THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD – THE DYING EARTH #2

In the world of Dying Earth, under a dull red sun, the wizard Iucounu lives in his wondrous mansion. When Cugel the Clever tries, without success, to rob him, Iucounu will send him to the far North for punishment and atonement to find and bring back something precious: one of the Eyes of the Overworld, lenses through which even the most humble hut looks like a palace, and even the ugliest old woman looks like a young beauty! However, securing such an Eye means Cugel will become embroiled in adventures that will take him to the haunted shores of the North, the terrible Mountains of Magnatz, the vast rock carving site of the Sorcerer Pharesm, the majestic Erze Damath, the Silver Desert and other even stranger places. Cugel’s cunning will get him into unlikely situations, sometimes spontaneously provoking laughter and other times a chill in the reader, who experiences with him the incredible diversity of the creatures and places of the Dying Earth.

One of the best fantasy novels ever written, from Vance’s inexhaustible imagination, which rivals those of Lucian, Rabelais, Swift and Voltaire.