The ruler of the giant planet Majipur was deprived of power not as a result of seizing the throne, but in a very unusual way: the conspirators moved his consciousness (soul) into the body of some deceased unfortunate, and the usurper’s soul was transplanted into his “empty shell” - this is the main conflict the novel "Lord Valentine's Castle", full of fantastic adventures and mystical mysteries. Robert Silverberg's fantasy novels have more than once won the most prestigious literary awards in the United States. The author himself was for a long time the president of the Association of American Science Fiction Writers. In his novels, representatives of all worlds and races coexist, forming a special civilization that is even difficult for us to imagine. Traveling through such a country-planet Majipuru appears in a peculiar fusion of reality, fantasy and magic. This is a world unlike anything else and yet ultimately permeated with human feelings - love, fears, doubts, lust for power. This is an entertaining and at the same time educational and instructive reading that remains in the memory for a long time. Some discrepancies in names and titles in the first and second novels are explained by different translations.