Valentine Pontifex

Here is the triumphant crown jewel in Robert Silverberg’s “Majipoor” trilogy, already recognized in the previously published Lord Valentine’s Castle and Majipoor Chronicles as one of the landmark achievements in imaginative fiction.In this volume Lord Valentine, before he assumes the role of Pontifex and retires into the Labyrinth, learns to cope with the tasks of government amidst the problems of blight and rebellion. Gentle, pacifist and saintly, Valentine goes up against his putative successor—the tough, pragmatic Hissune—about how the suddenly turbulent planet of Majipoor should be ruled.Their conflict, and its resolution in a breathtaking climax, forms the substance of this boldly inventive, humane and symbolic tapestry of a world that is also palpably real and convincing, peopled with characters—The Lady of the Isle of Sleep, the King of Dreams, the elusive, humanoid Metamorphs—who test the future Pontifex at every step of his hazardous and challenging odyssey.Valentine Pontifex is a stirring and moving capstone to a brilliantly executed work of the imagination.