Tolkien's Heir? Lord Valentine's Castle by Robert Silverberg

My thoughts on this really beautiful science fantasy by the silver-tongued Robert Silverberg. Lord Valentine's Castle is a quest, an epic journey with a colourful cast of characters, including Majipoor itself, the enormous planet which is home to Valentine.
#sciencefiction #scifibooks #booktube #bookreview #bookrecommendations
other Majipoor books referred to briefly in this video:
Majipoor Chronicles
Valentine Pontifex
The Mountains of Majipoor
Sorcerers of Majipoor
Lord Prestimion
The King of Dreams
Tales of Majipoor
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[@willp2877]

This is my current audiobook per your recommendation on a recent video! Enjoying it so far!

[@SciFiScavenger]

Oh great, glad to hear it! Thanks for watching 👀!

[@tlash544]

Silverberg! I taught myself how to juggle after reading this as a young one when it came out. Might be time for a reread as juggling's all I remember of it. I prefer his new wave stuff now, but I haven't read a Silverberg I haven't enjoyed yet. Great overview!

[@SciFiScavenger]

Ah it's great, i think it would reward a re-read. Thanks for watching 👀!

[@andrewb.3076]

I have this novel in my collection but I haven't read it yet... did know that it's a sci-fantasy and a very well regarded one at that. Sounds like it's a good story and worth delving into based on your video.

[@SciFiScavenger]

Definitely worth your time, i think. Cheers Andrew, thanks for watching 👀!

[@user-zo7mr3op8i]

Love all Silverberg's books. I've got loads of them (So - just scratching the surface). I do believe that, at last, comparing a work with Tolkien's epic is not necessarily a good thing. There is a reason, I think, why someone once published a book called 'Bored of the Rings'.

[@SciFiScavenger]

I like LOTR but it does seem to have acquired "sacred cow" status. I see no harm in (very lightly) questioning its dominance. I haven't read a bad Silverberg yet. Thanks for watching 👀!

[@thekeywitness]

I’ll read anything by Silverberg.

[@SciFiScavenger]

Quite right too! Thanks for watching 👀.

[@Reflekt0r]

Love it, Silberberg is a truly powerful writer!

[@SciFiScavenger]

He sure is. Thanks for watching 👀!

[@iantoo3503]

Buuuurrrrrrppppp! (Who knew that that was an onomatopoeia) Sorry, just had to finish the dwicka before it went off. Lovely to see this get more attention and I'm quite surprised at how much you like it; certainly never considered comparison with Tolkien. I was a big fan before LVC was released, so never considered it as anything more than light entertainment. However, while I was listening to it a few weeks ago, I realised I was listening to a dissertation on legitimate government. It just goes to show what a great author can do when you're not looking. Now just got to lay down for a couple of weeks to digest. 😄

[@SciFiScavenger]

Ha, thanks Ian, pardon you! Thanks for watching 👀!

[@kathleenhensley5951]

I remember it ... but faintly. Read it when it first came out. Thanks for review. I loved the elven poetry... It's a matter of taste. I thought, at first, (it was 1967- 68 and I was 17) that the poetry of Tolkien was just a waste of time but when I finally read it.. I found it beautiful and memorized it.

[@SciFiScavenger]

That's above and beyond! Very impressive. As an impatient boy it just got in the way of the battles n stuff! Thanks for watching 👀!

[@brianedwards7142]

I loved the (first 3) Majipoor books when I read them but I've never longed to re-read them with the nostalgia I occasionally feel for JRRT. That's not to say I don't want to re-read them and they are part of Mount Toberead as I write this but it's a matter of degree. Also there's Gandalf's speech about pity for Gollum.

[@SciFiScavenger]

Don't get me wrong, i love LOTR, i am about due my once a decade re-read. I was very impressed with LVC though. Thanks for watching 👀!

[@brianedwards7142]

@@SciFiScavenger I get that. I was just answering the implied question.

[@SciFiScavenger]

Got it. For me as a Brit, i think LOTR has a particular gravitational pull. JRRT was trying to give us a deep mythical back story.

[@brianedwards7142]

@@SciFiScavenger As a white Australian I feel cut off from those deep roots. I'm not British, even if my forebears came from there and things like Druids and the Green Man are alien to my culture but I can't just appropriate Dreamtime elements like food on a buffet either. Even the seasons and the trees are different.

[@inocanandrei6950]

Very nice review. The description sounds like my taste, thanks

[@SciFiScavenger]

Fab, thanks for watching 👀!

[@User_Un_Friendly]

I'm of two minds about LVC. I recall vaguely liking it, but finding it very long back in high school. I'm also not a Silverberg fan, but LVC was the only book I've read from him. 🙄. Lastly, it's on sale, along with volume 2 in Kindle. I'm just uncertain...😮 Yesterday was triple Kindle points day. I filled some holes in my collection, including the complete Star Wolf series. Recommended, if you want an actual, plausible interstellar war story, instead of anything influenced by Star Wars or Star Trek. 🤐😡🤮. A Honor Harrington, WEB Griffin (he's quite objectionable, but he writes a Great war story), a new Witches of Karres book, (Sorceress of Karres, I enjoyed it in the past, and have good memories of it), a good Heinlein (Starman Jones, under rated and enjoyable) and the short story collection for Frank Herbert. 🙂 I managed to pick up In Conquest Born, on sale. Review in GoodReads was encouraging. Found the Alan Dean Foster the I Inside on sale, snapped it up. 😛 I'm currently reading the Guns of Avalon. Be warned, book friends. The current primary publisher of the ebooks is doing a sloppy job editing. Due to my OCD, I permanently deleted some of my Zelazny books. 😡🤬 Fortunately, the NESFA Collected Short Stories, Jack of Shadows are all right. They're the biggest holes in my hard copy collection anyway. 🙄😎🤓. Hopefully my OCD won't make me delete Guns of Avalon. My absolute favorite among the Amber books, due to being my first, and the book responsible for my lifelong Zelazny fascination, and fandom.😎 BTW, if it seems I'm obsessed with sales, please keep in mind most of my purchases are for my (very large) Kindle library to recreate my former (very very large) personal paperback collection. Because it grew out of control, I started digitizing it years ago, and since I've never been a collector of hardbacks, first editions, etc, I'm profoundly certain i made the right decision. I really love ebooks, and find their convenience extremely satisfying. 🐶😛😎

[@SciFiScavenger]

You've been busy on the (e)book buying front, well done! Thanks for watching 👀!

[@motherlesschild102]

I loved the Valentine Castle trilogy-especially the 2nd book, which was just lots of individual stories. The one flaw (for me) was the "pro-colonialist" narrative, especially in the third book. Regardless of what Silverberg intended, the parallels between the various continents of his imaginary world and our own- the "human"(?) vs. metamorph thing seemed at least a little too much like....something else. Manifest destiny anyone? But it's still a worthwhile read, and Silverberg is still a great author- and an underrated one.

[@SciFiScavenger]

Yes it does have that whiff about it i guess. Can't say it bothered me overly in the reading. Thanks for watching 👀!

[@luiznogueira1579]

Never read it. When it first came out I was a bit shocked: Silverberg doing fantasy?!? Silly me...

[@SciFiScavenger]

Worth your time i reckon. Thanks for watching 👀!

[@user-mb9ll9wy6g]

Bro, it's spelled Tolkien

[@SciFiScavenger]

Yeah it was wrong when i first put the video up, but i corrected it after about 5 minutes. If you look at the thumb and title it's spelt correctly.

[@user-mb9ll9wy6g]

@@SciFiScavenger Oh I noticed. I just wanted to rub it in. 👌

[@SciFiScavenger]

I see, well, thanks a bunch! 😀

[@user-mb9ll9wy6g]

No problem. Credit where it's due, old son..