Tales of the Dying Earth

Tales of the Dying Earth is an omnibus edition containing all 4 of the Dying Earth books by Jack Vance. The books included:

The Dying Earth (1950)
The Eyes of the Overworld (1966)
Cugel's Saga (1983)
Rhialto the Marvellous (1984)

I enjoyed the language and style and enjoyed the eccentric characters, but it certainly didn't lend itself to a quick read. The plotlines are fairly simple but work themselves out over many chapters.

from the back of the book:

"A dim place, ancient beyond knowledge. Once it was a tall world of cloudy mountains and bright rivers, and the sun was a white blazing ball. Ages of rain and wind have beaten and rounded the granite, and the sun is feeble and red. The continents have sunk and risen. A million cities have lifted towers, have fallen to dust. In place of the old peoples a few thousand strange souls live. There is evil on Earth, evil distilled by time.... Earth is dying...." -From The Dying Earth

Travel into the future: to an earth with a dwindling red sun that meekly fills a dark blue sky; an earth that is on the brink of dying out; an earth where science and magic mean the same thing; an earth populated with vibrant, interesting people and creatures that are unaware of the fate their planet has in store for them.

Jack Vance is one of the most remarkable talents to ever grace the world of science fiction. His unique, stylish voice has been beloved by generations of readers. Some of his enduring classics are his 1950 novel The Dying Earth and its sequels, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga, and Rialto the Magnificent.

SF Site says, "Vance true fans will welcome this chance to replace their crumbling paperbacks" but doesn't recommend it as a starting point. SlashDot concludes, "This compleat Tales of the Dying Earth is the essence of reading for pleasure." Green Man Review says, "From the vantage of an adult for whom the quality of writing is of major importance, I can say quite confidently that there are no complaints here."