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A review by ashleylm
Valentine Pontifex by Robert Silverberg
3.0
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.
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.