An exciting read, a well created world, all the creative genius Silverberg is so well known for. A dangerous journey with a person who has no idea who he is or knowledge of his life prior to where the story begins. As he wanders looking for clues about himself, he picks up a small band of followers who help him in his search for his true identity. The group becomes completely taken by the amnesiac's intelligence and warm manner. The outcome is easily guessed at, but the journey raises question for our protagonists to work through and dangers they face, holds the reader's attention for the length of the book. Loved it ( )

This was a lovely book, a picaresque adventure through an incredibly rich and wonder-filled world, played absolutely straight. It took me a while to read because it is so very linear—the characters are likable but uncomplicated, and there's this storybook certainty to the narrative that everything will come out right in the end, despite momentary setbacks.

I will note that certain details of the plot seem to make no sense, but this is definitely not a book that requires a logical plot. Additionally, Silverberg's female characters, while much better written than I expected, have a couple of WTF moments, and I would have liked to see more gender balance overall.

Nevertheless, a really exceptional adventure tale and not to be missed. ( )

Lord Valentine’s Castle - Silverberg
Audio performance by Stephan Rudniki
5 stars

I read and reread this book several times during the ‘80’s. I loved the diverse human and alien characters, the adventurous quest, and the endlessly exotic settings of massive Majipoor. This is the sort of book that makes me want to start right back at the beginning after I read the final page. It had been at least 20 years since my last reread. This audio performance was a great way to revisit Majipoor. I’d forgotten enough that at least parts of it felt like a new journey. ( )

Another classic that I appear to re-read every decade. Delightful.

11/27/2023 The opening sequence is a favorite of mine and the complete journey an epic of self discovery. This has to be my third or fourth read thru. ( )

I've had this books sitting on my shelf for no less than 20 years. Eventually saw it available on audiobook and decided it was finally time to find out what this classic was all about.

The first quarter of the book was pretty boring. Way too much minutiae about juggling. I almost gave up. Glad I didn't. It got better.

I get the feeling that back in the day (when I was kid and before) authors mixed fantasy and sci-fi a lot more readily than they do nowadays. It was strange because the book read like a regular fantasy book 90% of the time, but then he would talk about aliens, or other planets, and hovercraft. It kind of jolted me out of the story. ( )