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Demon Princes #3
Het Paleis van de Liefde
Een man maakt door het gehele universum jacht op een misdadiger, die een hele gemeenschap heeft uitgeroeid.
196 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1967
19 people are currently reading
552 people want to read
About the author
Jack Vance
776 books1,583 followersAka 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
July 26, 2025
First published in 1967, TPOL concerns the Demon Prince Viole Falushe-- the third target of Kirth Gersen. Just like the previous two installments of the series, we know the basic plot from the get go-- Gersen will eventually take down Falushe, but getting to the denouement is all the fun. Vance introduces some great secondary characters here-- Navarth, a disreputable poet who lives on a houseboat and his 'charge', a nameless young women. Gersen, through a long and complicated process, discovers that Navarth knew and influenced Viole when he was just a boy; a boy that would in the end kidnap 28 young women-- his schoolmates-- a flee off planet. In fact, this was the first true crime of what would become a long string of them, eventually leading him to become a Demon Prince.
Viole, like the previous two princes Gersen has killed, is obsessed with being secretive, and even though Navarth knew him as a boy, he has changed so much that he no longer can recognize him. The title concerns Viole's most elaborate scheme-- a 'palace of love' where one's dreams can all come true, located deep in the beyond. The problem for Gersen concerns how to discover who Viole really is and what he looks like. Gersen, still in possession of a vast fortune bilked from the last Demon (The Killing Machine) tries a variety of schemes with Navarth to 'force' Viole to show himself; all to no avail...
This is grade A pulp science fiction, and while the trope seems a little tired the third time around, e.g., Gersen tracking down a very elusive, dangerous criminal, once again Vance uses his fertile imagination to create a winning story. What is so fun with this series are the subtle jabs Vance launches at fashion (we are treated to a wide range of ludicrous fashions that vary across the civilized planets, all kinds of skin dyes for that 'certain look', outrageous hair styles and outfits and so forth that populate the novel) and the existential pondering; what is life after all? Vance seems to be of the 'life is a bitch then you die' school and it shows. I also like how Vance starts each chapter with a brief exert from current news stories, books like the Guide to the Planets, and other quips and so forth; he does this in lieu of 'info dumps' and it works quite effectively, giving the reader necessary background (and smiles along the way). This was not quite as strong as the previous volume, but still a very good read. 4 stars!
Viole, like the previous two princes Gersen has killed, is obsessed with being secretive, and even though Navarth knew him as a boy, he has changed so much that he no longer can recognize him. The title concerns Viole's most elaborate scheme-- a 'palace of love' where one's dreams can all come true, located deep in the beyond. The problem for Gersen concerns how to discover who Viole really is and what he looks like. Gersen, still in possession of a vast fortune bilked from the last Demon (The Killing Machine) tries a variety of schemes with Navarth to 'force' Viole to show himself; all to no avail...
This is grade A pulp science fiction, and while the trope seems a little tired the third time around, e.g., Gersen tracking down a very elusive, dangerous criminal, once again Vance uses his fertile imagination to create a winning story. What is so fun with this series are the subtle jabs Vance launches at fashion (we are treated to a wide range of ludicrous fashions that vary across the civilized planets, all kinds of skin dyes for that 'certain look', outrageous hair styles and outfits and so forth that populate the novel) and the existential pondering; what is life after all? Vance seems to be of the 'life is a bitch then you die' school and it shows. I also like how Vance starts each chapter with a brief exert from current news stories, books like the Guide to the Planets, and other quips and so forth; he does this in lieu of 'info dumps' and it works quite effectively, giving the reader necessary background (and smiles along the way). This was not quite as strong as the previous volume, but still a very good read. 4 stars!
November 27, 2023
I don’t write reviews.
And I’m reaching a point where I can easily say Vance is in the top five of my favourite writers of all-time. He always hits the sweet spot of fantasy and sci-fi and adventure.
I’m enjoying learning more about the planets of the Oikumene. Vance treats us to interesting tidbits of information at the start of each chapter in a variety of ways: travel catalogs, history books, magazine articles, poems, cultural texts, and more. World-building has always been his strong suit.
But not far behind is Vance’s characterizations. These are a bit more two dimensional than other of his works, but they suit the purpose of a revenge story. Plus I love the villains’ names. This time it’s Viole Falushe. Always said with both first and last name, like many a Vancian character. Another of the demon princes, another madman, another menace to all. Never fear, Kirth Gersen is here!
And I’m reaching a point where I can easily say Vance is in the top five of my favourite writers of all-time. He always hits the sweet spot of fantasy and sci-fi and adventure.
I’m enjoying learning more about the planets of the Oikumene. Vance treats us to interesting tidbits of information at the start of each chapter in a variety of ways: travel catalogs, history books, magazine articles, poems, cultural texts, and more. World-building has always been his strong suit.
But not far behind is Vance’s characterizations. These are a bit more two dimensional than other of his works, but they suit the purpose of a revenge story. Plus I love the villains’ names. This time it’s Viole Falushe. Always said with both first and last name, like many a Vancian character. Another of the demon princes, another madman, another menace to all. Never fear, Kirth Gersen is here!
August 11, 2022
[7/10]
“Where now?” asked Gersen.
Navarth pointed across the street, to a long low pavilion with an eccentric roof and festoons of green lights. “I suggest the Celestial Harmony Cafe, the rendezvous of travelers, spacemen, offworld wanderers, wayward vagabonds such as ourselves.”
Kirth Gersen is a galactic vagabond with a ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ kind of mission: to seek revenge for the massacre of his whole family by a coalition of five space pirates that later became infamously known as the Demon Princes.
Each book in the series deals with Gersen searching and defeating one of these Prime Evils. There is a template that is repeated from one episode to the next – each Demon Prince is adept at hiding his or her true identity; each has a secret lair from where to hatch their nefarious plans; and each is adept in a particular manifestation of Evil.
With two of the Demon Princes struck from the bucket list, Kirth Gersen tries to get a grip on the elusive third name. A casual remark read in a news article points toward the white slave trade and a master poisoner who might know this Viole Falushe.
Gersen, with the substantial wealth acquired in the previous adventure and in the company of the beautiful damsel he recently saved, heads toward the planet of the poison masters, and from there follows the faint tracks all the way back to the original start of the Oikumene spread of humanity: Earth.
Neurologists describe the condition as anticipatory adjustment of the organism to absolute normality of all the sensory modes: color recognition, sonic perception, coriolis force and gravitational equilibrium. The psychologists differ. Erdenfreunde, they state, is the flux of a hundred thousand racial memories boiling up almost to the level of consciousness. Geneticists speak of RNA, metaphysicists refer to the soul; parapsychologists make the possibly irrelevant observation that haunted houses are to be found on Earth alone.
A decadent, tired old Earth where all the energetic and inventive minds have emigrated, leaving behind nostalgics of the past, outcasts and debauched, provocative artists like Navarth, another person of interest in the case of Viole Falushe.
And, since back on Earth there is a new young damsel in distress, the old one reluctantly leaves the scene, no hard feelings, and Gersen is free to continue on his mission of revenge.
>>><<<>>><<<
Vogel Filschner had always been a strange brooding boy, according to Dundine. “Extremely sensitive,” she confided. “Ripe always for a great rage or eyeful of tears. One never knew what Vogel might do!”
With the constraints on the plot imposed by the series format, the most interesting aspects of the story deal with the exploration of an evil mind and with the signature interest of the author in what he calls ‘cultural anthropology’ : the discovery of new cultures, customs, religions and social habits in the diverse society of the future.
Filschner/Falushe, originating from Earth, would be readily identified today as an ‘incel’ : a sort of repulsive young man who blames his own shortcomings on the girls who refuse to go out with a smelly, bad tempered and inarticulate fellow. When the most alluring girl in his school refuses his advances, Vogel F. kidnaps a large group of chorus girls in a spaceship and sell them in the wild part of the galaxy known as [Beyond] The Pale. This is the start of a very successful career in the white slave trade, culminating in the already mentioned secret lair known as ‘The Palace of Love’ , where the mysterious Viole Falushe trains his victims as willing slaves to pleasure. His obsession with the girl who first rejected him endures over decades.
The evil in Viole Falushe can be characterized as arachnid vindictiveness, infantile sensitivity, monstrous self-indulgence.
In order to gain entry to the lair, Gersen pressures the local artist and the new girl to lay a trap for the Demon Prince on Earth, where he uses a new cover story as an investigative reporter.
“What do you propose to write about?”
“One thing or another,” said Gersen. “Whatever comes up!”
The managing editor’s face sagged with bewilderment. “You can’t go out and write a Cosmopolis article like that! Our issues are programmed months ahead! We use public opinion polls to find out what subjects people are interested in.”
[...]
“Are people really interested in these matters?”
“If not they should be.”
It’s easy here to read between the lines and compare this attitude with current press woes and popularity algorithms that have all but destroyed true journalism – in a novel written in 1967! This tunnel vision is one of the things I love about old SF novels.
>>><<<>>><<<
The visit to the Palace of Love may disappoint some readers who expect lurid and explicit harem scenes, but it will delight instead fans of Jack Vance for his colourful and irreverent treatment of druids and indoctrination and artistic expression.
I may be getting a little tired of the repetition of the same plot for the third time in a row, but I am willing to return soon to the next book in the series, both for the adventure and for the humorous pseudo-scientific articles that preface each chapter.
Struggling to the hill’s crest, Marmaduke searched for the blasted cypress which marked the hut of the symbologist. There stood the tree, haggard and desolate, and a hut nearby.
The symbologist gave him welcome. “A hundred leagues I have come,” said Marmaduke, “to put a single question: Do the colors have souls?”
“Did anyone aver otherwise?” asked the perplexed symbologist.
“Where now?” asked Gersen.
Navarth pointed across the street, to a long low pavilion with an eccentric roof and festoons of green lights. “I suggest the Celestial Harmony Cafe, the rendezvous of travelers, spacemen, offworld wanderers, wayward vagabonds such as ourselves.”
Kirth Gersen is a galactic vagabond with a ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ kind of mission: to seek revenge for the massacre of his whole family by a coalition of five space pirates that later became infamously known as the Demon Princes.
Each book in the series deals with Gersen searching and defeating one of these Prime Evils. There is a template that is repeated from one episode to the next – each Demon Prince is adept at hiding his or her true identity; each has a secret lair from where to hatch their nefarious plans; and each is adept in a particular manifestation of Evil.
With two of the Demon Princes struck from the bucket list, Kirth Gersen tries to get a grip on the elusive third name. A casual remark read in a news article points toward the white slave trade and a master poisoner who might know this Viole Falushe.
Gersen, with the substantial wealth acquired in the previous adventure and in the company of the beautiful damsel he recently saved, heads toward the planet of the poison masters, and from there follows the faint tracks all the way back to the original start of the Oikumene spread of humanity: Earth.
Neurologists describe the condition as anticipatory adjustment of the organism to absolute normality of all the sensory modes: color recognition, sonic perception, coriolis force and gravitational equilibrium. The psychologists differ. Erdenfreunde, they state, is the flux of a hundred thousand racial memories boiling up almost to the level of consciousness. Geneticists speak of RNA, metaphysicists refer to the soul; parapsychologists make the possibly irrelevant observation that haunted houses are to be found on Earth alone.
A decadent, tired old Earth where all the energetic and inventive minds have emigrated, leaving behind nostalgics of the past, outcasts and debauched, provocative artists like Navarth, another person of interest in the case of Viole Falushe.
And, since back on Earth there is a new young damsel in distress, the old one reluctantly leaves the scene, no hard feelings, and Gersen is free to continue on his mission of revenge.
>>><<<>>><<<
Vogel Filschner had always been a strange brooding boy, according to Dundine. “Extremely sensitive,” she confided. “Ripe always for a great rage or eyeful of tears. One never knew what Vogel might do!”
With the constraints on the plot imposed by the series format, the most interesting aspects of the story deal with the exploration of an evil mind and with the signature interest of the author in what he calls ‘cultural anthropology’ : the discovery of new cultures, customs, religions and social habits in the diverse society of the future.
Filschner/Falushe, originating from Earth, would be readily identified today as an ‘incel’ : a sort of repulsive young man who blames his own shortcomings on the girls who refuse to go out with a smelly, bad tempered and inarticulate fellow. When the most alluring girl in his school refuses his advances, Vogel F. kidnaps a large group of chorus girls in a spaceship and sell them in the wild part of the galaxy known as [Beyond] The Pale. This is the start of a very successful career in the white slave trade, culminating in the already mentioned secret lair known as ‘The Palace of Love’ , where the mysterious Viole Falushe trains his victims as willing slaves to pleasure. His obsession with the girl who first rejected him endures over decades.
The evil in Viole Falushe can be characterized as arachnid vindictiveness, infantile sensitivity, monstrous self-indulgence.
In order to gain entry to the lair, Gersen pressures the local artist and the new girl to lay a trap for the Demon Prince on Earth, where he uses a new cover story as an investigative reporter.
“What do you propose to write about?”
“One thing or another,” said Gersen. “Whatever comes up!”
The managing editor’s face sagged with bewilderment. “You can’t go out and write a Cosmopolis article like that! Our issues are programmed months ahead! We use public opinion polls to find out what subjects people are interested in.”
[...]
“Are people really interested in these matters?”
“If not they should be.”
It’s easy here to read between the lines and compare this attitude with current press woes and popularity algorithms that have all but destroyed true journalism – in a novel written in 1967! This tunnel vision is one of the things I love about old SF novels.
>>><<<>>><<<
The visit to the Palace of Love may disappoint some readers who expect lurid and explicit harem scenes, but it will delight instead fans of Jack Vance for his colourful and irreverent treatment of druids and indoctrination and artistic expression.
I may be getting a little tired of the repetition of the same plot for the third time in a row, but I am willing to return soon to the next book in the series, both for the adventure and for the humorous pseudo-scientific articles that preface each chapter.
Struggling to the hill’s crest, Marmaduke searched for the blasted cypress which marked the hut of the symbologist. There stood the tree, haggard and desolate, and a hut nearby.
The symbologist gave him welcome. “A hundred leagues I have come,” said Marmaduke, “to put a single question: Do the colors have souls?”
“Did anyone aver otherwise?” asked the perplexed symbologist.
May 13, 2025
to the planet of poisons he goes, our hero Kirth Gersen, and his new companion, to find clues and make certain contacts. to a second planet he goes, sadly now companion-less; perhaps this is for the best - a man on a killing mission should probably go it alone. to old Earth he goes, seeking his target: the virginal villain now called Viole Falushe, once an angry incel who kidnapped and enslaved his classmates, now a suave man of mystery, intent on claiming a lost love. to a fourth planet he goes, to find Viole's Palace of Love, a place of beauty and romance, a garden of delights, where the virginal Viole may spy upon the courtships and lovemaking of his guests and his slaves. sadly for Viole, Kirth Gersen has no time for love, nor for voyeurism, nor for slavery. Kirth only has time to kill.
September 3, 2010
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Two down and three to go… In order to exact revenge on Viole Falushe, the third Demon Prince, Kirth Gersen must first discover who Mr. Falushe is, and then find and infiltrate his famous Palace of Love.
The actual plot, while just as brisk and fun as usual, isn't the most entertaining aspect of The Palace of Love. This volume is particularly charming because of Jack Vance's exquisite characters — three in particular:
1. Vogel Filschner was rejected by the prettiest girl in school when he was a pimply 14-year old geek. His retaliation feels just like what school psychologists are warning us about these days. He's a fascinating villain!
2. Navarath is a washed-up poet who lives on a houseboat. We're not sure if he's a genius, a fake, crazy, or just drunk. Whatever he is, he's amusing and Vance has lots of fun with Navarath, giving him an eccentric artist personality. He talks dramatically and emphatically, gestures extravagantly, seeks attention, drinks a lot, and broods. When he got on a spaceship for the first time he "simultaneously became afflicted with claustrophobia and agoraphobia, and lay on a settee with his feet bare and a cloth pulled over his head." He even constructs absurd (but somehow ingenious) poems, including one whose stanzas end with lines such as "But Tim R. Mortiss degurgled me" and "But Tim R. Mortiss peturgles me."
3. Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu, is a dreamy dirty adolescent misfit with no name. (Since Kirth asked for her name, Navarath introduced her as "Zan Zu from Eridu.") Vance can't help but use her entire title nearly every time she's mentioned (and I can't either), so Kirth thinks of her as Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu, and we regularly encounter the words "Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu" in the text. It just trips off the tongue so nicely and somehow made me smile every time I saw it. (I read somewhere that Jack Vance chose his characters' names this way — by saying them over and over to see how they sound.)
These are three of Vance's best supporting characters, all packed into about 150 pages. That's enough reason to read The Palace of Love.
www.fantasyliterature.com
Two down and three to go… In order to exact revenge on Viole Falushe, the third Demon Prince, Kirth Gersen must first discover who Mr. Falushe is, and then find and infiltrate his famous Palace of Love.
The actual plot, while just as brisk and fun as usual, isn't the most entertaining aspect of The Palace of Love. This volume is particularly charming because of Jack Vance's exquisite characters — three in particular:
1. Vogel Filschner was rejected by the prettiest girl in school when he was a pimply 14-year old geek. His retaliation feels just like what school psychologists are warning us about these days. He's a fascinating villain!
2. Navarath is a washed-up poet who lives on a houseboat. We're not sure if he's a genius, a fake, crazy, or just drunk. Whatever he is, he's amusing and Vance has lots of fun with Navarath, giving him an eccentric artist personality. He talks dramatically and emphatically, gestures extravagantly, seeks attention, drinks a lot, and broods. When he got on a spaceship for the first time he "simultaneously became afflicted with claustrophobia and agoraphobia, and lay on a settee with his feet bare and a cloth pulled over his head." He even constructs absurd (but somehow ingenious) poems, including one whose stanzas end with lines such as "But Tim R. Mortiss degurgled me" and "But Tim R. Mortiss peturgles me."
3. Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu, is a dreamy dirty adolescent misfit with no name. (Since Kirth asked for her name, Navarath introduced her as "Zan Zu from Eridu.") Vance can't help but use her entire title nearly every time she's mentioned (and I can't either), so Kirth thinks of her as Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu, and we regularly encounter the words "Zan Zu, the girl from Eridu" in the text. It just trips off the tongue so nicely and somehow made me smile every time I saw it. (I read somewhere that Jack Vance chose his characters' names this way — by saying them over and over to see how they sound.)
These are three of Vance's best supporting characters, all packed into about 150 pages. That's enough reason to read The Palace of Love.
www.fantasyliterature.com
November 15, 2009
3.5 stars. This is the third book of the "Demon Princes" series by Jack Vance. Not quite as good as the first two (the Star King and the Killing Machine) which I though were superb. This is still a very good read (as just about everything Vance ever wrote was) and a nice addition to what I believe is a fantastic and under-appreciated series by Jack Vance.
April 14, 2023
Second time in Orbit omnibus (legimus)
July 1, 2020
There is something profound at work in this book, which like all of Vance's fiction is a deliciously sweet slice of pulp that hints at something much deeper. A meditation on love, identity, sex, power, insecurity, vanity, monomania, and meaning? It's all of those things, and the fact that you can never quite see the results of that meditation - just glimpse them from behind an opaque glass screen, like Falusche's face itself - makes them all the more important. (*What*, though, to those who have read the book, is the meaning of the druids and their tree?)
May 13, 2020
Does anyone really understand Demon Princes?
There is a good chunk of Vance's work where the plot is pretty bare. It's largely an excuse for the characters to travel around and experience the world. The Palace of Love and the other Demon Princes books fit into this category.
Briefly, the protagonist Kirth Gersen's family and entire community were murdered when he was a boy by a quintet of intergalactic criminals -- the Demon Princes. His grandfather vowed revenge and spent Gersen's youth training him to assassinate the Princes. Each Prince is a study in a different flavor of evil criminality. Arachnid vindictiveness, petty self-indulgence, brutish violence, etc. There are five Demon Princes books, one for each Prince.
So in The Palace of Love Gersen tracks down the sybaritic Viole Falushe -- who has spent his life of crime attempting to obtain perverse "justice" against a girl who snubbed him in high school. Hanging on this plot we get cool societies, great character interactions, and Gersen's first visit to Earth.
Maybe most notably, we are introduced to Navarth, the "Mad Poet."* A huge, absurd, pompous goofball. I really appreciate that unlike very many prose authors (looking at you R A Lafferty), Vance's fictional poetry is actually pretty good.
So that's the bare stuff. What are we missing? Vance starts each chapter throughout the Demon Princes series with a selection of in-world writings. Lots of authors do this. Lots of authors suck at it. Trite excerpts from some "X'farth Chronicle" to show that the author wrote a timeline for his lameass Middle Earth ripoff.
Vance's introductory materials are, in contrast, terrific. They hint at actually interesting aspects of the Vancean Oikumene. A shadowy Institute dedicated to ensuring that humanity remains vital notwithstanding the availability of technology that could grant everyone a life of pure pleasure and indolence. (Note that these sorts of technologies are never hinted at by any character in the book's narrative. All strive and suffer as much as anyone today).
Well that's fantastic. Other authors would be compelled to make the Institute's goals and methods a focus of the book. Vance just lets it sit. Totally in the background, coloring our thoughts. At least it's straightforward though right? We can make sense of it.
Well riddle me this, smartypantses, what are we to make of the introduction to the final chapter?!
Take the context of Gersen's monomania. His life made worthless by the single-minded pursuit executing five other people. Take the Prince he is hunting. Viole Falushe who has constructed a pleasure world where the inhabitants worship him as a virtual god as attempts to clone a loving replacement for the girl who laughed at him as a pimply adolescent. COLORS? A DYING HERON? AN INVERTED GOWN? THERE'S SOMETHING THERE!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS!!
* Matt -- Martin Silenus in Hyperion is a full-blown Navarth ripoff.
There is a good chunk of Vance's work where the plot is pretty bare. It's largely an excuse for the characters to travel around and experience the world. The Palace of Love and the other Demon Princes books fit into this category.
Briefly, the protagonist Kirth Gersen's family and entire community were murdered when he was a boy by a quintet of intergalactic criminals -- the Demon Princes. His grandfather vowed revenge and spent Gersen's youth training him to assassinate the Princes. Each Prince is a study in a different flavor of evil criminality. Arachnid vindictiveness, petty self-indulgence, brutish violence, etc. There are five Demon Princes books, one for each Prince.
So in The Palace of Love Gersen tracks down the sybaritic Viole Falushe -- who has spent his life of crime attempting to obtain perverse "justice" against a girl who snubbed him in high school. Hanging on this plot we get cool societies, great character interactions, and Gersen's first visit to Earth.
Maybe most notably, we are introduced to Navarth, the "Mad Poet."* A huge, absurd, pompous goofball. I really appreciate that unlike very many prose authors (looking at you R A Lafferty), Vance's fictional poetry is actually pretty good.
So that's the bare stuff. What are we missing? Vance starts each chapter throughout the Demon Princes series with a selection of in-world writings. Lots of authors do this. Lots of authors suck at it. Trite excerpts from some "X'farth Chronicle" to show that the author wrote a timeline for his lameass Middle Earth ripoff.
Vance's introductory materials are, in contrast, terrific. They hint at actually interesting aspects of the Vancean Oikumene. A shadowy Institute dedicated to ensuring that humanity remains vital notwithstanding the availability of technology that could grant everyone a life of pure pleasure and indolence. (Note that these sorts of technologies are never hinted at by any character in the book's narrative. All strive and suffer as much as anyone today).
Excerpt from the televised debate at Avente, Alphanor, on July 10, 1521, between Gowman Hachieri, Counsel for the Planned Progress League, and Slizor Jesno, Fellow of the Institute, 98th Degree:
Hachieri:
Is it not true then that the Institute originated as a cabal of assassins?
Jesno:
To the same degree that the Planned Progress League originated as a cabal of irresponsible seditionists, traitors, suicidal hypochondriacs.
Hachieri:
This is not a pertinent response.
Jesno:
The elasticities, the areas of vagueness surrounding the terms of your question do indeed encompass the exact truth of the situation.
Hachieri:
What, then, in inelastic terms, is the truth?
Jesno:
Approximately fifteen hundred years ago, it became evident that existing laws and systems of public safety could not protect the human race from four bland and insidious dangers: First, universal and compulsory dosage of drugs, tonics, toners, conditioners, stimulants and prophylactics administered through the public water supply. Second, the development of genetic sciences, which allowed and encouraged various agencies to alter the basic character of Man, according to contemporary biological and political theory. Third, psychological control through media of public information. Fourth, the proliferation of machinery and systems which in the name of progress and social welfare tended to make enterprise, imagination, creative toil and the subsequent satisfactions obsolete if not extinct.
I will not speak of mental myopia, irresponsibility, masochism, or the efforts of persons nervously groping for a secure womb to re-enter: this is all irrelevant. The effect however was a situation analogous to the growth of four cancers in a human organism; the Institute came into being by much the same progress that the body generates a prophylactic serum.
Hachieri:
You admit that the Institute arranges assassination for persons striving to improve the human condition?
Jesno:
You beg the question.
Hachieri:
Do you murder anyone whatever?
Jesno:
I don’t care to discuss tactical theory. There are very few such events.
Hachieri:
But they occur.
Jesno:
Only in the case of absolutely flagrant offenses against the human organism.
Hachieri:
Is not your definition of ‘offense’ arbitrary? Are you not simply opposed to change? Are you not conservative to the point of stagnation?
Jesno:
To all three questions: no. We want natural organic evolution. The human race, needless to say, is not without flaws. When elements of the race attempt to cure these ills: to create an ‘ideal man’ or an ‘ideal society’, there is the certainty of overcompensation in one or another direction. The flaws, with the reaction to the flaws, create a distortion factor, a filter, and the final product is more diseased than the original. Natural evolution, the slow abrasion of man against his environment, has slowly but definitely improved the race. The optimum man, the optimum society may never eventuate. But there will never be the nightmare of the artificial man or the artificial ‘planned progress’ which the League advocates: not so long as the human race generates that highly active set of antibodies known as the Institute.
Hachieri:
This is a resonant speech. It is superficially persuasive. It is ridden with maudlin fallacy. You want man to evolve through ‘abrasion against his environment’. Other human beings are part of the environment. The League is part of the environment. We are natural; we are neither artificial nor sick. The ills of the Oikumene are by no means obscure or mysterious; they are susceptible to remedy. We of the League propose to take action. We do not intend to be dissuaded or intimidated. If we are threatened, we shall take measures to protect ourselves. We are not helpless. The Institute has tyrannized society long enough. It is time that new ideas permeated the human community.
Well that's fantastic. Other authors would be compelled to make the Institute's goals and methods a focus of the book. Vance just lets it sit. Totally in the background, coloring our thoughts. At least it's straightforward though right? We can make sense of it.
Well riddle me this, smartypantses, what are we to make of the introduction to the final chapter?!
Struggling to the hill’s crest Marmaduke searched for the blasted cypress which marked the hut of the symbologist. There stood the tree, haggard and desolate, and a hut nearby.
The symbologist gave him welcome. “A hundred leagues I have come,” said Marmaduke, “to put a single question: ‘Do the colors have souls?’”
“Did anyone aver otherwise?” asked the perplexed symbologist. He caused to shine an orange light, then, lifting the swing of his gown, cavorted with great zest. Marmaduke watched with pleasure, amused to see an old man so spry!
The symbologist brought forth green light. Crouching under the bench he thrust his head between his ankles and turned his gown outside to in, while Marmaduke clapped his hands for wonder.
The symbologist evoked red light, and leaping upon Marmaduke, playfully wrestled him to the floor and threw the gown over his head. “My dear fellow,” gasped Marmaduke winning free, “but you are brisk in your demonstration!”
“What is worth doing is worth doing well,” the symbologist replied. “Now to expatiate. The colors admit of dual import. The orange is icterine humor as well as the mirth of a dying heron.
“Green is the essence of second-thoughts, likewise the mode of the north wind. Red, as we have seen, accompanies rustic exuberance.”
“And a second import of the red?”
The symbologist made a cryptic sign. “That remains to be seen, as the cat said who voided into the sugar bowl.”
Amused and edified, Marmaduke took his leave, and he was quite halfway down the mountain before he discovered the loss of his wallet.
Take the context of Gersen's monomania. His life made worthless by the single-minded pursuit executing five other people. Take the Prince he is hunting. Viole Falushe who has constructed a pleasure world where the inhabitants worship him as a virtual god as attempts to clone a loving replacement for the girl who laughed at him as a pimply adolescent. COLORS? A DYING HERON? AN INVERTED GOWN? THERE'S SOMETHING THERE!! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS!!
* Matt -- Martin Silenus in Hyperion is a full-blown Navarth ripoff.
July 26, 2012
The personalities of the Demon Princes grow ever more outré and extravagant. Within the outlandish displays and shallow artistry of Viole Falushe one sees the original insecure youth, whose intricate manipulations have as goal the reparation of an ancient injury.
Kirth Gersen in comparison plays an increasing role as the straight man in all this, a stolid figure with little overt personality except a wit that is not so much "dry" as "dessicated". His monomania for justice/revenge falters and it will be curious to see if this develops in later books.
Kirth Gersen in comparison plays an increasing role as the straight man in all this, a stolid figure with little overt personality except a wit that is not so much "dry" as "dessicated". His monomania for justice/revenge falters and it will be curious to see if this develops in later books.
August 25, 2018
Another great installment of the Demon Princes series by the master. What really strikes me about Vance is that he is*consistently* solid, producing amazingly rich world building and prose without fail.
May 15, 2019
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.
For people who would like to try and start reading science fiction: please choose something by Jack Vance.
March 6, 2016
It was O.K. mostly.
January 4, 2025
Jack Vance ought to be a household name
October 29, 2018
The third in the tales of Kerth Gerson tracking down the five perpetrators of his family's murder, this one dwells less on figuring out who does the evil deeds and more on just trying to ferret him out from among the pleasure seekers who are captivated by his hedonistic wiles. The tale itself is not momentous, but is imbued with Vance's customary literate style and impeccable story telling. Gerson is an anti-hero you can get behind.
August 22, 2024
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your own feelings) the contents are not at all as salacious as the title.
The eponymous Palace of Love only makes an appearance towards the end of the book, but its themes large loom over the whole book. The Demon Prince villain of this book is name Viole Falushe, essentially an incel - a jilted lover, rejected by a girl in his school at the pimply faced age of 14, who then spends the rest of his life seeking revenge for this wrong. Viole Falushe is both driven and repelled by his desires for love - sexual, on the surface, but speaking to a greater emptiness in the soul.
Gersen is once again attempting to ascertain who exactly this particular Demon Prince is, in order to exact revenge upon him for the murder of his family and village when he was a child.
Vance hits his stride, in all arenas, in this, the third book in a delightful series. The plotting improves, the pacing, the prose, the odd cultural quirks, the wildly inventive world-building, the epigraphs are even better - but most of all, there’s a very Vance-y character in Navarath - a wild, mercurial poet who acts as the perfect medium for Vance's mischief, going wherever his whim takes him, and making up for the somewhat flat and dry main character. One never knows what to make of Navarath, his comments or his actions - he's never predictable.
And some of Navarath's poems are included, which I very much enjoyed.
Vance remains one of the most beautiful and erratic prose smiths in sci fi. Love him.
Would I re-read: yes.
The eponymous Palace of Love only makes an appearance towards the end of the book, but its themes large loom over the whole book. The Demon Prince villain of this book is name Viole Falushe, essentially an incel - a jilted lover, rejected by a girl in his school at the pimply faced age of 14, who then spends the rest of his life seeking revenge for this wrong. Viole Falushe is both driven and repelled by his desires for love - sexual, on the surface, but speaking to a greater emptiness in the soul.
Gersen is once again attempting to ascertain who exactly this particular Demon Prince is, in order to exact revenge upon him for the murder of his family and village when he was a child.
Vance hits his stride, in all arenas, in this, the third book in a delightful series. The plotting improves, the pacing, the prose, the odd cultural quirks, the wildly inventive world-building, the epigraphs are even better - but most of all, there’s a very Vance-y character in Navarath - a wild, mercurial poet who acts as the perfect medium for Vance's mischief, going wherever his whim takes him, and making up for the somewhat flat and dry main character. One never knows what to make of Navarath, his comments or his actions - he's never predictable.
And some of Navarath's poems are included, which I very much enjoyed.
Vance remains one of the most beautiful and erratic prose smiths in sci fi. Love him.
Would I re-read: yes.
September 30, 2025
I've read this book at least twice before, the first time long ago, and remember it as my least favorite of the Demon Princes novels. This time, reading closely rather than for sheer amusement, I am very impressed. It was published in 1967, three years after Killing Machine and, notably, a year after Eyes of the Overworld. The writing is distinctly richer than the first two books of the series and suddenly exhibits the Vancian humor characteristic of Cugel and the other Dying Earth books.
“At the hotel you may buy a booklet entitled Primer to the Art of Preparing and Using Poisons, and I believe it includes a small kit of some basic alkaloids. If you are interested in developing a skill —”
"Thank you. I have no such inclination.”
Edelrod made a polite gesture, as if to acknowledge that each must steer his own course through life.
Girsen is more developed than in the earlier books and the mad poet Navarth is one of Vance's best characters. The villain is more nuanced and actually even creepier than the previous two because he is more believable: a psychopathic incel. Overall, this book is less action oriented and more like a modern stalker thriller, I can almost see a creepy sci-fi horror movie deriving from the plot. As such, I understand why I didn't love it before; it's very different from the other books despite having the same protagonist and overall plot. The mood is very different though, almost Vance crossed with M John Harrison or JG Ballard (neither analogy is good).
Unfortunately, the conclusion is somewhat cursory and too neat: Girsen should have been killed except for suddenly uncharacteristic leniency by the villain.
Some of the writing, in particular Narvath's poems and some of the expositional chapter prologues, is sublime. Jack must have been in a strange mood when he wrote this one.
In summary: not the usual pulp adventure, but as a work of literature superior to the first two books.
“At the hotel you may buy a booklet entitled Primer to the Art of Preparing and Using Poisons, and I believe it includes a small kit of some basic alkaloids. If you are interested in developing a skill —”
"Thank you. I have no such inclination.”
Edelrod made a polite gesture, as if to acknowledge that each must steer his own course through life.
Girsen is more developed than in the earlier books and the mad poet Navarth is one of Vance's best characters. The villain is more nuanced and actually even creepier than the previous two because he is more believable: a psychopathic incel. Overall, this book is less action oriented and more like a modern stalker thriller, I can almost see a creepy sci-fi horror movie deriving from the plot. As such, I understand why I didn't love it before; it's very different from the other books despite having the same protagonist and overall plot. The mood is very different though, almost Vance crossed with M John Harrison or JG Ballard (neither analogy is good).
Unfortunately, the conclusion is somewhat cursory and too neat: Girsen should have been killed except for suddenly uncharacteristic leniency by the villain.
Some of the writing, in particular Narvath's poems and some of the expositional chapter prologues, is sublime. Jack must have been in a strange mood when he wrote this one.
In summary: not the usual pulp adventure, but as a work of literature superior to the first two books.
June 2, 2022
I love the stories of Jack Vance, he is my favourite author from the period around and following my discovery of SF in my youth (thank you, Dad, for buying me Larry Niven's The Flight of the Horse). I think The Demon Princes might be my favourite of his series, although that is trickier, as he has so many good ones. However, I'm going to note that this book is not my favourite of The Demon Princes novels. I think it is still very good, but I find the plot rather fragmented, and the introduction of many (as in a lot of) new characters late in the story a bit frustrating. This is offset by the delightfully poetic, sometimes esoteric, always entertaining prose, and an ear for an eye-popping line that is second to none (IMO). The works of the mad poet Navarth that feature in this volume are delightfully bonkers, and thus extremely entertaining, and their delivery by narrator Stefan Rudnicki is exquisitely 'in keeping' with the character's tone. Stefan's performance as a whole (of all The Demon Princes audiobooks... so far!) is a delight.
If you love Space Opera, and do not know the works of Jack Vance, well, what the heck? Check out The Demon Princes, today! :O)
If you love Space Opera, and do not know the works of Jack Vance, well, what the heck? Check out The Demon Princes, today! :O)
August 28, 2017
As the title suggests, the Palace of Love is a sensual and occasionally psychedelic story. You want a harlequinade with naked girls? Doggerel poetry and bar-hopping? The more outrageous bits are fun to read, but soon it's clear that Vance doesn't have a narrative to drive his story. The prior Demon Princes novels are revenge tales where the hero gets by on wit and reflex, but here our hero Gersen founders through a series of dumb choices and lucky breaks, making the climax feel cheap and lazy. Not quite defensible as pulp, and I have to wonder whether the shoddy plot led Vance to wait twelve years before the next Demon Princes novel. Skip it.
November 19, 2021
I barely made it through this, so I think I'll peace out of the rest of the Demon Princes books. Too bad, since I love Vance's other works and this does have great characterization, but that's all I'm getting out of these.
September 22, 2013
I just don't think I like these books. I'll finish the series but I don't care for any of the characters at all.
July 3, 2013
Moving on to number three. The main review will be under "The Demon Princes".
September 24, 2015
Keith definitely wasn't up to his game. Lots of wine drinking and playing 'who is it?'
Not as good as the previous two in the series but amazing nonetheless!
I loved it a great deal !
Not as good as the previous two in the series but amazing nonetheless!
I loved it a great deal !
November 23, 2020
Gersen continues his revenge-quest against the "Demon Princes," involving more entertaining world-building, fun procedural nonsense involving the fortune he acquired in Book 2 (at one point, a newly-hired lackey details just how he's laundering Gersen's money), and a visit to future Earth (pretty similar to modern Earth).
Book 3 finally has a non-Gersen character who's genuinely interesting, in Navarth, a poet with a relationship to Gersen's quarry. Navarth is sometimes funny, always unpredictable, and exhibits a degree of agency. However, in line with my criticism of Book 2, in "Zan Zu the girl from Eridu," (among other names) we have yet another female character who basically takes orders from the people around her and exists primarily to elicit the sexual and paternal feelings of the male characters around her. The conflict surrounding this character is a little more interesting than those of previous Demon Princes characters: she is the way she is for plot reasons which make some degree of sense. But only so much.
There's definitely a weird parallel between this story and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Although the titular Palace of Love itself is pretty engaging, both in its possibilities and its limitations, it doesn't come close to kidnapping / ransom business outlined in The Killing Machine.
Book 3 finally has a non-Gersen character who's genuinely interesting, in Navarth, a poet with a relationship to Gersen's quarry. Navarth is sometimes funny, always unpredictable, and exhibits a degree of agency. However, in line with my criticism of Book 2, in "Zan Zu the girl from Eridu," (among other names) we have yet another female character who basically takes orders from the people around her and exists primarily to elicit the sexual and paternal feelings of the male characters around her. The conflict surrounding this character is a little more interesting than those of previous Demon Princes characters: she is the way she is for plot reasons which make some degree of sense. But only so much.
There's definitely a weird parallel between this story and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Although the titular Palace of Love itself is pretty engaging, both in its possibilities and its limitations, it doesn't come close to kidnapping / ransom business outlined in The Killing Machine.
February 2, 2017
I'm enjoying the series, this the third book, was my favorite so far.
The Skinny: Kirth Gersen's family were murdered when he was a small child by the five Demon Princes. The Demon Princes are five notorious criminals that live in the galactic world imagined by Jack Vance.
Gersen's grandfather ensured that his grandson was trained by some of the most vicious assassins in the galaxy. Now, Gersen, is a monomaniac whose only goal in life is to kill the Demon Princes.
Two down, three to go. In this volume, Gersen pursues the slaver Viole Falushe. His search will take him to Falushe's famous Palace of Love, a place of unchecked passions.
The Good: Jack Vance. Fans of Vance like his ability to craft a great turn of phrase. His character names are designed to intrigue (Zan Zu the Girl from Eridu). The Demon Prince series are considered Space Opera by some, I don't feel that's appropriate. The ships in Vance world are not armed. There are no space battles. The action takes place planet side. Projac & Planet (Projacs are the ray guns in the fiction) might be more appropriate; especially as the Demon Prince stories have more in common with Sword & Sorcery stories than Space Opera. There are some crunchy bits of noir Private Eye fiction thrown in.
Vance gives us some great characters to chew on. The best of this novel is Navarth the Mad Poet. Guaranteed to entertain.
As the series continues , Kirth Gersen grows more and more into a monomaniac. The events of the previous novel, The Killing Machine, set him up as an extremely wealthy man. He even got the girl. We see her leave him early in this book, driven away by his singular passion for revenge. As the books continue, I am more convinced that the true villain of the series is Kirth's grandfather.
The Bad: The technology is anachronistic by today's standards. These were written in the 60's so a measure of forgiveness must be applied.
The Ugly: Vance uses women as damsels in distress and objects to be won. It's not a feminist work for sure. The only excuse, these were written in an age with the assumption that women folk don't read science fiction, they're too busy reading Harlequin Romances.
Read If: you enjoy fast paced action and refreshing prose
Don't read if: older science fiction is too dated for you.
The Skinny: Kirth Gersen's family were murdered when he was a small child by the five Demon Princes. The Demon Princes are five notorious criminals that live in the galactic world imagined by Jack Vance.
Gersen's grandfather ensured that his grandson was trained by some of the most vicious assassins in the galaxy. Now, Gersen, is a monomaniac whose only goal in life is to kill the Demon Princes.
Two down, three to go. In this volume, Gersen pursues the slaver Viole Falushe. His search will take him to Falushe's famous Palace of Love, a place of unchecked passions.
The Good: Jack Vance. Fans of Vance like his ability to craft a great turn of phrase. His character names are designed to intrigue (Zan Zu the Girl from Eridu). The Demon Prince series are considered Space Opera by some, I don't feel that's appropriate. The ships in Vance world are not armed. There are no space battles. The action takes place planet side. Projac & Planet (Projacs are the ray guns in the fiction) might be more appropriate; especially as the Demon Prince stories have more in common with Sword & Sorcery stories than Space Opera. There are some crunchy bits of noir Private Eye fiction thrown in.
Vance gives us some great characters to chew on. The best of this novel is Navarth the Mad Poet. Guaranteed to entertain.
As the series continues , Kirth Gersen grows more and more into a monomaniac. The events of the previous novel, The Killing Machine, set him up as an extremely wealthy man. He even got the girl. We see her leave him early in this book, driven away by his singular passion for revenge. As the books continue, I am more convinced that the true villain of the series is Kirth's grandfather.
The Bad: The technology is anachronistic by today's standards. These were written in the 60's so a measure of forgiveness must be applied.
The Ugly: Vance uses women as damsels in distress and objects to be won. It's not a feminist work for sure. The only excuse, these were written in an age with the assumption that women folk don't read science fiction, they're too busy reading Harlequin Romances.
Read If: you enjoy fast paced action and refreshing prose
Don't read if: older science fiction is too dated for you.
April 19, 2021
Jack Vance... there is a very particular, even narrow band in which Vance works evident most in his characterization. nonplussed but capable men move through the world without quite knowing why. Women are in the plot and of it, but sidelined even and when they are powerful. When working within a series, such as the Demon Princes series, Vance is at his height, and The Palace of Love represents a peak of sorts for him. (Similarly, many of his short stories break this mould.)
Here, the search for the princes has not yet lost its Macguffin-like quality, as it would become in later novels. Instead, Kirth Gerson's search is still sufficiently material and confounding to lend lustre to the mystery of revenge while also providing the reader with a tour of science/fantasy worlds, from the glistening heights of a decaying, futuristic world to the fantastical retreat of Sarkovy. Equally strong are the secondary characters. The mad poet Navarath is a slow burn of brilliance and Zan Zu from Eridu represents the most concentrated, elusively compelling screen on which the desires of others are multiplied and repulsed - while not a strong female character, this is a Vancian invention approaching its own mythic status. The plot is outlandishly weird, with high school mysteries, hallucinatory dinner parties, and a curiously mild sybaritic retreat (the titular "palace of love"). For Vance, it's very, very strong - among his best works, after the masterpiece of the Dying Earth short stories.
Here, the search for the princes has not yet lost its Macguffin-like quality, as it would become in later novels. Instead, Kirth Gerson's search is still sufficiently material and confounding to lend lustre to the mystery of revenge while also providing the reader with a tour of science/fantasy worlds, from the glistening heights of a decaying, futuristic world to the fantastical retreat of Sarkovy. Equally strong are the secondary characters. The mad poet Navarath is a slow burn of brilliance and Zan Zu from Eridu represents the most concentrated, elusively compelling screen on which the desires of others are multiplied and repulsed - while not a strong female character, this is a Vancian invention approaching its own mythic status. The plot is outlandishly weird, with high school mysteries, hallucinatory dinner parties, and a curiously mild sybaritic retreat (the titular "palace of love"). For Vance, it's very, very strong - among his best works, after the masterpiece of the Dying Earth short stories.
December 7, 2023
This is the 3rd Book in the Demon Princes Series. These are each revenge dramas. The hero kills one each time for an attack on his home and the killing of his friends and family. This Prince here is a man whose infatuation with a single woman has led him to kidnap her (after first selling all her classmates into slavery, presumably because he is evil). He causes her to clone herself and tries to convince the clones to fall for him with no expense except one who goes back to stay with an old mentor poet of his thus providing the trail to him though he does not seem too difficult to find as he has set up some sort of tourism to his Palace of Love though always somehow managing to stay incognito hidden among his guests. Well, clearly the whole thing is nonsense. The original crime is hardly mentioned. The point of the Palace of Love and its guest list which include a group of religious puritans is so nonsensical that he does not really give any details about any sexual activity that is supposed to go on there. And the final revelation of the mastermind from three suspects is of hilarious banality - they basically phone his number to see if his phone goes off. The best bits are early on where his investigation leads him to the odd poet on the houseboat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 27, 2024
My rating remains the same as the others. This is because it kind of follows the same base structure. Yet, each subject of Gersen's vengeance has a very unique personality, their own method of precautions. Accordingly, Gersen finds a way to get within reach of his next target.
I will address the somewhat-connected trauma and love interest of each book. They are unfortunately rather one-dimensional. But what can I really ask for romance within even the BEST 1960s pulp novel. That said, it felt like Vance was scraping the surface of something that could have added a lot of depth. With all of the amazingly vivid in-world books snippets that start each chapter, there couldn't have been a journal of Gersen's? (Nah, man def doesn't journal) But what about the journal of that book's lover? (There's one alien cutie per book) In which she could divulge Gersen going slightly more in-depth emotionally.
This man who is very traumatized, and coincidentally was trained to expertly destroy his wrong-doers, was potential for something even greater than the already great entertainment this book was.
I will address the somewhat-connected trauma and love interest of each book. They are unfortunately rather one-dimensional. But what can I really ask for romance within even the BEST 1960s pulp novel. That said, it felt like Vance was scraping the surface of something that could have added a lot of depth. With all of the amazingly vivid in-world books snippets that start each chapter, there couldn't have been a journal of Gersen's? (Nah, man def doesn't journal) But what about the journal of that book's lover? (There's one alien cutie per book) In which she could divulge Gersen going slightly more in-depth emotionally.
This man who is very traumatized, and coincidentally was trained to expertly destroy his wrong-doers, was potential for something even greater than the already great entertainment this book was.
September 6, 2020
Ah...this was what I was waiting for....A little character development for the protagonist Kirth Gersen.
I suppose it's natural given the title of the book and the obsession of the Demon Prince he tracks down in this period, but Vance finally looks a little deeper into the obsession of revenging the attack on Mount Pleasant that Gersen's grandfather trained him to achieve.
His love from the first book, finds him too remote, and Gersen does a little self-reflection on his pursuit...not a lot, but that and the inclusion of the "mad poet" Navarth fills out an aspect I found lacking in the other books.
Again, I just enjoy his flushing out the personalities of small supporting characters as well as quick descriptions such as: "Sabra, on the shore of the north polar sea, was a drab haphazard city with a heterogeneous population whose main goal was to earn sufficient money to go elsewhere. "
Perhaps I actually will finish this series this year.
I suppose it's natural given the title of the book and the obsession of the Demon Prince he tracks down in this period, but Vance finally looks a little deeper into the obsession of revenging the attack on Mount Pleasant that Gersen's grandfather trained him to achieve.
His love from the first book, finds him too remote, and Gersen does a little self-reflection on his pursuit...not a lot, but that and the inclusion of the "mad poet" Navarth fills out an aspect I found lacking in the other books.
Again, I just enjoy his flushing out the personalities of small supporting characters as well as quick descriptions such as: "Sabra, on the shore of the north polar sea, was a drab haphazard city with a heterogeneous population whose main goal was to earn sufficient money to go elsewhere. "
Perhaps I actually will finish this series this year.
September 13, 2025
Just finished this third book of five in Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" series.
It's a fine continuation of the saga of Kirth Gersen's revenge upon those who killed and enslaved his family and community. He hunts the next prince, Viole Faluche, and (spoilers) ultimately finds and kills him. Revenge successful.
The methods of his investigation and hunting are a little different from the previous novel. As almost always with Jack Vance, there are new worlds and people of fantastic imagination. There's also a journey or two with copious detail of food and landscapes. All of this is mixed in with the mystery of who his target is.
To my experience, this entry dragged on more than the previous two. I found myself hoping something would happen about half way through the book. Things started moving along about 80% of the way through, but not to any great satisfying ending.
I'm still continuing on with the series. Too far in at this point to just stop.
It's a fine continuation of the saga of Kirth Gersen's revenge upon those who killed and enslaved his family and community. He hunts the next prince, Viole Faluche, and (spoilers) ultimately finds and kills him. Revenge successful.
The methods of his investigation and hunting are a little different from the previous novel. As almost always with Jack Vance, there are new worlds and people of fantastic imagination. There's also a journey or two with copious detail of food and landscapes. All of this is mixed in with the mystery of who his target is.
To my experience, this entry dragged on more than the previous two. I found myself hoping something would happen about half way through the book. Things started moving along about 80% of the way through, but not to any great satisfying ending.
I'm still continuing on with the series. Too far in at this point to just stop.
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