Ranking Vance's SF and Fantasy Novels

It is fundamentally pointless and also a category error to rank books, works of art, or pieces of music. But it's fun all the same.

These rankings are given subject to the same proviso as yesterday: I've not been able to get my hands on a copy of The Five Gold Bands, Vandals of the Void, To Live Forever, and The Languages of Pao. My assumption is that these books would be low down the list anyway; Vance definitely underwent a radical improvement beginning in the mid-late 60s, and anything written before that is likely to be pretty standard hard-boiled Ray Bradbury-esque fare. I could of course be wrong. 

The rankings are subject to the additional proviso: this is about Vance's novels, not short story collections.

First, the big question: which is Vance's best series? This will not include the Cugel novels, the 'Big Planet' ones, or Ports of Call/Lurulu; the first and last of these are really best understood as one contiguous story, and the 'Big Planet' books are totally unrelated to each other and are not really to be considered a series at all. 

For my money, the series can be ranked accordingly (best to worst):

1. Lyonesse. The books were written when Vance was at the absolute zenith of his powers, and you won't find a better introduction to his oeuvre. Humour, irony, cruelty, invention, vindictiveness, strange cultures - the Lyonesse books have it all.

2. Planet of Adventure. It is so hard to choose between this series and the Demon Princes, but this wins out just because I love the setting so much - by far and away the most interesting, beautiful and strange that Vance created. I will be forever disappointed that there is already a Tschai-based RPG book, because I would kill for the license. 

3. The Demon Princes. These are the quintessential Gaean Reach books. The charm and wonder of the setting are smeared across them, and while the first in the series is pretty banal, the last three volumes are some of Vance's greatest standalone works.

4. Alastor. The Alastor books are on average so great that it seems crazy to be ranking them fourth. Wyst in particular is a supreme work of genius (it is right up there with my absolute favourite Vance books). But here we come down to sheer caprice; the Planet of Adventure and Demon Princes series' have an ineffable  quality to them that makes me want to rank them higher - I think it may simply come down to having contiguous narratives linking the volumes together. 

5. Cadwal Chronicles. How can I rank Cadwal fifth? Ecce and Old Earth may be the most enjoyable novel I have ever read - I wish it was 1000 pages long - and Araminta Station is great too. Sadly, the last volume in the series feels like an afterthought or contractual requirement, and lets the series down as a whole.

6. Durdane. It has to be said that while the Durdane books have their moments, as a whole they feel lacklustre when set against Vance's other work. There is something interesting going on in all of them, but the prevailing mood is somehow perfunctory. 

Second, which is Vance's best standalone non-series novel? Again, this won't include the two Cugel books or Ports of Call/Lurulu, which are not really standalone books. For me the top 5, in ascending order, are:

5. The Blue World. The plot resolves itself too rapidly but the worldbuilding is exquisite and the whole exercise both wonderfully inventive and thought-provoking. There are some great set-pieces too.

4. Space Opera. A completely frivolous but deeply enjoyable novel; I normally hate comedic fiction and rarely find it funny, but this is at times belly-laugh inducing.

3. Night Lamp. A late-period novel, dark and cruel, with bleak implications about human nature, but utterly absorbing all the same. 

2. The Magnificent Showboats... Another of Vance's great comedies, unlike anything else he wrote and yet very clearly and obviously his own. A blissful shaggy-dog story with lovably roguish protagonists and a genuinely pleasing resolution. A book to put a smile on one's face. 

1. Emphyrio. I wrote about this fabulous book in depth here; suffice to say that, as I put it in my lengthy review, it is at least the equal in terms of quality of a Viriconium or Book of the New Sun, and vastly shorter to boot. 

Third and finally, just for shits and giggles, let's whittle all of Vance's books (whether standalone or part of a series) down to a final top 10. In ascending order:

10. Ports of Call. A book that had me almost squirming with glee from start to finish. Full of brilliantly funny scenes and dialogue - you can sense Vance smiling to himself throughout. 

9. The Green Pearl. It is hard to pick a favourite from the Lyonesse books, but this is probably the one I liked most - Aillas and Tatzel's adventures are a joy to read. 

8. The Book of Dreams. Howard Alan Treesong is one of the great villains of the SF genre, and the way his character is revealed through his childhood exercise books is a feat of sheer prose skill - an utterly convincing portrayal of narcissism and resentment. 

7. Cugel's Saga. Readers will have gathered that, while I like the Dying Earth books, I don't rave about them - there are better examples of all of their best qualities in Vance's back catalogue. With that said, Cugel's Saga is a real treat, and  'The Inn of Blue Lamps' is probably my all-time favourite Vance scene. 

6. The Palace of Love. This book has mystified and compelled me ever since I first read it, and I cannot shake the sense that there is something truly profound at work in its pages. This is a novel that means something. I can't quite get to the bottom of what. 

5. The Magnificent Showboats... See above.

4. Emphyrio. See above. 

3. The Dirdir. Howard Alan Treesong is a great villain, as mentioned previously, but Aila Woudiver might be even better. In the film adaptation of The Dirdir which I will some day direct, he will be played by a resurrected Philip Seymour Hoffman, and he will no doubt receive a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as a result. Even setting Woudiver aside, I love the central characters in this book and the way in which they grow to love each other over the course of their adventures - all depicted in the most authentic and understated fashion. A beautiful achievement. 

2. Ecce and Old Earth. I said above that Ecce and Old Earth may be the most enjoyable novel I have ever read, and I still have a hard time thinking of a book that has given me more pleasure. What is all the more remarkable is that the first and last acts are quite superfluous; it is the quality of the central portion alone which elevates Ecce above almost all of the rest of Vance's fiction. It's like drinking vintage tawny port after a great pub lunch in front of a roaring fire in winter.

1. Wyst: Alastor 1716. If there was any justice in the world this book would be mentioned in the same breath as A Brave New World or 1984 - a work of great genius and insight that transcends genre boundaries and should be being read in schools. 

You will no doubt disagree with most, if not all, of this. That is, of course, the point!