The Book of Skulls
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| The Book of Skulls | |
 Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
|
| Author | Robert Silverberg |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy novel |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Publication date | 1972 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 222 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-684-12590-0 |
The Book of Skulls is a fantasy novel by Robert Silverberg, which was first published in 1972. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1972 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1973.
[edit] Plot summary
The story concerns four students who 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 complete its initiation rite. To their surprise, they discover that the sect survives, 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 - one by murder, the other by suicide.
Successive chapters are told from the viewpoints of each of the four students, giving the multiple views of the events and of the characters of the four, since each is seen from both his own and each of the other's point of view.
The events of the novel form a journey of self-discovery for each of the viewpoint characters. The nature and true purpose of the Brotherhood of the Skull remain mysterious, and the sect is mostly there as a device to focus the intertwined journeys of self-discovery.
The Book of Skulls has been republished in SF Masterworks.
[edit] External links
- The Book of Skulls publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
