The Mountains of Majipoor - Hardcover

Silverberg, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553096141 ISBN 13: 9780553096149

Publisher: Bantam, 1995

Synopsis

Exiled to the borderlands of Majipoor, Prince Harpirias grasps at his only hope for redemption in a dangerous rescue mission beyond the nine Guardian mountains, where a party of paleontologists has been captured by a primitive tribe. 25,000 first printing. $25,000 ad/promo.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Silverberg's fourth Majipoor book?his first in over 10 years?is, like the second novel in this popular fantasy series, Majipoor Chronicles, a bildungsroman. Set five centuries after the events in book three, Valentine Pontifex, it details the adventures of Prince Harpirias, a young bureaucrat exiled from Castle Mount when he commits an unintentional indiscretion during a hunting expedition. The prince is given a chance to redeem himself by rescuing a group of scientists who have been taken captive by a previously undiscovered, less technologically advanced people whom Harpirias considers "savages." Aided by a Shapeshifter and several others, Harpirias makes several discoveries that startle him much more than they will the reader. While there are moments here that recall the glorious descriptive passages displayed earlier in the series, these are infrequent, and sadder still is the author's apparent lack of interest in his characters. Hissune in Majipoor Chronicles and Valentine himself were living creations, but Harpirias and the Shapeshifter seem less full-fledged characters than elements tailored to further the plot. While fans may be grateful for any return to Majipoor, this shadow of a novel doesn't provide the journey they might have hoped for.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Silverberg returns to what is now his best-known creation, the sprawling, complex, exotic world of Majipoor. It is now a thousand years after the time of Lord Valentine, hero of the earlier Majipoor books, and one of his descendants, young Harpirias, accidentally kills a rare and valuable animal belonging to another nobleman. By way of punishment, Harpirias is sent to the snow-covered mountains to ransom an archaeological expedition from the local inhabitants. He is accompanied by a shape-shifting interpreter whose kind is not the most exotic that we encounter in the course of the yarn. This is a modest story, but the marvelously well realized world of Majipoor and Silverberg's graceful prose carry it along in a fashion that most lovers of Majipoor will find highly satisfying. Roland Green

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0553096141
• ISBN 13: 9780553096149
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 132