Meant to post this for a while now, but kept getting distracted.
City of Saints and Madmen (Jeff Vandermeer)
I finished the initial four stories pretty quickly, but the appendix took a while to read because I enjoyed taking my time on it. Overall I really liked it. As an introduction to an original setting with its own history, culture, geography, and cast of characters from across the ages, it was really compelling both in what it told and how it was told. I really appreciated the formatting in the book too. It gave each story a unique feel and reinforced the illusion of the stories all being part of other larger separate books or self-contained publications. Really cool.
In terms of the content of each story, I think I liked the academic ones the best. The Early History of Ambergris and the monograph about the King Squid were really interesting and yet humorous. Filled with little hints and cries for help from the authors, trapped in their delusions or total cynicism of what they were writing. Dradin was a good opening story too, if rather predictable. It seemed obvious where the story was going, but at the same time it served as a good introduction to the city's locales and culture from the eyes of an outsider. It also set the tone of what to expect from the other first person stories in the collection - dread, insanity, and bad ends.
But the book isn't perfect. There's a huge flaw which sticks out right from the start, and continues to infest the book throughout, all the way to the end. I don't know if it is Vandermeer's ego, his obsession, or both, but the desire to self insert his personality and the book itself into the framework of the collection, taking up entire stories to create this meta narrative about the real world and Ambergris was just too much for me. It felt like bad fan fiction compromising the quality of much better works. Would have liked the collection much better without all the stuff about X. Although I did like the "message" at the end of The Man With No Eyes. That's the sort of meta stuff I feel more comfortable with, where it's just a little clever stinger at the end making the reader think about their own role in what makes a story.
Would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes psychological horror, Lovecraftian stuff, or just unorthodox period to modern fantasy settings with great world building.
The Dying Earth (Jack Vance)
I finished up the first book in the Tales of the Dying Earth collection too. The Dying Earth itself is a collection of six short stories which take place in a post-apocalyptic Earth setting which has over the centuries turned into some quasi-fantasy setting. Very D&D-ish in terms of naming conventions, although it pre-dates (and actually inspired) such conventions. Takes some getting used to. The stories themselves range from mediocre to pretty interesting. I wouldn't say it's a great read overall, but I enjoyed it for the oldschool style in the plotting. It doesn't waste any time in each of the stories, it has no airs about being some grand important work with something to say, but rather it just tells a few good stories which are quirky, interesting, or somewhat conventional. My favorite stories were the ones which ended poorly for the narrators - unfortunate tales which serve as a warning to poor character traits, but framed around unusual settings.
Probably the most interesting thing I've gotten out of reading Dying Earth was seeing the root of inspiration for many of the great modern fantasy writers today. George R R Martin and Gene Wolfe in particular are clearly very much influenced by the style and tone here, even they have greatly improved upon it in their own ways both in themes and in prose. In particular, way scientific advancements and modern technology is described in a somewhat deceptive way owing to the narration being framed around a fantasy minded setting is something that is a very clear comparison to Wolfe's work in the Solar Cycle books.
Before continuing with the rest of Tales of the Dying Earth, I think I'm going to read Emphyrio first. I think it would be more interesting to see what Vance can do with a longer story structure.
If you get through the first Shallan chapter without dying of boredom, you'll probably be fine.
