false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg 252838 18 Lord Valentine's Castle is a blend of SF worldbuilding and poetic fantasy. Robert Silverberg has created a world long settled by spacefaring powers, aliens and humans alike, whose technological prowess is losing its edge. High-tech devices like antigravity floaters and weather control devices are an accepted part of Majipoor life, but ordinary people are apt to regard them as magical. The pattern of life is far more medieval for most: bioengineered mounts plow fields and 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 through a series of magnificent environments. Fields of predatory plants give way to impossibly wide rivers, chalk-cliffed islands, and 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 & sense of purpose, he never quite comes into focus. Instead he is washed toward a confrontation at Castle Mount much as a fallen leaf rides a river's 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 all 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 have by no means 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. 245141 1979 Lord Valentine's Castle (Majipoor 1) total:684|5:165|4:283|3:185|2:41|1:10| 684 2604 867 34 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 2 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1991 Tue Aug 14 10:42:06 -0700 2007 Tue Aug 14 10:45:03 -0700 2007 more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 5 1 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1987 Fri Aug 31 11:02:15 -0700 2007 Fri Aug 31 11:13:26 -0700 2007 more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 2 1 false Sat Jun 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 08:00:16 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 08:13:42 -0700 2009 1 more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Apr 17 14:47:03 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 14:48:01 -0700 2009 1
...more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 5 1 false Mon May 26 18:23:21 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 18:25:02 -0700 2008 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Wed Jun 04 00:00:00 -0700 1986 Tue Apr 28 15:06:57 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 15:10:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1892501 2253072389 9782253072386 1 1 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1189890845m/1892501.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1892501.Le_Chateau_de_Lord_Valentin 4 0 false Thu Jul 04 00:00:00 -0700 2002 Thu Jul 03 04:59:39 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 06:16:05 -0700 2008 Robert Silverberg, qui raconte l’histoire de Valentin, jeune amnésique sur les routes de Majippor, promis à un brillant avenir, mais je n’en dirais pas plus.
Pour ceux qui ont l’intention de l�...more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Sun May 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jun 12 20:57:12 -0700 2008 Mon Dec 29 15:37:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 3 0 false Sat Dec 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 22 14:45:08 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 18:20:43 -0800 2008 more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 3 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1979 Fri Aug 21 07:27:20 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 06:40:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2001 Fri Mar 13 21:34:16 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 21:34:53 -0700 2009
Odd that none of the other races (except the aboriginals) seemed to mind that all the rulers - 3 or 4 of them - were always human. But good that Valentine at least recognized that some injustice had been done to the aboriginals and...more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 11:31:07 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 11:36:45 -0700 2009 1678931 0330264621 9780330264624 4 1 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1224314155m/1678931.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1678931.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Thu Apr 23 05:21:29 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 05:21:29 -0700 2009 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 2 0 false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sat May 09 11:51:59 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 11:54:12 -0700 2009 Douglas Cohen's post about it on Tor.com and the huge gaps in my reading of 'classic' SF/F (On my own, I gravitate towards fantasy and female authors, so there are a lot of gaps.) And hey, I love me some sci-fantasy, so why not. Overall verdict: Not a bad read, but it ...more...]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 3 0 false Sun Apr 19 00:07:25 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 19 00:08:54 -0700 2009 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 3 0 false Mon Jun 15 22:24:14 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 22:26:27 -0700 2009 1836750 0060140267 9780060140267 4 1 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1242455386m/1836750.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1836750.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 2 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1983 Fri May 15 23:39:05 -0700 2009 Fri May 15 23:40:50 -0700 2009 1 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1999 Thu Oct 01 08:54:38 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 01 08:54:38 -0700 2009 Lord Valentine has lost his memory and his learning juggling as a means to survive.
This is the tale of how he gets his memory and kingdom back.]]> 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 3 0 false Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 21:33:29 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 21:33:36 -0800 2009 252838 0061054879 9780061054877 627 31 3.81 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173157310m/252838.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/252838.Lord_Valentine_s_Castle 4 0 false Fri Apr 10 11:47:51 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 11:47:51 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=252838