Customer Reviews

Rhialto the Marvellous

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

 

 

Vance's baroque and vibrant style is in full force here. I must admit that the "Dying Earth" books are among my favorites, as they were my introduction to Vance's work to begin with. This book features Rhialto, a magician residing on Earth at the end of time. As in previous books of this series, there is some time travel...and one of the adventures takes place at the end of the universe (that's right, a finite wall marking the limits of the universe). Vance's characters are fascinating, as usual; unscrupulous, arrogant, witty and clever. His dry humor is evident throughout. Another reviewer takes issue with Vance's use of obscure and self-created words. I think this just adds flavor to Vance's work. Regardless, "made-up" words are a fairly common convention in this genre and I don't think it amounts to much of an issue. Clearly Vance's style is unique, but not so unusual as to be inaccessible (witness his Hugo, Nebula and Edgar awards). If you're familiar with Vance, you've probably already bought everything you can find. If not, this would make as good an introduction to his work as any. They're all good.

If you're a fan of Jack Vance, of course you've read, or plan to read, Rhialto the Marvellous, last of the Dying Earth books. If you've not read any of Mr. Vance's work, you can start here -- it isn't necessary to have read the previous installments.

Rhialto, who has earned the cognomen "Marvellous" (this has something to do with him being a bit of a dandy) is one of the last of Earth's magicians, a small group of selfish and unscrupulous men who sometimes work together and sometimes oppose each other as it suits their individual inglorious purposes. The other magicians don't care too much for Rhialto because he is aloof, popular with women, arrogant, and generally unflappable. Rhialto the Marvellous contains three stories which feature Rhialto working with and against his colleagues.

Rhialto is more passive than Cugel the Clever and not as dastardly, so he doesn't drive the plot or leave a swath of destruction in his wake like Cugel does. Plus, he has to share the stage with several other strong personalities, making him not as vibrant as we've come to expect from Vance's main characters.

Nonetheless, this novel is still chock full of the ludicrous circumstances and strange humor that Jack Vance fans love. The first story, "The Murthe," introduces my favorite made-up Vance word: "ensqualm" -- which means to turn a man into a woman. That story was hilarious as it seemed to poke fun of feminine behavior while actually ridiculing men. Arthur Morey, who narrates Brilliance Audio's production and has become one of my favorite audiobook readers, is at top form here as he narrates Vermoulian's dream (AXR-11 GG7, Volume Seven of the Index) in which Vermoulian meets a group of ensqualmed men and describes their behavior:

I found myself in a landscape of great charm, where I encountered a group of men, all cultured, artistic, and exquisitely refined of manner... `We dine upon nutritious nuts and seeds and ripe juicy fruit; we drink only the purest and most natural water from the springs. At night we sit around the campfire and sing merry little ballads. On special occasions we make a punch called opo, from pure fruits, natural honey, and sweet sessamy, and everyone is allowed a good sip... Ah, the women, whom we revere for their kindness, strength, wisdom and patience, as well as for the delicacy of their judgments!...'

He had me laughing out loud already, but when he read their answer to Vermoulian's questions about how they procreate, I nearly spit my Starbucks onto the steering wheel. I went back and read this in my print copy -- it was funny, yes, but Arthur Morey made it even better.

Rhialto the Marvellous is the last of Brilliance Audio's Vance collection so far, and that makes me sad. I sincerely hope they'll soon be adding more Vance titles to their catalog and that Arthur Morey will be reading them. If so, I promise that I'll be reviewing them!

This is a collection of stories about Rhialto, a magician who lives in Vance's Dying Earth. Fans of Cugel's Saga and the previous Dying Earth books will love it, as will those who just want a good read. Vance's command of the English language is formidable, and his descriptive passages are priceless. This book is humorous, sardonic, and very rich indeed.

If you're a fan of Jack Vance, of course you've read, or plan to read, Rhialto the Marvellous, last of the Dying Earth books. If you've not read any of Mr. Vance's work, you can start here -- it isn't necessary to have read the previous installments.

Rhialto, who has earned the cognomen "Marvellous" (this has something to do with him being a bit of a dandy) is one of the last of Earth's magicians, a small group of selfish and unscrupulous men who sometimes work together and sometimes oppose each other as it suits their individual inglorious purposes. The other magicians don't care too much for Rhialto because he is aloof, popular with women, arrogant, and generally unflappable. Rhialto the Marvellous contains three stories which feature Rhialto working with and against his colleagues.

Rhialto is more passive than Cugel the Clever and not as dastardly, so he doesn't drive the plot or leave a swath of destruction in his wake like Cugel does. Plus, he has to share the stage with several other strong personalities, making him not as vibrant as we've come to expect from Vance's main characters.

Nonetheless, this novel is still chock full of the ludicrous circumstances and strange humor that Jack Vance fans love. The first story, "The Murthe," introduces my favorite made-up Vance word: "ensqualm" -- which means to turn a man into a woman. That story was hilarious as it seemed to poke fun of feminine behavior while actually ridiculing men. Arthur Morey, who narrates Brilliance Audio's production and has become one of my favorite audiobook readers, is at top form here as he narrates Vermoulian's dream (AXR-11 GG7, Volume Seven of the Index) in which Vermoulian meets a group of ensqualmed men and describes their behavior:

I found myself in a landscape of great charm, where I encountered a group of men, all cultured, artistic, and exquisitely refined of manner... `We dine upon nutritious nuts and seeds and ripe juicy fruit; we drink only the purest and most natural water from the springs. At night we sit around the campfire and sing merry little ballads. On special occasions we make a punch called opo, from pure fruits, natural honey, and sweet sessamy, and everyone is allowed a good sip... Ah, the women, whom we revere for their kindness, strength, wisdom and patience, as well as for the delicacy of their judgments!...'

He had me laughing out loud already, but when he read their answer to Vermoulian's questions about how they procreate, I nearly spit my Starbucks onto the steering wheel. I went back and read this in my print copy -- it was funny, yes, but Arthur Morey made it even better.

Rhialto the Marvellous is the last of Brilliance Audio's Vance collection so far, and that makes me sad. I sincerely hope they'll soon be adding more Vance titles to their catalog and that Arthur Morey will be reading them!

If you read the Dying Earth cycle sequentially, by the time you get to Rhialto the Marvellous, you have a clear understanding of Vance's style. The Dying Earth is merely a backdrop that gives Vance an excuse to add baroque details of setting, beastiary, and magic to his adventures starring vain men enacting amusingly petty mischeifs on one another. Without the young heros of his first book, the all-star dastardly Cugel from the second and third we now have Rhialto. Rhialto is different from Cugel only in that he is a) a magician, and b) good looking. Otherwise he could be Cugel quite easily. The switch to a new character offers a stable character tableau of a wild cabal of magicians. You wouldn't think the quest element of the first three books would radically alter the pleasure so much, but sadly that's the case. Its just a bunch of silly men bickering with each other.
The first story is some sort of 1950s satire about men becoming effeminized by a naughty witch. You get all excited that Vance's wife, who apparently typed out his handwritten manuscripts a la Tolstoy, chided him to include strong women characters- until you realize its just a slap in the face bit of misogyny. Nuff said. There's a fullness of vision though to the pictures he creates in your mind.
The second story is so meandering, and unclear in direction that I thought it was one of the dullest things I'd read by Vance. Rhialto is betrayed by a frenemy, he's set upon by his cronies and then he loses his magic. He spends about a 100 pages with a demon searching through time for a rulebook to take back to his cabal to show them they owe him restitution. There's cannabals, and cuties, and demons but it just doesn't gel together for some reason- its just a lot of nothing when its all said and done. You find yourself wondering why he wasn't using Cugel since he disenfranchised Rhialto of his magic.
The third story is beautiful. The cabal use a castle as a space ship to fly out to the edge of the universe, and rescue a long lost ally. The set peices are stunning, the long lost magician is a fully realized Vance character, and there's something interesting about the Cabal acting together.

You just wonder though what the heck IOUN stones are...As part of the cycle I'm glad I read it, and if it was the only Vance thing you'd found it'd be fine. But after the other 700 pages it felt like it'd jumped the shark at some point.