Тайнствата на Стената

by Robert Silverberg, Робърт Силвърбърг, Дора Дончева (Translator)

… Лицето беше почти човешко. Различаваха се уста, нос, брадичка, очи. Съществото издаде звук подобен на грухтене и се опита да се освободи, но Транс го задържа достатъчно дълго, за да се разбере, че това лице не е просто човекоподобно — то беше човешко! Осъзнах, че пред мен в лигавата мръсотия на пещерата пълзи Трансформиран …

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections, Amazon

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

There are many authors in the database with this name.

Robert Silverberg is a highly celebrated American science fiction author and editor known for his prolific output and literary range. Over a career spanning decades, he has won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards and was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2004. Inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, Silverberg is recognized for both his immense productivity and his contributions to the genre's evolution.
Born in Brooklyn, he began writing in his teens and won his first Hugo Award in 1956 as the best new writer. Throughout the 1950s, he produced vast amounts of fiction, often under pseudonyms, and was known for writing up to a million words a year. When the market declined, he diversified into other genres, including historical nonfiction and erotica.
Silverberg’s return to science fiction in the 1960s marked a shift toward deeper psychological and literary themes, contributing significantly to the New Wave movement. Acclaimed works from this period include Downward to the Earth, Dying Inside, Nightwings, and The World Inside. In the 1980s, he launched the Majipoor series with Lord Valentine’s Castle, creating one of the most imaginative planetary settings in science fiction.
Though he announced his retirement from writing in the mid-1970s, Silverberg returned with renewed vigor and continued to publish acclaimed fiction into the 1990s. He received further recognition with the Nebula-winning Sailing to Byzantium and the Hugo-winning Gilgamesh in the Outback.
Silverberg has also played a significant role as an editor and anthologist, shaping science fiction literature through both his own work and his influence on others. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, author Karen Haber.

Reviews

[Велислав Върбанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Тайнствата на Стената“ е превъзходен роман! В него перфектно се преплитат фентъзи и научна фантастика, а и същевременно се съдържа непреходна мъдрост, което може да се очаква от автора на чудесната поредица за лорд Валънтайн. Робърт Силвърбърг повежда читателите на загадъчно и емоционално пътешествие в търсене на същността на боговете...

На далечна планета, където съществуват огромни планини, живее подобен на човечеството вид. Неговите представители имат очевидни физически разлики с хората от Земята, но и немалко общи черти... За тамошните жители е характерно неистово увлечение по религията, което ги подтиква всяка година отделение селища да изпращат групи от 40 подбрани пилигрима към най-високия и недостъпен планински връх. Пилигримите пък в повечето случаи се оказват така безрезервно отдадени на вярата, че очакванията им са не само да открият божествата, но и по някакъв начин да заживеят идилично сред тях.

От гледната точка на Полър, който става лидер на последната отправила се към върха група, ставаме свидетели на техните страшно опасни приключения... Главният герой взима трудни решения, за да напредват пилигримите през заплахите от зловещи трансформации и любопитните тайнствени кралства по своя път, както и да се справят с голямото психологическо напрежение. Част от тях успяват да стигат крайната точка на поклонението си, откривайки тъжната, но и носеща познание истина...





„Всъщност какво сме ние, ако не някакъв вид, който върви безкрайно, който се движи напред-назад по пътищата на живота? А към какво се движим? Какъв е смисълът да се изкачим дотук и да продължим напред? Не е ли всичко само измама, чиято единствена цел е да ни придвижва от единия до другия ден? И ако ръбът се отрони и тоягата се разклати, какво значение има, че ще паднем в бездната?“


„Навлизах все по-дълбоко навътре в студа, сякаш бях дошъл единствено, за да го открия. Нямаше градация за него — беше абсолютен студ, неопровержим студ, съвършено постижение на студа. И това ни успокояваше по някакъв начин.“


„В очите на Трайбън видях твърде добре познатия ми блясък. Блясъкът — белег на вътрешната му неутолима потребност да научи, да знае, да си пъхне носа във всяко странно нещо, което светът поднася.“

[Emiliya Bozhilova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Какво те чака, когато тръгнеш да търсиш Бог?

Трудни избори, препятствия, лишения, врагове, неочаквани съюзници, много приключения и въпроси, различни светове, и познание, до което стигат малцина, и то носи непоносима тъга.

Любимият ми роман на иначе нееднозначния ми Силвърбърг - при него има и изумителни попадения, и големи каши. Това е от попаденията.

[Ана Хелс · Rating 5 out of 5]

Признавам, че Силвърбърг ми бе познат досега единствено с магна опуса си за Маджипур, който си остава любимата ми книга на всички времена, ненадмината от никой фентъзист или фантаст досега в читателския ми опит като красота, мащабност и богатство на различията в нечовешки неестествен свят. Кралствата на стената, странно преведено като Тайнствата на стената в нашето издание на български език, е не по-малко значима в разкошната си различност , водеща ни сред скалистите върхари на негостоприемен свят, с обитатели в чиято хуманоидност не бихте се осъмнили чак до последните няколко страници епичност.

Роман за един невъзможен свят, привидно примитивен, но всъщност с далеч по-развит потенциал на личните възможности от нашия. Всички селца, всъщност многохилядни градове в низините, дават своя годишен доброволен трибют като 40 от най-личните им младежи, избрани сред хиляди други желаещи, като поклонници за свещеното пътешествие към безличните богове на една изпълнена с мистификации полу – реалност. Избраниците все пак не са най-добрите, а най-удобните за жертва, и в крайна сметка - най-пригодните за тежкото пилигримство в търсене на мъдрост от онези, които са забравили за своите създания – миряни. Кралствата … е написана като дневник – изповед на единствения запазил напълно ума си пътешественик до върха на радиациония ад – свещена планина , основа на вярата на един странен народ, можещ да управлява умствено полови белези и физични данни, но все пак и ужасно податлив на светкавични мутации и генетични изменения на психологическо и физиологично ниво, разкъсвайки ограниченията на днк-то и приемливите за разума форми и възможности, по волята на по-висши природни или божествени сили.

Пътуването на обречените жертви преминава през ужасяващи планини, злокобни долини и ужасни пещери, населени с хиляди от провалилите се прежни трибюти, предали се на унищожителната радиация, превърнала ги в създания, по-долни и от най-нисшите представители на животинския свят във физическо и умствено отношение. Странна смесица от хорър и фентъзи, с щипка фантастика, идваща с първия истински човек в крайна форма на тежка лъчева болест, водеща до сблъсъка между изконна вяра и логична реалност, унищожаваща цялата основа на здравия разум, и заменяща го с океан от възможности , противоречащи на всеки възможен закон, мит или фантазия. История за ограниченията, за битката с правилата и егото, за водачеството, отговорността и нивата на всевъзможна емоционална интелигентност.

Зад зловещата приказка с много смърт, мъчения и загуби се крие идеята за съзряването, следването на целта в живота и вземането на противни на собственото аз решения в името на висши идеали и нужди. Философия и бунтарство, магия и битка, ужас и самота. Трудно е да се пише за толкова сложна постановка на идеи и внушения, които се опитваш да възприемеш максимално повърхностно, за да не се наранят собствените ти вярвания и мечти. Мащабен текст, който завладява сетивата и подчинява ума на още една странност , още една възможност и още един кошмар. Великолепна книга, по-важна и истинска като емоция от всяка локва реализъм, която ни опръсква ежедневно. Няма как да не се влюбиш, дори и малко насила срещу очакванията си. Такъв си е Силвърбърг, без да очакваш и си вече омагьосан до живот.

[Dalibor Dado Ivanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silverberg, uvijek odlican meni.
Iz pocetka mi se glavni lik Poilar nije nesto svidio, nego svi ovi oko njega su mi bili bolji (Traiben, Hendy, Thissa...)ali kako se radnja odvijala, tj kako ga je hodocasce lomilo, sve mi je bolji bio.
Silverberg je izvrstan u kreiranju likova, ali i putovanja kroz Planinu su me odusevila, od izvrsnih Ljudi iz kojih su izrasle gljive, te njihova Kraljica koju je toliko lijepo opisao da sam ostao paf.
Odnos izmedju Hendy i Poilara mi je super.
Izvrsna knjiga u svakom slucaju.

[Trayana · Rating 5 out of 5]

За мен беше истинско щастие да ми натикат насила в ръцете научнофантастична книга и тя да се окаже правилния избор, за да ме запали по жанра. Или поне по един от най-популярните автори, носител на няколко награди “Небюла” и “Хюго”. “Kingdoms of the Wall” (на български излиза през 1993 г. като “Тайнствата на стената”, изд. „СТАЛКЕР-1993″) ми беше достатъчна, за да ме убеди, че тези награди са заслужени.

Не бях попадала от година насам на книга, която да ме очарова по този начин. Не става въпрос за темата – хора, устремени в търсене на боговете и знанията, които могат да придобият от тях. Реално погледнато това е клише, експлоатирано от поколения писатели и поети в продължение на векове. По-скоро става въпрос за подхода на Силвърбърг към интерпретирането на въпроса. Не говоря и за някакъв потрисащ и незабравим сюжет. Напротив – действието е почти елементарно и потресаващо лишено от големи обрати. ...още.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kingdoms of the Wall is a novel from the late stages of Silverberg's active writing career. It's a quest/journey/coming-of-age novel set on a far planet, with tones of fantasy alternating with flavors of science fiction, and themes of speculative spirituality or religion prevalent throughout, but especially at the surprise (but not really) ending. They have to climb the mountain because it's there, right? I don't remember it as well as many of his other books and suspect I would have found it more memorable had I read it when I was younger. The world is well-imagined and described, much better than the characters. Silverberg almost always provides an interesting read, but this one is not among his best.

[Kirkirvarpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viena labiausiai šiemet patikusių knygų. Artima (?) žmonėms tauta gyvena milžiniško kalno papėdėje. Kiekvienais metais stipriausi/sumaniausi/geriausi kaimo jaunuoliai išsiruošia į sudėtingą piligriminį žygį. Tikslas - pasiekti kalno viršūnę. Pamatyti ten gyvenančius Dievus ir paprašyti jų, kad jie pasidalintų savo išmintimi. Kadaise labai seniai tai yra pavykę padaryti vienam kaimo gyventojui. Jis pargabeno į kaimą svarbių žinių. Bet praėjo daug laiko, ir Dievų daugiau nepasiekė nei viena grupė drąsiųjų keliautojų.
Tai didelė, gana lėta, bet kaip gražiai surašyta istorija. Nė sykio nepasidarė nuobodu, nepasirodė banalu ar per paprasta. Mąslus, bet labai gerai sudėliotas pasakojimas.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book of Poilar Crookleg, who has been to the roof of the World at the top of the Wall, who has seen the strange and bewildering gods that dwell there, who has grappled with them and returned rich with the knowledge of the mysteries of life and of death.

So begins this richly resonant novel, set on some distant planet (well, all planets are distant, aren’t they?), in a part of that world which is dominated by a inconceivably vast mountain called the Wall. From a community which is made up of distinct villages surrounding the Wall forty youngsters are chosen periodically to attempt the scaling of the mountain. Despite the honour accruing to the chosen ones, few of them ever return, and those that do seem unable to give a coherent narrative. Poilar is determined to be the one who not only achieves the ascent but to return and give an account. Despite the very first sentence providing the most monumental spoiler ever, Silverberg’s novel maintains a very palpable will-he-won’t-he tension throughout: Poilar’s nickname, Crookleg, is just one if the most obvious of the obstacles for him ever making his dream a reality.

I said that Silverberg’s fantasy is richly resonant. On all levels – mythological, anthropological, folkloric and literary – the quest by aspirant heroes to achieve an impossible task is archetypal. The forty chosen youngsters are reminiscent of Theseus and his companions setting off for Crete, its labyrinth and the Minotaur; or of Arthur’s knights questing for the grail; or of a fairytale hero such as Gluck (in John Ruskin’s The King of the Golden River) attempting to succeed in sprinkling holy water into a magnificent cataract in the face of failure by his malevolent brothers. The visible dangers that they face on the way remind me of the perils faced by Odysseus on his journey home, of the Labours of Hercules or of the perils surmounted by Perseus in classical myth; and of course the range of social interactions among Poilar’s forty companions is typical of the motifs found in many folktales. Indeed, Silverberg’s epic has the feel of a traditional tale surviving from the mists of time.

Over all looms the presence of the Wall, an overbearing but non-human character, which dominates or at least cannot be ignored in Poilar’s account. This too conforms to an archetype, that of the sacred mountain found in many cultures: Mount Meru or Kailas in Eastern myth, Ararat or Sinai in the Middle East, Olympus or maybe even Glastonbury Tor in the West. The ziggurats of Mesopotamia, built as artificial sacred mountains, recall to mind Silverberg’s earlier novel Gilgamesh the King, by all accounts a demythologised version of the Sumerian culture hero who confronts the demon Humbaba on Cedar Mountain. Kingdoms of the Wall seems like yet another take on the same theme, this time with the ‘gods’ on top of the mountain being not what was expected, in a revelation not unlike the denouement of Planet of the Apes.

The Wall is also resonant with another of Silverberg’s creations, Castle Mount in his Majipoor novels. Here too is another colossus of a geographical feature which the human beings on this alien planet have to somehow furnish with an artificial atmosphere, so high does Castle Mount reach. In Kingdoms of the Wall all the natives have to do is effect some metamorphosis of their bodies, an innate adaptive feature of their physique. In this (and in other physical features) they resemble the Metamorphs or Shapeshifters of the Majipoor series, so much so that I wonder if this novel was originally conceived as a kind of Majipoor prequel before Silverberg backed away from this approach and made it a standalone novel.

So far only the technical, structural and thematic features of this novel have detained us, but I must briefly discuss whether it delivers an emotional punch. Of the odd few Silverberg writings I’ve read many are technically intricate but strangely disengaging – I admire them for the world-building but never quite care about the mostly male protagonists (unlike, say, Ursula Le Guin, who makes you believe in the humanity of her characters). In many ways his fiction can be dryly descriptive, like his non-fiction (I particularly enjoyed his The Realm of Prester John, first published in 1972). Kingdoms of the Wall, however, is written in the first person, and spread over a few hundred pages this approach allows one some insight into the human psychology of its ostensibly alien leading man, enabling the reader to develop some empathy for him. Claude Lalumière, in A Brief History of Robert Silverberg, calls it “a deeply affecting and evocative extraterrestrial novel whose subtle and complex structure invites layered readings”. This is certainly a judgement I can agree with.

http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Reviews/...
http://calmgrove.wordpress.com/2013/0...

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preamble: Actually 3 1/2 stars but my usual rounding up. :-)

Considered one of the giants of sci-fi/fantasy, I wanted to read another Silverberg book beside Night Wings, which I had enjoyed. This one caught my fancy and so I chose it. The plot is a good one. Poilar and 39 others of his village, including his best friend, are chosen to take part in the annual pilgrimage to the top of Kosa Saag, a world-dividing mountain range where the gods live, to see the gods and bring back wisdom. It is a perilous journey from which the overwhelming majority never return. And yet, every year, 40 more go on this holy journey.

From my readings, Silverberg's strength is in creating characters you care about. We don't know too much about them physically (especially true in this story where the characters are gender-neutral most of the time except when they choose to make "the Changes"), but we learn about them personally. And there are no flawless characters here. Poilar, the protagonist and leader of the 40, is "humanly" flawed, as are all of the others. These flawed characters are much easier to root for on their quest and I found myself feeling much the same as Poilar through a lot of the book.

So why the 3 1/2 stars? First, this book is lengthy. Not that ~350 pages is long, but by about page 250 I was feeling it, sort of like I was climbing Kosa Saag myself. Second, after pulling myself through the last 100 pages or so, I felt less than satisfied with where I ended up. It wasn't an unhappy ending, nor was it a happy ending, but it suffered most in not giving me an emotional "bow" at the end one way or the other. Kind of like getting a cupcake that tastes good but wasn't fully cooked. So, yeah, a good book, but not something I would heartily recommend.

[Smith Zach · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was pretty entertaining at first, but then the ending came. What was originally a halfway decent Sci-fantasy retelling of Dante's inferno became a didactic collaboration between Richard Dawkins and Gene Roddenberry. A lame ending that preaches atheism to the reader after supremely lame and predictable "twist" ending that was about as visible as Kosa Saag, the giant mountain that the chosen 40 pilgrims have to climb. However, before the abysmal ending there were other problems. The author likes to tell rather than show with his characters. Poilar, the main character, would much rather just say "it was a killing rage" rather than actually demonstrate his unrelenting fury by way of actions. Most of the other characters exist on the same 2-d plane, little development and less meaning to the overall plot. They shuffle in and out just in time to give Poilar something to describe in detail to us. The various kingdoms of the wall are pretty interesting but tire quite easily. Most are mentioned in a paragraph or two with no level of fleshed out detail. For a journey that lasted a lifetime, the pilgrimage sure was summed up easily in paragraphs. You're better off skipping this. Just go read Dante's Inferno, it amounts to the same thing without a crappy twist at the end.

[Марин Трошанов · Rating 5 out of 5]

Има един особен вид фантастика, който резонира в пълен синхрон с душевните и творческите ми търсения – истории, свързани със загадка и/или скитане и разкриване на мрачни, мистериозни и често сюрреалистични места. Подобни са книгите „Пиранези“ на Сузана Кларк, „Домът на червея“ на Джордж Мартин и „Железен карнавал“ на Серж Брюсоло. Сходни елементи присъстват и в творбите „Окото над водата“, „Книга на черепите“ и „Станция Хоксбил“ на самия Силвърбърг.

Когато съвсем случайно се натъкнах на „Тайнствата на стената“, преведена скоро след написването си – в мътната зора на българското „демократично“ книгоиздаване, просто не можах да ѝ устоя, въпреки че тъкмо бях забол глава в доста стойностни произведения.

На неизвестна планета, осветена от лъчите на Екмелиос и далечната червена Марилема, в разположено върху влажната длан на знойна долина селище, живеят хора, почитащи дълговечна традиция. Всяка година четирийсет отбрани млади пилигрима (двайсет мъже и двайсет жени) потеглят към необятната и сурова планина Коза Сааг, известна като Стената, за да се доберат до невидимия далечен Връх и отдадат почит на боговете. След години на скитане, от време на време, в селището се връщат едва малцина окаяни бродници, изгубили ума си. Те така и не разкриват какво са видели. Защото в планината бушува Огъня на промяната, който трансформира телата и душите. Там дебнат свирепи чудовища, демони и призраци. Безброй изкушения могат да отклонят благоверните пилигрими от пътя на тяхното поклонение. Или пътищата, защото Коза Сааг сякаш е безкрайна, сама по себе си Вселена.

Роман за израстването, лидерството, вярата, неотклонните стремежи и дори секса от името на Полър Недъгавия, който е успял да стигне до края. Роман и жесток, и дързък, и понякога страховит. Роман, чиито страници отгръщах, както в ученическите дни исках да направя още един, и още един, и още един ход, за да видя какво ме чака по-напред по картата на Heroes III.

Тъжно е, че подобни бижута на научната фантастика тънат в забрава. И до днес не спирам да се възхищавам с какво умение Силвърбърг, Зелазни, Саймък, Ле Гуин и цялата плеяда майстори са създавали магнетични и необозрими светове – в поредния си нов роман, година след година. Навярно тъкмо защото малцина ще изровят тази прашна реликва, тя е тъй специална, като предлага лично и неповторимо изживяване. Може би няма да навреди, след като издателство „Сталкер 1993“ отдавна е изчезнало, да спомена, че книгата е достъпна в Читанка.

"...Коза Сааг беше нашият единствен Свят, нашата Вселена. Започвахме да откриваме, че огромната планина, която ние наричахме Стената, фактически не е една планина, а море от планини, всяка издигаща се върху гърба на околните, както големите вълни се издигат в бурни води. Нямахме представа къде е Върха. Понякога ни се струваше, че вече сме стигнали най-високата точка, защото виждахме над нас ясно небе, но все се оказваше заблуда — стигахме до самия връх и откривахме, че напред има нови, издигащи се над този. Всеки връх водеше към следващия, а той към следващия. Когато гледахме нагоре, виждахме само безкрайна озадачаваща плетеница от розова скала — шпилове, корнизи, парапети, щитове, клисури — извисяваха се чак до небесата. Нямаше връх над нас. Имаше само безкрайна планина, винаги отвесна, необозрима и необятна, ние пълзяхме в ниските ѝ части, подредени във върволица като търпеливи мравки..."

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this one at work. A discard from the Denman Island lending library.
http://www.denmanisland.com/
A nice variation on the "quest" story with echoes of "A Pilgrim's Progress". The book itself is much like the labyrinthine journey that Silverberg's pilgrims undertake. By turns it is fable, parody, science-fiction, parable, and fantasy - and has some of the most realistic descriptions of rock climbing that I have read. Silverberg creates a world of kingdoms that the reader, like his characters, can get lost in and be reluctant to leave.

[Bookbrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of Silverberg's better books.

[Paul Medlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth Silverberg book I have read that deals with a journey. These deal with the details of the journey and the destination isn't of great import. Again in this journey the details of the fantastic things encountered is detailed and expansive, what an imagination.

[Jacopo Sacchet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una piacevole sorpresa, "Sentinella" di Fredric Brown se fosse un racconto, con tocchi di fantasy e uno stile altamente immersivo.
Il titolo originale, "Kingdoms of the Wall", è molto più calzante ahah
Non mi sarei mai aspettato di consigliarlo e credo che cercherò altri libri di questo autore!

[Allan Segal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Silverberg is a very skilled wordsmith. I was on a reading binge during the Covid pandemic, scarfing down as much SF as Kindle Unlimited had to offer. Much of it was--well, just plain shite. I began to wonder whether somewhere there was a factory of keyboardists chained to desks and told to crank and anything just to satisfy SF fans. Finally I rediscovered Silverberg. This man, a pillar of the SF community for years, can really turn a phrase. A mundane sentence becomes a work of art. In this book he proves himself once again and restored my faith that there is good writing out there if you look hard enough.
Here is a world that prepares its chosen youth for a quest....climb a mountain...learn secrets, and return, often severely altered. But the selection process is enigmatic. Sometimes the villages' odd ducks are chosen, and other times, it's the strong ones. Why? What is on the mountain? Yes, it is worth the reader's trek, and yes, you might figure it out before you get to the top, but the literary trip is worth it....just for the prose alone.

[Krisnow18 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've had this book kicking around for a while and finally decided to read it. Very interesting. Poilar Crookleg has been dreaming about making the Pilgrimage up the wall, which is a mountain, Kosa Saag, since he was 12 years old. He and his best friend have never doubted they would be chosen. 20 men and 20 women make the trek every year. Most never return and those that do are usually not sane. They go up the Wall to meet the Gods and this has been going on for thousands of years, after the First Man Who Climbed made the journey. There are many "worlds" on the wall, many Kingdoms that they have to make it through. Ultimately they find the secret of the Gods and return to tell the truth about them. This book speaks a lot about human nature, temptation, and survival. It was not what I expected it to be and I'm glad I read it.

[Ratiocination · Rating 3 out of 5]

I probably got a little too hung up on to what extent this book was a distant Majipoor prequel-- the shapeshifting characters and the gigantic mountain make it hard not to read that way. If that's the case, it ends up undercutting the book's finish a bit, as you know Poilar's big project to make his people find their independence fails, at least for tens of thousands of years.

Other than that issue, which was as much a matter of how I read the book as the book itself, a pretty good read overall. Silverberg is astonishingly prolific-- in his hundred or so novels you've got some classics, some weak spots, and a lot of perfectly readable fiction.

[wittierninja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a long time ago, and I still remember what it was about. It's a surprising book that challenges our faith in a higher power, a supreme being. I read this in high school, still have the book, and am willing to loan it out. It's the classic MO in fantasy: there's a group, a journey, a plight, some obstacles, but it's the ending that's the real twist in the tale.

If you like those types of forays into fantasy books, you might want to give this a whirl.

[James Madsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting physical and spiritual pilgrimage through a variety of kingdoms on the slope of a mountain on the way to a legendary goal. A good quest, with a probably predictable but still worth-reading end. I personally like Card's treatment of this theme in Xenocide better, but Kingdoms of the Wall was still an enjoyable read.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Robert Silverberg, and I've read a ton of his stuff. This book was good, but not one of his better works. Solid characters, good adventure, and written in first person which is always fun to read.

[Arunas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

Amazing world building and interesting story telling. Recently I also read Nightwings by this author. A great fantasy story, as good as this one. I will definitely pick up another book by Robert Silverberg and I am sure another delight awaits me.

[Laurene · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite Sci-fi fantasy novels. It has a great twist ending which is always, for me, is a great way to end a book.

[D. Krauss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ran across this a few months ago and went, oh yeah, Silverberg, the guy who edited a lot of anthologies and wrote a bunch of short stories for the pulps in the 60s. Gilgamesh in the Outback, yeah, that one. But I’d already had one bad experience with an editor/anthologist- yes, I’m looking at you, Ben Bova- so didn’t expect this to be very good.

I was wrong. It is good. Albeit odd.

Essentially, the inhabitants of a medieval village select a cadre each year to climb a mountain and find the gods who live on top, obtain godly wisdom and technology and then bring it all back. This is the story of one such cadre, as told by its leader, Poilar Crookleg. Seems like a straightforward little fantasy tale except it’s not. It’s science fiction, something you don’t actually find out until someone casually mentions the two moons while kids change sex at the drop of a pair of trousers, a la Ursula Le Guin. We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore. For awhile, I didn’t quite know what I was reading. Or I just wasn’t paying enough attention to tell.

Because right from the get go there are some petty annoyances, some little distractions. Take this pilgrimage up the mountain, f’rinstance. It’s quite the big deal, taking up pretty much everyone’s time and effort. Three hundred of the village’s most able bodied citizens are chosen each year to undergo three years of training that, by the end, reduces the original 300 to a hard core forty who then undergo a big send off ceremony up the mountainside. Okay, wait, so 300 kids a year train for three years, and in that three year period 600 others begin training for their own graduation day some three years hence, and the entire freakin’ village is involved in feeding and training and celebrating these 900 or so as they are winnowed so just exactly how many people live in this town? Must be a whole helluva lot. And, my, quite a depletion of the talent pool to have your best 900 engaged in visit-the-gods training each year. Or are they the best 900?

Not so sure. Even Poilar begins to suspect the pilgrimage is actually a way to glean the population because, Holy Hannah, this mountain is tough. Think of a mutant Mt. Everest conjoined with the Rockies and the Pyrenees. If you spotted this planet from space, it would look like a cone. And hardly anyone comes back from the Pilgrimage, the one or two who do insane beyond reasoning, which means those much anticipated god technologies never materialize. You’d think after a thousand years or so of this someone would say, “Ya know, this pilgrimage is a waste of time.” But no. Carry on.

You have to ignore these glaring issues to move forward and since this is science fiction you can, and you should because this is good stuff. The trip up the mountain quickly turns into Dante’s Inferno with a stranger and stranger circle of hell up each ridgeline. No wonder the few who come back are stark raving mad. Gotta say, Silverberg has got one hell of an imagination.

At least I hope it was imagination.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Review of Kingdoms of the Wall by Robert Silverberg: (Published 1992)

In Kingdoms of the Wall, Robert Silverberg crafts a science fiction tale that feels ancient, mythic, and quietly shattering. On the surface, it’s the story of a pilgrimage—a group of villagers ascending a sacred, impossible mountain to reach the gods at its summit. But underneath that epic trek lies a subtle and devastating critique of faith, destiny, and the stories we tell ourselves about the divine.

The novel takes place on a distant planet colonized long ago by Earth’s explorers, now reduced to mythic status by the native-descended population. Every year, a group of pilgrims from the village of Jespodar sets out to scale the massive, multi-kilometer-high Wall—an immense mountain range so vast and treacherous it seems like it was carved by deities. This rite of passage, equal parts spiritual quest and death march, is fueled by belief: that at the top of the Wall, the gods—the original Earthlings—await, bathed in transcendence.

Our protagonist, Poilar Crookleg, is a young man driven by equal parts curiosity and duty. His journey, along with a small band of companions, becomes the spine of the novel, as they pass through surreal, terrifying, and often deeply alien “kingdoms” along the Wall. Each stage of the climb reveals new forms of life, strange customs, and distorted echoes of humanity’s forgotten legacy. And with each level, the climb becomes less about revelation and more about reckoning.

Silverberg builds the novel with the sensibility of a mythmaker and the mind of a cultural anthropologist. The world he presents is dense with ritual, tradition, and spiritual hunger. The climb becomes a metaphor for belief itself—how far are we willing to go to prove our convictions? And what happens when, at the summit, faith no longer delivers the reward we expect?

What makes Kingdoms of the Wall so potent is that it’s not cynical, but quietly tragic. Silverberg doesn’t mock belief—he mourns its loss, its erosion in the face of empirical truth. The final revelation at the top of the Wall is no thunderclap twist, but a slow, sobering unveiling that reconfigures everything that came before. It’s a science fiction novel, yes, but also a spiritual parable—The Pilgrim’s Progress rewritten by Arthur C. Clarke.

Stylistically, Silverberg writes with elegant economy. The prose is lucid, introspective, and often dreamlike. There's action, yes—monsters, madness, survival—but the true weight of the story lies in its ideas. This isn’t sci-fi with lasers and gadgets; it’s sci-fi of psychological altitude, where the terrain is as much internal as external.

In essence, Kingdoms of the Wall is a slow-burning, high-concept novel that dares to climb beyond the clouds of belief, only to find that gods are mortal, myths are echoes, and truth is a lonely, wind-blasted peak. It’s one of Silverberg’s most philosophical and poetic works—perfect for readers who like their science fiction drenched in symbolism and starlight.

[Angelo Ventura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read, with a curious POV, in that the reader is initially made to think yhe characters are humans, but they are really humanoid aliens. In a village at the base of an enormous mountain a religious tradition makes 40 chosen individuals take a perilous pilgrimage to reach the mountain's peak, where, they are told, the GODS live. How perilous? Very few, if any, return, and those who do came back totally insane. (i woder why no-one had ever said -hey, stop this suicidal pilgrimages, already! but such is religious tradition) It is really a painful coming of age, full of unrelenting horrors through dreary "kingdoms" horrors brought about by mutagenic forces emanatinn from the moutain.Only The protagonist and a few survivors will however learn the truth about the "GODS", who were explorers from Earth who originally founded a colony on the peak because it was the only place they could settle on that planet, because the heat and air density was insufferable at lower altitudes, and whose descendants have degenerated to the level of mindless brutes. ( I wonder why on hell the original voyagers settled on the peak of a radioactive mutagenic mountain, but let it pass) The pilgrims encounter a terrestrial patrol surveying the various human settlement in the Galaxy. The Astronauts reveal the truth to the pilgrims who were made wiser by the sad truth. A bittersweet ending and a scathing indictment of religious superstition, yet interspersed by poetic moments.

[T.R. Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a strange, strange world that Silverberg created in this one. Part fantasy, part science fiction, I remember when I read it ages ago being surprised at the first casual indications in the text that the characters weren't human (I ordered the book with the sun/cloud cover), and that the world revolved around a mountain.

Is the story heavily allegorical? Yes. Some have alluded to it being a retelling of Dante's Inferno--which could very well be true--but allegories have a tendency to rely on the baggage of the reader, and at the time I first read this novel, I was on active duty in the US military.

The chapters about the characters going through their training and then working as a team, the shifting power dynamics, the losing of members, etc. really resonated with me. Even when the others began to voluntarily leave, to stay where they were instead of completing their journey and going back had some semblance of what life in the military was like. The rest of the group moved on in spite of all the challenges and the wear and tear of their feelings and emotions.

The ending has been described as "atheist" but again, that depends on what you bring to it. I'm far from being an atheist but I saw in the ending more of the characters (initial) unquestioning devotion to undertaking a lethal, high failure rate journey because of the word of someone (their ancestor's interpretation of what he saw) far, far away.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every year the villages select nearly 5000 of their brightest and best to undertake the three years of training necessary for selection of Forty to undertake the arduous Pilgrimage to the summit of the giant walled mountain Kosa Saag. Poilar Crookleg and his lifelong friend the brilliant Traiben make the final Forty and start on their journey through the many Kingdoms Of The Wall. Robert Silverberg very quickly establishes that this is not Earth, two suns and many moons, and that these are not humans in the Earth-sense, capable of shapeshifting and while male and female they are capable of a physical neuter form. The tale is a chronicle of the trials of the journey, through kingdoms where the natives have been grossly changed and are randomly malevolent or indifferent to the Pilgrims. For millennia the Pilgrimages have sought the summit to find the gods, from which the inhabitants of the lower villages received great knowledge. But what Poilar and his coterie find will change the minds (and the bodies of some) forever when the reality of what is on the summit of the mountain is revealed. Written in a very old-fashioned style reminiscent of 30s pulp fiction the book is eminently readable but the characters feel at a remove from the reader and the surprise at the top of the mountain is suspected midway through. Worth a look.

[Sandra Visser · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This is the book of Poilar Crookleg, who has been to the roof of the world at the top of the Wall..."

Kosa Saag casts is tremendous shadow over half the world. It is the Wall, an immense an solitary mountain, dominating the lowland landscape of teeming humanity. Strange and bewildering gods live at the summit, on the roof of the world: the First Climber brought back the gift of fire from them, and the secrets of growing and hunting food.

Poilar Crookleg has the blood of the First Climber in his veins. His father was a Pilgrim, and his father before him - but thousands of years have passed since the time of He Who Climbed, and many thousands of Pilgrims have disappeared, as Poilar's father did, or died, or gone mad, following His footsteps to the summit. Poilar's journey, though dreamlike new realms of danger and seduction, in a diminishing company of other young Pilgrims, is an epic journey of discovery.

In the beginning, the alienness of the characters and their world is a bit off-putting, but as you get used to it and start travelling with Poilar and his friends, the story becomes rather gripping and interesting. In the end I enjoyed it a lot.

[Don Wenzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a rather unsatisfying book. A band of young adults who have worked to be selected go on an annual journey/quest that has been tradition for hundreds of years. Their purpose is to meet the Gods and gain new knowledge to bring back down to their people. Over the years very few have returned and those that do are damaged and have no knowledge to impart. This journey up a mountain takes them to several different distinct locales, each with its own dangers and lures. On the way there are hardships and crises of leadership, but there is no discernible plot that I can determine beyond struggle. For me the revelation near the end is anticlimactic. For me the story is one of realizing the foolishness of living a life of waiting based on myth.