The Eyes of the Overworld

Name: The Eyes of the Overworld
Brand: Brilliance Audio
Availability: InStock
Author: Jack Vance
ISBN: 9781441814654

Author: Jack Vance

Series: Tales of the Dying Earth Series #2

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Unabridged: 7 hr 50 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download (DRM Protected)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Published: 03/09/2010

Categories: Fiction, Fantasy

Synopsis

The Eyes of the Overworld is the first of Vance’s picaresque novels about the scoundrel Cugel. Here he is sent by a magician he has wronged to a distant unknown country to retrieve magical lenses that reveal the Overworld. Conniving to steal the lenses, he escapes and, goaded by a homesick monster magically attached to his liver, starts to find his way home to Almery. The journey takes him across trackless mountains, wastelands, and seas. Through cunning and dumb luck, the relentless Cugel survives one catastrophe after another, fighting off bandits, ghosts, and ghouls—stealing, lying, and cheating without insight or remorse leaving only wreckage behind. Betrayed and betraying, he joins a cult group on a pilgrimage, crosses the Silver Desert as his comrades die one by one and, escaping the Rat People, obtains a spell that returns him home. There, thanks to incompetence and arrogance he misspeaks the words of a purloined spell and transports himself back to the same dismal place he began his journey.

About Jack Vance

Jack Vance is one of the greats of science fiction. He has been writing for more than 60 years, and in 1997 was honored as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America. He is the author of dozens of science fiction and fantasy novels, including the World Fantasy Award winning Lyonnesse series, and the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning The Last Castle. He lives in Oakland, California.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vit on April 19, 2024

In this treasure island of a book Jack Vance had hidden two treasure troves: his wild imagination and his flowery language. And it is pure delight to find them both. Cugel was a man of many capabilities, with a disposition at once flexible and pertinacious. He was long of leg, deft of hand, light of......more

Goodreads review by Bill on October 05, 2021

Underneath the fading sun, Cugel--a hero--emerges. Well, sort of a hero, but more of a trickster. Less Hector, more Ulysses; less Samson, more Jacob; less Tom, and a lot more Huck. Cugel, however, is less likable than any of the these. Selfish, exploitative, and filled with unlimited self-regard, he......more

Goodreads review by Bradley on December 09, 2018

Oddly enough, I think I enjoyed this second book of Vance's Dying Earth much better than the first. It's not only smoother but it also tickles most of my funny bones. Cugel is one hell of a damned rogue! Very flexible of morals, quick of wit, and easily a loveable/hateable anti-hero. In most respects......more

Goodreads review by Kat on August 13, 2010

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature. I’ve already said, numerous times, how much I love Jack Vance, so I’ll skip all that this time. You can read other reviews on this page if you missed that. The Eyes of the Overworld is the second part of Tales of the Dying Earth and the main character is one of......more

Goodreads review by Steve on August 13, 2011

The Eyes of the Overworld is the second novel in Jack Vance's Tales of the Dying Earth. I think I liked this installment even better than the first (which I loved). The story is about the adventures and misadventures of a Cugel the "clever," who is a pretty thorough rogue. I suppose he is clever at......more