The Killing Machine

Demon Princes #2

by Jack Vance, Gino D'Achille (Illustrator)

Having brought arch-villain Malagate the Woe to justice, Gersen now sets his sights on Kokor Hekkus, another of the Demon Princes. The name Kokor Hekkus, which means "killing machine" in the language of the planet Thamber, does not refer to Hekkus's own predilection for homicide, but to his fondness for horrific and murderous devices, including the giant robotic executioner that first gained him his nickname.

The Killing Machine is part 2 of 5 of The Demon Princes Series.
The Demon Princes is a five-book series of science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which cumulatively relate the story of one Kirth Gersen as he exacts his revenge on five notorious criminals, collectively known as the Demon Princes, who carried his village off into slavery during his childhood. Each novel deals with his pursuit of one of the five Princes.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Fantasy, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

158 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1964

About the author

Aka John Holbrook Vance, Peter Held, John Holbrook, Ellery Queen, John van See, Alan Wade.

The author was born in 1916 and educated at the University of California, first as a mining engineer, then majoring in physics and finally in journalism. During the 1940s and 1950s, he contributed widely to science fiction and fantasy magazines. His first novel, The Dying Earth , was published in 1950 to great acclaim. He won both of science fiction's most coveted trophies, the Hugo and Nebula awards. He also won an Edgar Award for his mystery novel The Man in the Cage . He lived in Oakland, California in a house he designed.

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack Vance was to other science fiction writers as Radagast was to Gandalf – a respected, if often misunderstood peer, worthy of respect but following his own rules and powerful in his own way.

Vance created his Demon Princes stories in the mid 1960s, relating the quest of hero Kirth Gersen who avenges his people on the five criminals (collectively the Demon Princes) who destroyed them. Gersen, the sole survivor, is fueled for revenge and each novel deals with his confrontation with each criminal. This Kill Bill theme was carried out over five books and finished with The Book of Dreams in 1981.

The Killing Machine deals with Gersen’s pursuit of Kokor Hekkus, who kills people to stay alive from their body parts and whose fascination with a killing machine made me think of the Speed Racer episode with the Mammoth Car.

Actually, this CLASSIC SF from the 60s makes me think that an animated film would be the perfect medium for a video interpretation, and would look great in the Speed racer anime style.

Great SF, a must read for Vance fans.

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes a science fiction classic? For one thing, it must age well, and Vance's Demon Princes series does this in spades. Published in 1964, TKM is almost 60 years old but still seems fresh and novel. We do have some archaic tech aspects-- newspapers in print form, slide rules and such-- but if anything, these aspects only add to the novel and in no way detract from the story. Secondly, Vance is a master of putting an amazing amount of story in as few words as possible; the way he almost casually builds worlds and situations in a compelling way should serve as a lesson for the bloated works that came along with word processors and computers. Thirdly, it must be a great story and here Vance excels with TKM.

What makes TKM so unusual regarding the story/plot is that we know basically what is going to happen from the get go. Kirth Gersen is a man with a mission. As a child he witnessed the raid led by the 'five demon princes' on his world that enslaved or killed the entire population except him and his grandfather. From the age of 10 or so, Gersen was taught only one thing-- vengeance. His mission in life is to kill the five princes and in The Star King, the first of this series, he, after many trials and tribulations, managed to kill the first. You know that in TKM he will take out a second demon prince. How, therefore, does Vance manage to capture if not totally enthrall the reader? I think it comes down to his fantastic world building, the complex characters and finally, the existential issues posed and reflected upon along the way.

The 'civilized' portion of human space is deemed the Oikumene and one of the hubs of it if you will is centered on Rigal and the 20 some habitable planets that orbit it; this serves as Gersen's home base. 'Beyond' consists of all the human settlements outside of the Oikumene, as in beyond the pale. With space ships propelled by FLT drives widely available, it is easy to travel around the Oikumene and the beyond, and indeed, the beyond consists largely of rebels, dissidents and criminals, including the five demon princes. The loose governance structure of the Oikumene and its major institutions are deftly rendered largely via quotes/exerts/quips at the start of each chapter. The first chapter of TKM, for example, starts with a description of the SVU (standard value unit)-- a common currency utilized in Oikumene and how counterfeiting is thwarted. Vance builds very complex worlds and institutions with very little ink. Amazing.

The demon featured in TKM is really a nasty piece of work; he has given widely quoted lectures on terror and how to induce it and loves utilizing machines to achieve his aims. His nickname comes from a guillotine like device he designed that employs a huge ax blade to chop a person in half lengthwise. He, like the last demon king (and I am sure the rest of them as well) is seldom seen and acts via proxies; his 'lair' if you will is also unknown. How will Gersen manage to track him down and kill him? You will have to read it to find out! Another reviewer called this series Kill Bill in space and that fits, but I would be amazed if Tarantino did not read the Demon Princes series as an inspiration. Easy 5 stars!!

[Dirk Grobbelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presently the ship crossed the separation between the Oikumene and the Beyond, and now law, order, civilization, had no formal existence.

Thus continues the saga of Kirth Gersen – assassin, sleuth, bounty hunter, spy....

The premise of the series isn’t the strongest (it’s a standard revenge story), and I won’t go into detail here (the book synopsis takes care of that). However, when it comes to Jack Vance there is always a lot more to be had from a story than the overarching story-line. Vance had an electrifying way with words, and his depictions of characters and places are often singularly unique and delightful. In fact, if he couldn’t find words sufficient to the task, he would invent new ones. There is a book dedicated to his neologisms (The Jack Vance Lexicon: From Ahulph To Zipangote: The Coined Words Of Jack Vance) as well as a website called Totality (pharesm.org), where you can search the Vance Integral Edition texts.

Total respect. Vance, by all indications, was highly regarded by contemporaries and has inspired many other authors. It is a shame that he is not better known.

I should make some mention of the nature of the protagonist of this book here. In addition to the fact that it is a task he has been prepared for since childhood, Kirth Gersen believes it is his absolute destiny to avenge the Mount Pleasant massacre. He could just be right. The way he finagles himself out of impossible situations relying not only on his wits and his physical skills, but also on a more than reasonable amount of providence, does require some suspension of disbelief. There is never any doubt in the reader’s mind that our hero will prevail, and it becomes a question of “how” rather than “if”. In this respect, a character like Cugel the Clever from the Dying Earth series is almost an exact anti-thesis. But such is the nature of these books.

It is Rigel, that magnificent star among stars, whose prodigious luminosity and spacious Zone of Habitability has afforded the Concourse its existence. Impossible not to marvel at the sheer grandeur of the system! Think of it! Twenty-six salubrious worlds swinging in stately thousand-year orbits around the dazzling white sun, at a mean radius of thirteen billion miles, not to mention the six oft-ignored planets of the incandescent Inner Belt, and Blue Companion, a fortieth of a light-year to the side!
But the very circumstances that make the Concourse what it is provide one of the galaxy’s most tantalizing mysteries.

As for the universe that Vance created. The Oikumene of this series is a precursor to the Gaean Reach of his subsequent stories. In this future, humankind has spread to the stars in uncoordinated fashion, leading to a situation where there are many worlds that have been developing separately and in isolation (each with their own particular quirks, races and technologies). There are also “lost” worlds, that the factions of the Oikumene are not aware of, notably in the Beyond. It is a future history that lends itself to rich storytelling for someone like Vance, who was never too bothered with the minutiae of proper science, but rather with “peoples and places” (i.e. interesting societies and fascinating worlds are at the heart of his stories).

A moment later he saw one of the strangest sights of his lifetime. Down the valley came twenty or thirty large centipedes, each mounted by five men.

Planetary romance / Sword and Planet are probably the sub genres that best describe this. But written by a true master.

”You are acquainted with Kokor Hekkus?”
“I have seen him across the field of war.

[Algernon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five men destroyed my home, killed all my kin, enslaved my friends. I hope to bring retribution to these five. Malagate is dead. Kokor Hekkus will be next.

Let’s make things simple before we dive into the twists and turns of this second planetary romance series from Jack Vance. Kirth Gersen is a future avatar of the Edmont Dantes template, a relentless man driven by a singular purpose in life: to make the five men who destroyed his life pay for their crime. The series will comprise of five episodes, and in each one Gersen will confront one of Demon Princes. Malagate was dispatched in the first volume. ‘The Killing Machine’ is one of the nicknames of the elusive Hekkus, whose first accidental encounter with Gersen ends in a draw and produces a cryptic piece of text titled ‘How to become a hormagaunt.’
as the author explains later, a hormagaunt is a sort of vampire who sucks the life essence of his young victims in order to become immortal. The practice also grants him shapeshifting abilities, making positive identification of the hormagaunt almost impossible.

It may well be asked how, from so many thieves, kidnappers, pirates, slavers, and assassins within – and beyond the Pale, one can isolate five individuals and identify them as ‘Demon Princes’. The author, while conceding to a certain degree of arbitrariness, can nevertheless in good conscience define the criteria that in his mind establish the Five as arch-fiends and overlords of evil.

Each chapter of the novel is prefaced by a pseudo-scientific quote from an academic paper, a clever/hilarious device to introduce the plot and the characters.

For me, the episode is an easy four star book, plus one rabid-fan star because it went down the hatch much easier than the first one, since the worldbuilding and the main story-arc are already established and we can focus on the action-adventure. The powers of invention, the sense of awe at the scale of his galactic spread, the easy transfer from science-fiction to fantasy within the same book, the future cultural anthropology that studies the influence of environment and culture on social institutions, the tongue-in-cheek, amoral characters, the elaborate phrasing and quirky words [cockalorum, hurlothrumbo] are all hallmarks of the author’s unique style that has its origins in old-school planetary romance form the pulp period. Consider for example, the naming conventions that Jack Vance likes to use: always bizarre, alien, intriguing, original.

Gersen first encountered Kokor Hekkus at the age of nine. Crouching behind an old barge, he watched slaughter, pillage, enslavement. This was the historic Mount Pleasant Massacre, notable for the unprecedented cooperation of the five so-called Demon Princes. Kirth Gersen and his grandfather survived; five names became as familiar to Gersen as his own: Attel Malagate, Viole Falushe, Lens Larque, Howard Alan Treesong, Kokor Hekkus.

Vance knows this is not enough to help the reader remember who’s who in this fictional universe, so he adds something specific to each Demon Prince:

Each had his distinctive quality. Malagate was insensate and grim, Viole Falushe gloried in sybaritical refinements, Lens Larque was a megalomaniac, Howard Alan Treesong a chaoticist. Kokor Hekkus was the most mercurial, fantastic, and inaccessible, the most daring and inventive. [...] He was, by popular repute, immortal.

Even more helpful in establishing the main plot of the second episode is the use of foreshadowing. The selection of scientific articles at the start of each chapter is not random. First they remind us of the main story arc by re-introducing the adversaries of Gersen, then it informs us that there will be a discussion about currency in the galactic spread of humanity known as the Oikumene:

In all commercial communities, the prevalence or absence of counterfeit money, spurious bills of exchange, forged notes-of-hand, or any of a dozen other artifices to augment the value of blank paper is a matter of great concern.

Money is a matter of great concern to Kirth Gersen since, unlike his role-model Edmont Dantes, said Gersen doesn’t have access to a hidden treasure chest on a lost island. Getting kidnapped and held for ransom in an interesting institution known as the Interchange [a sort of clearing house for kidnap victims] by the very same man he is chasing, prompts our hero to become creative and to rescue himself.

In the same Interchange, Kirth Gersen meets two other victims of Hekkus: an inventor of mechanical devices and the most beautiful girl in the galaxy. As every teenage pulp reader knows, manly pursuits and adventures on strange planets are all made better if you spice things up with a dose of romance.
Alusz Iphigenia Eperje-Tokay is not really another kidnap victim: she has come to the Interchange of her own free will, in order to escape the insistent mariage proposals of Kokor Hekkus. She hopes that by setting a ridiculously high ransom prize she is safe within the walls of Interchange, but Hekkus has started a galaxy wide campaign of kidnappings in order to make the payment. The Demon Prince must be truly in love with the dame.

... while they were under hypnotic condition I added the suggestion that they work with greater zeal and accuracy, that they feel neither thirst, hunger, loquacity, nor fatigue during working hours, and I must say that for a space I have never seen such an admirable set of workers.

Myron Patch is an entrepreneur, owner of a mechanical workshop and inventor. Like Gersen, this guy has run afoul of the mysterious Hekkus and has been kidnapped. His ransom is calculated to compensate a contract to built a mechanical fire-breathing dragon for the Demon Prince. Gersen senses an opportunity here to finally make contact with his prey, and liberates both the beautiful girl and the amoral capitalist from the Interchange.

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Which brings us to my favorite part of the episode and to the transition from science-fiction to fantasy that I mentioned earlier.

Technology and the ways of modern living were unknown on Thamber.

Both captives who had direct contact with Kokor Hekkus mention that he is hiding on the planet Thamber, where the beautiful Alusz Iphigenia was born. This information isn’t as helpful as one might think, since the girl doesn’t remember the way she took to escape her malevolent suitor, and everybody else in the Oikumene consider Thamber a myth. Yet where there is a compelling will for revenge there is also the way to travel to Thamber.
Once there prepare to marvel at the setting, equal in my opinion to the Planet of Adventure Tschai or with the Tales of the Dying Earth from the same author.

Thamber was a wonderful world. No one knew when the first man had arrived; the time was lost in the past. There were various continents, subcontinents, peninsulas, and a great archipelago of tropical islands. [...] Alusz Iphigenia mentioned a score of peoples, each of distinct character. Certain of these produced great music and pageants of heart-stopping grandeur; others were fetishists and murderers ruled by ogres. In the mountains lived bandit chieftains and arrogant lordlings, each secure in his castle. Everywhere were wizards and warlocks, capable of the most astounding feats, and one weird area to the north of the largest continent was ruled by fiends and demons.

The last quote is in fact a resume of the basic story elements Vance uses to give life to his creations, and I will make use of it here as a teaser of possibilities for adventure and mischief opened by the setting, leaving actual plot details to be discovered by readers on their own journey to Thamber.

My last observation attempts to explain the unexplainable: the fascinating dilemma of a science-fiction author who has little respect for actual science and prefers to focus on the esoteric aspects of the human mind and on the future of our social structures, a writer who always strives for style, for the poetic image instead of a revolutionary physics theorem.

There is a human quality that cannot be precisely named: possibly the most noble of all human qualities. It includes but is larger than candor, generosity, comprehension, niceness of distinction, intensity, steadiness of purpose, total commitment. It is participation in all human perceptions, recollection of all human history. It is characteristic of every great creative genius and can never be learned: learning in this regard is bathos – the dissection of a butterfly, a spectroscope turned to the sunset, the psychoanalysis of a laughing girl. The attempt to learn is self-destructive; when erudition comes in, poetry departs.

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Two Demon Princes slayed/defeated. Three to go in this unusual series.

[Luís · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thank the person who gave their SF books to me very much. A Jack Vance, hop in my bag! It cannot refused. "The killing machine". People looked at me strangely. Indeed, this title in white capital letters stands out against the blue background of the front cover. It catches the eye of the neighbors (a weak word when we're packed like sardines on the bus). It's the second volume of the Demon Princes series, but since it's a gift, I'll take it. It's not blocking for reading, whether it's volume 2 or not, and it's easy to understand. There are no quotes to repeat, but it remains a good reading pleasure, especially towards the end with the meeting between Gersen and Alusz Iphinegia of Draszane and, finally, the expected meeting with Kokor Hekkus. Gersen has been chasing him for so long. He is a terrible character who killed Gersen's family, and since then, the latter has been chasing him, as well as all the members of the gang of criminals. We move from one planet to another, from one world to another, with a different environment and characters, but I admit that the beginning seems disjointed. The end allows all the information to be assembled, and the pleasure begins. The fact remains that I need to correctly put into context the extracts, which sometimes punctuate the beginnings of chapters, and it is by reading the other volumes that the entirety of the messages will take shape. See you at the following deposit in the book box.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This is the second book of the Demon Princes series and shows Jack Vance at his best. A terrific, fun read. Classic SF at its best.

[Lizz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t write reviews.

And I have yet to meet a Vance story I didn’t like. Granted, Kirth Gersen is no Cugel the Clever, he is still a compelling character. He’s part square-jawed space hero, part chivalrous romantic, all kick-ass revenge machine. My favourite aspect of Gersen is his morality. In the current era, everyone roots for the villain. I enjoy the old-fashioned man with a purpose, who doesn’t stoop to the level of his enemies.

As these stories progress, we’re introduced to a series of five monster men. Kokor Hekkus is surely monstrous as we learn, and full of wicked creativity. His devious imagination leads to the creation of a giant mobile robot centipede fort that spits fire fore and aft, which I must admit is pretty cool.

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

a "hormagaunt": a soulless monster shaped as a man but lacking a face; the hormagaunt may be able to create masks to mime a human face... but can anything mime a soul? Kokor Hekkus: a man of many faces, lovelorn and whimsical; a creator of killing machines, himself nicknamed 'Killing Machine'; a mass kidnapper and murderer. Kirth Gersen: a man with one goal in life: kill his four remaining enemies. the moral of the tale: a longing for fanciful adventures, for love, for sensation, does not excuse mass kidnapping and murder. play your fanciful games on a lost medieval world, 'Killing Machine'; a modern energy blaster shall provide a suitable end to your adventures.

3.5 stars

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series belongs to my absolute all time favorites. I think I've read these books ten times or more and they are still interesting, great to read and fun.
For people who would like to try and start reading science fiction: please choose something by Jack Vance.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

After successfully dispatching the first of his lifelong enemies in the previous novel, The Star King, Kirth Gersen now takes on the second of the five demon princes, Kokor Hekkus, aka "The Killing Machine." The Killing Machine is even more fun than The Star King. It's full of diverse characters, exotic venues, hilarious fashions, weird food, awesome architecture, and bizarre machinery. Nobody outdoes Jack Vance for sheer inventiveness. The plot moves rapidly and contains plenty of action and suspense.

As with many of his novels, at the beginning of each chapter Vance imparts small amounts of background information in the form of excerpts from government documents, textbooks, popular sayings, magazine articles, planetary travel guides, etc. This is a clever way to give us knowledge without relying on the much maligned "info-dump" that's often endured in speculative fiction. Sometimes these excerpts are just a fun way to let us know about some interesting aspect of a planet's environment, history or culture; sometimes they're just an excuse for Jack Vance to say something smart or witty about politics, economics, biology, astronomy, or psychology; sometimes they give him a chance to give a nod or a jab to one of his SF friends ("Frerb Hankbert" was quoted in The Star King and "the dean of modern cosmologists, A.N. der Poulson" was mentioned in The Killing Machine). But occasionally, though they may seem irrelevant at first, they give us clues for solving a part of the plot's mystery.

In The Killing Machine we get to know Kirth Gersen a little better. We already knew he was clever, driven, and almost ruthless. Now we start to see a bit of remorse and melancholy as he muses about what his life would be like without this goal to take revenge on the five demon princes. And, more importantly, he begins to wonder: after he's finished, who will he have become?

www.fantasyliterature.com

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in a series of five called The Demon Princes, this is 1960’s science fiction at its best. Kirth Gersen’s family and friends were killed by a group of five horrendously terrible men, and Gersen is on a galaxy-wide rampage to track down and eliminate them, one by one. In this instalment, his target is Kokor Hekkus, who is hiding in a far remote planet that is known only in legend. Well-written, imaginative, engrossing, fun -- everything a gal needs to remove her from the stick-in-the-mud, overly serious academic world of full-time university – even if only for a day or two.

[Frank Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like the first one, this didn't exactly hold my interest through the whole story. I quite enjoyed the beginning but was a little disinterested by the end. I guess the semi-hero's vendetta just doesn't do it for me. Also like the first one, this had some notable laugh-out-loud funny moments.

[Jesús · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good example of why Jack Vance is one of my favourite authors.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Killing Machine is the second novel in the five book series by Jack Vance called The Demon Princes. It was first published as a novel in 1964 and is still in print. The text is 178 pages, making it the shortest book in the series. I read it several years ago and rated it a 4 but after reading it a second time I am rating it a 5. It remains my favorite of the first three books of the series.
For the most recent review and other Vance reviews please see:
https://vancealotjackvanceinreview.bl...

This time Kirth Gersen is looking for the star king named Kokor Hekkus, one of the five star kings who killed his parents and destroyed his childhood home. Kokor Hekkus means "killing machine" in the language on Hekkus's home planet of Thamber. This is a reference to the horrific giant combat machines Hekkus commissions to be made, the latest one resembling a highly aggressive, giant alien creature. While this war machine is being created Hekkus kidnaps some children of wealthy parents in order to raise more revenue. He takes them to the Interchange, a planet in the Beyond, where the hostages are confined until a ransom is collected. It is something of a prison and banking intermediary that collects a commission for the hostages held there who are ransomed, leaving the kidnappers free to deal with other activities and concerns. In order to get closer to Hekkus, Gersen takes on a commission from the parents of the children who were kidnapped in order to track down and try to rescue them. He visits the Interchange under the guise of a slave purchaser.

This is a very colorful, fast paced, entertaining novel with an intriguing, convoluted plot that includes many fascinating characters, tribes, and planets. After Gersen visits the Interchange and bids on hostages, he becomes a partner in an engineering company and assists to make a more effective mobile combat machine that people ride in and operate. This one has been commissioned by Kokor Hekkus and resembles a highly aggressive, giant, alien animal called a dnazd. At one point there is a colorful fight between the robot dnazd and a real dnazd. Gersen himself is kidnapped and while being confined he learns to make counterfeit money. Later he joins up with a tribe of primitive creatures who are at war with Hekkus and ends up challenging the leader of the tribe in order to rescue a woman in distress. Every page seems to bring some new encounter, often laced with irony or humor and always done with flair and imagination. Almost every wild adventure and activity is an attempt by Gersen to get closer to Kokor Hekkus so he can kill him for revenge. But this is very challenging because Hekkus is not only difficult to locate; he is difficult to even identify.

Most of the background material about Kirth Gersen is in the first book, The Star King, so this needs to be read prior to The Killing Machine. I've read all of The Demon Prince series twice now and will certainly do so again in a few years from now. Highly recommended.

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Killing Machine is the second novel in the five book series by Jack Vance called The Demon Princes. It was first published as a novel in 1964 and is still in print. My copy is 136 pages long, making it the shortest book in the series. I read it several years ago and rated it a 4 but after reading it a second time I am rating it a 5. It remains my favorite of the first three books of the series.

This time Kirth Gersen is looking for the star king named Kokor Hekkus, one of the five star kings who killed his parents and destroyed his childhood home. Kokor Hekkus means "killing machine" in the language on Hekkus's home planet of Thamber. This is a reference to the horrific giant combat machines Hekkus commissions to be made, the latest one resembling a highly aggressive, giant alien creature. While this war machine is being created Hekkus kidnaps some children of wealthy parents in order to raise more revenue. He takes them to the Interchange, a planet in the Beyond, where the hostages are confined until a ransom is collected. It is something of a prison and banking intermediary that collects a commission for the hostages held there who are ransomed, leaving the kidnappers free to deal with other activities and concerns. In order to get closer to Hekkus, Gersen takes on a commission from the parents of the children who were kidnapped in order to track down and try to rescue them. He visits the Interchange under the guise of a slave purchaser.

This is a very colorful, fast paced, entertaining novel with an intriguing, convoluted plot that includes many fascinating characters, tribes, and planets. After Gersen visits the Interchange and bids on hostages, he becomes a partner in an engineering company and assists to make a more effective mobile combat machine that people ride in and operate. This one has been commissioned by Kokor Hekkus and resembles a highly aggressive, giant, alien animal called a dnazd. At one point there is a colorful fight between the robot dnazd and a real dnazd. Gersen himself is kidnapped and while being confined he learns to make counterfeit money. Later he joins up with a tribe of primitive creatures who are at war with Hekkus and ends up challenging the leader of the tribe in order to rescue a woman in distress. Every page seems to bring some new encounter, often laced with irony or humor and always done with flair and imagination. Almost every wild adventure and activity is an attempt by Gersen to get closer to Kokor Hekkus so he can kill him for revenge. But this is very challenging because Hekkus is not only difficult to locate; he is difficult to even identify.

Most of the background material about Kirth Gersen is in the first book, The Star King, so this needs to be read prior to The Killing Machine. I've read all of The Demon Prince series twice now and will certainly do so again in a few years from now. Highly recommended.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

De Moordmachine van Jack Vance, ISB nummer 90 290 2018 0, vierde druk 1983, Uitgever Meulenhoff SF nummer 32. Tweede deel van de Duivelsprinsen reeks.

Ik krijg wel bij het invullen van het ISB nummer de hit op Goodreads dat dit de Sterrekoning zou zijn.

Eerste druk is van 1970, ook uitgegeven door Meulenhoff. Copyright is vastgesteld in 1964 en oorspronkelijke titel is The Killing Machine, Berkeley Books New York.
Vertaling door Mark Carpentier Alting en de omslag is van Tom Barber.

Ook in dit geval:
De cover is van Tom Barber, ook maakt hele mooie illustraties en heeft een indrukwekkende lijst van cover art. Hij is er even tussenuit geweest (1985-2005) en heeft toen weer zijn werk opgepakt.

De volgende personages spelen een grote dan wel kleine rol in het boek:
• Kirth Gersen, onze hoofdpersoon.
• Kokor Hekkus, de 2e Duivelsprins.
• Ben Zaum, IPCC (Interwereld Politie Coördinatie Compagnie).
• Mr. Hoskins, verwachtte misdadiger en contactpersoon van Kokor Hekkus.
• Billy Windle, Hormagaunt.
• Powel Darling, Sandusker.
• Dolver Cound, Sandusker.
• Ermin Strauk, Rob Castilligan en Hombaro. Deze drie hebben 10 jaar geleden samengewerkt met Kokor Hekkus.
• Rob Castilligan, ontvoerder van de kinderen van Duschane Audmar.
• Augus Wey en Pyger Symsy, de kinderen van Ducshane Audmar. De kindere worden in gijzeling gehouden op de planeet Interwissel.
• Alusz Iphigenia Eperje-Tokay, ze heeft zichzelf beschermd tegen de verliefdheid van Kokor Hekkus, door zich te laten onderbrengen op Interwissel tegen een prijs van 10 miljard SWE.
• Myron Patch, Werktuigbouwkundige en fabrikant die ook op Interwissel wordt gegijzeld voor een bedrag van 427.685 SWE wegens een geschil met Kokor Hekkus.
• Seuman Otwal is de opdrachtgever van Myron Patch. De machinefabriek van Myron Patch is gevestigd op Witlok in de hoofdstad Patris.
• Howard Wall, de bedrijfsleider/productiechef van de machinefabriek. Als je het boek leest, krijg je vanzelf meer te weten over Howard Wall.
• De Moordmachine is een wandelend fort in de vorm van een duizendpoot met 18 segmenten, een snelheid van 70 km/uur en is gebouwd door Myron Patch.

De held van dit verhaal is rechtvaardig, recht door zee, bereidt zich heel goed voor (en dat beschrijft Vance tot in detail), heeft de middelen en neemt vervolgens wraak. Wat een schitterend avontuur van Vance! Vance laat je kennis maken met verschillende werelden, de mensen en het eten, dat je direct meegesleept wordt in het verhaal.
We krijgen in dit tweede boek nu meer inzicht in het denken van Krith Gersten en maken ook kennis met zijn geweten en zijn overpeinzingen over het vraagstuk wat te doen als zijn queeste voorbij is.

[Curtiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recorded all of Jack Vance's Demon Princes books in 50-55 minute episodes for Golden Hours, my local radio service for blind and reading-impaired listeners. Too bad I didn't make CD copies for myself, since the radio station broadcast the tape versions and then erased them too reuse.

I guess I'll have to re-record them for Golden Hours and this time keep a copy, since Jack Vance has a wicked and sardonic sense of humor that I really enjoy, and this series of books is his absolute best.

I especially enjoyed the scam that the hero Kirth Gersen pulls in The Killing Machine to get millions of credits out of the hostage syndicate, and at the same time save the heroine from the villain, Kokor Hekkus.

The final page of The Face is priceless, the entire story is a build up to the last line,...






[SPOILER ALERT-DON'T READ AHEAD IF YOU DISLIKE REVELATIONS!]







"There's a great ugly Darsh face over your garden wall,"...
the face of Lens Larque, the villain, carved into the planet's moon by a sequence of explosive charges ironically set off by Kirth Gersen, himself.

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Demon Princes series is turning out to have more in common with a mystery than a space adventure. Kirth Gersen's tasks so far have been to track down and identify the villains. The path do doing so is delightfully roundabout, and Girsten might be monomaniacal about vengeance upon the Demon Princes, but his methods can be subtle when necessary.

Vance is no technologist and no futurist: amidst the intersplit FTL drive and projac pistols, the characters use paper money, handle photographs, and read glossy magazines.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loving this series!

[Florin Pitea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two down, three to go.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having successfully flushed out and killed the first of the five “demon princes” on his list, Kirth Gerson sets his sights on his next target: Kokor Hekkus, the “killing machine.” The trail leads Gerson to a scheme to build up a fantastic sum by kidnapping the loved ones of wealthy people for ransom. But to what end? And what does it have to do with the curious machine that Hekkus has contracted to have constructed, or the beautiful woman who is a willing prisoner of a syndicate?

The second novel in Jack Vance’s Demon Princes series is a punchy distillation of everything that makes his works so enjoyable. The book moves along at a fast clip thanks to a propulsive plot that has Gerson flitting from planet to planet in a determined search for his elusive enemy. Finding him is the central challenge, which requires Gerson to unravel Hekkus’s latest scheme. While this draws to some extent on plot points from the first novel in the series, The Star King, it is not to a degree that prevents the reader from enjoying this book at a stand-alone work.

Yet while the novel is very much plot-driven, Vance also explores further his protagonist’s character. Gerson’s life has been defined by his need for revenge for the crime inflicted on his family and world by the “demon princes.” While this is enough for many authors, Vance hints at the emptiness at the core of his pursuit, the growing questioning of its value. That this is sparked by his attraction to one of the characters is not the most imaginative development, but it does suggest some directions the later books of the series might take. Here’s hoping he pursues them, as not only does it make Gerson a much more compelling figure, but it helps to elevate his book over so many others of its type.

[Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice reread for old time's sake but definitely not a classic or a must read. Only Vance novels that are really great imo are the Lyonesse fantasy trilogy and The Dying Earth book 2 and 3 (Eyes of the overworld/Cugel) that stand by themselves. Don’t remember all the Vance novels I read more than a quarter of a century ago but I’ll end my Vance revisit here I think.

[Tomer · Rating 3 out of 5]

{2.5 rounded up} This one was again a bit of a wild ride, in serialized form and not much of characters' development. There are various interesting worlds and concepts, but not enough tangible substance to really sink my reading teeth here... Nonetheless these are short distractions from other things..

[Joe Santoro · Rating 2 out of 5]

I actually struggled to get through this one.. while there were some imaginative ideas as far as concepts go (I did like Interchange)... it's really just a string of adventures where the lead character goes through each type of archtype that is popular in turn.... he's a detective, and engineer, a con man, a warrior, etc.

The main character was far too good at everything, and, of course, he gets the girl in the end. Very disappointing with all the positive vibes Jack Vance gets.

[Lucy Batson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This and its predecessor (The Star King) were fine, but I think the Dying Earth books spoiled me in hops that everything Jack Vance wrote would be as bonkers as that was.

[Brett Lowey]

Classic Vance. Full of wry humor, intrigue and imagination!

[Surly Gliffs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julian introduced me to Vance's Demon Princes series. I found the first book, The Star King, witty and erudite, and so was quick to pick up the second and third volumes from the used-paperback section at Uncle Hugo's.

The Killing Machine is not quite as sharp as the first volume, and the analog space noir seems more quaint this time around. Vance is at his best when the prose is terse and the dialogue is clever, and when his hero Kirth Gersen relies on his wits instead of his brawn. The action moves swiftly enough that the plot holes can be excused as a matter of form. More troubling is the inane (and completely unnecessary) episode where Kirth defends the honor of a white woman from a pack of black primitives. In this book (a relatively early one in his career), Vance also seems to be telegraphing his move away from space opera into low fantasy.

Even with its warts, The Killing Machine was a fun, quick, and pulpy read. I plan to continue forging ahead with the Demon Princes, looking forward to more clever moments ahead. Recommended (with reservations) for those who like pulp space adventures and don't mind judicious use of slide rules in their science fiction.

[John Gossman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the most enjoyable romps in Vance's repertoire. It's almost pure adventure, featuring a classic over the top Vancian villain, a damsel in distress, clever ploys and heists, and ending up on a medieval world of knights and monsters. I always enjoy reading this one despite the relative shallowness of Gersen's character and (more surprisingly) very little of the typical Vance humor.

One of the really amazing aspects of Vance in this period (1960s) is his ability to produce gripping, self-contained novels with well-developed world-building in 200 pages or less. This length of work seems almost lost now in the gap between short stories and novels, which are rarely less than 300 pages and often longer. But this used to be routine, Zelazny and Vonnegut being two additional examples that come to mind.

[Jim Mcclanahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second of Vance's Demon Princes series, this one is a rootin' tootin' space opera recalling elements of other such tales from the golden era. Our anti-hero, Gerson, is hot on the trail of Kokor Hekkus,another of the villains responsible for the killing of his family. As usual with Vance, the narrative is literary and detailed. The characters are larger than life, yet still believeable. Central to the plot is the creation of a giant "fort" in the shape of a monstrous centipede, i.e., the killing machine. Only a series of misadventures take him to his ultimate goal. Don't let the 50+ year old milieu of values and pseudo-science discourage you. Absorbing and filled with intrigue, this is a great read.

[Chris Gager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stayed up a bit late to finish this one, the sequel to "The Star King" and prequel to three more. More extensive review under "The Demon Princes".