Lord Valentine's Castle

By: Robert Silverberg

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

The planet Majipoor is shared by humans and several alien races, including four-armed Skandars, three-eyed Liiman, and the native, shape-shifting Metamorphs. All are watched over by the King of Dreams, the labyrinth-dwelling Pontifex, and the priestess of the Isle of Sleep, while the Coronal officially rules from atop Castle Mount.

The Majipoor Cycle begins as young Valentine, a man with no memory, is hired as an apprentice juggler by a group of eccentric performers. While the traveling troupe takes to the road, Valentine's sleep is disturbed by nightmare visions of warring brothers and difficulties on faraway Castle Mount. In a quest to discover who Valentine really is, his wise and peculiar companions resolve to help him claim the rewards of his birth. But another trial awaits Valentine that will test his belief, resolve, and strength of character.

©1980 Robert Silverberg (P)2008 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Underrated Masterpiece

I wish more people knew of this absolute masterpiece! The author gives us a master class in world building and epic fantasy.

My all time favorite!

Love this story and it comes to life in this performance! Until next time Valentine!

Rudnicki's Masterful Reading of Silverberg Classic

Stefan Rudnicki here gives an intelligent and evocative reading of one of my favorite novels. Rudnicki does voices for the various characters and brings Silverberg's richly imagined world to life. This novel is an adventure story and a voyage of discovery at the same time. The explorations are not only of Majipoor and its many life forms, intelligent and less so, but gentle philosophical explorations of what it might mean to be a good leader, as well as a good human being. In other words, Robert Silverberg has created a world that you can get lost in, but what happens in this book can still be seen as relevant to our world. The language is somehow elegant, spicy, and vivid all at the same time, and Rudnicki's woody voice gives it texture, density and feeling. This is my favorite audio novel so far.

25 Years Later

It took me 25 years to find this book again and I LOVED the audio version! It made me laugh, cry and celebrate along with the characters. Stefan Rudnicki - nicely done!

A story as good as I remember it!

I read this book shortly after it came out and loved it. It was a pleasure to hear it this time read by an excellent narrator.

Pulled me in but not quite all the way!

Any additional comments?

Grand in scope, intriguing potential with highly imaginative topography, alien races and overall story. I just felt the actual banter between Valentine and his various friends to be be shallow to dull which left not one character as someone you really cared about. The fantasy world is huge and extremely creative and I would recommend this to anyone who likes the old formula fantasy with a hint of sci-fi.

a perfect listen

this is one of my all-time favourite fantasy books so i was delighted to see it on audible. as expected, i thoroughly enjoyed it, a magical listen and very well narrated. please can we have the other Majipoor books soon!

Magic!

A penetrating and original re-visitation of the classsic hero's quest. A dreamlike and magical journey through Majipor, world like no other. The narrators deep chocolate tone is perfect and only serves to broaden the listeners pleasure.
This is not Fantasy, nor Sci-Fi, rather a genre all of its own, perhaps Jungian is the world. The only comparison I dare to consider is the work of the British writer Christopher Priest.
Great story, compulsive narrative - highly recommended.

A dreamy stroll down memory lane.

Valentine of the title, is a deposed ruler, and one of the four balancing powers who govern the massive planet of Majipoor. But when we meet Valentine, his memories have been stolen, and freed of them, he wanders the world in a kind of happy daze -- a man without a care in the world. A kind and innocent man, he is invited to join a traveling juggling troupe. Un-tethered from his true self, he sees it only as a great adventure.

As memories of his true self return, Valentine faces a deep ambivalence about returning to a life of responsibility, and questions whether or not he would rather be a wandering juggler instead. The book is infused with Valentine's gentle kindness and willingness to go along for the ride, and is a meditation on how our lives might change if we should find ourselves suddenly freed from all responsibility.

The world of Majipoor is among the most beautiful and creative landscapes of any world I've ever read in the Fantasy or Sci Fi genres. Many alien species are introduced, and they are casually described in a matter-of-fact way that provides a quick sketch of their otherness, and then lets them be absorbed into the story, just like any other citizen of the world. Rather than emphasizing their differences, Silverberg allows them to be more real and sympathetic even as they quickly become only one of several who band together for a common purpose.

I read this book for the first time back in the early 80s, and it still moves me with it's lovely dreamlike tone. Since it is a tale in which dreams are a pivotal plot point, it's easy to see why it's still considered a masterpiece. But note that this is a Fantasy quest story, (probably the first I ever read) -- so, if you're looking for Sci Fi, keep looking -- this isn't it.

But if great Fantasy is your thing, too, you may enjoy traveling along with the juggling troupe, over the many varied continents of Majipoor, with it's fantastic cities, plants and animals, and an endless variety of alien citizens.

Everything about this story is satisfying.


Stefan Rudnicki is fantastic! His voice has so much color in this performance, and with so many characters to manage, he does an amazing job bringing Majipoor and all it's denizens to life.



Highly Recommended to Fantasy lovers. This is a classic masterpiece and shouldn't be missed.

An interesting idea

Imaginative and interesting premise. BIGtime. Heavy handed and slightly ponderous on the execution end. Ditto on the narration. The author was DEFinitely exploring a theme of: "the responsibilities of a ruler to the people".