The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph

Magnus Ridolph, at first glance, did not look like an interstellar troubleshooter. He was not tall and muscular, his skin had not been turned to a rugged colour of bronze by the numerous distant suns he had visited, and his voice and manner seemed far too mild for an adventurer.

Yet there was a chill hardness in his mild blue eyes that warned of the deceptiveness in his appearance. Throughout the galaxy there were men and other beings – Yellowbirds, Tau Gemini ant-things, Hectian anthropes – who could testify to the deadliness that lurked behind those eyes.

In Magnus Ridolph, Jack Vance has created one of the most memorable characters of his award-winning career.