Lord Valentine's Castle
core novel 1980 Majipoor Cycle
Record
| First published | 1980 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 3.89 (10,180 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780060140267 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Lord Valentine's Castle opens on the vast planet Majipoor, a world of enormous cities and ancient wonders ruled by a Coronal from his mountain castle. Valentine, a wanderer with no memory of his past, arrives in the city of Pidruid and falls in with a troupe of traveling jugglers, learning their trade to survive. Strange, vivid dreams soon suggest he was once someone far greater than a common vagabond, and small signs around him, the way animals and sensitive people react to his presence, deepen the mystery. As he journeys across Majipoor's continents performing with the troupe, Valentine begins piecing together fragments of a hidden identity that connects him to the planet's highest offices, setting him on a path toward reclaiming who he truly is. The first novel of the Lord Valentine Cycle, it introduces Majipoor's layered societies of humans and alien settlers alike.
Where it sits
- Universe: Majipoor Cycle
- Series: The Lord Valentine Cycle core; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Robert Silverberg
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Best Fantasy Novel), 1981: won; Confirmed directly via sfadb.com's own Locus Awards Winners By Category page (the accepted primary source for Locus lineage claims).
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1981: nominated; Confirmed directly via thehugoawards.org's own 1981 history page; did not win -- The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge won.
Notes
- From the series record (The Lord Valentine Cycle): Majipoor Chronicles (a linked collection of 5 short stories and 5 novelettes/novellas, each following a different point-of-view character across Majipoor's history) is registered Core, not Expanded, under the collection-as-Core exception -- it is the primary reading unit for book 2 of this cycle, not a peripheral side collection.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Lord Valentine Cycle: position 1 of 4: next Majipoor Chronicles (1982)
- Internal chronology, within Majipoor Cycle: position 1 of 7: next Sorcerers of Majipoor (1997)
Sources
- Wikipedia: Majipoor series
- sfadb -- Locus Awards Winners By Category
- The Hugo Awards: 1981 Hugo Awards
← Majipoor Cycle dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.