The Narrow Land

by Jack Vance
Reviewed date: 2013 Nov 5
176 pages
cover art

  • The Narrow Land: Ern's life begins as a water-baby in sea-shallows of the Narrow Land. Later he is kidnapped by one-crested men, sold to the two-crested men, and finally comes to realize that he is a freak--a three!
  • The Masqerade on Dicantropus: An enigmatic pyramid on the planet Dicantropus draws the attention of visiting Earthmen, who eventually discover that the pyramid was a smokescreen--to attract the attention of outsiders so that the real secret of Dicantropus stays a secret.
  • Where Hesperus Falls: Henry Revere, immortal due to a freak laboratory accident, is weary of life after living nearly a 100,000 years. But his guardians consider him an invaluable part of humanity's history, and refuse to allow him to die.
  • The World-Thinker: Lanarck pursues Isabel May across the galaxy and into a universe created by the mind of Laoome--but Laoome's mind is slowly going insane.
  • Green Magic: Howard Fair, master of white, black, and purple magic, discovers the secret of green magic in his great uncle Gerald McIntyre's journal. Fair convinces a green sprite to teach him everything about the green realm. The more Fair learns, the more he realizes that he will never be able to master the green arts, and the more drab and unfulfilling his own world becomes.
  • The Ten Books: A lost colony builds their entire civilization around a set of encyclopedias about Earth.
  • Chateau D'If: Roland Mario goes to the Chateau D'If, where they sell two kinds of adventure: the first kind for ten million dollars (cheap at that price), and the second for $10,000. Mario takes the $10,000 adventure, and wakes up in the fat, sick body of Ralston Ebery.


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