Customer Reviews

Majipoor Chronicles

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved Lord Valentine's Castle, and figured that this installment in the Majipoor series would only be a necessary stepping stone before reading another book about Valentine. Little did I know how incredible and thorough this book would be, or how deeply affected I would be by the wonderful memories of the characters in the Registry of Souls. All of the stories are wonderful, though Inyanna Forlana's and Arioc's are by far my favorites. And the broad view of Majipoor you get through this book is perfect preparation for Valentine Pontifex. Silverberg's story-telling is rich, vivid, and complex, and this book will remain one of my favorites for years to come.

Here Silverberg offers us the chance to experience first-person vignettes from across the thousands of years of Majipoor's history. Silverberg does an outstanding job of making historical personages come alive in such a way that, when you encounter oblique references to them in later novels you feel as if someone has just mentioned an old friend.

In addition, Silverberg takes you behind the scenes at some of the pivotal moments in Majipoor's past. He crafts those events with insight and cleverness (and throws in a few surprises). The complicated and seductive world of Majipoor is even more so after the glimpses which Silverberg offers.

Every story in this collection would stand alone as an enjoyable and thought-provoking reading experience. Together, they are a must-have for fans and non-fans alike.

A collection of short stories, Silverberg uses this book as a way to fill in or explore some historical gaps left in his first Majipoor novel. As with any collection of short stories, some will delight you, others will leave you flat, and some won't affect you at all. I can't honestly say that I disliked any of the stories contained within, but I definately liked some more than others. I especially enjoyed how the author continually reminded us that things didn't always happen the way the history books say they did. If only we had a Register of Souls here on earth!

Looking at the other reviews, I would say that I am not as enthusiastic about these novels as other people, but I don't hate them either. I have only read the first three so far, but I feel that some of the shortcomings pointed out by others (i.e., poorly developed characters, over simplistic plots, etc.) do have validity, but I feel that the good points of the books far outweigh the bad. In the Majipoor novels Silverberg makes us confront some of the darker aspects of mankind and grapple with our response to them. I liked the second book the most out of the first three. Try it, and see what you think!

This book very cleverly covers the adolescence of the boy Hissune between his first meeting with Valentine in LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE and his later career on Castle Mount. Hissune works as a clerk in the House of Records of the Labyrinth of Majipoor - the underground city from which the Pontifex administers the bureaucracy that runs most of the life of Majipoor. Hissune is young, restless - and in the same complex lies the Register of Souls, that treasurehouse of memory recordings from lives scattered all through the thousands of years of Majipoor's history. It's closed to all but authorized personnel, but Hissune isn't one to resist a challenge, and once he gets in, he begins sampling lives - the short stories making up this book, tied together with short passages wherein Hissune's reaction to the events he experienced sometimes provides an artistic rounding off of the story, in cases where he knows how the story turned out. As it happens, his explorations are set out in chronological order as he works forward in time.

"Thesme and the Ghayrog" - For his first venture into the Register, Hissune selects a woman 9000 years dead on the far continent of Zimroel. Thesme, like Thoreau, went to the woods to live deliberately - more or less. Living half a day's walk from town, she had become ever more solitary, and welcomed the company of the injured Ghayrog she rescued in the forest. (Ghayrogs, introduced in LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE, are sleepless for much of the year, so it's no joke for one to be laid up with a broken leg so far from civilization, without access to the entertainment even healthy Ghayrogs need to alleviate boredom.)

"The Time of the Burning" - Hissune, curious about the legendary Coronal Lord Stiamot, who conquered Majipoor's native intelligent species - the Metamorphs - seeks out the recording of a soldier of his army in the last days of the war.

"In the Fifth Year of the Voyage" - Huge as Majipoor's three continents are, they cover only a small area of the planet's surface; the Great Sea, most of which has never been explored, makes up the rest. But once, long ago in the reign of Coronal Lord Arioc, Sinnabor Lavon sought glory on the shores of Alhanroel by setting out to sail the long way around. (An incident from this story is the basis of the Jim Burns cover painting on the 1983 paperback edition.)

"Calintane Explains" - Oddly enough, although all the short stories herein are memory recordings, only this one is presented from the first person viewpoint of the soul thus recorded. Arioc, the Coronal mentioned in the previous story, became one of the most famous Pontifexes in Majipoor's history, although the truth has been obscured by time. Hissune in this case sought out the memory of a member of Arioc's court in the Labyrinth to find out what really happened.

"The Desert of Stolen Dreams" - Something of how the Barjazid family came to hold Majipoor's fourth crown, that of the King of Dreams, although not the whole story.

"The Soul-Painter and the Shapeshifter" - The tale of a man who fell in love with a Metamorph.

"Crime and Punishment" - On present-day Majipoor, the King of Dreams oversees the punishment of criminals by visiting them with retribution in their dreams. Hissune, interested in the process, seeks out the memory recording of a murderer. Murder is relatively uncommon on Majipoor, because the King of Dreams provides a legendary deterrent...

"Among the Dream-speakers" - After the previous story, Hissune (who doesn't share Majipoor's traditional attitude toward dreams) wants to know more about dream-speakers, who serve as intermediaries between the worlds of waking and dream, interpreting sendings of the Lady and of the King of Dreams. Hissune thus seeks out a recording of Tisana of Zimroel, made early in her life: her memories of her final Testing for dream-speaker. See LORD VALENTINE'S CASTLE for Hissune's previous encounter with her.

"A Thief in Ni-Moya" - Inyanna, a small shopkeeper on Zimroel, lost everything she had when a pair of con artists convinced her that she had inherited the estate known as Nissimorn Prospect - as she learned too late. But the registered thieves of the Great Bazaar took her in when they learned of her plight...

"Voriax and Valentine" - A recording left by Valentine himself, a memory of a holiday with his brother Voriax, and how they met a forest witch who offered them an impossible prophecy. After all, how could they *both* be destined to become Coronal?

I stumbled across this second book in the Majipoor series, and read it before I read the other books in the series. What an introduction! When Silverberg is on, there is no greater science fiction/fantasy writer, which is, obviously, high praise indeed.

After letting this book sit on the shelf a few years, I lent it out to a 'friend'. Of course, I never got it back, so I had to hunt it down again. And when I got it for the second time, I thought I'd leaf through it again. A week of intermittent reading later, I finished it for the second time. It was not a disappointment. Wow. This is as good as SF gets.

Highly recommended.

Robert Silverberg's world of Majipoor is an incredibly rich setting for his stories, sending the reader's imagination to new and wonderful places. The scope and detailed history Silverberg has created for this world is breathtaking. Other authors might bog the reader down with useless detail, but Silverberg inspires awe rather than boredom.
For readers who have been initiated through "Lord Valentine's Castle", "Majipoor Chronicles" takes you further into Majipoor with a collection of stories covering thousands of years of the planet's history.
An excellent book. Compares extremely favorably to Asimov's "Foundation" series, but even better in some ways.

The stories are great, and they add a historical perspective to Lord Valentine's Castle. I love Inyanna Forlana's story and the story of the Pontifex Arioc. Robert Silverberg is a master storyteller, and if you liked this one, try "The Conglomeroid Cocktail Party" or any other collection of Silverberg's short stories.

3.5 stars

In the first novel of the Majipoor series, Lord Valentine's Castle, Valentine was aided in the labyrinth by Hissune, a clever and hard-working young street urchin. When Valentine was restored to his position as coronal, he elevated Hissune to a government job in the labyrinth. This was certainly a big step up for Hissune, but he soon discovers that government work is pretty dull. To alleviate the boredom, he talks his way into the Registry of Souls, the place where Majipoor's residents have been placing some of their memories for thousands of years. Pretending that he's doing some research for his archiving job, Hissune is able to call up and re-live the memories of ten Majipooreans. At first he starts off small, living as a young woman in a remote but developing area of the planet. When he doesn't get caught, he gets bolder and bolder and eventually spends time living in the memory of Lord Valentine himself.

Thus, Majipoor Chronicles is a collection of short stories set in the world of Majipoor. The book is meant to be read after Lord Valentine's Castle (which introduces Hissune), but it could also be read as a prequel or at any other place in the series. Each of these ten stories fills in some gaps in the story of Lord Valentine's Castle, or gives us more details and insights about the imaginative world of Majipoor and its citizens and culture. But most importantly, they each have a life lesson for Hissune who, though he doesn't know it yet, will succeed Valentine as coronal:

1. "Thesme and the Ghayrog" -- a young woman who feels ostracized because of her eccentric behaviors moves into the jungle and befriends an alien. A story about the Freudian defense mechanism of projection.
2. "The Time of the Burning" -- an army officer meets the legendary Lord Stiamot at a time when humans are taking the planet away from the native metamorphs. Explains how humans got control of the planet.
3. "In the Fifth Year of the Voyage" -- a chilling tale of adventure and failure. Gives us an appreciation for the immensity of the planet and the problems with its exploration.
4. "Calintane Explains" -- Calintane, a future coronal, explains to his girlfriend why he's been too busy to see her lately. The amusing story (alluded to in Lord Valentine's Castle) about the coronal who declared himself a woman and became the Lady of the Isle.
5. "The Desert of Stolen Dreams" -- as a way of punishing himself for a crime, Lord Dekkeret takes on an unpleasant job which involves crossing a desert and dealing with horrible dreams. Emphasizes the importance of dreams and gives us some background on a future coronal.
6. "The Soul-Painter and the Shapeshifter" -- an artist who's tired of structured and sculpted beauty moves to the forest and meets a metamorph woman. Shows the interracial conflict between humans and metamorphs.
7. "Crime and Punishment" -- a businessman who has committed murder tries to evade the King of Dreams. Explains how secret crimes are punished through dreams and why murder rates are low on Majipoor.
8. "Among the Dream Speakers" -- Tisana (who helped Lord Valentine) faces her final test to become a dreamspeaker. Shows the training and practices of the dreamspeakers.
9. "A Thief in Ni-moya" -- a shopkeeper is told that she has inherited a mansion in Ni-moya. Explores the exciting city of Ni-moya, illustrates some of the practices of its nobility, and deals with the concepts of justice and balance.
10. "Voriax and Valentine" -- brothers Voriax and Valentine meet a witch who gives them the disturbing prophecy that they will both be coronal. Fills in details of this event, which was alluded to in Lord Valentine's Castle, and gives us a glimpse of Valentine's early manhood.

I listened to Blackstone Audio's production of Majipoor Chronicles, which was read by an excellent cast of narrators (several who were new to me): J. Paul Boehmer, Cassandra Campbell, Emily Janice Card, Gabrielle de Cuir, Arte Johnson, Don Leslie, Scott Peterson, Stefan Rudnicki, and Mirron Willis. I can highly recommend this version. As with any collection, the stories vary in quality. My favorite stories were "In the Fifth Year of the Voyage" (intense), "Calintane Explains" (funny), and "A Thief in Ni-Moya" (satisfying). The only story that I didn't like was "Among the Dream Speakers" -- I thought it was dull.

Majipoor Chronicles gives even more texture to the beautiful and fascinating world of Majipoor while filling in a lot of details about characters and events alluded to in other Majipoor novels. For Majipoor fans, Majipoor Chronicles is a must-read. If you haven't read Lord Valentine's Castle, this is a good way to get your feet wet and to see if you want to explore more of Majipoor.

Robert Silverberg has created in Majipoor one of the most interesting and fantastic worlds of science-fiction/fantasy literature. Those who have read "Lord Valentine's castle" can't help but become amazed by Majipoor's imense size, its huge cities with billions of people of many alien races, and, most of all, the enigmatic and divided system of planetary administration, where dreams and the subconscient play a great part.

Silverberg knows that, with Majipoor, he has a science-fiction mine gold in his hands. "Majipoor chronicles" is the second book in the Majipoor series, but can be read before "Lord Valentine's castle". Through eleven stories, some short, some a little longer, Silverberg explores many aspects of Majipoor: the relationship between the humans and the alien races, the huge geography of the planet, the influence of the King of Dreams, and other sociological elements. Sex, power, greed, nature, everything plays a part in Silverberg's simple but compelling tales, and in the end the reader is rewarded with a collection of fable-like stories concerning Silverberg's greatest creation.

I think the Majipoor series is one of the greatest in this genre of literature, and certainly one of my favorites. Silverberg has created a world with the right amount of science and fantasy blended together, and that's not an easy task.

Grade 9.0/10

I have a definite bias towards Silverberg as I continue to read my way through his prolific career. The Majipoor Chronicles didn't fail. It's a collection of Majipoor stories containing alien on human love making and tales of mutiny on a sailing ship stuck in dragon grass. My favorite story was of the metamorph and painter. All hail Silverberg.