Lord Valentine’s Castle

This novel was my third off the shelf book!  (Oh man, it’s basically already June, this doesn’t bode well for my goal of 15…)  It’s also considered a fantasy classic, enough so that it was printed as such by Easton Press way back when.  It also won the Locus Award in 1981 and was nominated for the Hugo that same year.

Robert Silverberg’s Lord Valentine’s Castle, is not really about the castle at all.  It’s about how Lord Valentine got his groove back.  (So to speak, of course!)  At the beginning of the story, Valentine finds himself at one end of one of the giant landmasses on Majipoor with (what turns out to be lots of) money in his pocket, and no memories in his head.  As he goes through the story, he gathers friends to him, and slowly but surely, memories as well.  Turns out his mind/soul/personality has been placed in a different body by the evil King of Dreams whose son has been placed in Valentine’s old body to rule.  This coup creates political ramifications that are large.  And that’s not the end of that story either.

The book also introduces the reader to Majipoor, which I think may have been one of my favorite parts about the novel. It’s an enormous planet, with enormous landmasses, and an ocean that covers more than a whole hemisphere.  And with that size, it contains many species of sentient being that all came from different worlds to colonize.  That’s right, Majipoor is a fantasy setting that came out of a sci fi history.  Interestingly, it’s law and rule are based at least in part on dreams, which is interesting as well.

Some these days might take issue with the characters.  With the exception of the actual bad guys, almost all the good guys are Mary Sues, particularly Lord Valentine (LV).  From Wikipedia’s subsection on a Canon Sue:  “Typically, this refers to a character accused of being overly idealized or having other traits traditionally associated with fan fiction “Mary Sues”, such as being “special” by having a gratuitously tragic past, unrealistic skills or attractiveness, or a seeming inability for the character to do wrong.”  Let’s see, LV can’t even remember who he is, and later finds out his whole identity, including the throne of Majipoor has been stolen from him through treachery.  He draws people to him without trying, people obey him without knowing why, he can juggle almost the instant he’s shown how, and unless you count him getting angry once or twice he doesn’t do wrong.  Even when his comrades suggest his choices are bad ones, they turn out just fine.  I still liked him and his cohorts well enough, but as I’ve mentioned in the past, I do tend to like the good guys, even when they’re overly good.    Still, the characters in this book were not what was enjoyable for me.  Really, I don’t have much desire to read more in the world, but if I ever do, it will be Majipoor that has drawn me back.

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