
The Star King
The Demon Princes Series, Book 1
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $14.58
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stefan Rudnicki
-
By:
-
Jack Vance
About this listen
Five intergalactic criminal masterminds raid the tranquil world of Mount Pleasant, leaving behind only ruin and slaughter - and the orphaned child Kirth Gersen, who comes to manhood swearing to take bloody revenge. Now Gersen roams the galaxy, bringing vengeance to the Demon Princes one by one, in Jack Vance's classic series of hardboiled space opera.
In a seedy tavern on Smade's Planet, Kirth Gersen picks up the trail of Attel Malagate, a member of an alien species called Star Kings, who masquerade as humans. Malagate maintains anonymity behind a screen of sinister henchmen, but Gersen will combine subtle guile and stark violence in a strategy to bring him face to face with the first of the Demon Princes.
© 1963 and 2005 Jack Vance (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Planet of Adventure
- City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.
-
-
"his new life. . . held zest and adventure"
- By Jefferson on 12-31-18
By: Jack Vance
-
The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
-
-
A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
-
Suldrun’s Garden
- Lyonesse: Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of 10 contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him.
-
-
Not my cup of tea
- By Ann on 01-10-11
By: Jack Vance
-
Endurance
- The Complete Series
- By: A.C. Spahn
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Join the Endurance's crew - a trigger-happy first officer, a hyperactive engineer, a shy covert operative, a conspiracy-spouting physicist, and a captain trying to earn his way back into his superiors' good graces....
-
-
This one is special.
- By Naomi on 06-03-23
By: A.C. Spahn
-
Baltimore
- Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire
- By: Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
- Narrated by: Colin Mace
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lord Henry Baltimore awakens the wrath of a vampire on the hellish battlefields of World War I, the world is forever changed. For a virulent plague has been unleashed—a plague that even death cannot end.
-
-
Is this a hidden masterpiece?
- By dB on 06-24-23
By: Mike Mignola, and others
-
The Man in the Maze
- By: Robert Silverberg
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Muller was an honorable diplomat who braved unimaginable dangers to make contact with the first-known race of intelligent aliens. But those aliens left a mark on him: a psychic wound that emanates a telepathic miasma that his fellow humans can neither cure nor endure. Muller is exiled to the remote planet of Lemnos, where he is left, deeply embittered, at the heart of a deadly maze - until a new alien race appears, seemingly intent on exterminating humanity.
-
-
dry
- By Elle L.F. on 12-20-18
-
Planet of Adventure
- City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.
-
-
"his new life. . . held zest and adventure"
- By Jefferson on 12-31-18
By: Jack Vance
-
The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
-
-
A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
-
Suldrun’s Garden
- Lyonesse: Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of 10 contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him.
-
-
Not my cup of tea
- By Ann on 01-10-11
By: Jack Vance
-
Endurance
- The Complete Series
- By: A.C. Spahn
- Narrated by: James Fouhey
- Length: 13 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Join the Endurance's crew - a trigger-happy first officer, a hyperactive engineer, a shy covert operative, a conspiracy-spouting physicist, and a captain trying to earn his way back into his superiors' good graces....
-
-
This one is special.
- By Naomi on 06-03-23
By: A.C. Spahn
-
Baltimore
- Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire
- By: Mike Mignola, Christopher Golden
- Narrated by: Colin Mace
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Lord Henry Baltimore awakens the wrath of a vampire on the hellish battlefields of World War I, the world is forever changed. For a virulent plague has been unleashed—a plague that even death cannot end.
-
-
Is this a hidden masterpiece?
- By dB on 06-24-23
By: Mike Mignola, and others
-
The Man in the Maze
- By: Robert Silverberg
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Muller was an honorable diplomat who braved unimaginable dangers to make contact with the first-known race of intelligent aliens. But those aliens left a mark on him: a psychic wound that emanates a telepathic miasma that his fellow humans can neither cure nor endure. Muller is exiled to the remote planet of Lemnos, where he is left, deeply embittered, at the heart of a deadly maze - until a new alien race appears, seemingly intent on exterminating humanity.
-
-
dry
- By Elle L.F. on 12-20-18
-
Litany of the Long Sun
- Book of the Long Sun, Books 1 and 2
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Litany of the Long Sun contains the full texts of Nightside the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun that together make up the first half of The Book of the Long Sun. This great work is set on a huge generation starship in the same future as the classic Book of the New Sun (also available in two volumes from Orb).
-
-
Utterly brilliant in it’s tedium
- By John on 04-14-22
By: Gene Wolfe
-
Elric of Melniboné
- Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
- By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman - Foreword
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics of the twentieth century: the story of Elric, emperor of the dying kingdom of Melniboné. For a hundred centuries the Melnibonéans have ruled from the Dragon Isle of Imrryr. Now, after years of corruption and decadence, Elric’s amoral cousin Prince Yyrkoon, the brother of his beloved Cymoril, sets his eyes on the Ruby Throne. Elric must face his treacherous cousin not as a warrior but as a sorcerer king once again in league with the ancient gods of Melniboné, the Chaos Lords, and thus sealing his inexorable fate.
-
-
Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.
- By Ted C. on 02-17-22
By: Michael Moorcock, and others
-
Cage of Souls
- By: Adrian Tchaikovsky
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 23 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sun is bloated, diseased, dying perhaps. Beneath its baneful light, Shadrapar, last of all cities, harbours fewer than 100,000 human souls. Built on the ruins of countless civilisations, Shadrapar is a museum, a midden, an asylum, a prison on a world that is ever more alien to humanity. Bearing witness to the desperate struggle for existence between life old and new is Stefan Advani: rebel, outlaw, prisoner, survivor.
-
-
Slow Start, Strong Finish
- By Jacob McCollum on 05-01-23
-
Relentless Box Set
- The Complete Fleet Ops Trilogy
- By: Scott Bartlett, Joshua James
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 25 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Years after defeating aliens bent on burning down the galaxy, the Interstellar Union is breaking apart, its member species undermining each other at every opportunity. When an interdimensional distress signal arrives, only humanity is interested in helping. Captain Vin Husher is given command of the UHS Relentless, and sent in as part of a carrier strike group...right into a trap laid by humanity’s old enemy. Surrounded by a bioengineered super-species and unable to return home, Husher must draw on decades of experience just to keep his people alive.
-
-
I was surprised that i got bored.
- By Ron Dawes on 04-22-22
By: Scott Bartlett, and others
-
The Tar-Aiym Krang
- A Pip & Flinx Adventure
- By: Alan Dean Foster
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Moth was a beautiful planet, the only one with wings - two great golden clouds suspended in space around it. Here was a wide-open world for any venture a man might scheme. The planet attracted unwary travelers, hardened space-sailors, and merchant buccaneers - a teeming, constantly shifting horde that provided a comfortable income for certain quick-witted fellows like Flinx and his pet flying snake Pip.
-
-
The First of the Flinx and Pip Novels AT LAST!
- By Chris on 01-20-09
By: Alan Dean Foster
-
Dorsai!
- Dorsai Series, Book 1
- By: Gordon R. Dickson
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout the Fourteen Worlds of humanity, no race is as feared and respected as the Dorsai. The ultimate warriors, they are known for their deadly rages, unbreakable honor, and fierce independence. No man rules the Dorsai, but their mastery of the art of war has made them the most valuable mercenaries in the known universe. Donal Graeme is Dorsai, taller and harder than any ordinary man. But he is different as well, with talents that maze even his fellow Dorsai. And once he ventures out into the stars, the future will never be the same....
-
-
35 years ago I loved this. Now it seems very thin
- By Mike on 12-29-13
-
Dark Invasion
- The Travelers, Book 1
- By: Nathan Hystad
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Elliot has just finished his third year of college as a finance major. After some tragic family news, he isn’t sure what the future holds. Working part time at the video rental store, Elliot is dumped and offered a promotion, all on the eve of the island’s biggest celebratory day: The Fourth of July. With the help of his best friend, Bones, the new waitress from the local diner, and a mysterious soldier, Elliot must uncover the secrets that surround Bell Island before it’s too late.
-
-
A wonderful tale of a hideous 4th of July alien invasion on a small island!
- By Dr. Geoff on 03-04-23
By: Nathan Hystad
-
Roadmarks
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Road runs from the unimaginable past to the far future, and those who travel it have access to the turnoffs leading to all times and places - even to the alternate time-streams of histories that never happened. Why the Dragons of Bel'kwinith made the Road - or who they are - no one knows. But the Road has always been there and for those who know how to find it, it always will be!
-
-
A Sparkling Gem by a Master of Sci Fi & Fantasy
- By Bonnie on 01-20-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Red Thunder
- The Thunder and Lightning Series, Book 1
- By: John Varley
- Narrated by: Eddie Lopez
- Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As Chinese and US spacecraft compete to be the first to land on Mars, a former astronaut, his cousin, and four teens from Florida decide to take matters into their own hands. If they can quickly build their own space-worthy ship using scrap metal, appliances, and power tools, they have a chance to come from behind - thanks to an inventive new power source that can propel them to the Red Planet within three days. No guts, no glory.
-
-
Highly Enjoyable
- By Barr Bauer on 09-11-21
By: John Varley
-
A Night in the Lonesome October
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Loyally accompanying a mysterious knife-wielding gentleman named Jack on his midnight rounds through the murky streets of London, good dog Snuff is busy helping his master collect the grisly ingredients needed for an unearthly rite that will take place not long after the death of the moon. But Snuff and his master are not alone. All manner of participants, both human and not, are gathering with their ancient tools and their animal familiars in preparation for the dread night.
-
-
So happy this is finally on Audible!
- By Shannon GC on 08-23-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
Eon
- By: Greg Bear
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 17 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perhaps it wasn't from our time, perhaps it wasn't even from our universe, but the arrival of the 300-kilometer long stone was the answer to humanity's desperate plea to end the threat of nuclear war. Inside the deep recesses of the stone lies Thistledown: the remnants of a human society, versed in English, Russian and Chinese. The artifacts of this familiar people foretell a great Death caused by the ravages of war, but the government and scientists are unable to decide how to use this knowledge.
-
-
Am Epic Original SciFi Read Worth Your Time...
- By Michael on 07-01-12
By: Greg Bear
-
On Blue’s Waters
- Book of the Short Sun, Book 1
- By: Gene Wolfe
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Blue's Waters is the start of a new work by Gene Wolfe which takes place in the years after Wolfe's four-volume Book of the Long Sun. Horn, the narrator of the earlier work, now tells his own story. Though life is hard on the newly settled planet of Blue, Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves. But Horn is the only one who can locate the great leader Silk and convince him to return to Blue and lead them all to prosperity. So Horn sets sail in a small boat, on a long and difficult quest across the planet Blue in search of the now legendary Patera Silk.
-
-
Getting the hang of Wolfe
- By Patrick DeWind on 09-20-24
By: Gene Wolfe
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Planet of Adventure
- City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.
-
-
"his new life. . . held zest and adventure"
- By Jefferson on 12-31-18
By: Jack Vance
-
Suldrun’s Garden
- Lyonesse: Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of 10 contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him.
-
-
Not my cup of tea
- By Ann on 01-10-11
By: Jack Vance
-
The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
-
-
A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
-
To Live Forever
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gavin Waylock had waited seven years for the scandal surrounding his former immortal self to be forgotten and had kept his identity concealed so that he could once again join the ranks of those who lived forever. He had been exceedingly careful about hiding his past. Then he met the Jacynth. She was a beautiful 19-year-old, and Gavin wanted her. But he recognized that a wisdom far beyond her years marked her as one who knew too much about him to live.
-
-
Interesting character study in futuristic society
- By MSEreads on 01-30-16
By: Jack Vance
-
Song of the Beast
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Claire Christie, Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brutal imprisonment has broken Aidan McAllister. His music is destroyed, and with it the visions he once gave a kingdom ravaged by dragon war. Now, he risks his hard-bought freedom to uncover the truth behind his incarceration - and to meet his enemy face-to-face....
-
-
Dragons rock!
- By MarilynArms on 08-15-13
By: Carol Berg
-
Flesh and Spirit
- Lighthouse, Book 1
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society - and his family - have ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his doom in water, blood, and ice. Her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen in a rainy wilderness half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure, and possessing only a stolen book of maps.
-
-
FIGHTING TO ADD MORE WORDS TO THIS COLLECTION
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-13-14
By: Carol Berg
-
Planet of Adventure
- City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Elijah Alexander
- Length: 23 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.
-
-
"his new life. . . held zest and adventure"
- By Jefferson on 12-31-18
By: Jack Vance
-
Suldrun’s Garden
- Lyonesse: Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of 10 contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him.
-
-
Not my cup of tea
- By Ann on 01-10-11
By: Jack Vance
-
The Dying Earth
- Tales of the Dying Earth, Book 1
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stories in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home.
-
-
A Decadent and Hopeful Dying Earth
- By Jefferson on 06-27-10
By: Jack Vance
-
To Live Forever
- By: Jack Vance
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gavin Waylock had waited seven years for the scandal surrounding his former immortal self to be forgotten and had kept his identity concealed so that he could once again join the ranks of those who lived forever. He had been exceedingly careful about hiding his past. Then he met the Jacynth. She was a beautiful 19-year-old, and Gavin wanted her. But he recognized that a wisdom far beyond her years marked her as one who knew too much about him to live.
-
-
Interesting character study in futuristic society
- By MSEreads on 01-30-16
By: Jack Vance
-
Song of the Beast
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Claire Christie, Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brutal imprisonment has broken Aidan McAllister. His music is destroyed, and with it the visions he once gave a kingdom ravaged by dragon war. Now, he risks his hard-bought freedom to uncover the truth behind his incarceration - and to meet his enemy face-to-face....
-
-
Dragons rock!
- By MarilynArms on 08-15-13
By: Carol Berg
-
Flesh and Spirit
- Lighthouse, Book 1
- By: Carol Berg
- Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The rebellious son of a long line of pureblood cartographers and diviners, Valen has spent most of his life trying to escape what society - and his family - have ordained for him. His own mother has predicted that he will meet his doom in water, blood, and ice. Her divination seems fulfilled when a comrade abandons Valen in a rainy wilderness half-dead, addicted to an enchantment that converts pain to pleasure, and possessing only a stolen book of maps.
-
-
FIGHTING TO ADD MORE WORDS TO THIS COLLECTION
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 07-13-14
By: Carol Berg
-
Les mytág
- By: Robert Holdstock
- Narrated by: Jakub Gottwald
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Steven Huxley se po válce vrací do rodného domu na okraji zdánlivě nevelkého lesa na anglickém venkově. Jeho otec, pro něhož se stalo zkoumání neprostupného hvozdu bezmála posedlostí, za podivných okolností zemřel. A bratr Christian se změnil skoro k nepoznání. Čím víc se les brání Stevena pustit dovnitř, tím víc ho jeho tajemství přitahují. Kdo jsou postavy a stíny, které z podivně bezhraničního lesa vystupují? A existuje z něj cesta zpět? Jedno z nejoriginálnějších děl britské fantasy s předmluvou Neila Gaimana.
-
-
This book was not in English.
- By Autumn on 05-25-21
By: Robert Holdstock
-
Lord of Light
- By: Roger Zelazny
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light.
-
-
How could a performance be so wrong?
- By 1st World Problems on 05-29-22
By: Roger Zelazny
-
The Blacktongue Thief
- By: Christopher Buehlman
- Narrated by: Christopher Buehlman
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Anne Vaughan on 05-28-21
-
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
- By: Robert A. Heinlein
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 14 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what is considered one of Heinlein's most hair-raising, thought-provoking, and outrageous adventures, the master of modern science fiction tells the strange story of an even stranger world. It is 21st-century Luna, a harsh penal colony where a revolt is plotted between a bashful computer and a ragtag collection of maverick humans, a revolt that goes beautifully until the inevitable happens. But that's the problem with the inevitable: it always happens.
-
-
Heinlein's Masterpiece
- By Peter on 12-04-06
-
Elric of Melniboné
- Volume 1: Elric of Melnibone, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, and The Weird of the White Wolf
- By: Michael Moorcock, Neil Gaiman - Foreword
- Narrated by: Samuel Roukin
- Length: 24 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics of the twentieth century: the story of Elric, emperor of the dying kingdom of Melniboné. For a hundred centuries the Melnibonéans have ruled from the Dragon Isle of Imrryr. Now, after years of corruption and decadence, Elric’s amoral cousin Prince Yyrkoon, the brother of his beloved Cymoril, sets his eyes on the Ruby Throne. Elric must face his treacherous cousin not as a warrior but as a sorcerer king once again in league with the ancient gods of Melniboné, the Chaos Lords, and thus sealing his inexorable fate.
-
-
Skip the first chapter, it's not Moorcock.
- By Ted C. on 02-17-22
By: Michael Moorcock, and others
-
True Grit
- By: Charles Portis
- Narrated by: Donna Tartt
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Arkansas, sets out to avenge her Daddy who was shot to death by a no-good outlaw. Mattie convinces one-eyed "Rooster" Cogburn, the meanest U.S. marshal in the land, to ride along with her. In True Grit, we have a true American classic, as young Mattie, as vital as she is innocent, outdickers and outmaneuvers the hard-bitten men of the trail in a legend that will last through the ages.
-
-
So worth it!
- By Tommygaus on 12-29-10
By: Charles Portis
What listeners say about The Star King
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- j.r.
- 02-23-22
As addictive as the written novel
Thanks to the excellent performance of Stefan Rudnicki this story comes to live in vivid detail. Jack vance has always been my favourite writer and the colourful language and strange characters let's one dream of far away worlds where countless adventures await.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Taliesin De Launey
- 05-30-23
The best book series I’ve ever read!
I can’t really say in words how good this series is. It’s the best series I’ve ever read personally. It’s James Bond, Sci-fi reverse murder mystery done by one of the best writers of not the best writer I’ve read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Raymond Lozada-Negron
- 06-14-24
Ray's Reviews
BOOK 1 of the DEMON PRINCES by JACK VANCE. A masterful beginning to a masterful sci-fi book series. JACK VANCE is the best!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Reviewer
- 03-24-22
Jack Vance is a Star.
Have read Demon Princes several times. Even so, I picked up new details I'd not noticed before. Strange, the differences between visual and auditory formats!
Good vocal performance. Great story.
The vision of future life is both wondrous and grotesque. Back in the day, Vance imagined and evoked imagery equal to that in the film The Cell... Until I listened to the audiobook, I'd never reckoned that before.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Gan
- 03-05-22
A longtime favorite, perfectly narrated
Jack Vance has long been my favorite author. This series, The Demon Princes, is my most favorite among all his works, if which I own all. I began collecting JV titles first as out-of-print paperbacks, reading and re-reading the five Demon Princes books in particular untill the bindings began to decay.
I have lost count of the number of re-reads. Somewhere between 15 and 18. I like it that well. Not merely the plots and character developement, but also the kaleidoscopic breadth of its universe. Mainly, though, it is the unique motivations of each Demon Prince.
For not one of the villains is evil merely for evil's sake. Not one is a shallow archetype. Nor yet is the hero. At times, there seems little difference between hero and villain, something which troubles the hero himself, when he has time to consider the matter. Both hero and villians are given depth, more so in books 3-5 than in 1 and 2.
On obtaining a better paid job, I re-collected the series in hardcover, signed by Jack himself.
Now, at long last, I have enjoyed to hear it narrated, and by my favorite narrator, no less. Mr. Rudnicki's voice and intonation never fails to penetrate my mild loss of hearing (due, in part, to that job which paid so very well). I like to listen while driving to and from work. Never do I miss a word due to noise from tire noise or wind. Further, he conveys the gravity of every scene to an exacting degree.
Hardly can I wait for the whole series to be complete. While this one book, all by itself, I might rate at 4 of 5 stars, and the next book is some better yet, and books 3 through 5 are all-time classics, to be rated, in order, 6, 8, and 10 stars out of 5.
As an aerospace test engineer, I admit that math does not seem to work out. Nevertheless, I stand by those numbers.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mario
- 04-04-22
A true blue classic space opera!
Jack Vance isn't a household name when it comes to SF authors, but his decades long career gave us some of the finest science fiction ever written. The Demon Princes series, of which the Star King is the first volume, combines good old fashion space opera with crime drama, and a dash of the spy novel. The setting is the far future where mankind has ventured out and settled scores of planets. It is a revenge story featuring Kirth Gersen, a young man from a community on a far off planet which is devastated by a quintet of eccentric interplanetary crime lords. Except for Kirth and his grandfather, all of the inhabitants are either killed or enslaved. After surviving the attack, he is trained from early childhood as an assassin by his grandfather. His sole purpose in life is to track down and punish each of the villains. Along the way however, Gersen must come to terms with what meaning his life will have in the unlikely event that he actually survives his mission.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Michael Brenner
- 04-01-23
Quite an imaginative science fiction treat
Hard to believe this was written so long ago is the imagination of Jack Vance, make a science fiction novel every bit is readable today in the modern world. Well written, philosophical, even a mystery, and a bit of a love story, with revenge and vengeance.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- R. Milan Hanson
- 09-12-24
Pop Sci from the guy who influenced Dungeons and Dragons, Jack Vance.
I love the world that Jack Vance builds and his extended vocabulary, but also his main protagonist who rises above his enemies with clever witt and improvisation.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jd
- 03-06-24
Tedious, rambling storyline.
Dislike this book . Could not get to a point where the story seemed with the time. Don’t bother.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!