Form: Novel
Year: 1983
Publication history:
- ???? : Valentijn de Opperpriester (tpb) , Luitingh-Sijthoff (Netherlands), 414 pp. (in Dutch)
- 1983 : Valentine Pontifex (hc) , Arbor House, 347 pp.
- 1984 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Bantam, 368 pp., ISBN 0-553-24494-9
- 1984 : Valentine Pontifex (hc) , Science Fiction Book Club, 247 pp., 3546
- 1984 : Valentine Pontifex (hc) , Gollancz (UK), 347 pp., 03444-0
- 1985 : Valentin de Majipoor (hc) , Laffont (France), 363 pp., ISBN 2221043901, 89 (in French tr. Patrick Berthon)
- 1985 : Valentin Pontifex (pb) , Pabel/Moewig (Germany), ISBN 381183682X (in German )
- 1988 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Pan, 367 pp., 28707-9
- 1989 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Bantam, 368 pp., 24494-9
- 1990 : Valentin de Majipoor (pb) , Livre de Poche (France), 575 pp., ISBN 2253052493, 7119 (in French tr. Patrick Berthon)
- 1992 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Pan, 367 pp.
- 1995 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Pan, 367 pp.
- 1995 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Lübbe (Germany), 476 pp., ISBN 340424205X (in German)
- 1995 : Valentine Pontífice (pb) , Ultramar (Spain), ISBN 8473864972 (in Spanish)
- 1996 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Harper & Row, 478 pp., 105486-0
- 2000 : Valentine Pontifex (ol) , Fictionwise
- 2000 : Valentine Pontifex (pb) , Voyager (UK), ISBN 000648378X
Dark dreams stir Lord Valentine's sleep. The Shapeshifters scheme in secret to regain their stolen world, and confusion and chaos are whispered on the winds of Majipoor. A planet that has known only peace for countless centuries must now prepare itself for war.
To save Majipoor, Valentine faces an anguishing choice--accept the mantle of Pontifex and surrender the high office of Coronal to his ambitious young successor Hissune, or use his own great powers to avert a long nightmare of bloodshed and battle.
The third book in the Majipoor series begun with Lord Valentine's Castle and Majipoor Chronicles, concluding the story of Valentine (since the others are set in different eras on the big planet). Well, almost concluding: "The Seventh Shrine" is a short novel set after this book.
Things are not going well for the restored Lord Valentine. All across the continent of Zimroel, blights strike the crops; the sea-dragons have changed their migration path; vicious animals rampage through the land. The peace that has reigned for eight thousand years could be shattered at any moment, and Valentine does not want to be remembered as the Coronal who brought war back to Majipoor.