The Book of Skulls

Immortality is at stake; but is the price too high? Source: Here

"Eternities must be balanced by extinctions."

I have a soft spot for quest narratives. They give us an easy journey to follow that parallels the characters' own internal evolution over the course of the book and rather neatly frames the course of events. Reading this particular journey gave me much to think about - between this and Dying Inside, I'm slowly gaining a taste for Silverberg's bibliography. (I also wasn't sure whether to place this book as sci-fi or not. Seemingly the only element that could qualify this book as science fiction is the idea of immortality and our characters' search of it - beyond that, this could have easily been marketed as more mainstream or even literary fiction)

The Book of Skulls is a 1971 Hugo Award nominee written by Robert Silverberg. It follows the journey of four college students, guided by a translation of an ancient manuscript known as the Book of Skulls, which sends them travelling deep into the Arizona desert to find the House of Skulls. Within this alleged monastery lives an order of monks capable of conferring immortality to those that complete their initiation rite. Immortality comes at a price; only two will be able to gain eternal life, and the other two must die - one must be murdered and the other must commit suicide of his own volition. 

Our journey is presented by four first-person narrators, the novel rotating between points-of-view to give each their time to shine, and it is great to see that each is clearly distinct from another. Not only that but this device allows us to learn about them gradually as well as seeing how each of them react to events unfolding. There is no unifying sense of morale keeping the group together - only morbid curiosity and perhaps the hint that this mad quest for immortality may not be fiction after all. What initially begins as a regular road trip soon becomes darker and more final in purpose, down to the inevitable conclusion.

Immortality is the central theme, the goal for our characters and the topic of debate. Can it be gained? Perhaps more importantly, if it exists should it be a goal worth seeking? The book constantly interrogates this notion, as well as whether it actually exists - we never get a definitive answer by the end on whether the House of Skulls and its promises of immortality are genuine or simply a fraud. Silverberg's own depth and breadth of knowledge shines through, with references to the legend of Glaukus the fisherman, the Uttarakuru and Ugaritic civilisations, famous explorer John Mandeville - it is very clear we are in the hands of someone who knows his stuff.

There were elements of the book I didn't quite enjoy. I fully understand that some books are very much products of their time but the misogyny and homophobia weren't exactly palatable. Female roles in the book are fleeting and scarcely sketched out with any dimension (though perhaps with so much of the book devoted to the main quartet that may be an inevitable consequence) and the main gay character is a lecherous and downright unlikable protagonist - hardly a plus for positive representation.

Yet nevertheless I couldn't help but enjoy the book. Silverberg is downright masterful with his prose and each sentence is a treat to read. There's just this indescribable quality I can't quite put my pulse on, and like with Dying Inside the prose is poetic yet functional without needless verbiage. Once the plot gets into the monastery we reach the inevitable conclusion of these characters' journeys, learning more about just what type of person they are and how committed they are to this quest and I simply could not stop reading until I had found out their end. I had a devil of a time reading this book, and I look forward to revisiting it further down the line and being absorbed by Silverberg's prose.