One of Vance's more serious novels, addressing the racial and political tensions on a colonized planet. Builds a fair amount of tension and suspense. ( )

Despues de 5 años de ausencia, Shaine Madduc regresa a Koryfon, su planeta natal. Muchas cosas han pasado en ese lapso: su padre ha muerto y sobre todo se ha roto la convivencia entre las tres razas que habitan aquel mundo. Un convivencia desde luego forzada entre la especie humana autentica aristocracia terrateniente los uldras y los erjin esto últimos utilizados como esclavos.

Vance, Jack. The Gray Prince. 1974. iBooks, 2004.
Three-time Hugo-winner Jack Vance is one of those writers whose name on the cover could always sell me a magazine. Sadly, I have not read as many of his novels as I should have. The Gray Prince, first published as a magazine serial under the title “The Domains of Koryphon,” a title that Vance preferred, is a gem. It is usually called a planetary romance. It is set in the far future on a colony that is meant, I think, to remind us of colonial Australia. It is a romance, not so much because of its tragicomic love story, but because its world of genetically diverse human cultures and its multiple sentient or semi-sentient species is so exotic.
It is not just the planet that is exotic but also the style in which it is described. Consider this description of the planet’s first human settlers, the Uldra: “In point of fact, while the Uldra men, with their tall nervous physiques, gray skins dyed ultramarine blue and aquiline features, were in general personable, the same could not be said for the women. The girls, squat and fat, with their scalps shaved bald against the onslaught of vermin, lacked charm.” The satiric edge is subtle enough that even some perceptive reviewers either miss it or consider it a bug rather than a feature. The faux-academic style slyly covers up all the ugly truths the characters are unwilling to face. The several groups of genetically distinct humans each consider themselves superior to all the others, and all the humans consider themselves superior to the planet’s indigenous thought-to-be semi-sentient race. The indigenous race itself considers itself superior to the invaders. Everyone in the novel is guilty of self-deception that justifies vengefulness. I wonder if Vance may be suggesting that self-deception and vengefulness always accompany sentience. Nicely noir. A strong four stars. ( )

http://speculiction.blogspot.com/2015/12/review-of-domains-of-koryphon-aka-gray.... ( )

The Gray Prince by Jack Vance is the first of the Gaean Reach series. It's sometimes also published as The Grey Prince or The Domains of Koryphon. The multiple title confusion is just the start of this mess.

The description sounds so promising. A woman returns to her home after years in space to find her home planet vastly changed and under the threat of a race riot, lead by a man nicknamed the Gray Prince.

The problem is that Schaine Madduc is from the conquering aristocracy. Her family own a huge ranch. Along with the ranch, they own slaves. Much of the book is overheard conversations about how uppity the natives are becoming, when they used to be such nice, simple children.

The leader of the rebellion was a ward of the ranch, given a proper education and now he's expected to work for his family and appreciate all they done for him. What they've done is betray his trust and love! No wonder he's leading the civil rights movement. Duh! But they are too set in their privilege to see things from his side or to truly want to help to make things better for everyone. Because that would mean they would have to do actual work.

The Gray Prince was like reading a Zane Grey novel but in space. It has the same racist overtones. The same white privilege — just in space. ( )