The Palace of Love
First edition cover of The Palace of Love
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| Author | Jack Vance |
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| Cover artist | Richard M. Powers |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Demon Princes |
| Genre | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Berkley Books |
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Publication date
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1967 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Killing Machine |
| Followed by | The Face |
The Palace of Love (1967) is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance, the third in his Demon Princes series.
Kirth Gersen is on Alphanor with Alusz Iphigenia Eperje-Tokay, a woman he had rescued in the previous novel of the series. It is plain that their short-lived relationship is nearing an end, as she cannot understand why Gersen, made extremely wealthy by his epic defrauding of Interchange, still feels the need to exterminate the remaining Demon Princes himself, instead of hiring others to do the job, but most of all, she cannot accept his cold and singleminded pursuit of vengeance.
Gersen notices a newspaper article announcing the forthcoming execution of a prominent Sarkoy venefice, Kakarsis Asm, not for selling poisons to the Demon Prince, Viole Falushe, but for violating a Guild-mandated pricing policy. He accordingly hastens to Sarkovy to pursue this lead.
There he learns from Kakarsis Asm (in exchange for bribing his way to a swift and painless execution) that Falushe visited Sarkovy, at the beginning of his criminal career many years before, with a shipload of slaves, two of whom he sold to Asm and whom he subsequently resold. While they are on Sarkovy, Gersen’s relationship with Alusz Iphigenia finally ends, though he ensures that she will want for nothing in the future.
After visiting his new financial advisor, Jehan Addels, to check how the program to invest the proceeds of his swindle is proceeding, Gersen locates a surviving slave, whom he buys and frees in exchange for further information concerning his enemy. He learns that Falushe was born Vogel Filschner, an Earth boy of disgusting appearance and habits who, to satisfy his obsession with a female classmate, Jheral Tinzy, had kidnapped the entire girls’ choral society at his school. Fortunately for Jheral, she had not attended choir practice that day.
Gersen follows the trail to “Rolingshaven” in the Netherlands, to the people who knew Filschner as a youth. The most direct link is the mad poet Navarth, who was Filschner’s mentor and who later enjoyed a brief relationship with Jheral; after the kidnapping, she had attracted a share of the blame for having teased Filschner and turned to Navarth for comfort. However, she was later abducted by Falushe. Navarth has custody of a young girl, variously known as Drusilla Wayles or “Zan Zu from Eridu,” who was given to him as a child by Falushe to nurture and protect. She resembles the young Jheral to a disturbing extent.
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