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3.5 

A Time of Changes

By Robert Silverberg
A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg digital book - Fable

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Publisher Description

With a new introduction by author Robert Silverberg, and the first-ever map of Borthan, this Nebula Award–winning classic sci-fi novel A Time of Changes, out of print since 1992, will delight fans of dystopian fiction.

In the far future, Earth is a worn-out backwater and humanity is spread across the galaxy on worlds that began as colonies, but now feel like home, each with its own long history of a thousand years or more, and each with its own unique culture. One of the strangest is on Borthan, where the founding settlers established the Covenant, which teaches that the self is to be despised, and forbids anyone to reveal his innermost thoughts or feelings to another. On Borthan, the filthiest obscenities imaginable are the words "I" and "me."

For the heinous crime of "self-baring," apostates have always paid with exile or death, but after his eyes are opened by a visitor from Earth, Kinnall Darival, prince of Salla, risks everything to teach his people the real meaning of being human.

26 Reviews

3.5
“A Time of Changes is set on a planet called Borthan where humans are prohibited from referring to themselves in the first person, meaning that terms such as 'I', 'Me', 'Myself' and 'Mine' are forbidden. The main character is the son of a prominent lord, who is recounting his story in a journal format, writing in the first person from the very first line. He is living in exile after having a rare encounter with a visiting Earthman, who introduces him to a mysterious drug found on one of Borthan's mysterious continents. This drug is said to allow the user to telepathically commune with another individual, allowing a melding of minds and the ability to share in each other's thoughts and feelings. If true, this act would be considered the ultimate sin on Borthan. Silverberg spends the first half of this book establishing the world, following the protagonist through his life in a complicated family dynamic. This doesn't always make for riveting reading, although it gives us a solid foundation of his mindset, before accelerating the pacing for the second half of the novel, where it mostly sticks the landing. There was one plot point which I expected to have a greater emotional impact on me and unfortunately, it fell a little flat, despite being quite a shocking moment. This is the fourth Robert Silverberg book I've read to date and he is yet to let me down.”
“A Time of Changes has a lot of potential. I found the setting interesting enough, and I am fond of Silverberg's descriptive and immersive style. Unfortunately, in my opinion, he failed to fully and efficiently flesh out the world he created. Some context is given about the geography, societies, and social constructs, but sparingly and very fragmentally. Most of the characters are irritating, naïve, or shallow, and their motives are, for the most part, unclear. Brave and selfless though it may seem, the purpose behind the protagonist's quest struck me as flawed, and it completely fell flat with me. Not Silverberg's best, but an okay effort nonetheless.”

About Robert Silverberg

Robert Silverberg (b. 1935) sold his first science fiction stories to the lower-grade pulps in the mid-fifties, moved swiftly to the three prestigious magazines (AstoundingGalaxy and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction) and as his style deepened and themes expanded in through the next reached the first rank of science fiction writers. He is regarded as the greatest living writer of science fiction, an SFWA Grandmaster, ex-President (in the 1960’s) of that organization, winner of five Nebulas, four Hugos and many other domestic and foreign awards. Among his famous novels are Dying InsideThe Book of SkullsDownward to the EarthA Time of Changes; his novella Born with the Dead (1974) is perhaps the finest work of that length published within the genre. Shifting to a predominating fantasy in the late 1970’s (Lord Valentine’s Castle and the attendant Majipoor Series), Silverberg continued to write science fiction and won a Nebula in 1986 for the novella Sailing to Byzantium, and Hugos for the novelettes Gilgamesh in the Outback and Enter a Soldier: Later, Enter Another. He was editor of the long-running original anthology series New Dimensions and of important reprint anthologies such as The Science Fiction Hall of FameAlpha, and The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction

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