Thomcat
2/25/2023
Cugel the "clever" antihero, an inveterate liar, thief, scoundrel and rogue, is caught while stealing from the laughing wizard and sentenced to a book-long quest to recover a magical item. Along the way, he discovers more creative items and spells and frequently cheats his temporary companion.
Anti-hero aside, there is humor and a great deal of creativity as Vance describes many different areas of his world. Time travel makes an appearance as well! I enjoyed the situations and stories and Vance did as well, coming back to a sequel many years later.
This book consists of stories published in 1965 and 66, collected in one volume - but with a single thread running through them (Cugel), unlike the first volume The Dying Earth. While this book was published in 1966, the original was from 1950 - quite a gap! Especially relevant to the D&D magic system is the last story, where Cugel tries to learn spells but has problems miscasting them...