Jack Vance is a very talented author who has been writing quality science fiction since the early 1950’s. He’s up to more than fifty novels and at least thriteen collections of short stories, and almost all of the mare absolutely top-notch. Most of his science fiction is far-future, about one thousand years down the road. It features new technology, but Vance doesn’t spend much time describing the mechanical gizmos. He’s more interested in how human beings change when they move out to other planets. His writing style is to cram everything into a single book: some adventure, some action, some comedy, some romance, and some pure weirdness. His best books, in my opinion:
The Demon Princes series (The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face, The Book of Dreams). An interstellar cop is deputized to hunt five galactic supercriminals, each one of whom has a secret identity and an entire criminal empire to contend with.
The Durdane Trilogy (The Faceless Man, The Brave Free Men, The Asutra). Three excellent short novels about the planet Durdane where a single absolute dictator known as “The Faceless Man” rules over a system of Cantons. Everyone wears a collar with explosive devices around their neck, and the Faceless Man can detonate them at will.
The Cadwal Chronicles (Araminta Station, Ecce and Old Earth, Throy). The planet Cadwal is a nature preserve, set aside to guard its great natural beauty. Now a conspiracy of developers and corrupt officials is attempting to steal the land. This series has a hugely complicated plot and a massive character list, unlike most of Vance’s other books.