The Gray Prince: 06/25/15

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.

One star

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