Dying Earth - Baen
by Jack Vance, Arthur Morey · first published 1950
59% recommend38% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Witty, richly worded tales of wizards in a far-future fading world, with a collectible spell-memorizing magic system that inspired D&D. Suits fantasy fans wanting something lighter and funnier than Wolfe's New Sun.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…more to chew in New Sun, and you should absolutely read it whether or not you like more mainstream fantasy works. And if you like New Sun but haven't read Jack Vance's original take on a similar world, "Dying Earth", it's absolutely worth it. Nowhere near as deep as Wolfe, but way more funny — a truly unique voice from the golden era of sci-fi.
on “Gene Wolfe Turned Science Fiction into High Art (2019)” ↗…those things which just does not hold up under scrutiny. And then the oddball psionics ... However, do not let these criticisms dissuade you from reading. Vance was a very interesting writer, and the Dying Earth setting was highly influential on D&D (not that it originated with him). He would often develop trickster characters who used vocabulary (often slightly wrongly) to seem more intelligent than they were,…
on “The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons” ↗…Book of the New Sun is probably the most famous (and deservedly so) and it also bears rereading. Just as pleasing is the fact that the Book of the New Sun is a rather cryptic callout to Jack Vance's Dying Earth, which shows great taste.
on “Ends of the Urth” ↗Also, no mention in the article of the literary inspiration for AD&D's "gamey" magic: Jack Vance. I'm reading his Dying Earth's stories, and even though I'm no fan of AD&D, I find his magic system charming. Spells are something you collect and "equip" by reading and memorizing them, and a great wizard can memorize more spells…
on “Breaking Out of Scientific Magic Systems in RPGs” ↗BOTNS is inspired by Vance's Dying Earth tales. If you haven't read them, I strongly recommend them. In fact, anything by Vance is great, my favorite being his Lyonesse Trilogy. His stories certainly do not have the depth of BOTNS, but the characters…
on “The Animal Is Tired” ↗A few collections i've been reading are the sci-fi and fantasy masterwork ones by gollancz. A few standouts have been the dying earth by jack vance and A Voyage to Arcturus. There are some amazing works in here which i would never have found without the curation that shows the history and evolution the genres. https://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_fantasy_masterworks.a...…
on “The Essential Question: "What should I read next?"” ↗…rest of the trilogy) Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land / Starship Troopers / The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man / The Stars My Destination Jack Vance - The Dying Earth Philip K. Dick - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep / The Man in the High Castle Larry Niven - Ringworld etc. etc. A list of Hugo Award winners[1] might come in helpful. Another advantage of having…
on “Ask HN: What sci-fi books are you reading?” ↗…Skaith by Leigh Bracket is a truely awesome compilation of the three Skaith novels. Leigh helped write the initial Empire Strikes back! Almost anything by Jack Vance will be good. If you've read The Dying Earth, George RR Martin just produced a tribute called Songs of the Dying Earth with some of the best Sci Fi writers contributing.
on “Ask HN: What sci-fi books are you reading?” ↗Tales of a Dying Earth by Jack Vance That was a very good book. I hadn't even heard of Jack Vance until recently, but it seems like he's been an influence on many modern authors.
on “Ask HN: Best books you've read in 2015” ↗Anyone interested in D&D should understand that it originates from Jack Vance's Dying Earth novels. I highly recommend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyes_of_the_Overworld
on “The Uncanny Resurrection of Dungeons and Dragons” ↗The classic is Dying Earth by Jack Vance, but my favorite of the series is Eyes of the Overworld, and you'd be fine to read that first since the novels of the series are self-contained. My opinion is that the subgenre should by…
on “The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons” ↗…fantasy and SF. His Dancers at the End of Time series is brilliant and hilarious. Or more straight-faced and pulpy, the Hawkwind and Elric stories are great. And Jack Vance, of course. As well as The Dying Earth, he did a bunch of comedy-oriented stories in the same setting, starring Cugel the Clever and Rhialto the Marvellous.
on “The Lost Universe: NASA's Tabletop Role-Playing Game Adventure” ↗Likewise. I feel that Jack Vance's Dying Earth series isn't as well known as it should be considering the huge influence it had on the invention of D&D (there's names of spells copied directly from it).
on “Science fiction and the death of the sun” ↗"I’m a huge fan of the author Jack Vance;" I've enjoyed his work too. Particularly the "Dying Earth" stories. I also read "Planet of Adventure". My goodness did that man have an enormous vocab. I needed a dictionary with me to read his work. Great stories though.
on “The Silent Critic” ↗…you have no clue what you actually read, only to read the paragraph maybe a second or third time and have your mind space out again and again on each successive attempt? I've probably read Jack Vance's Dying Earth Series 3 times; Even though I've only sat and read it once in reality. This also points out the problem of important details along side the fluff. If only I enjoyed LLMs prose as much as I do Vance's.
on “Humanising LLM Outputs Is Dumb” ↗