'Scuse me for a second while I hijack the thread here...
I recently hit up my library for any of Vance's "Dying Earth" saga. Unfortunately, the only bit they had was his "Cugel's Saga" - which, as I understand, was a sequel to his other Cugel book, and didn't really contain any good descriptions of "Vancian magic," which is why I was trying to get my hands on his writings in the first place.
I'd argue with the characterization of Cugel not being clever - he actually does pull off some fairly good cons from time to time, as well as noticing quite a few things that others don't. Where he falls down is in figuring out that OTHERS are also trying to con HIM - he's got high valuations in Bluff, Spot, and Search, but he neglected to put any points into Sense Motive. Oops.
Okay book, nothing too spectacular. Bunch of people on a world that could die at any time, with nobody too concerned about what happens tomorrow, all trying to rip each other off.