#3

Not reading much in terms of books these days, but I'm reading a lot of journals and mags, of which I have a backlog (catching up on Cabinet and Lapham's Quarterly takes some time if you fall behind).

Finished Vance's The Palace of Love fairly quickly, however. The Demon Princes books are a bit formulaic, but still evince an imagination fervid as it is fertile. What Vance does with his formula is always impressive. Here Kirth Gersen goes after the 3rd of five Princes who wrecked and imprisoned the inhabitants of his home world. Viole Falushe is a futuristic DeSade, but only in spirit. Turns out the proprieter of the galaxy's Playboy Manse is impotent due to an adolescent fixation. When a teenage crush object spurned and humiliated young Falushe, he became a soul-less beast of unimaginable cruelty. Even cloning his young love gives him no surfeit, and Kirth makes sure Viole will never sate himself in a satisfying climax.