The Demon Princes by Jack Vance

Having recently bought a number of collected/omnibus editions of various science fiction and fantasy novels, I thought I’d briefly review them here.

The Demon Princes is a series of five SF books written by Jack Vance: "The Star King", "The Killing Machine", "The Palace of Love", "The Face" and "The Book of Dreams", which have recently been republished in two volumes by Orb. The books were originally written between 1964 and 1981, and tell the story of Kirth Gersen as he tracks down the five so-called "Demon Princes", notorious criminals who murdered his family.

Although the early novels are slightly dated (the mention of slide rules in SF novels always amuses me), the books are always entertaining and often amusing. Of particular note are the excerpts at the start of many chapters and the footnotes, which explain various cultural and linguistic details, often raising more questions than they answer. Vance describes many wonderfully diverse cultures, pokes fun at the various social and sexual mores that Kirth encounters as he travels across the galaxy, and enjoys puncturing pomposity wherever it occurs.

Overall a “must-read” for Vance fans and a good read for anyone genuinely interested in science fiction.