| Author: | Robert Silverberg |
| Copyright: | 1983 |
| Date Reviewed: | 8/17/84 |
| Rating: | 9.0 |
Synopsis: "Pontifex Valentine" is the third book in the Majipoor series. Majipoor is a magical planet that has existed pretty much unchanged for fourteen thousand years. Eight thousand years ago, Lord Staimont and his army defeated the shapeshifters in a bloody war and penned them in the area of Piurifayne on the continent of Zimroel. Now with a Coronal in charge who speaks of love, the shapeshifters again make war on Majipoor. This story is about that war and how Valentine Pontifex and Lord Hissune win over the shapeshifters with the power of thought and the help of the sea dragons.
Review: I like the universe that Robert Silverberg has created in Majipoor. In this third book, as with the first two, I felt like I lived there and understood the complex politics and intertwined culture that shaped its history. While reading it, I found the book to be difficult, and in some parts, impossible to put down. Many chapters began with a description of the area in which the participants were in. The descriptions led to actions and often I did not want the chapter to end. Then the next chapter would begin and I would be disappointed that the last chapter was not continuing. However the same pattern would repeat itself as I came to the close of the new chapter.
If there is any fault with "Valentine Pontifex", it's that most of the book is about people traveling from one place to another. There is a lot of minor action but the important action doesn't begin until the fifth part. Valentine travels from the Mount to the Labyrinth to consult with the Pontifex's advisers, from there to the Isle to consult with his mother, the Lady of the Isle, from the Isle to Zimroel to consult with the Danipur, queen of the shapeshifters, then to Suvrael to consult with Minax Barjazid, the King of Dreams and then back to the Isle to consult again with the Lady. Similarly, Hissune travels from the Labyrinth to the Mount, back to the Labyrinth, back to the Mount and then to the Isle. Sometimes, especially the first trip to Zimroel, the venture was for naught. But then life sometimes works like that too.
I would have much preferred if the global excitement of the last part (the climatic ending was superb) was carried as well through the entire novel. I probably enjoyed this one less than the other two in the series but more than most of the books I read this year. Somehow I doubt if there will be a sequel to this book but if there is, I will read it eagerly. It should not be about either Valentine or Hissune but should take place further in the future since the internal struggles seems to have been overcome. Perhaps it could be about some external trouble. Also, I want to learn more about the god-like sea dragons.