“The better to order his faculties, Cugel took a long draught of beer.”
I was going to write a long review of Jack Vance’s Cugel’s Saga, the book about the adventures and misfortunes of the outrageously selfish and coward Cugel the Clever (or so he thinks,) but I have decided to let the book and its florid style speak for themselves.
Don’t panic, it will be a short expatiation, just a few things from the first chapter, but they will be enough to convince you of its merits.
After some magical mischief, Cugel finds himself lost. He comes upon “an elaborate manse of archaic design” and tries to convince the peculiar doorman to let him in.
Emperor's Notepad 