A Book Log
I didn't like Eyes nearly as much as I did The Dying Earth, because while the syle and setting was still great, Cugel is such a dreadful person that I found reading about his adventures fairly unenjoyable.
Pam (http://home.uchicago.edu/~kor2) -- 2002-09-28, 14:39:02
I can definitely see that, but somehow the way his actions are presented make moral criticism seem almost irrelevant. He's more like a mythic trickster figure than a human actor.
Mike (weblogs@klio.org) (http://www.klio.org/weblog/) -- 2002-09-28, 23:46:59
I think Mike's put his finger on something I've found in all the Vance I've read so far: the style and tone is so different from just a straightforward, late-20th-century-venacular narrative, that it makes it difficult to make easy, snap judgments about where the characters stand on a given moral spectrum. Take Lyonesse, for instance; the good guys and the bad guys eventually shake out, but it really does take awhile to figure out what they're up to and where they stand, and who's worth rooting for and against.
Trent (trent.goulding@mho.com) (http://home.mho.net/trent.goulding/books/blcurrent.html) -- 2002-09-29, 18:00:17