Valentine Pontifex

Lord Valentine #3

by Robert Silverberg

The Classic Bestselling Saga by Science Fiction Grand Master Robert Silverberg


Plagued by nightmares of Majipoor besieged by blizzards and earthquakes, Lord Valentine believes these omens signal an encroaching war between his people and the Shapeshifters who once ruled the planet. For centuries they have conspired to regain their stolen world and recently, they were discovered impersonating members of the kingdom’s inner circle.

Since coming to power, Valentine has made peaceful overtures to the Shapeshifters, actions that have many in the royal court questioning his motives and loyalties—and led them to consider removing him from his governing duties so that he may ascend to the higher ceremonial office of Pontifex.

But if Valentine accepts the mantle of Pontifex and surrenders his position to his successor-in-waiting, he may be remembered as a leader who evaded his responsibilities—and shattered the peace that has reigned for eight thousand years...

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

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

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]

„Също като скулптори ваем живота си от суровия камък на бъдното час след час, като следваме проекта, който е в ума ни. Ако проектът е разумен и сме добри ваятели, след последния удар с длетото резултатът ще е добър. Небрежните проекти и прибързаността водят до тромави пропорции и нарушено равновесие. И нима при провал ще кажем, че това е станало по волята на Божествения? Или по-скоро се дължи на сакатия замисъл?“


Възхитен съм от финала на „Валънтайн Понтифекс“! Въпреки че са лесно предвидими, събитията в книгата са разказани страшно въздействащо... Робърт Силвърбърг вече се нареди сред любимите ми писатели и след време определено ще се завръщам към неговия прекрасен свят Маджипур! Приключенията на Валънтайн и приятелите му през цялото време завладяха вниманието ми, забавляваха ме, както и ме караха да се замислям...

Около 10 години след завръщането си като коронал, Валънтайн предприема важно церемониално пътешествие из маджипурските земи. През това време познатият ни от предишната книга Хисун непрекъснато се развива и издига в йерархията. Обаче на планетата предстоят много тежки времена, тъй като някой мистериозно унищожава земеделието и по този начин предизвиква огромна продоволствена криза... Валънтайн осъзнава, че метаморфите са замесени в тези мрачни събития и търси начин да се разбере с тях, въпреки всички рискове за живота си. Междувременно в различни градове стават размирици, а пък в замъка Връхни се засилват политическите интриги...






„— Някои магии се забъркват сами, така ли? — попита Валънтайн.
— Не съвсем. Ала има магии, дето възникват спонтанно — отвътре, милорд. Те са вътре в човека, породени от празнотите на душата.“


„— Защото короналът — продължи Хорнкаст — е въплъщение и олицетворение на Маджипур. Той е светът, светът е короналът. И така, когато предприеме голямата обиколка — както вие, лорд Валънтайн, ще го сторите сега за пръв път след вашето славно завръщане, — короналът напредва не само към света, но и към себе си, предприема пътуване из собствената си душа, за да открие най-дълбоките корени на своята същност…“


„Кралска привилегия е да се говори мъгляво.“


„След прилива на ентусиазъм идваше онзи момент, който най-малко се нравеше на Валънтайн: той съзираше в погледите на околните онова силно, изпитателно любопитство, което му напомняше, че кралете са реликви, свещени чудовища, неразбираеми, внушаващи трепет на простосмъртните, за които той беше само кукла с регалии и титла, само име, вписано в историята. Но и това трябваше да се изтърпи, докато най-сетне парадът свърши и се уталожи врявата, за да настъпи часът на прохладата и дългите бронзови сенки.“


„Времето винаги трябва да бъде твой слуга и никога — господар. Ако не ти достига, раздели всеки миг на по-кратки мигове — и винаги ще успяваш.“


„Напоследък, откакто сътрудничеха в регентския съвет, завистта и недоволството на Дивис май бяха понамалели, но сега той за пръв път отиваше толкова далеч — демонстрираше дори пред другите лордове желание да научи гледната точка на Хисун.“


„Наистина беше права. Малко усилия, и той отново изпита старото усещане за единство между поглед и действие, което отвежда там, където времето е без значение и цялото пространство се превръща в една безкрайна точка.“


„Но не можеше да си позволи да покаже страхопочитание към Хорнкаст — нито капчица, нито следа. Не беше готов, когато дойдоха пратениците на висшия говорител, и си наложи едва ли не насила да тръгне с десет минути закъснение. Когато влезе в просторната трапезария, чието великолепие дори един понтифекс би сметнал за прекалено, Хисун се сдържа да не прояви раболепие, макар че в гърдите му запърха верноподаническият импулс.“


„В океаните на душата му необятни морски дракони пореха повърхността и с чудовищен блеещ рев се гмуркаха отново вдън дълбините. Погледна надолу и видя раните от разрухата, видя как може да ги излекува, за да възвърне отново целостта и умиротворението на света. Защото всичко бе склонно да се възвърне към мира и спокойствието. Всичко бе част от Това, Което Е. Всичко бе част от една необятна, безупречна хармония.“



„Замъкът на лорд Валънтайн“:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

„Маджипурски хроники“:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[mark monday · Rating 5 out of 5]

The magisterial Valentine Pontifex crowns the first trilogy in Silverberg's Majipoor series. The author, like fellow master Roger Zelazny, is fascinated by religion; this trilogy has at its heart the values and mysticism within the Christian faith. The trilogy itself appears modeled on the Trinity. The first book, Lord Valentine's Castle, is as the Son: gentle, kind, and without judgment, casting no stones; a dreamer and a wanderer and a peacemaker and a friend to all, turning its cheek and offering forgiveness at any offence; a sacrifice and a murder victim, reborn into glory. The second book, Majipoor Chronicles, is as the Holy Spirit: visiting all, seeing each individual, rejecting none; a guide to the world of Majipoor and a guide for each of the souls on that world; a teacher for the uninitiated who would learn of this world and its ideals; it bears witness about and for the Son. And so this third book is as the Father: the Son has been reborn, transformed; the rock of ages becomes the holy mountain, a strength absolute; the powers of love and understanding and forgiveness become tidal, an irresistible force. Valentine Pontifex is not the journey nor the lessons learned, it is the kingdom come. And thus the Son, Lord Valentine, held by the Spirit and its understanding of Majipoor, enters the kingdom of the Father, and all three are united: a Trinity, three that may differ in aspect but are of the same essence.

Readers who aren't particularly interested in Christianity need not fear: the book does not proselytize! I doubt that Silverberg himself identified as Christian; I'm not sure if he even considered himself a man of faith. This is not Narnia, which wears its Christianity as a proud banner, happy to be identified. The trilogy is a contemplation of Christian ideals, offered in the form of an epic story. But a story that is dreamy, soulful - as all who are interested in faith must dream and must lay bare their souls - and an epic that has the quiet values of forgiveness and compassion at its heart.

Having to be the sum of all of that means that this third book does not have the adventure or the lightness of spirit of the first book, nor does it have the wide-ranging deep dives into individual consciousness of the second book. But it was still an amazing experience for me. Silverberg's prose is dignified, often sublime, offering a God's-eye view of the various cities and cultures of this world. His hero carries a simple but holy message: love will conquer all. The scenes of Valentine overwhelming those who would oppose him with the power of his loving spirit were awesome - I don't think I've read any such scenes outside of the Bible, when much younger. There is a grandeur to Valentine Pontifex; the lightness of prior books may be gone but there is a majesty in its place. The journeys as a youth may be over, the panorama of life no longer centralized; all that came before are encompassed within the goal of creating something lasting. Threats are dispensed with by turning those threats into friends, welcoming them as fellow believers in the dream of what Majipoor could and should be. Sinners and sinned against are but two sides of the whole. Redemption and love are offered to all: the happiest of endings.

4.5 stars for the book, 5 stars for the trilogy as a whole.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very Frank Herbert kind of book.

Not that one Grandmaster must adopt the style and tone of another, but I could most definitely see many similarities between this end of a trilogy book and Herbert’s Dune.

Silverberg’s Majipoor, like the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert, is thousands of years old and the distant, almost mythical origins of “Old Earth” are shrouded in remote collective memory. Silverberg’s “water kings” the enormous and mysterious sea dragons are also mindful of Herbert’s great sandworms, as is the animist theology built around the great beasts. There was a scene when a poor communicant delivers a holy artifact to the king: a dragon’s tooth and that is where I made the connection between the sea dragons and the sandworms.

This is also a very political book, Silverberg delves more deeply into the protocols and constitutional underpinnings of the Majipoor government, as the process of choosing candidates for Coronal amongst the aristocracy and the connections between Pontifex and the other executives within the political structures on Majipoor are explored and made more clear.

Finally, and unfortunately, this book is like the Dune series in that the farther a reader goes from the source book, the more stale the story. This was still entertaining and I have to admit that I really enjoy the complexity of Silverberg’s Majipoor creation, but this lacked the originality of the earlier books and somewhat even digressed into melodrama.

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are series that you wish would just go on and on. With Valentine, I love the world-building and the species of aliens that abound in these books. This last volume of the Majipoor series from Silverberg is a fun and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it for fans of Lord Valentine's Castle because it completes Valentine's story arc and gives even more space to the various friends and enemies of the Pontifex. The whole system of Pontifex is so fascinating. I'll need to come back to this and write more specifically on the world-building here because it is just so well-d0ne.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valentine Pontifex is the third book in Silverberg's Majipoor series and wraps up the Valentine arc which began in Lord Valentine's Castle. Majipoor is a richly built world, with many alien cultures and species and a complex historical backstory, and it's a delightful and immersive read. The first book was an upbeat and hopeful adventure, but this one is dark; Valentine has assumed the role he was meant to fill and now he has to deal with all of the problems and worries of the station. It's a slower-paced story, with frequent ponderings about religion and politics. Hisune was a minor character in the first novel and was the framing infrastructure in the second book, The Majipoor Chronicles (a fix-up novel; actually, a collection of separate stories with Majipoor as the background), but he becomes a major player in this one. Valentine has learned to navigate the ruler's role and now must prepare to retire into the labyrinth... anything more would be spoilery... Note: I definitely recommend reading this book after the first two.

[Michael Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Majipoor novel was so good that its readers will likely feel emotional attachment to just about any followup set in the same world. That said, Valentine Pontifex is a bit of a letdown. While the book provides a much-welcome reunion with Valentine and friends, his companions are relegated to supporting roles, and Valentine himself becomes annoyingly passive.

Gone is the adventurous optimism of the first novel. Majipoor is beset by a crisis, and the "young, happy world" so lovingly described two books ago is thrown into civil unrest. The marginalized Shapeshifter population is in revolt and disrupting every aspect of human society. A comatose Pontifex provides no support for the relatively new Coronal, whose support staff fights amongst itself. This in itself is a fine backdrop for the story; after all, Majipoor has had it good for millennia, so a little disruption of the established order makes for a good plot conflict.

The problem is that Valentine in this book a moping, wistful, and largely ineffectual character. He spends most of the book blaming himself and/or the Divine for current events, and only towards the very end kicks into a kind of active mode. It's far too long to wait, and the experience is frustrating to a reader who enjoyed his idealistic heroism in LVC.

Hissune, a minor character from the first novel and the framing device for the second, comes into his own as a secondary protagonist. Seeing him take decisive and bold action is far more satisfying than watching Valentine mope. But Hissune ultimately doesn't get enough spotlight to carry the novel.

Valentine Pontifex does deliver a somewhat satisfying ending, even if it takes way too long to get there. It's recommended for big fans of the earlier Majipoor books - with a caution to keep expectations in check.

[Joey Veno · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
Not as good as the first two but a good way to end the series. Then ending was kinda rushed but overall an enjoyable read. Majipoor is still one of the coolest worlds I’ve read about.

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely piece of science fantasy, well-paced and engaging. I didn't like it quite as much as the lush world of Majipoor Chronicles, but it was a fun and interesting fantasy treatment of colonialism and reparation and forgiveness. The struggle with the Metamorphs has come to a head in Valentine Pontifex; they have begun to act in an attempt to take back their world form the humans and other aliens that came to Majipoor thousands of years ago. The crops are failing, new and dangerous beasts have appeared, and the world is in turmoil as a group of Metamorphs attempt to drive the rest of the inhabitants of Majipoor either to extinction of departure. Valentine desperately attempts to keep the world together, while he considers the difficult future becoming Pontifex deep in his Labyrinth and how to determine his successor.
I thought that the plotting was well done and it kept me reading. The characters have had ample time to develop, which helped with the relatively large cast and the jumping back and forth between different parts of the world. The treatment of colonialism and forgiveness was perhaps a bit reductive but it was nice to see a story where there was at least something resembling an attempt to make amends to a colonized people.

[Buck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in a series known as the The Majipoor Cycle. Unlike LeGuin's Hainish Cycle, The Majipoor Cycle is a regular series and should be read in sequence, though it wouldn't hurt if the second were read before the first. I had read the first two books, Lord Valentine's Castle and Majipoor Chronicles in the previous 14 months. I wish I had read the series more closely together, so that the previous books had been fresher in my memory. The earlier books establish the history that lead to Valentine Pontifex; and there were many references in Valentine Pontifex to events in the earlier books.

The books in this series are science fiction books by virtue of the planet Majipoor having been colonized by humans (and other species) over the last 14,000 years. Aside from that, it is a fantasy. There is an element of telepathy in this series which reaches a crescendo in Valentine Pontifex. It put me very much in mind of the kind of telepathy and mental powers, the shining, in Stephen King's Doctor Sleep, which I had just finished reading.

Robert Silverberg's writing of this series is quite enjoyable, and it is quite different from the stories in his acclaimed earlier novels Dying Inside and The Book of Skulls.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mmmh. I loved the first two books in the series for the world-building, for the exploring of exotic places with exuberant flora, fauna, and architecture, which made up for weak plots and characterisation. In Valentine Pontifex, however, there's a lot less world-building and more political plot, and it doesn't work well, imo. Most of the world-building is reduced to name-dropping, which there's lots of and which requires that the reader remembers those places well from the previous books, otherwise I imagine it gets very exhausting.

The basic premise-- the Metamorphs seeking revenge and spreading chaos, the destruction of the peaceful life on Majipoor, the mysterious sea dragons-- is something I find very interesting, but the execution feels very dry. There are lots of long-winded monologues and boring political conversations, and only towards the end the action picks up a little and was able to properly capture me, but sadly, the ending feels a little sudden.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I also read this one in high school. It was a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy despite the characters being quite political.

It is hard to give Silverberg anything less than 3 stars because he is such a good writer whose prose moves along quite effortlessly.

3.5 stars

[Nataliia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is a strange book with some wise thoughts in it. 97% of the story keeps the tension of the war high, shows us the logics and the worries of the men in power; emotional struggle in front of the very old man who wants to die but is forcefully kept alive; (meaningful to us yet groundless) disrespect to traditions and some kind of strategy and political highlights. It is way different from the previous two books, and not so easy to follow what's going on in the first part. It continues the story of the book 1.

[Сибин Майналовски · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ами не. „Замъкът...“ все още е едно от любимите ми произведения, но когато почнат да се разтягат локуми, почвам да се изнервям. Не може да доиш една крава нонстоп. Трябва си и почивка.

[Juli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review forthcoming.

[Marianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather than continuing the bright and active story of the first book, this book, essentially the second and continuance of the story, is dreary and depressing. The bright and happy king is now mopey and constantly despondent about everything.

And then it ends and everything is fine.

This book isn't needed to support the first. Just read the first book in the series and consider it done.

[Kerry]

I got half way through this and got stuck. I was too worried about what the bad guys were up to and not invested enough in the good guys to keep reading.

I recently read a review that said while this was a solid book, it didn't have the magic of the previous two. I decided to take that, along with the fact I haven't read any of the book for the better part of a year, as good reason to make this officially a DNF.

[David Katzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is for all three primary books in the Lord Valentine series. Reading the Valentine trilogy was a trip down nostalgia lane. I read the series in early high school and remembered it being one of my favorites. And honestly, i wasn’t disappointed.

Book one, Lord Valentine’s Castle is easily the best. It has such a delightful vibrant aura to it. The tone is just right for discovering a strange new world with new species. It’s also one of the earliest blends of fantasy with science fiction, although lighter on the sci fi side. Books two and three are solid outings, but they take a hit in the tone/mood zone getting progressively darker and gloomier. Even so, this classic story, published in 1980, manages to hit on contemporary issues that are still relevant and in fact did not feel dated to me.

I’ve recently found myself irritated by fantasy books that focus on characters who are members of royalty but then learn the lesson that they ought to care about the peasants. Typically, in these cliche stories, their lives are save by a commoner or they find themselves forced to spend time with the poor people and then whoop look at that, I oughta be a nicer king/queen instead of such a selfish dick because lo-and-behold poor people are people too. It also grates on me by indirectly promoting the “kind dictator” philosophy of governance. This scenario has been done to death in fantasy, but this series is the original of that genre while yet going much further than most and critiqueing the foundation of that premise. Lord Valentine was not only deposed but the enemy drained him of all his memories before setting him out into the world as a commoner. So he didn’t learn from them, he became one of them. The rest of the series follows Valentine’s as he recovers his memories and attempts to overthrow the tyrannical forces that have taken control of Majipoor. And yet Valentine himself questions and challenges the right of kings and rule by birth as his adventure goes.

Thematically, the series deals with gender roles, royalty and proper governance, reparations for colonialism, noblesse oblige and social manipulation of society. It���s not a huge stretch to see parallels between contemporary political issues and the series. In one book of the trilogy, we find the primary foes create a disaster and then offer themselves up as the solution. It felt so much in line with how the rich and corporations manipulate the economy to their benefit, then manipulate the media to blame people of color and immigrants so that whites target their anger at being cheated against the wrong people. Only Trump, Repugs, etc can stand against the tide of the subhumans and Make Majipoor Great Again. As long as the working classes and poor are stuck in a culture war, they can’t dismantle the actual system holding them down.

Although Valentine himself is well crafted and a handful of other characters get their day, for the most part this is not a series about characters so much as the tone and feeling of discovering and adventuring in an imagined universe. And at that, it succeeds marvelously.

[Kendra Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

This series was just kind of “bleh” to me. I think the concept was cool, but the execution was just not my style. The first book was the most enjoyable to me, the second was essentially a collection of short stories as perceived by the main character Hissune, and the third seemed disjointed and vague. I liked the overall message of love conquering all (brought about by Valentine and his peaceful loving nature), but something was just missing. And by something, I mean a lot of things. What’s funny is at the end of Valentine Pontifex I started thinking about Valentine’s mind power as greatly resembling the mind powers of the main character in Dune. And also that those books were considered great works of fiction, but they just didn’t hit home with me. Now, I read a lot…but I’m terrible with names, so I just realized when reading another review that Frank Herbert also wrote the Dune series. I made it through book 4 of that series before I gave up. I loved the first Dune book, and all the others I read were again “bleh”, so I think it’s possible I’m just not a huge fan of Herbert’s writing style.

[James Proctor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Valentine, in the first of three books, is a fallen king whose throne he must regain lest the world be lost. The sequel provides an entertaining diversion into world history, told in short tales that pay cunning homage of style to notable genre authors. The third and final book reunites us with a regent who no longer wants the crown and spends inordinate oxygen bemoaning his fate and sucking the book dry of every last vital molecule. Somewhere a reader fights to breathe.

Whilst I read, page after page was rewritten in my mind. I continually hoped the plot would have at least one surprising turn of event, rather than plonking along in a pedestrian style of inevitability that threatened but did not completely choke off the adventurous tone of the first book. Read it and the second, dear reader, but skip this airless affair.

[Книжни Криле · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отново съм задал координати към планетата Маджипур – плод на безграничното въображение на майстора Робърт Силвърбърг. Свят на екзотика и приключения, където високотехнологичните изобретения все още не са ежедневие, а хората съжителстват с множество различни раси под управлението на сложен триумвират. Днес ще завършим цикъла за Лорд Валънтайн с „Маджипурски хроники” и „Валънтайн Понтифекс”, събрани в том 2 на „Маджипур” от изд. „Бард”. Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":

https://knijnikrile.wordpress.com/201...

[Jean Moira · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is going to be my favorite book of the series.

It's difficult to imagine the world of Majipoor getting such an important change again.

Valentine is a wonderful character who struggles between his eventual descent to the Labyrinth as the Emperor of this world, and his duty as its King. But he moves forward and allows his protégé to ascend to kingship partially in order to save the world from a cancer that has grown because of all of his progenitors.

The sea dragons are among the most wonderful creatures of imaginary literature. Silverberg works subtly to make Valentine evolve into an even more open-minded person. Once he lost his identity; now he gives up on what has become the seal of his identity for decades, in the process changing the very identity of the world.

5/5

[Peter Coomber · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first reading of a Robert Silverberg book. Fifty-odd years of reading science fiction and I hadn't read him before.

Typically, I started on a book that is third in the series. I found it in a charity shop. (I have noticed that there are hardly ever any sci fi books to be found in charity shops. Thrillers - yes: sci fi - no.)

I have to say: it didn't thrill me (which is why I have only given it three stars). Clearly the book was well-written, and a great amount of effort had been put into the creation of names for cities and animal and plant life, but it didn't grab me. Sorry.

Maybe I should have started at book one of the series? Or a different book of his?

I shall search out another book of his (from a book shop) and see where that takes me...

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this final return to the world of Majipoor. The names alone are worth it - I'm considering naming my next child Voriax if it's a boy, Aximaan Threysz if it's a girl. The story in many ways reminds me of a folk tale or a fairy tale, but with a lot of the edges blunted off. It is not particularly realistic in regards to the nature of government or war or human relations (or, I would assume interspecies relations), but if you are willing to suspend belief on those things, it's a somewhat fun "great man" narrative.

3.5 of 5 stars

[Ian Schagen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concluding epic in the mighty Majipoor trilogy. The planet Majipoor is a triumph of the imagination, as much for its sociological and political themes as for the breadth of its vast geography. Doom is stalking the world, and Valentine and his friends must struggle to set things right. In the end he has to accept the role of senior king, though it means burying himself in the Labyrinth, which he hates. The ending seems slightly abrupt and contrived, but as a whole the novel is a great one. 4.5/5.

[C Jon Tice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once again we find Valentine in a situation where he must make a pilgrimage to save Majipoor.
The lengthy travels in this semi futuristic planet does make me question why the residents dont use space ports, or any form of flight, but I still enjoy the tale.
I accidentally skipped Majipoor Chronicles thinking this was the second installation but the flow between books was fluid and even though eight years had passed in Valentines timeline I found the recollections of his experiences laced nicely into the story.
A wonderful and surprising read!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75/5: definitely the best in the trilogy, it flows like a book should. In my opinion it's worth reading the long winded 1st Valentine & the unexpected deviation of the 2nd Valentine just to be able to enjoy the 3rd & final Valentine. But if one chose to just read the 3rd Valentine it is my opinion that since it is repeated more than once in this book just the highlights of the first two books one would not be missing out on anything but a decent adventure, all be it a long winded one.

[Luke Burrage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish the contents of this novel was contained in about four short stories or novellas to wrap up what we learned in Majipoor Chronicles. But oh well.

Full review on my podcast, SFBRP episode #484.



Luke caught up with Majipoor and talked to Juliane about Majipoor Chronicles and Valentine Pontifex by Robert Silverberg.

https://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1973

[Uilleam Mac Uilleam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one a lot. Not quite as much as the first Majipoor book, but it still has its moments. I particularly rated the expanded role of the mysterious Metamorphs. If I had one gripe, it would be that the ending where the heroes all come together to defeat the Bad Guy with the power of magical mind love vibes is naff. Endings don't appear to have ever really been Silverberg's strongest point. You get what you expect with this book I suppose

[Mark Edlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Science Fiction series - The third book in the Majipoor Chronicles. Life goes to heck in a handbasket on the huge planet as the Metamorphs try to take back what is theirs. More of Silverberg's "typing at random" place and animal names. And now there is a fourth book (a prequel)
No Canadian or pharmacy references.

[Pamela Aikman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorite passage: Between one moment and the next his soul went surging from him as though it were a great mantle of light, streaming upward through the many layers of the Labyrinth to the surface.... Third book in this series and I found myself not loving it as much as I did when I was in 8th grade. I finished but this one ended up being a chore.