★★★☆☆ Mostly interesting for the juggling lore

Lord Valentine's Castle

Robert Silverberg

I remember that I was a grad student in biochemistry when I read Robert Silverberg's Lord Valentine's Castle. I was a grad student from 1976 - 1983, so I must have read it not long after it came out in 1979. I read it because I am and always have been a science fiction fan, and Silverberg has a BIG reputation -- I had read praise of him from many of my favorite authors. So I got this novel and read it. I never read another book by Silverberg, which probably tells you everything you need to know about my opinion.

What's the book about? Well, the publisher's blurb begins thus

Valentine, a wanderer who knows nothing except his name, finds himself on the fringes of a great city, and joins a troupe of jugglers and acrobats; gradually, he remembers that he is the Coronal Valentine, executive ruler of the vast world of Majipoor, and all its peoples, human and otherwise...

This plot summary reminds me of the following quote

I always thought that quicksand was going to be a much bigger problem than it turned out to be. Because if you watch cartoons, quicksand is like the third biggest thing you have to worry about in adult life behind real sticks of dynamite and giant anvils falling on you from the sky.
--John Mulvaney

Likewise, if you watched TV, you can easily get the impression that global amnesia is a big problem. It really is not. I mean, obviously, if it happens it's terrible, but global amnesia of the type you see in TV and novels like this is actually quite rare. A smaller problem than quicksand, really. But it is a WAY overused plot device. So that's a strike against Lord Valentine's Castle right from the start.

The most interesting thing about Lord Valentine's Castle, however, was not the plot, but the juggling. Valentine's amnesia is an opportunity to learn new things about himself, and the first thing memoryless Valentine learns is something neither he nor anyone else knew about him when he had normal memories -- that he has an innate talent for juggling. He ends up joining a troupe of jugglers and touring with them. They quickly realize that, although he has talent, he has no training, so much of the early part of the book is about Valentine being trained as a juggler.

This was kind of fun, and it's a subject I knew nothing about, so I'll give Lord Valentine's Castle three stars for that bit of education.

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