The Narrow Land [Paperback]

Jack Vance (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: DAW (July 1, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879977477
• ISBN-13: 978-0879977474
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,220,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enter strange new worlds, September 22, 2005

By 

A Reader (Sikeston, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Narrow Land (Paperback)

The imagination of Jack Vance was seemingly without limit. His depiction of strange peoples, cultures, and social systems is endlessly fascinating.

Some may say his style is an acquired taste, but I believe his elegant language, inventive names and coinages, and ironic humor is unequaled in or out of SF.

With the exception of "Chateau D'If", the stories in this collection (including "Green Magic" and "The Narrow Land") are rarely anthologized, and so it is a must to the Jack Vance collector.

To those unacquainted with Jack Vance, try the "The Dying Earth", "The Last Castle", "The Dragon Masters", or "Lyonesse" for the master at his best.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 8 stories, July 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Narrow Land (Paperback)

Here under one cover for the first time are eight scarce and long unavailable stories by one of the very best writers we have in science fiction. Eight stories rich with the exotic and ironic aplomb of the singularly inventive and vivid style which characterizes the author.

5.0 out of 5 stars Seven Vancian stories, September 4, 2011

By 

John Middleton (Brisbane, QLD, AUST) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Narrow Land (Paperback)

This is a 1980's collection of seven - not 8 as the back cover says - short stories by Jack Vance; or rather, 6 short stories plus an unforgettable novella, Chateau d'If. D'If is a enterprise promising the jaded unforgettable adventure - for a price which is a lot higher than it seems at first. The other six stories are little gems, just a handful of pages in some cases, but drawing beautifully realised worlds and societies of the far future, another world, or an alternative today.

Green Magic is "fantasy" rather than sci-fi, and argubly so is the World Thinker, for all there are spaceships and computer systems. There are just touches of Vance's bone-dry wit, (there is a line in the Narrow Land which is just fantastically understated) with more than enough action to hold the interest of even a 13-year old boy. There is sadness and joy in "Dicantropus", and often the hints you get of things outside the strict telling of the tale are interesting enough you can tell another author might have spun a bloated novel out of tense short story, with deleterious results.

All in all, these stories work so well at the length they are you cant wish them longer, although at the same time you wish they were. If you can pick up a copy, this is actually a good place to read a bit of Vance to see if you like his style, and of course if you have read Vance there is some great stuff here you owe it to yourself to read.