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Lord Valentine's Castle (Majipoor: Lord Valentine #1)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 3,718 ratings · 116 reviews

Valentine, a wanderer who knows nothing except his name, finds himself on the fringes of a great city, and joins a troupe of jugglers and acrobats; gradually, he remembers that he is the Coronal Valentine, executive ruler of the vast world of Majipoor, and all its peoples, human and otherwise...

Lord Valentine's Castle was the first of Robert Silverberg's novels about Maji...more Valentine, a wanderer who knows nothing except his name, finds himself on the fringes of a great city, and joins a troupe of jugglers and acrobats; gradually, he remembers that he is the Coronal Valentine, executive ruler of the vast world of Majipoor, and all its peoples, human and otherwise...

Lord Valentine's Castle was the first of Robert Silverberg's novels about Majipoor, in which he has for two decades explored the question of responsibility and authority; much SF and fantasy plays with constructed dreams of feudalism, but Silverberg asks the important questions of how a ruler can be a good person, and how can the person who rules all be free themselves.

Lord Valentine's Castle is a blend of SF worldbuilding & poetic fantasy. Silverberg has created a world long settled by spacefaring powers, aliens & humans alike, whose technological prowess is losing its edge. Hightech devices like antigravity floaters & weather control devices are an accepted part of Majipoor life, but ordinary people tend to regard them as magical. The pattern of life is far more medieval for most: Bioengineered mounts plow fields & pull carriages while minstrels scratch out a living by following the time-honored custom of moving from town to town, hoping for friendly crowds.
Valentine's journey is a long one, a tour thru a series of magnificent environments. Fields of predatory plants give way to impossibly wide rivers, chalk-cliffed islands & unforgiving deserts. The prose is unrelentingly dreamlike—no accident given that on Majipoor, dreams rule the minds of great & humble alike. Caught in a nightmare that reaches beyond his sleeping hours to control his real-world choices, Valentine too is enshrouded in layers of mystery. Tho he recovers his memories & purpose, he never quite comes into focus. Instead he's washed toward a confrontation at Castle Mount like a leaf rides a current.

Despite its ethereal beauty, Majipoor is no utopia. Humans sit firmly atop its political food chain, while the Metamorphs are at its base, dispossessed of ancestral lands, serving as scapegoats for social ills. Using this situation, Silverberg casts light on a variety of pertinent social concerns. Lord Valentine's world is a peaceful place whose citizens enjoy a significant degree of freedom. Even so, racism, imperialism & class haven't been vanquished. This compassionate & clear-eyed portrait of a reasonably decent society that could, with inspired leadership, pursue a higher ideal of justice is what makes Lord Valentine's Castle a novel worth revisiting.(less)

Paperback, 528 pages

Published July 1st 1995 by Eos (first published 1980)

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Dec 30, 2012 mark monday rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantastickal, futuristik, z-robert-silverberg

Valentine finds himself outside the city of Pidruid one afternoon, completely bereft of memory, as the city makes ready for the arrival of Lord Valentine - one of the four great Powers of the mega-world of Majipoor. what's a man to do in such a situation? why, join a traveling band of jugglers, of course. travel a lot, meets lots of new people and see lots of new things, have a bunch of trippy dreams, and eventually reclaim a fabulous destiny. that's what i'd do too.

i reread this due to a group...more Valentine finds himself outside the city of Pidruid one afternoon, completely bereft of memory, as the city makes ready for the arrival of Lord Valentine - one of the four great Powers of the mega-world of Majipoor. what's a man to do in such a situation? why, join a traveling band of jugglers, of course. travel a lot, meets lots of new people and see lots of new things, have a bunch of trippy dreams, and eventually reclaim a fabulous destiny. that's what i'd do too.

i reread this due to a group read. i first read it when living in Virginia Beach, sometime in junior high. it is an often dense novel and certainly a surreal one at times, but there is a purity to it that made me realize i must have been able to fully grasp it when first reading it age 14 or so. it became one of my favorite things. rereading it, it remains one of my favorite things. maybe not 5 stars worth of gold, but it is still pretty precious.

when i first bought the book - and this whole paragraph will just be a rambly recollection that has nothing to do with the book whatsoever, so you may as well just skip this part and move on to the next paragraph - the demented old woman who sold it to me thought i was buying a biography of St. Valentine of Valentine's Day. she proceeded to tell me the "true story" of St. Valentine. apparently he was not simply a saint for lovers. according to the bookseller, St. Valentine was a fiery sort who was captured by malevolent anti-christian forces and tortured for his christian beliefs. nothing would break Valentine. finally, his torturers sent an evil harlot to tempt Valentine. since he was chained down, there was little he could do to stop this nasty temptress from laying her hands all over his precious christian body. so he bit off his own tongue and spat it at her. hello sainthood! i just want you all to remember this the next time you are celebrating Valentine's Day with your loved one. anyway, the odd senior told me to report back to her after reading this novel and let her know if the author got the story right. i think i was too scared to return to that bookstore.

so this book has nothing to do with St. Valentine, whew.

although it is ostensibly about Finding Your True Self and What Makes A Good Leader, i found the novel was equally concerned with two other things: World Building and Silverberg's Vision of a (Semi) Perfect World.

haters of world building need to give this novel a pass. but for those who appreciate the intensely detailed visions of otherworlds created by various scifi and fantasy authors, this is the book for you. "intensely detailed" is a good phrase for this but it should be qualified. not intensely detailed like George RR Martin (you won't always know what color sash a person is wearing and if it matches their brocade jacket) but intensely detailed in that we visit so many different places across the grand world of Majipoor and they are all so beautifully described and so well-differentiated from each other. at times i was reminded of how easily Jack Vance rolls out cities & countries & worlds, one after the other, with such style and skill that he makes world-building look like a lark. however Silverberg does not have Vance's economy of language or spartan stylishness. this is world building in the classic sense in that the reader gets to enjoy sentence after sentence and paragraph after paragraph of gorgeous description. boring for some; entrancing for me. reading this really made me feel like a romantic (also in the classic sense of the word) young nerd again. the language is beautiful and Majipoor really came alive.

this is also in many ways a near-perfect world. it does not know war or famine or cruel leaders or reality tv. its species and races live in relative harmony. personalities are either sunny & open or, if not, at least genuinely amusing in their grouchiness or arrogance. cold-eyed justice and professional emotional support are both given by far off dream-senders, so no need for pesky police or helpful therapists to get up in your face - they'll see you in your dreams, whether you've been good or bad or inbetween. Majipoor is a liberal, generous, and usually cheerful society. its people respect the natural wonders of the world and various preserves are specifically set aside for keeping those wonders sacrosanct. reading Lord Valentine's Castle made me realize that this was all the author's version of his own ideal world. good for you, Silverberg. your dreams are wonderful and i would like to live in them, please.

Silverberg is known to be a sometimes challenging and often provacative author of the New Wave Science Fiction genre. Lord Valentine's Castle was a step in an entirely different direction: epic science fantasy. but such a curious version of an epic! writing that makes you slow down and enjoy things instead of rushing forward to the next conflict. a narrative that is full of dreams and dream battles and dream epiphanies. characters who are mainly undramatic and often trying to do right. an emphasis on the environment as a precious thing. turning the other cheek and not automatically drawing your sword when someone gets in your way. and writing that is charming and sometimes eerie and brightened by a lacquer of pleasantly vivid psychedelia. splendid writing.

look, one sentence:

"He saw himself standing rooted at Zimroel's edge with the sea behind him and a continent unrolling before him, and the Inner Sea punctuated by the Isle of Sleep, and Alhanroel beyond, rising on its nether side to the great swollen bulge of Castle Mount, and the sun overhead, yellow with a bronze-green tint, sending blistering rays down on dusty Suvrael and into the tropics, and warming everything else, and the worlds from which the Skandars came and the Hjorts and the Liimen and all the rest, even the world from which his own folk had emigrated, Old Earth, fourteen thousand years ago, a small blue world absurdly tiny when compared to Majipoor, far away, half forgotten in some other corner of the universe, and he journeyed back down across the stars to this world, this continent, this city, this inn, this courtyard, this small plot of moist yielding soil in which his boots were rooted, and told Sleet he was ready."

cool!

a version of this review is a part of a longer article on Robert Silverberg posted on Shelf Inflicted.(less)

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Jun 15, 2009 Christian rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: My enemies

Recommended to Christian by: The back of another Silverberg book I never read

Shelves: science-fiction

A peculiar book, since no matter how bored or frustrated I was with the infuriating characters and slogging pace, I still wanted to finish it. And I did, to my disappointment Trite and more or less predictable, the book is really no more than a tour of Majipoor Silverberg's made-up planet of far-away pseudo-magic and leftover bits of science. There is some cleverness and creativity, but creating an unproven fantasy ecosystem is nothing new. Majipoor brings a few tasty tidbits to the table, but a...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Becca rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 31, 2011 Kat Hooper rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

3.5 stars, audio version

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Valentine has been wandering the planet of Majipoor for a couple of years, but has almost no memory of where he’s been or what his life was like before. When he discovers that he has a talent for juggling and joins a troop of entertainers, he becomes more connected to his world and aware that something is wrong with him. After experiencing some “sendings” in dreams and hearing about the dreams of others, he begins to realize that he...more 3.5 stars, audio version

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Valentine has been wandering the planet of Majipoor for a couple of years, but has almost no memory of where he’s been or what his life was like before. When he discovers that he has a talent for juggling and joins a troop of entertainers, he becomes more connected to his world and aware that something is wrong with him. After experiencing some “sendings” in dreams and hearing about the dreams of others, he begins to realize that he is Lord Valentine, one of the four rulers of Majipoor, whose soul has been put into some other body. So, with a loyal group of friends, he sets out to get some answers and to try to make things right.

Lord Valentine’s Castle (1980) is considered a classic SFF novel and, therefore, it’s one I’ve been planning to read (and expecting to love) for years. Indeed, there is much to love about Robert Silverberg’s world of Majipoor — it’s a huge hinterlands planet full of jungles, volcanoes, archipelagoes, deserts, long rivers, and sprawling cities populated by alien races and Old Earth humans. Majipoor contains no fossil fuels and few metals and, while there are still some genetically engineered animals and plants, most of Earth’s technology has been lost (though some is still being used by the rulers). Thus, Majipoor reminds me of what I love about Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun — an old-world style with hints of unknown technological wonders that we hope to explore in future books.

As Valentine travels, he explores much of Majipoor and comes to understand and love many of its inhabitants as he experiences their cultures, economic systems, geographies, and ecologies. Of course, once he takes his rightful place as ruler of Majipoor, in the sprawling castle on a remote plateau in the clouds, all of this experience will serve him well.

The premise and the world-building are the strengths of Lord Valentine’s Castle. The plot, though it has so much potential, sometimes seems to crawl under the weight of that huge planet. Valentine plans to go to the castle to confront the imposter, so he goes. It’s a long slow journey which has some obstacles, but they’re all rather easily overcome. Much of the hard work is done in dreams or images as the Lady of Dreams (and, later, Valentine himself) convinces the people around him that Valentine is the true ruler of Majipoor. There’s not much tension and what there is, is quickly relieved. (However, the scene in which Valentine juggles for the shape shifters gave me chills).

There were also some things I didn’t think were adequately explained. For example, why doesn’t the imposter kill Valentine rather than put him into a different body? (There was an explanation for this which only made sense until the real imposter was revealed at the end of the story.) I also wanted to know how the body-switch happened. I hope these things will be explained in later Majipoor books.

I listened to Blackstone Audio’s production of Lord Valentine’s Castle which was read by one of my favorite narrators: Stefan Rudnicki. As usual, this was a very nice production and a great way to read Lord Valentine’s Castle.

If you want to explore a vast imaginative world, and don’t mind the leisurely pace, try Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor Cycle.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.(less)

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Dec 16, 2012 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2007, 9, ebooks, fantasy, reread, 2012

REREAD #1: 9/10 (26 October 2007 - 2 November 2007)

Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg

Come to the magical planet of Majipoor. Follow Valentine as he joins a motley band of jugglers to seek the secret of his lost past across a wide and wondrous world. In the shattered city of the Shapeshifters, in the temple of the Lady of Sleep and the Isle of the King of Dreams. From the depths of a dying emperor's dark domain, to the destiny that awaits him high atop Lord Valentine's Castle.

I first re...more

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Aug 31, 2007 allegra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, theumpteenfavorites

i first read this when i was less than half my current age, re-read it many times over the next ten years, and still remember it fondly. i was immersed in the setting of majipoor, loved the vaguely implied science fiction framework around a fantasy tale, liked the feel of the character interactions, felt like i would recognize the strange flavors of the foods silverberg described. i bought a few extra copies to give to others, when i discovered that they needed to read it, too. i don't have any...more

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Jan 23, 2013 Ryk Spoor rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have written my most detailed review of this book on my own site (http://grandcentralarena.com/on-my-sh...). In brief, this is one of the most wonderful -- in multiple senses of the word -- books I have ever read, all revolving around the eponymous main character, Valentine, and his quest to discover who he is and, once he knows, what he should and can do about it... a decision that will affect his entire world.

The world of Majipoor is a world of fantasy colliding with science, or science fict...more

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May 09, 2012 Walt O'Hara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Some Spoilers. Review based on a second reading decades after the first time, when I was still in my teens. At the time, I remember liking this book. Now, as an adult, I find that I'm not nearly as impressed with it as I was long ago, but there are still some fun moments. Lord Valentine's Castle is about one Valentine, who comes to wakefulness near the seaside city of Padruid, on a giant continent on a giant planet called Majipoor. He has no memory of his previous existence before this point. Th...more Some Spoilers. Review based on a second reading decades after the first time, when I was still in my teens. At the time, I remember liking this book. Now, as an adult, I find that I'm not nearly as impressed with it as I was long ago, but there are still some fun moments. Lord Valentine's Castle is about one Valentine, who comes to wakefulness near the seaside city of Padruid, on a giant continent on a giant planet called Majipoor. He has no memory of his previous existence before this point. The story concerns itself with his quest to recover and reclaim his identity, which is pretty much established in the first chapter or so. The book, thereafter, is a long hero's journey style story where he overcomes enormous difficulties to achieve his goal. All well and good, we've seen this kind of story before, and Silverberg is a great writer and a great world builder, so I was prepared to be engaged with it. The thing is, the lead character is weak. He's a pleasant enough fellow, and likable, but he's not very engaging. And all the supporting cast, including his incredibly convenient love interest, just seem to exist to confirm his activities and occasionally act like cannon fodder. Characterization was minimal at best, we don't really see people-- even the protagonist and antagonist in any level of detail. The real star of the novel was the setting-- the planet Majipoor, a sort of fantasy/SF fusion setting, being a place colonized by Humans after fighting the aboriginal natives into submission. Majipoor is so vast.. a planet roughly the size of Jupiter, but inhabitable, that the humans have invited several other alien races to settle on the planet to help them rule. Due to the unique dream control technology which helps to govern the planet, all residents, aliens and human alike, are capable of receiving messages through dream states. This apparently has a lot to do with the harmonious government of Majipoor. No war, no crime and not even murder has occurred on Majipoor in 14,000 years. Until the events of LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE that is. Valentine's Eastward track through the giant continent that he is on, to the Isle of Sleep, to the Confrontation with the False Coronal that took his place, that's the real story in Lord Valentine's Castle. The conspiracy is often forgotten in page after page of travelogue writing, and I found myself not minding much, the setting was the best part of the novel.

Conclusion. Characters were mediocre at best, plot was long and meandering, the conclusion telegraphed. The travel elements of the book make it worth a read, at least once.(less)

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Mar 19, 2012 Rebecca rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, fantasy

This was my first fantasy or scifi book I read as a teenager, and I adored it back then and read it many times. (It's also the reason I learned to juggle...) I was curious how it would hold up after such a long time, and I'm not disappointed. It lost a bit of its shine, but I'm not sure whether that's because I'm older now, or whether it's because I've read the book so often, even if it's been a while.

This is not the book to pick up if you're looking for an intricate plot or good characterisatio...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Sandino rated it 3 of 5 stars

Първата ми книга прочетена на гсм-а. При голямото количество актуални книги, които са ми се натрупали за четене, никога нямаше да стигна до нея иначе. А все пак се води една от класиките. Силно си личи, че е писана 80та година. Много наивна, героите са или много добри, или много лоши. Нашия човек е толкова добър, способен и обаятелен, че е просто перфектен във всичко, всеки който прекара 5 мин с него го обиква и всяка трудност се оправя за 20 минути максимум. Върха беше финалната битка, когато н...more

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Jan 04, 2010 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful pulp scifi novel done in a very literate style. I think I was just in the right mood for its innocent epic hero quest storyline, but let me tell you, so many books long to attempt even a tenth of what this book accomplishes. It covers so many emotions and so many of what Joseph Campbell refers to in Hero of a Thousand Faces, and it does so in a manner that effortlessly goes back and forth between chilling and lightheartedness that it left me aghast. The book centers on a lost...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Perry Whitford rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: I wouldn't even wish this on a Terry Pratchett fan.

Two questions whose answers are unfathomable will be enough for me to review this book:
1) How can Robert Silverberg, an interesting and occasionally excellent writer of countless science fiction and fantasy novels, sometime prose artist of vivid skill and imagination and creator of memorable, generally avaricious or morally dubious characters write and publish such a childish, asinine piece of vacuous, melodramatic drivel as this book?
2) How in the name of Bilbo Baggins and Gully Foyle did it wi...more

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Nov 21, 2011 Ian rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"You may not pass!" the ugly, stupid guards thundered.

"Huh. Yikes. I really need to get by you, guys," Valentine said.

The guards considered this briefly. "Well, you may not!" they again thundered, just as stupidly and uglily.

Valentine had a momentary crisis of faith. He doubted himself. How could he ascend to his rightful throne on Castle Mount (thirty miles tall, home to the Fifty Cities, but plausible because the planet of Majipoor is enormous but very low-density, you see, so the gravity is j...more

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Oct 15, 2010 Mattox rated it 1 of 5 stars

Wow, talk about outdated.
Apparently this was some kind of bar-raising fantasy back in the day. Well, it hasn't stood the test of time. It's also just a really poor book on many levels.
One irritating thing is the virtuous quality of Majipoor. Plausibility aside, to create a world that is so fundamentally good is to venture into the greatest fantasy - something us Earthlings know nothing about. This is an extremely difficult concept to make cohesive, and Silverberg fails miserably at it. It also r...more

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Oct 07, 2012 Steve rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

By the looks of the blurb on this book, it seemed like it would be a fairly standard 'quest' type book with elves and dwarves and nasty evil folk. And you know what, it pretty much is (only elves and dwarves are replaced by 'aliens' making it Sci-Fi not fantasy).

At times it can be a little slow, and other times too fast – almost dismissive of huge tracts of journey. Didn't feel any particular affinity for any of the characters and didn't really care if they finished their quest successfully or...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Oni rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Lord Valentine's Castle is not one of Silverberg's best. Reading this book is just like watching a PG-13 movies for a supposed Rated movies.

First, the story is so simple. A rightful king, trying to regain his rightful throne from his usurper. Throughout his journey to become a king, he gathered friends and loyalists, later become his most trustful servants. Simple. Less than one paragraph. It might work for a story written for RPG or adventure computer game, but for a novel? Na...

The plot is sim...more Lord Valentine's Castle is not one of Silverberg's best. Reading this book is just like watching a PG-13 movies for a supposed Rated movies.

First, the story is so simple. A rightful king, trying to regain his rightful throne from his usurper. Throughout his journey to become a king, he gathered friends and loyalists, later become his most trustful servants. Simple. Less than one paragraph. It might work for a story written for RPG or adventure computer game, but for a novel? Na...

The plot is simple. Only the beginning part is interesting. But once it is clear that this is all about an exiled king trying to regain his throne, the plot is a bore. It is truly like playing an RPG computer game. The hero gathered companions during his quest, a human female consort and male followers, a giant, a wizard, some aliens, in and off-planet, and then later some other followers. He traveled from one exotic location to another location. Having to solve puzzles and problems before he can advance into another location (should I say stage?) Sounds like an adventure game right? Fortunately, Silverberg knows how to write. Even though the plot is crumbling apart, his writing is still readable.

Secondly, the genre. I don't know why some classify this book into sci-fi genre. It is not a sci-fi novel. You can easily change the race of aliens in this book into dwarves, elves, throlls, gnomes, goblins, or whatever magical creature that you like, without affecting the story at all. It is a fantasy book. By introducing some aliens in this book does not make it a sci-fi book.

If you want to classify it as a sci-fi book, it is a bad sci-fi. How could the author explains a giant terrestrial planet, governed by a central figure, a king (or Coronal in the story), with only medieval technology. The city is populated up to tens of millions! It is impossible for populations that big to live in a huge city without proper technology. Surely they cannot depends on mounts to move from one point to another, not to mention how they move the commodities (unless you use some extraordinary magic, which is not the case in this book). And the population of the planet surpass ten billions! How to feed all of those people without technology? It is just not sustainable.(less)

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Nov 03, 2011 Kenneth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction

This is a well-intentioned book that starts off with a great premise, but loses itself by the time it's halfway over. A man finds himself on the hills outside of a major city at the edge of the known world, with no memories of anything except his own name. Whomever he is, his innate charisma and physical skill gain him friends and eventual employment with a traveling juggling troupe. His dreams are haunted by images which seem to point both toward his unknown past and toward a dire and perilous...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Angela added it · review of another edition

Disappointingly, more travel guide than high adventure. I read this book when I was fourteen or so, so maybe I'd feel differently about it today. I remember a wonderfully imaginative science fiction world with a mile-high, terraformed mountain palace, inflatable floating trees, an underground spiral labyrinth where the ruler's predecessors are confined to languish in stasis.

But while showing off a nice and shiny world, there's very little in the way of coherent plot or interesting characters. T...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Globalt38 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

Very good! I read this back in High School after passing it over in the library for at least a year or more (I hadn't read any Silverberg yet and I think it may have been because the title and cover (castle and guy on a white horse at the time) looked too much like a romance novel... :-) But once I did - I couldn't put it down and went on a Robert Silverberg binge. Has that great mixture of SF, Fantasy, with the blending of old & new. The World (Majipoor) reminded me a little of Ringworld wh...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Jenni rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: other-borrowed, sf

Really rather enjoyed it - would be 3.5 stars if I could, but not really 4 stars as it's not something I expect to re-read any time soon. Lots of chewy world-building stuff, with a good wrap-up at the end (and something that held at least a bit of surprise too). Might well look out for Valentine Pontifex though not sure if I'll bother with Majipoor Chronicles.

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Apr 02, 2013 Сибин Майналовски rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Любимо четиво от доста дълго време насам. Ами падам си по приказките, какво да кажа :) Страхотна Текла Алексиева както винаги - илюстрациите й са направо произведения на изкуството и ако някой се сети да ги събере в едно както тези от кориците на Стивън Кинг... равен няма да има :)

За жалост продълженията на този солиден епос лечно според мен доста отстъпват на първообраза си. Така или иначе това е отлична алтернатива на "Игра на тронове" - по-малко секс, повече живи герои и нито намек за онази...more

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Aug 12, 2010 Don rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandoned, fantasy

Am I reading a Hugo award-nominated novel here, or an imaginary travelogue? I'm having a hard time believing this would be considered the cream of the crop in 1981. Must have been a slow year. The problem I have with this novel is the complete lack of conflict. 100 pages in and nobody has tried to cheat, take advantage of, deceive, belittle or cause bodily harm to the main character. You might argue that the dreams are conflict, but that's kinda lame. I can't believe this is going to get much be...more

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Apr 28, 2009 Allen Garvin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, general-fantasy

Classic scifi novel by Silverberg, set on one of the backwater planets of the universe, some 10,000 years after settled by humans and other aliens. Though a lot of old technology still works, no one really understands it anymore, and the book takes on some of the trappings of fantasy. The world-building here is exceptional: the cities are really alive, each vibrant and unique, and in between are well-realized mysterious wildernesses. It's a huge world, packed with mystery as much as with people...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Thalia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned-books, young-audult

This was a great book, very different from what I am used to reading about. It had adventure, thrill, love, and mystery. All in all it was great reading with interesting twists in the story that you would not have thought to be in there. It does have one or two more adult context but other than that it was great. The characters are great you learn to like them and the other creatures that you meet up with are from another world entirely. This was a great book and I would highly recommend reading...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Jared rated it 5 of 5 stars

Valentine awakens with only hazy memories of his past and a curious sense of oddness around the new coronal who shares his name. After joining a band of jugglers, Valentine slowly begins to unravel both his past and the wonders of Majipoor. Silverberg’s ability to create a world that seems so strange, alien and alive is absolutely sublime. Throw in the dulcet romance that blossoms between the juggler Carabella and Valentine and the ends they go to for each other and you’ve got yourself one grand...more

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Dec 08, 2010 David Melbie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fantasy fans

Recommended to David by: Robert Silverberg!

I first read a story of Majipoor in Legends, and I knew that I must begin, sometime, to read the entire series. Well, this is where it started and what a great story of character transformation.

I need to remember to look for:

Majipoor Chronicles (1981)
Valentine Pontifex (1983)
The Mountains of Majipoor (1995)

and,

THE PRESTIMION TRILOGY
Sorcerers of Majipoor (1997)
Lord Prestimion (1999)
The King of Dreams (2001)

--From A Reader's Journal, by d r melbie.

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Dec 10, 2012 Daniel Roy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, br-bookclub, fantasy, science-fantasy

This one is a strange but otherwise pleasant beast. It's a great little adventure romp in the hybrid realm known as science fantasy, which is to say it borrows both from the science fiction and fantasy genres. Although mostly formulaic despite the genre breeding, its protagonist is nevertheless engaging enough to keep the storytelling fresh throughout.

The mix of science fiction and fantasy is more mongrel than clever crossbreed. Although the world-building lies firmly within the purview of scien...more This one is a strange but otherwise pleasant beast. It's a great little adventure romp in the hybrid realm known as science fantasy, which is to say it borrows both from the science fiction and fantasy genres. Although mostly formulaic despite the genre breeding, its protagonist is nevertheless engaging enough to keep the storytelling fresh throughout.

The mix of science fiction and fantasy is more mongrel than clever crossbreed. Although the world-building lies firmly within the purview of science, the story structure and tropes belong heart and soul to epic fantasy. There's a reluctant hero, and he travels all over the map as he discovers his own past and gathers allies of various races around him. All this happens to take place on a world colonized by aliens and powered by ancient technology, but these details belong more to the background than to the action and tone.

Fortunately, Valentine is an engaging hero, especially at first. His amnesia initially feels like a tired cliché, but as things progress it matters less and less. Valentine is compassionate, happy, gentle, and abhors violence. This creates a very different narrative from the usual orc-slaying extravaganza of fantasy, although there are a few bouts of violence and warfare before all is said and done. It's refreshing to see a hero who avoids violence at all costs, though, and who influences the course of events through compassion instead of brute strength.

The world of Majipoor is definitely original, though I didn't find it all that compelling nor compellingly told. There are bouts of exposition here and there, during which we're repeatedly told how vast the world is. That the characters born on this world would find it so vast felt jarring, as you'd expect them to take their own world for granted. Gene Wolfe did this magnificently in The Shadow of the Torturer, but here we're mostly being told rather than shown.

Although overall the book was enjoyable, ultimately it mostly consists of a bunch of characters touring a magnificent imaginary world. A lot of it feels like extemporization for the ultimate plot resolution. There's even an odd pastiche or homage to Moby-Dick in there, and I swear some lines were lifted verbatim from Melville's work. But once in a while Valentine breaks out a juggling act, and all is right in Majipoor.(less)

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Sep 30, 2012 Suz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobook, grand-masters, award-winner, fantasy

I've had this book recommended to me a number of times, and I was prepared to love it... but I didn't.

The world-building in this book was phenomenal. I thought it was fantastic, stunning, etc. A giant planet known as Majipoor was settled, well, whenever humans fell from the sky and took the joint over. There's a giant continent called Padruid where the story takes place. There is a mix of left-over-from-long-ago science and magic, different species, a fully fleshed out culture, government, socie...more

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Aug 31, 2010 Bertrand rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fantasy, science-fiction, planet-opera

After having spent 15 years writing intellectual scifi, Robert Silverberg decided to change his approach and produced a great epic scifi/fantasy novel in order to get more visibility and commercial success.
This is the origin of Lord Valentine's Castle, an adventure fiction where the main character is Majipoor: a gigantic planet populated by dozens of billions of individuals (humans and exotic races). Although the setting is futuristic, technology is almost absent because of scarcity of metal an...more After having spent 15 years writing intellectual scifi, Robert Silverberg decided to change his approach and produced a great epic scifi/fantasy novel in order to get more visibility and commercial success.
This is the origin of Lord Valentine's Castle, an adventure fiction where the main character is Majipoor: a gigantic planet populated by dozens of billions of individuals (humans and exotic races). Although the setting is futuristic, technology is almost absent because of scarcity of metal and scientific knowledge being lost. As a consequence Majipoor looks pretty much like a medieval setting where futuristic machinery is (scarcely) used. Silverberg also adds supernatural elements (sorcery, the governement keeping control of people through the use of dreams) which is why the novel is clearly leaning towards fantasy. One immediately thinks about Dune even though the comparison is purely motivated by this subtle blend of SF and fantasy (the "science fantasy" label seems to have been invented for Lord Valentine's Castle) and Dune is undoubtedly classified as SF.
Valentine got deprived of its Coronal role (the equivalent of Majipoor's executive power) by an usurper and embodied in a juggler. He will strive to find his memories and conquer his throne back. I found it original and convincing to focus on an adult which is waking up to life the same way as a child or teenager does. Valentine's questioning on his life and goals are moving and well written by Silverberg who managed to create an interesting and credible character within a pure epic fiction.
But Lord Valentine's Castle is mainly an epic fantasy fiction, a futuristic road-trip taking place in a dangerous and beautiful world created by Robert Silverbert. Despite being already 30 years old and the invasion of epic fantasy since then, Valentine remains a fresh and invigorating ready which I can only recommend.

Après quinze ans passés à écrire de la SF à tendance cérébrale (couronnés par les louanges des critiques plus que par un succès commercial probant) Robert Silverberg changeait temporairement son fusil d’épaule et signait pour un grand roman de science-fiction épique auquel il donna plusieurs suites.
Et nous voilà donc embarqués dans Le Château de Lord Valentin, un grand roman d’aventure où l’acteur principal est joué par Majipoor, immense planète peuplée par plusieurs dizaines de milliards d’individus, humains colonisateurs et détenteurs du pouvoir et autres races bigarrées (des colosses au poil long et dotés de quatre bras et bien d’autres toutes aussi exotiques). Bien que l’action prenne place dans un futur lointain, la technologie est peu présente pour cause de rareté du métal et perdition du savoir scientifique. En résulte un décor intéressant où la population a retrouvé un mode de vie quasi médiéval ponctué par l’utilisation d’engins futuristes mais rares (des engins de transport anti-gravité tirés par des lamas génétiquement modifiés). L’auteur glisse quelques éléments qui donnent une connotation surnaturelle à l’ensemble (sorciers, gouvernement gardant le contrôle du peuple via l’envoi de rêves) si bien que le résultat tire finalement plus du côté de la fantasy. On pense à Dune évidemment même si la comparaison s’arrête à ce subtil mélange de SF et de fantasy et que ce glorieux aîné est indubitablement classé en SF (parenthèse refermée).
Le Château de Lord Valentin tient aussi du roman initiatique. Valentin, dépossédé de son rôle de Coronal (le pouvoir exécutif sur Majipoor) par un usurpateur, se retrouve incarné dans le corps d’un jongleur et va progressivement s’atteler à la reconquête de son trône. Le personnage principal est donc un adulte à qui on met les comptes à zéro et qui s’interroge sur son identité et son destin. Ce filon est très bien exploité par l’auteur qui construit un personnage intéressant et crédible sans trop en faire.
S’il verse dans le psychologique, Le Château de Lord Valentin reste il faut bien l’avouer une fresque épique, du grand spectacle. C’est un road-trip futuriste dans une nature belle et dangereuse à qui l’auteur donne le rôle principal. Malgré ses trente ans d’âge et le déferlement de la fantasy épique que l’on a observé (subit diront certains), Valentin a gardé toute sa fraîcheur et mérite d’être redécouvert.(less)

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Jun 26, 2010 Miramira Endevall rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: No one.

Recommended to Miramira by: Isaac Asimov, after a fashion

Shelves: own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg is one of science fiction’s most beloved writers, and the author of such contemporary classics as Dying Inside, Downward to the Earth and Lord Valentine’s Castle, as well as At Winter’s End, also available in a Bison Books edition. He is a past president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and the winner of five Nebula Awards and five Hugo Awards. In 2004 the Sc...more

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