Eyes Of The Overworld Views

General Goods

Cugel is easily persuaded by the merchant Fianosther to attempt the burglary of the manse of Iucounu the Laughing Magician. Trapped and caught, he agrees that in exchange for his freedom he will undertake the recovery of a small hemisphere of violet glass, an Eye of the Overworld, to match one already in the wizard's possession. A small sentient alien entity of barbs and hooks, named Firx, is attached to his liver to encourage his unremitting loyalty, zeal and singleness of purpose, and Iucounu uses a spell to transport Cugel via flying demon to the remote Land of Cutz.

There, Cugel finds two villages, one occupied by wearers of the violet lenses, the other by peasants who work on behalf of the lens-wearers, in hopes of being promoted to their ranks. The lenses cause their wearers to see, not their squalid surroundings, but the Overworld, a vastly superior version of reality where a hut is a palace, gruel is a magnificent feast, etc. — seeing the world through rose-colored glasses on a grand scale. Cugel gains an Eye by trickery, and escapes from Cutz. He then undertakes an arduous trek back to Iucounu, cursing the magician the entire way; this forms the principal part of the book.

I really like The Eyes of the Overworld. It strikes a very nice balance between plot, linguistic display, adventure, and misanthropy. I found the subsequent Dying Earth efforts hard to get through--Vance got so caught up in his verbal dynamite that Cugel's sequel (which name is escaping me at the moment) felt more like a stage-play than a novel. And the central idea of Cugel's journey through the law of equivalences got awfully repetitious the second time around.Of course, I think the original The Dying Earth is the best of the bunch and one who's mood I have vainly attempt to evoke in gaming.

... and finally there is the Eyes of the Overworld . This obscure artifact pushes the wearer's view sense into the overworld -- another name for a segment of the Astral Plane. Usually, there is nothing to be seen. However, the wearer is also able to look back and see the area around herself, much like looking on a map. Why anyone would want to ...