Product Description

Four students discover a manuscript, The Book of Skulls, which reveals the existence of a sect, now living in the Arizona desert, whose members can offer immortality to those who can complete its initiation rite. To their surprise, they discover that the sect exists, and is willing to accept them as acolytes. But for each group of four who enter the rite, two must die in order for the others to succeed.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #115777 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-16
• Binding: Paperback
• 222 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
From 1967 to 1972, Robert Silverberg had a burst of extraordinary creativity during which he wrote most of his finest novels. The Book of Skulls (1972) is one of these. Following the cryptic manuscript which provides the title, four young men cross America in search of a forgotten Shangri-La in the cactus-ridden desert north of Phoenix, Arizona--a monastery whose adepts hold the keys of immortality and supposedly follow a tradition handed down since Atlantis.

Candidates for eternal life must present themselves at the "Skullhouse" as a foursome. The brothers are happy to provide training in their secrets (including tantric sex)--but there's a price. The Ninth Mystery in the Book of Skulls states: "Two of thee we undertake to admit to our fold. Two must go into darkness". One of those four college students must willingly commit suicide. One is fated to be murdered by his own friends.

The narrative shuttles between their viewpoints, each distinct and sharply characterised. Rich, handsome, upper-class Timothy doesn't believe in immortality and is just going along with the gag. Eli the Jewish intellectual believes passionately. Ned, who is openly gay, has his own agenda involving Oliver, a Midwestern farm boy with tortured depths who says the Skullhouse is his only hope. Each in turn undergoes an ordeal of dreadful self-knowledge, after which the impossible choice of who wins and who loses seems natural, even inevitable.

Though only marginally SF, The Book of Skulls is a fine, scarifying novel of character. Unforgettable. --David Langford

Synopsis
Four students discover a manuscript, The Book of Skulls, which reveals the existence of a sect, now living in the Arizona desert, whose members can offer immortality to those who can complete its initiation rite. To their surprise, they discover that the sect exists, and is willing to accept them as acolytes. But for each group of four who enter the rite, two must die in order for the others to succeed.

About the Author
SALES POINTS * #23 in the Millennium SF Masterworks series, a library of the finest science fiction ever written * 'Could be his finest book so far' -- Greg Bear * Silverberg has been nominated for, and won more awards for his fiction than any other writer in the genre

Customer Reviews

Witty, entertaining, but not SciFi
R. Silverberg's book is NOT a Sci-Fi book, but the story of 4 students travelling to a far-away place in order to gain immortality. This basic plot, in spite of having been written a thousand times already (think of Ulysses for a start), gives the author plenty of opportunities to entertain us with intelligent, witty and sometimes even profound writing. I can recommend the book.

SF Masterwork? I think not.
I've occasionally been puzzled by some of the inclusions (and, indeed, omissions) from the so-called SF masterwork series. How this one made it in just baffles me.

In parts I'm prepared to grant that it is well written and constructed and I liked the use of the first-person narrative taken up by each character in turn - that's pretty much the only good thing I have to say about it. The plot is utterly ludicrous - long lost monks in the middle of the desert holding the secret to eternal life passed down from Atlantis. One is tempted to ask what's the point in eternal life if you're just going to sit around in the middle of Arizona waiting for potential acolytes to turn up every few hundred years? What do you have to do to prove your worth for this gift? A bit of weeding and boff some woman until you can satisy her before yourself! Purile rubbish that could have been lifted straight out of some horny teenager's wet dream! The characters themselves are unlikable and quite honestly I couldn't have cared less which of them gets to live forever and which don't (although it doesn't come as any surprise who does).

Given the more or less overwhelmingly positive reviews that this book has received maybe I missed something, but I don't think so. It certainly doesn't belong on any list of SF masterworks.

Recommended
Despite the title page, this book is neither of two things - SF or horror. It is though an excellent read that manages to be a convincing narrative of a very strange journey.