available (for some reason, they no longer offer the e-book version, and neither does any other online book seller). I found that I liked it as much as I had liked Black Brillion. And while his writing is definitely influenced by Vance, Matt Hughes writes with a style all his own, part Vance, part Wodehouse, with a little Bradbury, P.K. Dick, and Wolfe as well. While this was his first published book in the field, the writing is charming and welcoming, grandiose and descriptive. The adventures of Filidor and companion are pure fun, each one self-contained as well as part of the larger narrative. And when you finish this book, you will see that he left it open for a sequel. Fool Me Twice is that sequel, and is every bit as fun and well put-together as its predecessor. In short, thus far, if Matthew Hughes wrote it, it is going to be well worth your time to read it. I have read all his SF/F work, and he has not disappointed me yet. So give him a try!

A new author attempts to write in the style of Jack Vance. Jack Vance does it better.