L - Novels
A combination of "Chalice of Death", "Earth Shall Live Again!", and "Vengeance of the Space Armada".
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From the cover blurb:
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| A very enjoyable short novel. The prehistoric era is brought to life vividly, and the the details of Atlantis are a good mixture of following legend and departing from it. The revelations about the origins of the Atlantians are not exactly unexpected (especially if you've read Star of Gypsies, for which this could be a prequel of sorts), but nicely done. The characters are well-drawn and intriguing, and if there is not a lot of conflict, there's enough discovery to keep things interesting. This version of time travel (as incorporeal observer) is similar to "The Man Who Floated in Time". | |
From the cover blurb:
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| Not science fiction, but still really cool. An English sailor gets shipwrecked in Africa in the late 16th century. Kind of an African Shogun. The title character of this book also shows up in To the Land of the Living. And the novel serves to prove once again that Silverberg can make even a cannibal king into a character you understand, even if you don't like him. | |
The sixth Majipoor book. It is a direct sequel to Sorcerers of Majipoor. It concerns the aftermath of the sorcery at the end of Sorcerers.
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From the cover blurb:
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| This is
really the one that started it all for me. Not that it
was the first Silverberg I read (far from it), but it was
what started my devotion to (some would say obsession
with) his work. I wouldn't say it's his best novel (don't
ask me to choose, please), but it is his greatest feat of
world-building, and entirely characteristic of the tone
of his later, more mature, writing. In some ways, earlier
books like Dying Inside and stories like "Born
with the Dead" are
superior (call it personal intensity), but Lord
Valentine's Castle brings all of his themes together
in a good-natured mess free of the darkness that
characterized his writing in the sixties and seventies. It's one of those SF stories where the setting is really the star attraction. The planet of Majipoor is a Big Planet, long ago colonized by humans and a variety of other species. There are myriads of interesting plants, animals, and cultures, and the mysterious Majipoori natives, the Shapeshifters. In all the best ways, it reminds me of Jack Vance's writing: a boggle of invention, all described colorfully, with characters romping from one quirky society to the next. Silverberg has revisited Majipoor numerous times, not just directly continuing the saga of Valentine, but filling out the planet's history both before and after his time. Majipoor Chronicles, Valentine Pontifex, Mountains of Majipoor, Sorcerers of Majipoor, and Lord Prestimion are the other books so far, with The King of Dreams on the way (which Silverberg claims will be the last Majipoor book). |
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From the cover blurb:
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| Jim and
Sally's father is a respected biologist studying the life
forms found by the Mars colonists. When his grant gets
approved, the whole family moves to Mars for a year,
where they are something less than welcome. The colonists
are very practical people, very survival oriented--if it
doesn't help us build the colony, it's a waste of effort
and precious resources. Proving that the lost race of
Martians still lives might change all that, however. I've seen this book described as Silverberg's first "juvenile" science fiction book, though Silverberg himself has also referred to his first two novels (Revolt on Alpha C and Starman's Quest) as "juveniles". There's some interesting social commentary (if you can call it that) about the colonists, unexpected in a children's book. Though some of the speculation (mostly about Martian life forms) seems out-dated, much of it makes sense today. The one glitch from an adult-critical reading is the casual mention of artificial gravity, quite out of place with the other technology, which is more or less a slight extrapolation from today's. |
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Last updated October 21, 2002
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