Rhialto the Marvellous-Jack Vance novel, book review

Rhialto the Marvellous-Jack Vance novel

AKA: “Tales of the Dying Earth, Book IV”

Rhialto the Marvellous is the fourth and last novel in Vance’s Tales of the Dying Earth series.  It was first published in 1984 and can be read as a stand alone novel.  My copy is 158 pages.  It consists of a foreward and three stories, each involving Rhialto a magician or sorcerer.  These stories are: The Murthe, Fader's Waft and Morreion.  The first two stories were written for the novel.  The last story, Morreion, was previously published as a novella in the 1973 Flashing Swords! 

1. The Murthe
2. Fader’s Waft
3. Morreion (First published in April 1973 as a novella in the anthology Flashing Swords! #1)

Foreward: Rhilato the Marvellous begins with a four page forward that informs us that "these are tales of the 21st Aeon, when Earth is old and the sun is about to go out.  In Ascolais and Almery, lands to the west of the Falling Wall, live a groups of magicians who have formed an association the better to protect their interests."  Twenty four magicians are then listed with a brief description of most.  Magic is described as a practical science or craft where effectiveness is most important and understanding is of lesser value.  Spells are simply commands the magician makes to impel an entity to perform a duty.  "These entities are not necessarily intelligent, nor even sentient and their conduct, from  the tyro's point of view, is unpredictable, capricious and dangerous."  The entities range from frail elements to very powerful creatures called sandestins.  "More fractious entities are known by the Temuchin as daihak, which include demons and gods.  A magician's power derives from the abilities of the entities he is able to control."  But the current magicians pale in comparison to the powerful magicians of the past.  "The magicians of the 21st Aeon were, in comparison, a disparate and uncertain group, lacking both grandeur and consistency."

1. The Murthe is the first story. It is 23 pages long and begins with the introduction of our main character, a magician called “Rhialto the Magnificent.”  Rhialto is at home and decides to take a walk in the forest with Malfezar's Woe, his magical baton.  Soon he faintly hears strange music and then finds a pond and notices  a woman's reflection in it.  When he looks up, however, there is no woman corresponding to the reflection in the water.  He asks the reflection if it called him there but receives no response except a cool smile from the woman's reflection.  As he bows courteously to leave something shoves him into the pond.  The reflection of the woman disappears, and he climbs out of the water and returns home.  But Rhilato soon begins feeling feverish and has a ringing in his ears.  He later learns that a spell had been cast on him but he learns how to undo the spell.

Rhialto consults with is good friend Ildefonse about the strange incident at the pond.  While talking they encounter a man named Lehuster the Benefer who claims to be from the past and says he is in pursuit of the White Witch Llorio also known as the Murthe.  The Murthe is a powerful witch who has fled into the future to the 21st Aeon where she hopes to rise again in power and avoid detection by a powerful magician who defeated and exiled her from the past.  He warns Rhialto and Ildefonse that the Murthe will try to put a spell on them called “ensqualmation” and this will turn them into women who are aligned with the Murthe.  When the victim becomes a woman, “An early mannerism is the habit of darting the tongue rapidly in and out of the mouth." 

Rhialto, Ildefonse and another magician, Lehuster, eventually find themselves pitted against the powerful Murthe while the other magicians have darting tongues and refuse to assist.  The story continues with the introduction of magical IOUN stones and the creation of replicate Calanctus, the magician from the past who defeated the Murthe.  It is a mildly interesting but not memorable tale and for me the least interesting of the three.

2. Fader's Waft is the second story and it is 91 pages long.  Here Rhialto's best friend Ildefonse is proclaimed the new “Preceptor” of the magicians and is granted many powers over the other magicians.  One of the other magicians named Hache-Moncour becomes jealous and angry toward Rhialto and begins instigating situations where Rhilato seems to be offending or causing harm to the other magicians.  Soon all of the magicians except Ildefonse are upset with Rhialto, and Hache-Moncour prompts them to act against Rhilato while he is away by invading his home and stealing all of his items of magic.  When Rhialto returns they accuse him of violating the Blue Principles, the code or law that governs the behavior of magicians.  But Rhialto claims the codes they are citing are not in the original Principles.  He also claims that they are the ones who have violated the Blue Principle, not he.  Neither allegation can be proven because Rhialto’s copy of the Principles were badly damaged by the other magicians and nobody else has a copy.  They agree to visit the place where the Blue Principles are kept so they can verify if Rhilato is guilty of violating the code or if he is correct in maintaining that the other magicians are the ones who have violated the Principles.  The original Blue Principles are contained within a wine barrel sized egg like container called the Perciplex that is kept at Fader's Waft.  Unfortunately when they arrive at Fader's Waft they find that the original Blue Principles has been replaced by a forgery. 

Most of the story involves Rhialto's attempt to recover the original Principles by going back in time.  His adventures are detailed, intricate, fascinating and often humorous.  Here we see sandestins at work and how magicians have a difficult task commanding these creatures to do their work.  Sandestins sometimes obey the letter of the command without complying with the spirit or intent of the command.  They also frequently attempt to bargain to their own advantage to reduce the time of their indenture.  Some readers might find Fader's Waft to be overly complex and detailed, but I thought the story was fascinating and ripe with interesting details and imaginative creations.  It was my second favorite of the three stories in the novel although it is not Vance at his very best.

3.Morreion is the third and final story and is 40 pages long. It was first published in 1973 as a novella in the anthology Flashing Swords! #1 which had both hardcover and paperback issues.  In 1979 Underwood-Miller offered a limited edition hardcover publication that was limited to 1200 copies with 200 of them being signed and numbered.  In 1984 Morreion was issued as chapter 3 of the novel Rhialto the Marvellous.  

Rhilato and a group of other magicians decide embark on a journey to the end of the universe to locate another magician named Morreion who went on a trip many years ago seeking the origin of magical IOUN stones.  Morreion had never returned.  The magicians pretend to be mostly concerned about the welfare and whereabouts of Morreion but are actually more interested in obtaining more IOUN stones.  It is a humorous journey with the odd, eccentric and often verbose magicians traveling on "Vermoulian's wonderful peregrine palace," an ornate, glittering ship that takes them to the edge of the universe.  The flying palace has loggias, formal gardens, an entrance pavilion with three acres with a marble balustrade and a center fountain with a hundred jets of water..  "Vermoulian's guests occupied suites in the wings; under the central spire where the various salons, the morning and afternoon rooms, the library, the music chamber , the formal dining room and the lounge."  While aboard this flying palace the magicians engage in such odd dialog as, "Enough of this intolerable inanity!  I propose that such loquacity passes beyond the scope of nuisance and over the verge of turpitude."  It reminded me somewhat of Terry Pratchett's bumbling wizards and was light and humorous to read.  Morreion is easily the best of the three stories.

Rhialto the Marvellous does not approach the truly "marvelous" heights of Cugel the Clever/The Eyes of the Overworld or Cugel: the Skybreak Spatterlight/Cugel's Saga and is a notch below Mazirian the Magician/The Dying Earth.  Vance fans will probably still want to read it.  I've read the novel three times so far and continue to find it to be the least interesting of the four Tales of the Dying Earth series.  I rated it a 4 "Really liked it."