In technical terms, The Book of Skulls is one of Silverberg's superior works, especially for the major period of 1968-1974.

Silverberg relies on four first person narrators to characterize his four student protagonists who have fled from the campus to seek enlightenment. The narrative voice of each is credibly developed and effectively employed to reveal the flaws of the protagonists. Since the four main characters come from different ethnic backgrounds and have different interests, developing and sustaining their narrative voices was a considerable achievement. (Silverberg, in fact, called it a "harrowing technical exercise," in a 1979 preface to a new reprint of the novel.)

As the different voices advance the story, the contrasting attitudes and beliefs of the questers create a sense of cumulative irony. Moreover, when a reader begins to perceive that one of the characters will become a sacrifice, Silverberg's tale creates a growing sense of horror...