# Which single Jack Vance book do you rate as his best? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086 "2011-08-17T22:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/1 "2011-08-17T22:18:43Z")
This thread is inspired by **Alessan’s** post in the NPR 's top 100 list thread: > [@Alessan](#): > > The problem with Vance is that despite the fact that he’s produced a staggering amount of consistantly excellent work, he has no real standout novel or collection that can be nominated. _Ask 10 SF fans to name the best Vance book, and they’ll give you 10 different titles_. [RIGHT](italics added)[/RIGHT] I’ve decided to test what I’ll dub **The Alessan Hypothesis**. So fellow dopers, if forced to choose **one single work** (no you can’t nominate all of _The Demon Princes_ or the _Tales of the Dying Earth_ or any other of Vance’s series) from Vance’s career which one would you choose and why? I’ll start by putting up _Suldrun’s Garden_ (the first book of the _Lyonesse_ series). While it suffers from being only the first instalment of a trilogy its merits outweigh this and it gets my vote for the rich setting, well drawn characters and interesting plot. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/2 "2011-08-17T22:27:38Z")
I am very partial to the Lyonesse series myself, but I think _The Moon Moth_ is the quintessential Vance story. It is lyrical, eloquent, intelligent, erudite and exotic and a good mystery as well. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/3 "2011-08-17T22:34:59Z")
Cugel’s Saga ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/4 "2011-08-17T22:35:53Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I am very partial to the Lyonesse series myself, but I think _The Moon Moth_ is the quintessential Vance story. It is lyrical, eloquent, intelligent, erudite and exotic and a good mystery as well. Ha, I’d never have guessed from your username ;). The Alessan Hypothesis has yet to be disproved! ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/5 "2011-08-17T23:12:16Z")
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! After 11 years on this board, someone finally names something after me! I guess I can die happy now. (Incidentally:either \*The Dying Earth \*or _Araminta Station_.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/6 "2011-08-17T23:37:48Z")
I’m going to be different and say _To Live Forever_. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/7 "2011-08-18T00:06:40Z")
Gotta go with my first exposure - The Dragon Masters, [with the Gaughan illustrations from the August 1962 Galaxy.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/junkmonkey/sets/72157622051139809/) (Great Ghu, that sucker’s only a year shy of half a century old!) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/8 "2011-08-18T01:13:35Z")
I’ll go with two of the suggestions already put forward. The Dragon Masters was also my first Vance and I’d nominate it, _except_ it is really more of a novella and in this case I think it suffers as a story just a bit for it. Suldrun’s Garden is a much more developed work and probably the better choice, even the though I have more sentimental attachment to the novella. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/9 "2011-08-18T01:54:17Z")
- Lyonesse \* was my first thought, so I’ll go with that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/10 "2011-08-18T03:27:34Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Cugel’s Saga QFT, me too. Hands down. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/11 "2011-08-18T07:05:08Z")
All my Vance books are in storage now, but I would vote for the first book featuring Miro Hetzel, Effectuator. I can’t recall the title. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/12 "2011-08-18T11:16:19Z")
That would have been _The Dogtown Tourist Agency_. I vote for my first as well, from back in the late 60s - _The Eyes of the Overworld_. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/13 "2011-08-18T11:32:20Z")
Cugel’s Saga. One of the iconic characters in all of SF/fantasy, which is some achievement seen as the trickster is such a common archetype. The Dying Earth is a fine choice because of its influence and primacy in the series, but it’s not really a novel IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/14 "2011-08-18T12:04:48Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > - Lyonesse \* was my first thought, so I’ll go with that. It’s the only series of his I read, so I have to list it, but it made me laugh, which for that alone makes it memorable. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/15 "2011-08-18T12:04:59Z")
I’d have to go with the Planet of Adventure series, so whichever one was first. (_Chasach_?) _Aramintia Station_ as a second choice. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/16 "2011-08-18T14:56:52Z")
Cugel’s Saga ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/17 "2011-08-18T15:26:30Z")
The Languages of Pao ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/18 "2011-08-18T16:19:37Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > I’d have to go with the Planet of Adventure series, so whichever one was first. (_Chasach_?) _Aramintia Station_ as a second choice. _City of the Chasch_. (Although I like the last, _The Pnume_ better, if only to watch man-of-action Adam Reith attempt to impose his will on the shadowy and elusive Pnume, and for a lovely scene set on a cog during a storm at sea.) Myself, I’d pick _The Dying Earth_, although I have a certain fondness for the goofy _Showboat World_.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/19 "2011-08-18T16:37:39Z")
I will choose _The Dying Earth_, and note we were asked for a _book_, not a _novel_. ---
**Author:** ![JackaRoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@JackaRoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackaRoe)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086/20 "2011-08-18T18:53:57Z")
Well my first Jack Vance read was “The Last Castle”, so I have to nominate it because it got me hooked on Vance. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-single-jack-vance-book-do-you-rate-as-his-best/593086.md?page=2)