Star King
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Star King'' (also published as ''The Star King'') is a science fiction novel by American writer
Jack Vance John Holbrook Vance (August 28, 1916 – May 26, 2013) was an American mystery, fantasy, and science fiction writer. He also wrote several mystery novels under pen names, including Ellery Queen. Vance won the World Fantasy Award for Life Ach ...
, the first in his
Demon Princes Demon Princes is a series of five science fiction novels by Jack Vance, which cumulatively relate the story of Kirth Gersen, a man trained by his grandfather to exact revenge on five notorious interstellar crime bosses, collectively known as the ...
series. It tells the story of a young man, Kirth Gersen, who sets out to track down and avenge himself upon the first of the Demon Princes, the five arch-criminals who massacred or enslaved nearly all the inhabitants of his colony world when he was a child. ''Star King'' was originally serialized in the December 1963 and February 1964 editions of ''
Galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...
'' magazine, as ''The Star King''. The antagonist of the book was originally known as Grendel the Monster and was subsequently renamed Attel Malagate for the novel version. The magazine version featured a striking cover and interior illustrations by
Ed Emshwiller Edmund Alexander Emshwiller (February 16, 1925 – July 27, 1990) was an American people, American visual artist notable for his science fiction illustrations and his pioneering experimental films. He usually signed his illustrations as Emsh but ...
.


Plot summary

Gersen is taking a short holiday at Smade's Tavern, the only settlement on Smade's Planet, which is a "neutral ground" hostelry for the crook and honest man alike in the Beyond. Here he meets an explorer with a problem: Lugo Teehalt has discovered a beautiful and unspoiled world – but he has learned that his employer is the notorious criminal Attel Malagate, “Malagate the Woe”, and Teehalt cannot bear to see his planet despoiled by him. However, some of Malagate's minions murder him and steal the spaceship parked nearby. By chance, Gersen's spaceship is the same common model as Teehalt's; the thieves have taken the wrong ship. Gersen departs in the deceased man's ship and thus comes into possession of the navigational device that contains the planet's coordinates. Gersen goes in search of the identity of Teehalt's employer. He quickly establishes that his mission was sponsored by someone at Sea Province University, an important institution on the planet Alphanor in the Rigel Concourse, and narrows Malagate's alter ego to one of three men, all senior officials at the university. All deny specific knowledge of Lugo Teehalt. By now, Gersen has encountered two of Malagate's chief henchmen, whom he saw earlier at Smade's Tavern: Tristano the Earthman, and Sivij Suthiro the Sarkoy. He knows that Malagate is aware of what he carries, though not his motivation. He has also deduced that Malagate is not, as widely assumed, human, but rather a "Star King", a member of a species that can rapidly evolve in a few generations to resemble (and strive to outcompete) what they view as the most successful race. After contacting humanity, the Star Kings began changing their appearance to look more and more like humans. The most successful can readily pass for human. During his visit to the university, Gersen makes the acquaintance of Pallis Atwrode, a clerical assistant. While the two are enjoying an evening out, they are attacked by another of Malagate's lieutenants, the hideous Hildemar Dasce. Gersen is left unconscious and Pallis abducted. Through a combination of detective work and good luck, he traces her to a secret base belonging to Dasce. He takes the three officials to see Teehalt's world, which they are interested in purchasing. Along the way, Gersen rescues Pallis and captures Dasce, along with a prisoner Dasce has tortured for years, Robin Rampold. Gersen convinces Dasce that Malagate betrayed him and then allows Dasce to overpower him. Dasce's attempt to avenge himself on Malagate reveals the Star King's identity. In combination with strong circumstantial evidence, this convinces the other two men to accept Gersen's accusations. After Dasce's unsuccessful attack and flight, Gersen tells Malagate that he is to be summarily executed. Malagate however succeeds in escaping himself, only to be horribly killed a few minutes later by one of the native lifeforms on Teehalt's world. At his own request, Rampold is left behind. He subsequently turns the tables on his former torturer and begins a long-term program of revenge.


Reception

Dave Langford David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science-fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'' and holds the all-time record for most Hug ...
reviewed ''Star King'' for ''
White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...
'' #99, and stated that "The revenge plot is banal in the extreme, but the pace is headlong and it's impossible not to admire the backdrop."


Reviews

*Arthur Jean Cox (1964) in ''Riverside Quarterly'', August 1964 *
Robert Silverberg Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is a prolific American science fiction author and editor. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a SFWA Grand ...
(1964) in ''
Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearance ...
'', September 1964 * P. Schuyler Miller (1965) in '' Analog Science Fiction - Science Fact'', September 1965 *Chris Morgan (1978) in ''
Vector Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics a ...
'' 89 * David A. Truesdale (1979) in ''
Science Fiction Review Richard E. Geis (July 19, 1927 – February 4, 2013) was an American science fiction fan and writer, and erotica writer, from Portland, Oregon, who won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977 (tied with Susan Wood), 1978, ...
'', May 1979 *Brian Magorrian (1988) in ''Paperback Inferno'', #71


References


External links

* * *''The Star King'
parts one
an
two
on the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
{{Jack Vance 1964 American novels Novels by Jack Vance 1964 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Demon Princes series Novels first published in serial form Novels set on fictional planets Works originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction Berkley Books books Fiction about Neanderthals