ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Here’s another thoroughly delightful installment (book 4 of 5) of The Demon Princes. The plot is as usual: Kirth Gersen is hunting down one of the Demon Princes who destroyed his family and homeland when he was a boy. There’s no doubt that Gersen will kill Lens Larque; the question is how he’ll kill him and what adventures he’ll have on the way.

The Face distinguishes itself by introducing a couple of cultures which Vance uses to make fun of human behavior. Lens Larque is one of the Darsh of the planet Dar Sai. They’re a large ugly people with a disgusting cuisine, a fondness for flagellation, and some pretty entertaining mating habits. Their women have a short period of beauty during adolescence, but then become meaty, mustached, and mean. Thus, the men chase only the young women and the older women capture young men who aren’t big enough to resist. (Vance mentions that “the system has permutations unnecessary now to explore.”) The Darsh also have an exciting game of survival called hadaul.

The other culture is the Methlen. These folks are snobs who look down on everyone else in the universe. They live in Llalarkno, an exclusive country club type area of the planet Methel, and they don’t want anyone who’s not Methlen living there. They especially hate the Darsh whose planet is close to theirs. When Lens Larque tries to buy a house in Llalarkno, he’s insulted and run-off by the neighbor. He hatches an elaborate plan to get even and Kirth Gersen gets involved with both societies as he tries to track down the elusive Larque.

The Face is hilarious and has a particularly clever and satisfying ending. You don’t really need to read the previous Demon Princes books to enjoy The Face, but why wouldn’t you? ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2011/12/review-of-demon-princes-by-jack-vance.h.... ( )

Van http://mom.biblion.nl/ :
Kirth Gersen neemt het op tegen de vierde van de Duivelsprinsen, die destijds zijn familie ombrachten. De afrekening met deze kosmische piraat, die graag grappen uithaalt, maar ook zijn sadistische trekken heeft, gaat via een rechtszaak en de strijd om een meerderheidsparticipatie in diens mijnonderneming, om vrij bruusk te eindigen met Larque's dood en meteen ook met zijn laatste, monumentale spotternij. Een vlot leesbaar verhaal van deze immens populaire sciencefiction-auteur, waarin de bezochte werelden met een overvloed aan pittoresk detail worden beschreven en ook de plot zelf heel wat humoristische, zij het soms wat voorspelbare, verwikkelingen kent. Dit is het vierde deel in een vijfdelige cyclus, waarvan de delen ook afzonderlijk leesbaar zijn. Normale druk; toepasselijke omslagillustratie in kleur. - Redactie/P.T.

Ce quatrième tome de la geste des princes-démons relève le niveau du précédent tome. L'intrigue se diversifie enfin par rapport aux précédents volumes, de nombreux personnages secondaires aux caractères bien trempés interviennent au cours de cette aventure, le personnage féminin se comporte enfin de manière différente de ses devancières et qui plus est un second personnage féminin apparaît ! Enfin, le dénouement est assez inattendu et rempli d'humour.
Bref, un ouvrage rafraichissant dans ce cycle qui semblait un peu se ternir au fil des tomes. ( )

This is my third "Demon Princes" novel, and my least favorite to date. It certainly has its strengths: Gersen is still a compelling character, the villain is reasonably colorful, and the world building is intriguing. On the other hand, the romance is truly ludicrous and the ending is really pretty ridiculous, both in its suddenness and in its content. You’ve almost got to think that this was a case where Vance had committed to providing a manuscript of X word count and, upon realizing he had reached the magic number, tacked on an abrupt two page climax and dropped the manuscript in the mail with a request for immediate payment from the publisher. Still, I will keep the other two novels on my "to be read list." ( )