Reread

I enjoyed this book, but maybe not quite as much as the first in the trilogy, Lord Valentine's Castle. I felt like it was a slow read at the beginning, but it definately picked up towards the middle. I enjoyed the chapters about other non-main characters throughout Majipoor, which really let you experience what they were going through. The only negative about the book is I felt the end was very rushed and ended quite abruptly. But still worth a read.

This one was better than the first two books, and I'm glad I finished the series, but not one of the best books I've read.

Valentine is still a bit like Hamlet, indecisive. Hissune is learning how to be a prince. The shapeshifters are attacking yet again. It's not a bad adventure, but it's just ok. Still, the series is a classic. I last read them 15 years ago, and they'll probably still stay on my shelves for longer.

The strongest of the three book Valentine series.

It's a beautiful story, with interesting characters and the usual world development you find in Silverberg; too bad his writing isn't compelling as I thought it would be. This could have been a four star book, or even a five star one, but it was too difficult to read.

He's a wonderful writer, and I would have like this more, but for a few factors.

1. None of the new characters were particularly interesting, few of the old characters (save Hissune) really sparkled on the page. Silverberg's compelling world building couldn't save it this time (and the world, having already been compellingly-built, was last distracting here). It's a surprise, since Vol. 2 was all new characters, most of home were actually fascinating.

2. So much travel. It's a big place, hard-to-imagine big, but so much of the book was so-and-so going to such-and-such, then finding out whomever wasn't there, and they returned (or went on to another such-and-such a place), over and over, all the people, endless travelling. If that was the goal, to convey the tedium of getting around on this huge planet, mission accomplished. But it was at the expense of actually showing some of the exciting bits. The interview with the spy? Off-stage. Dealing with the rebellion? Actual retold in summary, or off-stage, for the most part.

It could have been half the length and would have worked better. Best bit was early on, the old fellow surveying his doomed garden. More of that, less trudging.

3. The system is so clearly explained that I easily thought up problems with it and wondered how they would be solved. Next Corona has no mother, say, who becomes the Lady? A sister, an aunt, the existing one stays? What if the Lady dies before the Coronal becomes Pontifex (that should happen often, women live longer but there's so much variance). Take me out of the story a bit, but at least I'm thinking about it.

Note: I'm a writer myself, so suffer pangs of guilt every time I offer less than five stars. These aren't ratings of quality, just my subjective account of how much I liked them: 5* = one of my all-time favourites, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.

Valentin de Majipoor nous raconte la fin des aventures de Valentin, le coronal(1) de Majipoor. Celui-ci doit faire face à des problèmes inconnus sur cette planète où la vie est facile pour tous : famine, insurrection, et surtout une guerre raciale menée par les métamorphes, qui furent les premiers habitants de la planète et vivent désormais dans une réserve. Grâe à ses amis, et à sa clairvoyance, il viendra à bout de tous ses soucis, et Majipoor redeviendra une planète heureuse et sans histoire. Ce tome nous démontre comment, à partir d’une bonne idée de base, un récit peut s’enfoncer peu à peu, tel le Titanic, dans les flots de la médiocrité. Car c’est bien de cela qu’il s’agit : une histoire médiocre. Très vite, on est déçu par les aventures quasi inexistantes des différents protagonistes, qui se déplacent sur Majipoor, discutent entre eux, mais qui sont vraiment bien protégés (normal, pour le maître d’un monde de vingt milliards d’habitants). Et rien ne vient troubler cete quiétude, sauf, peut-être, pour Valentin une stupide expédition chez les métamorphes qui tournera au naufrage par la faute des métamorphes ? Même pas ! Tout simplement une tempête de sable qui viendra retourner les différents engins de la suite impériale. Devant un suspense aussi insoutenable, on essaye de se réfugier dans la beauté de l’écriture de [author:Silverberg]. Las ! force est de constater que les récits entrecroisés, qui ont fait les beaux jours de nombre de pavés de fantasy, ne parviennent pas à sauver ce pavé, qui au final n’inspire qu’un sentiment de gâchis. Etonnament, lors de ma dernière lecture, qui remonte tout de même à mon adolescence, j’avais trouvé énormément de choses dans les aventures de ce coronal pacifiste, en proie à une guerre raciale d’oppressés. En fait, je crois que c’était surtout à l’époque le souvenir du chateau de Lord Valentin qui m’avait tenu en éveil. Cette fois-ci, je n’ai peut-être plus les mêmes exigences. Toujours est-il que les rebondissements me semblent au mieux téléphonés, l’intrigue est d’une légèreté toute arachnéenne, et les personnages ne peuvent même pas soutenir ce récit, tant leurs personnalités sont diaphanes. Au final, ma déception est grande, et je ne peux recommander qu’une chose : passez votre chemin.

(1) Ou roi, si vous préférez