This review is for both the final volume and also an overall review of the series. I got started reading this series a while ago because of an on-line discussion I had on Orion’s Cold Fire (OCF) with Tom about whether there were any stories that could be considered science fiction and also fantasy. Tom pointed to the Majipoor Cycle and piqued my curiosity enough that I picked up the books. For the curious my reviews of the two earlier volumes are here and here. If you don’t want any spoilers then put this aside until you’ve read those reviews (and possibly the books) and then decide if you want to risk this review. Otherwise here we go.
The Majipoor books have been a fairly unique experience. They combine a relatively straight forward adventure tale with a world-building framework that tries to encapsulate approximately ten thousand years of the colonization of a new world by a number of cooperating intelligent alien species. And Silverberg is an idiosyncratic writer with a style that came of age in the 1960s. This combines to create a very complex and sometimes meandering tale.
In the third book, Valentine Pontifex, the eponymous protagonist of the first book, Lord Valentine, is re-established as the principal ruler of Majipoor and is preparing for a triumphal tour of the far-flung cities of his realm when premonitions of disaster begin intruding on his mind. In Majipoor dreams are regarded as legitimate warnings from the reigning spiritual powers, the King of Dreams and the Lady of the Isle. Under this cloud Valentine and his friends and advisors begin the ill-fated Processional and unsurprisingly a long series of disasters occur. Valentine identifies these cataclysms with a karmic reaction to the original conquest of Majipoor and attempts to expiate this original sin through diplomacy and love. The tension between his actions and the situation on the ground makes up the action of the story.
Valentine Pontifex is, as I mentioned, a very complicated and meandering story line. There are close to a dozen threads weaving through the book with their own characters, locations and subplots, some more important to the main narrative and some less so. And Silverberg provides a veritable Tolkienian plethora of Majipoorian names. There is a veritable blizzard of names; names of cities, regions, rivers, forests, animals, trees, fruit, cereal crops, food dishes, wines, medicines and people. Also Valentine’s character is of a contemplative and judicious nature so that he agonizes a good deal about the conflicting needs of the various parties involved. Luckily some of the other characters are less conflicted and help to push the action forward.
Another aspect of the story and the Majipoor series in general is the metaphorical nature of the story. To my mind, Majipoor is a metaphor for the English colonization of the United States. The aboriginal inhabitants of Majipoor, the Shapeshifters, defeated and relegated to life on an inhospitable reservation, are a stand in for the Native Americans. The other species brought to Majipoor by the humans equate to the other nationalities and races that have immigrated to the United States. To be honest, I am not a big fan of this kind of representation. All too often this kind of metaphorical story telling is just a chance to bash this country and curry favor with the social justice apparatchiks. And Valentine does have a certain amount of the Jimmy Carter syndrome in his make-up. There is even a subplot that involves humans hunting and harvesting an intelligent water dwelling species that is the equivalent of whales.
Looking at all these detrimental story elements, you would be unsurprised if I gave Valentine Pontifex and the Majipoor cycle in general a failing grade. I’m going to instead provide an opinion that combines warning with guarded approval.
My first statement will be the warning. Majipoor is not for those who are looking for fast-paced adventure and classic fantasy ala Middle Earth. It is not that. And if you absolutely are not in the mood to hear about the rights of the dispossessed aborigines skip this story. And lastly, if you have a very strong aversion to human/lizard-man romances then absolutely skip the second volume Majipoor Chronicles. As mentioned in my review of that book, this was a weakness of Silverberg living through the Crazy Years of the 1960s. For them sex was something they had to inject into any scenario.
So those are all the reasons to skip Majipoor. Now, here’s the guarded approval. Silverberg has created a genuinely interesting universe. His characters are engaging and genuinely recognizable humans (even the non-humans). The story, for the most part, works within its boundaries and despite some pacing problems gets to the finish line intact. For someone interested in a fusion of science fiction and fantasy the Majipoor books are a quirky read. Let’s say it’s for the hard-core sf&f connoisseur.