Posted by Ken on February 26, 1999 at 04:45:29:
In Reply to: Where to start ? posted by Patrick Dusoulier on August 10, 1998 at 11:48:15:
The first Jack Vance book I read was Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden. It had a slow start, but the story really picked up after Suldrun's death. It remains one of the best books I ever read. I would recommend this book to a first-time reader. Unfortunately after reading the book, I was not able to read books written by any other authors. I tried, but none of them had the same flair as Vance. Now I can't ready anything but Vance!
Of course, The Dying Earth was a very excellent book also and will probably hook the reader very fast. But this book is very hard to find. I believe it is out of print. One of the libraries in my city (Vancouver) had it, but I can't find it anymore. I can't reread it even if I wanted to.
On a side note, I recently finished the game of Baldur's Gate and in the closing credits, the designers mention Jack Vance as being a major influence for the game. A lot of the spells in the AD&D system are based on the works of Jack Vance. I'm happy the designers for the game has a taste for Vance.