1-56865-504-5
USA  /  English
The Demon Princes - The Star King/The Killing Machine/The Palace of Love/The Face/The Book of Dreams - Jack Vance
SFBC (1998)
In Collection
#195

Rating:
10

Read It:
Yes
Fantasy

Reader Review from Criminal Justice Policy Foundation:

THE DEMON PRINCES is an anthology of five related science fiction novels written by the Grandmaster Jack Vance between the years 1964 and 1981, set about 1500 years in the future. The hero of the stories, Kirth Gersen, is a kind of "James Bond/Sherlock Holmes in Space"; who, as a young boy finds himself and his grandfather witnesses and sole survivors of a town massacre perpetrated by five "Demon Princes". Kirth's grandfather grooms him to seek revenge, and enrolls him in an elite Intergalactic Police Training Academy, where Kirth excels, and sets out to "The Beyond" to locate and extract revenge against the Demon Princes.

As is always the case with Jack Vance books, be sure to keep a dictionary handy and prepare to improve your vocabulary. I find myself looking up a new word on average of once every 4 or 5 pages... and I rarely have to look up a new word when reading books produced by most modern-day authors.

Following are brief reviews of each of the 5 stories contained in THE DEMON PRINCES:

THE STAR KING **** (1964, 170 pages) - A nicely interwoven tale of mystery, intrigue, action, courtship, and alien worlds. "They just don't write `em like this any more".

THE KILLING MACHINE **** (1964, 165 pages) - Somewhat similar to THE STAR KING in that Kirth ends up having a hard time telling what the "bad guy" Kokor Hekkus really looks like. The alien world that Kirth traces Hekkus to is something out of the Middle Ages, with castles, princes and princesses, but also includes huge dreadful centipede-like man-killing beasts. Kirth manages to come into quite a bit of money by the end of this story.

THE PALACE OF LOVE **** (1967, 185 pages) - After the princess from THE KILLING MACHINE ends up taking a walk because she can't live with Kirth Gersen's single-mindedness, Kirth tracks the oddball Demon Prince Viole Falushe to his secret "Palace of Love". Interesting subplot regarding the plight of typical slaves on the lawless planets "beyond".

THE FACE ***** (1979, 222 pages) - Fantastic story, it is my pleasure to say that this is one of the best stories I've ever read. It has it all; action, mystery, romance, believable situations, innovative alien worlds and cultures - all leading up to a superb ending. This particular story is so good that it single-handedly brings the entire anthology (which is otherwise made up mostly of 4-star offerings) up to a 5-star rating.

THE BOOK OF DREAMS ***** (1981, 222 pages) - Another top-notch story, which starts out with Kirth Gerson using a ruse somewhat similar to that described in A. Conan Doyle's THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE, in order to attract the interest of the last remaining Demon Prince, H.A. Treesong... he then chases him from one bizzare future human culture world to another - including one funny/wild scene where he buys his way into a high school reunion garden party band as a beginner flute player, to get a chance to kill Treesong.

Cover Artist Walotsky, Ron

Product Details
Format Hardcover
Extras Dust Jacket
Series The Demon Princes
Volume #'s 1-5
Cover Price $5.35
Nr of Pages 964
Original Title The Demon Princes
Original Subtitle (Separate Books)
Original Publisher Tor Books
Original Country USA
Original Language English
Personal Details
Store SciFi Book Club
Location Mary Kelley's Personal Library
Condition Fine
Owner Mary Kelley
Links Amazon US
Barnes & Noble