A review by bigenk
The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A journey of four college-aged men as they seek out the House of Skulls, where they believe (to varying degrees) that two of them can find the source of eternal life, through the death and sacrifice of the other two. This novel defies genre, landing somewhere in the nebulous space between science fiction, fantasy, and horror, without really satisfying the qualities of any of them. This is the third novel that I've read by Silverberg, and probably the hardest to both rate and qualify for myself.
The quality of the writing itself, like Man in the Maze and Hawksbill Station, is superb. It reads effortlessly, even as the subject matter increases in complexity. It has a trance-like quality to it, where I found myself getting wrapped up in the prose itself. The Book of Skulls has a compelling premise, that I enjoyed from beginning to end, especially satisfied with it's ambiguous conclusion that leaves the reader to determine the outcomes. Silverberg touches on some important themes like sacrifice, guilt, and betrayal, but saves most of his thoughts for death. How humans relate to it, what a meaningful death entails, how much of our energies go towards fighting it, what it would mean to be immortal. I also found most of the characterization work to be fruitful and detailed. All of the main characters were starkly different, with unique life experiences, fears, and thought processes that fed into their actions.
I especially enjoyed the novel as it turned inward, exploring the darker crevices of each character's psyche. The reader slowly begins to unfurl each one in turn as they expose themselves mental and emotionally, making for compelling reading.
This all being said, I do think this novel dates itself more harshly than the others that I've read from Silverberg. His treatment of not only women, but also homosexuality, is cringe inducing at best, flat out appalling at worse. Women only serve as objects of sexual appetite to all of the main characters, and while some might argue that this is befitting for late-teen, early-college aged men, it is not handled in a way in which it is clear that these men are exclusively at fault for their backwards behavior. Sex in this context played a huge role in the novel, which made it not only a distraction from Silverbergs more sane and salient points, but actively made the work significantly worse.
Ultimately, I am left feeling wholly disappointed. The ingredients of something amazing are here, but they are largly ruined. I think a modern take on same plot and themes could drop all of the sexist and homophobic nonsense, but lose none of the value.
The quality of the writing itself, like Man in the Maze and Hawksbill Station, is superb. It reads effortlessly, even as the subject matter increases in complexity. It has a trance-like quality to it, where I found myself getting wrapped up in the prose itself. The Book of Skulls has a compelling premise, that I enjoyed from beginning to end, especially satisfied with it's ambiguous conclusion that leaves the reader to determine the outcomes. Silverberg touches on some important themes like sacrifice, guilt, and betrayal, but saves most of his thoughts for death. How humans relate to it, what a meaningful death entails, how much of our energies go towards fighting it, what it would mean to be immortal. I also found most of the characterization work to be fruitful and detailed. All of the main characters were starkly different, with unique life experiences, fears, and thought processes that fed into their actions.
I especially enjoyed the novel as it turned inward, exploring the darker crevices of each character's psyche. The reader slowly begins to unfurl each one in turn as they expose themselves mental and emotionally, making for compelling reading.
This all being said, I do think this novel dates itself more harshly than the others that I've read from Silverberg. His treatment of not only women, but also homosexuality, is cringe inducing at best, flat out appalling at worse. Women only serve as objects of sexual appetite to all of the main characters, and while some might argue that this is befitting for late-teen, early-college aged men, it is not handled in a way in which it is clear that these men are exclusively at fault for their backwards behavior. Sex in this context played a huge role in the novel, which made it not only a distraction from Silverbergs more sane and salient points, but actively made the work significantly worse.
Ultimately, I am left feeling wholly disappointed. The ingredients of something amazing are here, but they are largly ruined. I think a modern take on same plot and themes could drop all of the sexist and homophobic nonsense, but lose none of the value.