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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13821.Lord_of_Light?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Lord of Light" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166573587m/13821.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13821.Lord_of_Light?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Lord of Light</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3619.Roger_Zelazny">Roger Zelazny</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/779722?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars This book doesn't need another review saying how great it is, so let me just add some observations about reading it.
 
 It is easy to see this book as being about Hinduism or Buddhism. I've read reviews here on Goodreads that analyze the book that way. Zelazny wasn't especially interested in either belief, though: Sam reinvents Buddhism not because he's a Buddhist, but because he believes it offers something necessary to the existing society and he believes that his current opponents can't predict or respond to it. Much of Zelazny's work is about the value of the individual and the value of the community and how to balance those. LoL is his greatest foray into that.
 
 He also loved to touch on the moral issues of those with access to technology versus those without that access, whether that technology is science or magic, or even if that distinction is meaningful. This is a major theme in LoL. As always, Zelazny's heroes do good for society through the act of doing good for themselves. He didn't create (or trust) pure crusaders. 
 
 A key point in LoL is the relationship between friends, companions, enemies, and people who simply disagree. Alliances change throughout the book (especially when the two time frames are compared--the book employs a frame-story structure with an extensive end to the frame) and throughout the book Sam interacts with people he's opposed before, opposes now, or plans to oppose. These people are also his only link to his past and the only people on the planet who can understand his history. He knows that winning doesn't always have to mean defeating, another frequent Zelazny point.
 
 There is also something of an atonement story in LoL; Sam sees himself as having made many mistakes that hurt people (and non-human creatures). The atonement is kept in the background, for the most part, but is an interesting aspect to watch for.
 
 LoL covers a lot of the same ground as Creatures of Light and Darkness, but takes more time to explore the details the and implications outside of the culture of the "god-like." CoLaD is very much a YA book on the same general concepts as LoL.
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/63444?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Seth's review
rating:

bookshelves: masterpieces, science-fiction
recommended for: Everyone
status: Read in January, 1985

This book doesn't need another review saying how great it is, so let me just add some observations about reading it.

It is easy to see this book as being about Hinduism or Buddhism. I've read reviews here on Goodreads that analyze the book that way. Zelazny wasn't especially interested in either belief, though: Sam reinvents Buddhism not because he's a Buddhist, but because he believes it offers something necessary to the existing society and he believes that his current opponents can't predict or respond to it. Much of Zelazny's work is about the value of the individual and the value of the community and how to balance those. LoL is his greatest foray into that.

He also loved to touch on the moral issues of those with access to technology versus those without that access, whether that technology is science or magic, or even if that distinction is meaningful. This is a major theme in LoL. As always, Zelazny's heroes do good for society through the act of doing good for themselves...more This book doesn't need another review saying how great it is, so let me just add some observations about reading it.

It is easy to see this book as being about Hinduism or Buddhism. I've read reviews here on Goodreads that analyze the book that way. Zelazny wasn't especially interested in either belief, though: Sam reinvents Buddhism not because he's a Buddhist, but because he believes it offers something necessary to the existing society and he believes that his current opponents can't predict or respond to it. Much of Zelazny's work is about the value of the individual and the value of the community and how to balance those. LoL is his greatest foray into that.

He also loved to touch on the moral issues of those with access to technology versus those without that access, whether that technology is science or magic, or even if that distinction is meaningful. This is a major theme in LoL. As always, Zelazny's heroes do good for society through the act of doing good for themselves. He didn't create (or trust) pure crusaders.

A key point in LoL is the relationship between friends, companions, enemies, and people who simply disagree. Alliances change throughout the book (especially when the two time frames are compared--the book employs a frame-story structure with an extensive end to the frame) and throughout the book Sam interacts with people he's opposed before, opposes now, or plans to oppose. These people are also his only link to his past and the only people on the planet who can understand his history. He knows that winning doesn't always have to mean defeating, another frequent Zelazny point.

There is also something of an atonement story in LoL; Sam sees himself as having made many mistakes that hurt people (and non-human creatures). The atonement is kept in the background, for the most part, but is an interesting aspect to watch for.

LoL covers a lot of the same ground as Creatures of Light and Darkness, but takes more time to explore the details the and implications outside of the culture of the "god-like." CoLaD is very much a YA book on the same general concepts as LoL.

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