Great Sci-Fi Novels 3: Jack Vance’s The Demon Princes

Uncover The Secrets Of The Saga

The Demon Princes is a galactic saga that Jack Vance wrote in five installments: The Star King (1960), The Killing Machine (1964), The Palace of Love (1965), The Face (1978), and The Book of Dreams (1979).

The Star King follows the journey of Kirth Gersen, a young man on a revenge mission across the stars. Raised on a remote planet by his grandfather after his family and community were destroyed by space pirates, Gersen has spent his life training for one purpose: to hunt down and kill the five notorious criminals responsible, known as the Demon Princes. Attel Malagate, also called Malagate the Woe, hides among humans, disguised as one of the elusive Star Kings — a race of humanoid aliens.

As Gersen searches for Malagate, he navigates a universe full of exotic worlds, treacherous characters, and dangerous intrigues. He adopts multiple identities to track down his quarry and uses his combat, strategy, and psychology skills. Vance’s richly imaginative settings and unique prose style bring an array of bizarre planets, strange alien races, and complex social customs to life. Each step brings Gersen closer to the heart of the criminal underworld, testing his will and challenging his principles.

All four novels of the Demon Princes saga draw upon elaborate worldbuilding, which the author introduces as “sources,” e.g., imaginary magazines, scientific papers, and textbooks describing exotic planets, alien peoples, strange rules, and customs. These fictional sources —quoted at the beginning of a chapter— minimize the need for long descriptive paragraphs.

Here are a few examples taken from the first novel, The Star King:

Chapter 1:

From an interview with Mr. Smade of Smade’s Planet, a feature article in Cosmopolis, October 1523:

A short Q&A introduces the reader to the concept of Beyond, short for “Beyond the Pale” or border, which separates the group of solar systems explored and settled by humans from the largely unknown Galaxy. Kirth Gersen’s confrontations with the cruel Demon Princes usually happen in the Beyond, a place, according to Mr. Smade, “frequented by the most notorious pirates and freebooters.”

Chapter 2:

From an article in Cosmopolis, May 1404:

Here, Vance introduces Brinktown: “Once the jumping-off place, the last outpost, the portal into infinity – now just another settlement of the Northeast Middle Beyond.” As is often the case in SF novels, Brinktown seems to be both the name of the planet and the city, the latter being portrayed colorfully:

An explosion of architectural conceits, what turrets and spires, belfries and cupolas… the magistrates are assassins; the civil guards are arsonists, extortioners, and rapists.

We cannot help thinking of Mos Eisley, the spaceport town in the fictional Star Wars universe:

Not a more wretched collection of villainy and disreputable types exists anywhere on Tatooine.

Chapter 4:

From New Discoveries in Space, by Ralph Quarry:

The Rigel Concourse… twenty-six magnificent planets, most habitable and salubrious, though only two display even quasi-intelligent autochthones.

When Kirth Gersen isn’t hunting beyond the pale for one of the Demon Princes, he usually hangs around the Rigel Concourse, the planetary system of the blue supergiant star Rigel. According to Jack Vance, Rigel has twenty-six planets, of which Alphanor – the setting of most of the first novel – is the eighth. Jack Vance based the worldbuilding of The Star King on the early sixties astronomy. However, Sci-Fi authors are usually not too specific when including real planets or stars in their stories. At any given moment, what seems state-of-the-art knowledge might be incorrect. We now know that extremely short lifetimes prevent blue supergiant stars like Rigel from developing habitable planets (before they turn into neutron stars or black holes).

Here’s another good example taken from the second novel, The Killing Machine:

Chapter 3:

From Chapter 1, The Astrophysical Background, in Peoples of the Concourse, by Streck and Chernitz:

The quotation at the beginning of the chapter clarifies the earlier issue:

[…] But the circumstances that make the Concourse what it is provide one of the Galaxy’s most compelling mysteries. Rigel is deemed by most authorities a young star, ranging from a few million to a billion years old. How can we explain the Concourse, [with its] twenty-six mature biological complexes? [Some] have wondered if the planets of the Concourse were not conveyed hither and established in these optimum orbits by a now-dead race of vast scientific achievement.

In other words, plot holes in SF stories stretching over several novels can be retroactively fixed with precise worldbuilding in the next installments. To quote a famous example, this happened with some inconsistencies in the Star Wars Original Trilogy (1977-83), e.g., Leia kissing Luke, who turns out to be her brother, and Leia remembering her biological mother, who died in childbirth. All obvious errors were later explained in the “prequels” (1999-2005) and recent spin-offs like Kenobi (2022).

Although the series is a masterful blend of space opera, detective fiction, and social satire, it’s not without quirks.

Here are a few I couldn’t help noticing:

• While each book offers a unique antagonist and setting, the series’ overarching structure—Gersen locating, confronting, and defeating a Demon Prince—can feel repetitive. This formula limits narrative surprises and partly diminishes the stakes over time.
• Vance often sacrifices the emotional resonance of his novels for their intellectual and aesthetic qualities. Gersen’s losses and interactions with others are described with a certain detachment, making it harder for readers to connect emotionally with the story.
• Many supporting characters, particularly women, serve primarily as narrative devices rather than fully fleshed-out individuals. This weakness becomes more pronounced in the context of a series that otherwise excels in creating vivid settings and complex villains.
• Some aspects of the series, such as gender dynamics and societal norms, reflect the era in which they were written. While not unusual for mid-20th-century science fiction, these elements can feel jarring to modern readers.

Despite its imperfections, the Demon Princes saga remains a landmark in science fiction. Its combination of cerebral storytelling, imaginative settings, and philosophical underpinnings has inspired countless authors and continues to attract new readers. While its episodic structure and emotional restraint may not suit all readers, those who appreciate meticulous worldbuilding, sharp prose, and thought-provoking themes will find much to admire. This series is an essential read for classic science fiction and revenge tales fans.

Please find more reviews of Great Sci-Fi Novels here (Foundation by Isaac Asimov), here (Dune by Frank Herbert), and here (At The Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft).