The Book of Skulls

In another world this probably would have been a much bigger seller. Unfortunately the very thing that makes the book so great also works against it. This novel is the kind of intelligent, provocative SF that the genre always threaten to do but so rarely manages to make it work. However, that's also the problem. This is hardly the typical vision of "SF" with spaceships and convoluted science and aliens and rayguns. So the SF fans aren't going to be really into this. However, the publishing company probably promoted it as a SF book (Silverberg alludes to as much in the introduction) and thus the people out there looking for something sophisticated and different automatically were steered away from it because of the big "SF!" label. Gah. So what is this book about? On the surface it's about four young college men in the seventies who discover a cult in Arizona that can bestow eternal life on people, if they come in groups of four (a "Recepticle"). The only catch? Well, only two of the people actually get eternal life. In order to finish the ritual, one person has to commit suicide and the other has to be killed by the group. All four characters know this going in. But that's not really what the book is about. In reality, it's a brilliant character study. Silverberg tries the fairly difficult trick of having all four characters take turns narrating in the first person, which is harder than you'd think (well it's hard to do really well). Silverberg manages to give each guy a subtle cadence and rhythm to his voice, so that you can honestly ignore the names and read the chapters and know exactly who is speaking. It's that good. So the book bounces from character to character, and for the most part the monologues are absolutely mindboggling, Oliver's internal rant on the unfairness of death is some of the most fiery prose I've ever seen put to paper and there are great moments scattered all throughout. It's beautiful. It's barely SF. If you interpret the cult itself as basically an extended metaphor then you can basically have a character examination on par with that of Margaret Atwood or the like. Frankly, like most of Silverberg's seventies work, it ranks as simply excellent writing in any genre and is unjustly forgotten, in my opinion. Fortunately most of those books are starting to trickle back into print (I've seen Dying Inside, A Time of Changes, and Tower of Glass myself), so perhaps it's only a matter of time before someone wises up and gets this book into the hands of the people who deserve to read it. That is, everyone. If you find it, don't hesitate to snap up. It's one of those rare books you never knew existed but once you read it, you'll feel like you've always had it.

'The Book Of Skulls' is an ancient manuscript detailing an ancient sect who offer immortality in return for human deaths. Silverbergs' novel, first published in 1972, is a gripping yet horrifying journey from Manhattan to the Arizona desert. The journey is made by 4 US students of equally different backgrounds: Eli, an 'uptight Israelite', who discovered the manuscript leading them to Arizona; Timothy, an impatient rich boy; Oliver, a troubled farm boy from Kansas; and gay Ned, a 'depraved choirboy'. Accordingly, each chapter is told from the perspective of one of the 4 students. Silverberg defines and exposes the characters through his use of the first person. None of the students are perfect. Each describes their darkest secret before the Ninth Mystery is performed: two must die in order for the other two to live forever. Fantastic novel, buy it immediately.

If this had not been written by Robert Silverberg, it would be a brilliant "mainstream" novel. I'm not sure if that's praise or not, but perhaps it might help gain the book the readership it deserves. Horrifyingly, I got to read it purely by chance. I'd never heard of the ... thing before; I bought it because of the title, because I'm a sucker for books about ancient manuscripts and immortal cults, and because many years ago I read and enjoyed Silverberg's The Stochastic Man (similar premise to Asimov's Foundation books, in case you're interested, but a much better development). The Book of Skulls, an ancient manuscript, tells of a sect which offers immortality to two people at a time, but in order for them to attain it one other must commit suicide (so that the others may learn the meaning of self-denial) and one must be murdered by the others (so that they may learn the meaning of exclusion). The story, told in the first person by four American students, is partly a horror story, partly a (loathsome phrase) "novel of ideas", partly a brilliant character study, and partly an intriguing (and possibly terrifying) speculation upon the meaning and consequences of sin. I would never dream of calling this science fiction; if I had to draw comparisons, I would call it an example of the kind of literature represented by David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus and Leo Perutz' Saint Peter's Snow. But if they had to market it as an "SF masterwork" in order to getit back into print, as with Stapledon's Last and First Men and Star Maker, then the end has amply justified the means. Whether you read science fiction or not, read this.

Four friends travel to the Arizona desert in search of eternal life offered by a sect mentioned in the Book of Skulls - a misterious manuscript discovered by one of the members of the group. It seems a wild - goose chase at first, but when Oliver, Ned, Timothy and Eli find that the sect really exists they are confronted with the choice of either leaving or staying and face the sect's initiation ritual: two must die in order for the others to gain immortality. I was hooked from the first word to the last. Towards the end, I found myself covering the pages with my hand to avoid looking by accident at the titles of the following chapters! Someone once said that a great idea in the hands of a poor writer doesn't become a great story. Fortunately for us, Robert Silverberg is an exceptional writer and the result couldn't be less than perfect. As a fellow reviewer said, and I quote: "this book would give a wild movie." I couldn't agree more. And anyway how is it possible a book like this to be out of print??? If you ever get you hands on a copy, don't give it a second thought: buy it! Or borrow it from a friend, or a complete stranger - it realy doesn't matter as long as you read it. I assure you, when you finish reading it, every hair in your body will be standing up. This is truly a five starer. I would've given it six stars if that were possible!

I am not surprised that this book is out of print. It's message is so disturbing, and the writing so far out of kilter with the writing of that generation, it sends out clear messages that the world Silverberg is going to extraordinary pains to depict accurately is not normal.This is not a SF novel at all. There are no special effects; the story is told in the present tense, mostly, by the various members of the group. In spite of this, and their apparent good old American roots, it is clear that these roots themselves are going to lead them them, singularly, and as a group, into the abyss, and while the theme of immortality is constantly present, from the beginning it is clear that it is either irrelevant to them, and that they are simply chasing dreams of a dank and musty type, or that it is the sort of immortality which would be spent in places indistinguishable from the frontiers, if not the interior of Hell.The genius of Silverberg, and this label is thoughtfully applied - is to draw the pictures of the genesis of the characters - and their eventual actions - well before the narrative starting post. We actually hear and see more of each of them in the past than the present. The intent is show the inevitability of their journey-but it also has the odd effect, which I am sure is not accidental, of making the past and the future for these boys of far greater concern than their own shallow and mean relationships in the present. The narrative used in the novel has the effect of making the novel skid uncomfortably across the present tense, uncomfortably fast.This is not SF in any real sense. However, It is full of allusions towards linguistics, Jewish History and Culture (a particularly rich part of the book is here), baseball culture, and even gay culture. The characters have to enter a rite of confession - ironically the whole novel is a series of damnable confessions of various types - but the apex of the novel is this specific ritual confession, which leads eventually to murder and suicide. How different this is from the cathartic prototype it might have otherwise have been!In this case, the true motive behind the long journey to Arizona is confused, not illuminated. The descent into immortality is also a descent into madness and darkness, in spite of the long, swealtery chapter at the end of the book giving some illusion of peace. You have the impression that Silverberg has met this darkness before and is giving a clear and most eloquent warning against it.Do read this if you possibly get the chance. It's a unique feat of writing which I don't think Silverberg managed to perform so well more than once.