Mazirian the Magician-Jack Vance novel, book review

Mazirian the Magician-Jack Vance novel (author’s preferred title)

AKA: The Dying Earth

Tales of the Dying Earth, Book I

Mazirian the Magician was written in 1944 and first published in 1950 as a novel titled The Dying Earth by Hillman Periodicals.  The original paperback issue is 175 pages long. My other edition by Orb has 127 pages of text.  The Dying Earth does not read like a novel but consists of six loosely related stories.  In the Vance Integral Edition and the Spatterlight Press release the title of this novel was changed to the author’s preferred title, Mazirian the Magician, not to be confused with the 15 page chapter two of the novel which is also titled Mazirian the Magician.  I’ve read Mazirian the Magician three times so far and rate it a 4 “Really liked it.”

Although each "chapter" is really a story, some of the characters and themes continue from one story to another.  Turjan is in the first story and then reappears as a hostage in Mazirian the Magician.  T'sain also appears in both stories.  We see T'sais (not to be confused with T'sain, her sister) as a character in Turjan of Miir and then she returns as the main character in the third story titled T'sais.  The storyline about T'sais also continues from one story to the other.  Liane the Wayfarer first appears briefly in the story T'sais where he tortures a couple and then attempts to rape T'sais.  He reappears as the main character in the story Liane the Wayfarer where he is again a murdering rogue.  The stories are related but you will not find an integrated beginning, middle and end type novel or one plot that runs through the six stories.  None of the stories were released prior to the 1950 Hillman Periodicals paperback edition of The Dying Earth but all except T’sais and Ulon Dhor have been included as excerpts in various anthologies.

In each story we have the same setting.  The sun is red and dying.  We have no idea how far in the future these stories take place but it is a very distant future, many thousands of years ahead.  Magic is accepted as an everyday event just as science is.  Most of the science and magic from the past has been forgotten or lost.  Only 100 magic spells are still known.  Many ancient ruins can be found but their history is mostly unknown.  There are only a few thousand people left living on Earth.  They all know that the Earth is dying because the sun is burning out, but there is no hint about how much longer the Earth will last.  It could be imminent or many years in the future. 

I'll briefly describe each of the six stories or "chapters" of The Dying Earth.  These chapters are:

1. Turjan of Miir (14 pages)
2. Mazirian the Magician (15 pages)
3. T'sais (24 pages)
4. Liane the Wayfarer (10 pages) AKA: The Loom of Darkness. Published first in an anthology
5. Ulon Dhor, AKA: Ulan Dhor Ends a Dream (24 pages or novelette length)
6. Guyal of Sfere (41 pages or novelette length.)

1.Turjan of Miir:  Turjan is a wizard on Earth who creates people in his workroom.  But they turn out rather botched with "the thing all eyes", "the boneless creature with the pulsing surface of its brain exposed", the "body whose intestines trailed out", etc.  He learns that another wizard is a master of creating people.  His name is Pandelume, but he lives on the planet Embeylon. The location of Embeylon is unknown but Turjan figures out how to transport himself to that planet using magic.  Once he arrives he is attacked by a young woman on a horse who wields a sword, but he survives.  Turjan learns that her name is T'sais and that she was created by the wizard Pandalume.  T'sais was a psychologically flawed creation, however, and sees everybody and everything as ugly and a threat to herself.  Pandelume tells Turjan he will accept him as an apprentice only if Turjan performs a service for him first.  This service involves stealing an amulet from the neck of Prince Kandive the Golden.  Turjan agrees to the task and is sent magically to the city of Kaiin where he pursues his quest of having to steal from a dangerous opponent. I found the story to be mildly interesting.

2. Mazirian the Magician:  This is a ten to twelve pages long and was first published in 1950 by Hillman Periodicals as part of the novel The Dying Earth.  Later in December that same year it appeared as an excerpt when it was issued as a short story in the magazine Worlds Beyond.  In the magazine issue it was given the title The Loom of Darkness.  Because this work was initially issued as a chapter of a novel I list it as an excerpt or chapter of a novel rather than as one of Vance’s free standing short stories.  It has, however, appeared quite frequently on its own in anthologies as have most of the other chapters in the novel. 

In this story we meet Liane the Wayfarer who appeared briefly in the prior chapter titled “Tsais” in the novel The Dying Earth.  This time we find Liane whistling and prancing through a dim forest in high spirits.  He makes a “wry mouth” as he recalls having killed a spice merchant and “what a tumult he had made dying!  How carelessly he had spewed blood on Liane’s cock comb sandals.”  While burying the merchant Liane found a bronze ring.  “Around his finger he twirled a bit of wrought bronze-a circlet graved with angular crabbed characters, not stained black.”  Finding the ring made Liane’s spirits soar and “he laughed in pure joy. He bounded , he leapt.”  In a few short paragraphs we are introduced to an uncaring murderous rogue, a pure scoundrel who is one of the darkest, most unlikeable characters Vance ever developed. 

Liane considers taking the “circlet” to a magician to have it tested for sorcery.  What sounds initially like a finger ring, however, soon is or somehow becomes large enough for Liane to slip over his body. When he does this he emerges in maroon light in the forest where he sees a Twk-man mounted on a dragon-fly who asks Liane what he would like.  Liane tells the Twk-man to watch him and report what he sees. Liane puts the ring over his head, drops it to his feet and then reverses the process.  The Twk-man reports that he saw Liane disappear from sight and then reappear.  Liane next agrees to give the Twk-man some salt in exchange for local news and learns that a beautiful golden witch by the name of Lith has come to the area to live.

After practicing with the ring Liane decides to seek out Lith who, when he finds her next to a pond, turns out to be even more beautiful than he had imagined.  Liane appears to have great confidence in his abilities to charm women and announces to Lith that he is here to offer his friendship and love to her. Lith responds by throwing in his face a handful of green slime from the pond after which she retreats to her hut where she is protected.  Liane is outraged but soon recovers and tells Lith “you are ripe as a sweet fruit, you are eager, you glisten and tremble with love. You please Liane, and he will spend much warmness on you.” Lith encourages Liane but says that she “may have no lover but him who has served me.”  The service she proposes to Liane is for him to recover the other half of a golden tapestry that was stolen from her by Chun the Unavoidable who lives in the Palace of Whispers.  Liane is so self-confident that leaves immediately to steal back the other half of the tapestry.

At a local inn Liane meets some wizards who take turns demonstrating their magical feats.  When he mentions later that he is on a quest for the witch Lith and must steal a piece of tapestry from Chun the Unavoidable the wizards suddenly become silent.  They then tell him of the dangers of Chun.  The next day on the way to find Chun’s home Liane meets an old man who provides him with directions to the Palace of Whispers and is rewarded for his helpfulness by being murdered by Liane. The story continues with Liane’s adventure of his quest for the golden tapestry.  I’ve read it many times and rated it a 5.

3. T'sais:  The next story continues with the storyline in the first story Turjan of Miir, but T'sais becomes the main character.  T'sais is told by Pandelume that when he made her "I erred, so that when you climbed from the vat, I found that I had molded a flaw into your brain; that you saw ugliness in beauty, evil in good."  T'sais asks him to transport her to Earth where she hopes to find beauty and love.  Pandelume animates her sword to protect her, gives her an amulet to guard her from magic, provides her with a sack of gems and then sends her to Earth by magic.  There she meets a murderous cad named Liane the Wayfarer who claims, "I am the perfect man."  He tries to seduce her and when this fails attempts to attack her but her sword protects her.  T'sais has a number of other unpleasant encounters and soon learns that Earth is not the paradise she thought it was and that beauty and love are difficult to find.  In her quest she eventually meets a kindly masked man named Etarr who was given a demon's face by his lover.  T'sais also observes a Black Sabbath celebration and encounters the Green Legion of Valdaran the Just, Ethodea the goddess and an old "god of vision" with six arms.  It is an interesting, imaginative quest of discovery that I enjoyed reading.

4. Liane the Wayfarer:  Liane was briefly in the story T'sais.  Here he again is a self-centered, murderous rogue who thinks no woman can resist him.  When he meets a beautiful witch named Lilth, he tries to charm and seduce her but she insists that he first perform a service for her.  She asks him to obtain the other half of a beautiful tapestry she has.  She says that the other half was stolen by Chun the Unavoidable who lives in the Palace of Whispers near the ruins north of Kaiin..  Liane has a magic hoop he can climb into to become invisible and he also thinks he is very clever and talented so he accepts the challenge.  But he soon finds that even powerful wizards are fearful of Chun the Unavoidable.  The story is a fascinating one with an unexpected ending. 

5. Ulan Dhor (also known as Ulan Dhor Ends a Dream):  Ulan Dhor is sent by his uncle Prince Kandive the Golden to the ancient city of Ampridatvir to seek two tablets that once belonged to Rogol Domedonfors.  According to myth the two tablets are useless by themselves, but if they are laid together side by side a message can be read and whomever reads it, "will have the key to the ancient knowledge, and will wield the power."  When Ulan arrives at the city of Ampridatvir he finds that some people are dressed in grey and others in green and neither can see the other.  When something happens that involves a person of the other color, it is blamed on invisible ghosts.  There are some people who dress in red and can be seen by the grays and greens.  The reds attempt to raid the temple and are attacked by both grays and greens.  Everyone takes shelter at night when the horrible demons called Gauns roam about with "great long arms that clutch and rend."  This is an intriguing and imaginative story with an unusual ending.

6. Guyal of Sfere:  This is the sixth and final story in The Dying Earth.  Guyal irritates his parents and others by constantly asking questions.  Such questions have included "Why do squares have more sides than triangles?" and "What is beyond the sky?"  Guyal's father finally decides to send Guyal to find the Museum of Man where he can meet the Curator who reportedly has the answers to all questions.  He provides Guyal with magical protection so that Guyal is safe as long as he stays on the trail and does not leave it.  Guyal encounters a strange man who plays the flute but turns out to be something other than what he appears.  Later he meets some men from Saponce who coax him off the trail to welcome him.  He is warned not to touch a sacred section of land.  Guyal's horse is spooked, however, and accidentally steps on the sacred area.  The other men tell him he has violated a strict Saponid law and arrest him despite his appeals.  They quickly convict Guyal of "impertinence, impiety, disregard and impudicity."  As penalties he has to swear never again to repeat his crime and to judge a beauty contest called the Grand Pageant of Pulchritude.  The third penalty will not be disclosed to him until he has complied with the first two.  It is the third penalty, however, that ends up being dangerous to him.  The rest of the story is humorous and entertaining and reads somewhat like a Monty Python skit.  This was my favorite story of the six, and I especially enjoyed the quirky twists and the ending.