Notes
Valentine Pontifex, a Majipoor novel by Robert Silverberg.

The third and final part of the Valentine trilogy.

The image opposite and the blurb below are from the 1984 Gollancz hardback edition, ISBN 0575034440. Cover illustration by Jim Burns.

Publisher's Blurb – Jacket Flap
Robert Silverberg's previous books about the planet Majipoor – Lord Valentine's Castle and Majipoor Chronicles – have been among the most popular science fiction of recent years, and have established Majipoor as one of the great worlds of the imagination. Now, in the final part of the trilogy, he has written a novel which surpasses its predecessors, bringing the story of Lord Valentine to a triumphant conclusion.

Valentine is now established as the rightful and popular Coronal of Majipoor, but sooner or later he must reluctantly succeed to the title of Pontifex and retire to the Labyrinth, leaving behind the colourful life of Castle Mount. The old Pontifex, Tyeveras, has held the title for generations, but is now almost wholly senile, kept alive only by immersion in a complex life-support chamber. Soon he must be allowed to die, but first there is a final challenge for Valentine to face, side-by-side with his chosen successor Hissune. A series of ecological blights begins to strike at Majipoor, threatening to turn a world of plenty into one plagued by starvation and despair. Once again the native Metamorphs are working to drive humans and other aliens from their world, and this time their challenge is even more formidable.