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Home > Categories > Books > Compilations > Songs of the Dying Earth review

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Score: 9.8/10  [1 review]
5 out of 5
ProdID: 2330 - Songs of the Dying Earth
Edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

Songs of the Dying Earth
Price:
$36.99
Sample/s Supplied by:
Click to search for all products supplied by HarperCollins

Disclosure StatementFULL DISCLOSURE: A number of units of this product have, at some time, been provided to KIWIreviews by HarperCollins or their agents for the sole purposes of unbiased, independent reviews. No fee was requested, offered nor accepted by KIWIreviews or the reviewers themselves - these are genuine, unpaid consumer reviews.
Available:
November 2009

Songs of the Dying Earth product reviews

Stories in honour of Jack Vance

Return to the unique and evocative world of The Dying Earth in this tribute anthology featuring the most distinguished fantasists of our day. Here are twenty-two brand-new adventures set in the world of Jack Vance's greatest novel.

A dim place, ancient beyond knowledge. The sun is feeble and red. A million cities have fallen to dust. Here live a few thousand souls, dying, as the Earth dies beneath them. Just a few short decades remain to the long history of our world. At the last, science and magic are one, and there is evil on Earth, distilled by time! Earth is dying.

Half a century ago, Jack Vance created the world of the Dying Earth, and fantasy has never been the same. Now, for the first time, Jack has agreed to open this intriguing and darkly beautiful world to other fantasists, to play in as their very own. The list of twenty-two contributors eager to honour Jack Vance by writing for this anthology includes Neil Gaiman, Tad Williams, Elizabeth Hand, Tanith Lee, Dan Simmons, Robert Silverberg, and George R.R. Martin himself.

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Tags:
collection   dan simmons   elizabeth hand   elizabeth moon   fantasy   gardner dozois   george martin   jack vance   liz williams   magic   mike resnick   neil gaiman   robert silverberg   science   tad williams   tanith lee   terry dowling
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Review by: tucker (Karl)
Dated: 3rd of November, 2009

Link to this review Report this review

 

This Review: 9.8/10
Value for Money:
Score 10 out of 10
Variety / Theme:
Score 10 out of 10
Lose Track of Time:
Score 10 out of 10
Personal Choice:
Score 9 out of 10

I admit, despite having spent most of my life reading Sci-Fi from a wide range of genres and authors, I have never read much in the way of Jack Vance's work. With such a huge menu to choose from, it has been difficult to sample everything out there. However, this collection has made me wonder just what I have been missing.

These authors have all payed ample hommage to a great fiction author, that much is clear, and from the style of the stories they have all tried to keep their tales not only in line with Vance's "Dying Earth" world, but also his style of writing, with the almost courtly language at once highly descriptive and flowery, very remiscent of Shakespearian prose. There's something astounding hearing a character you could almost expect to hear on a stage spouting MacBeth, describing a multidimensional being something like a cross between an orca and a squid, battling a sentient carnivorous tree.

With each story being satisfying yet still reasonably short, this book holds many hours of enjoyable reading. Not all tales will suit all tastes, of course, with one or two a tad slow and predictable for me, yet overly balanced by many more being utterly enthralling. I had trouble putting this book down, leading to a couple of missed bus stops and some extra walking... which worked out fine for me, as I long ago learned to navigate urban areas with my nose stuck in a book, so it was a great chance to cram another chapter into my eyes. Wink Icon

Overall, a great addition to any fantasy or fiction fan's library. I would class it more as fantasy, in that there was not much in the way of uber-science, and a heck of a lot of what can only be described as magic. Mind you, as Arthur C. Clarke once said: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." He may just be right in that... Full of authors any sci-fi or fantasy buff will recognise, so bound to be something to attract the wandering eye of this class of reader.


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