The Book Of Skulls (S.F. MASTERWORKS 50)

Not one of my favourites from the S.F Masterworks collection, but still a very good read.

Written when Silverberg was at his most proficcient. Its a fascinating tale for the search for immortality and is rightly considered a SF masterwork

Robert Silverberg is one of the best writers ever. This book is proof of that.

In good condition, Silverberg at his best

I like Silverbergs's work, and have read a number of his books, so it's somewhat disappointing that this one left me strangely unmoved. TBoS starts out well and shows great promise at the start. The writing style is deceptively straightforward, the prose clear and precise. The foundation for a fascinating mystery is well-laid. Unfortunately predictability soon sets in which gradually dilutes the story's effectiveness. As we get to know the four would-be immortals it becomes clear what the outcome will be. Although the backstories are for the most part interesting some sections feel almost superfluous and I can't help but think that this might have worked better as a pared-down novella. Despite this, however, its never dull, it's just that I was left feeling somewhat ambivalent rather than fulfilled.

Your browser does not support HTML5 video.  My first video review, the sound is a bit off, just thought I'd try it out!

Four frat boys depart on a quest for immortality based on some old manuscript about a skull-worshipping cult: now, can we expect anything worthwhile from a premise so sophomoric? We can if it is Robert Silverberg writing, evidently.With the right balance of wit, erudition, humour, and earnestness, Silverberg pulls it off. The House of Skulls exists: that is made plausible enough. And a proper dose of irony prevents this immortal-life-and-death mystery, with its Aztec and ancient symbology and mumbo jumbo, from ever veering into ridicule. Anyway, The Book of Skulls, though classified as science fiction, is actually a piece of social and private commentary. The point is in the relationship between the four students: an East Coast wasp scion, the overachieving son of poor Kansas farmers, a young Jewish New York philologist, and a flippant, gay, aspiring poet. Silverberg's desert classic is both extremely funny and penetrating, written with brio and truthfully told - and the trick of having all four main protagonists as narrators works especially well.More than that, The Book of Skulls does not shrink from broader subjects: friendship, trust, mortality, atonement. In this sense, it belongs to a 1960s and 70s sci-fi tradition prepared to take on big themes. Think Stranger in a Strange Land, or some of Philip K Dick's novels. This is a metaphysical work. And it has a refreshing vitality, an optimism one fails to find in nowadays equivalents. It dares to be about something, unlike the shrivelled dystopias being churned out by more current authors, the meagre servings that are McCarthy's The Road, say. The Book of Skulls is not quite on a par with Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, but almost.

Eli, Timothy, Ned and Oliver are four students who are driving to the Arizona desert. According to a manuscript Eli found there's a sect there that can offer immortality to anyone who can complete its initiation process. However, possible members have to enter in groups of four and two of those must die in order for the other two to succeed.This is a short, well written novel at 220 pages and the story is told alternately from the point of view of each of the students. The most interesting part of the novel for me was when they had to confess something they'd done to each other as part of the initiation.I did enjoy reading it even though there are no big twists in the story, not sure if true SF fans would enjoy it though.