Lord of Light in The Alternative Worlds

Jan 12, 2011 Hirondelle (not getting notifications) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sf, planning-to-read-2011-no-excuses, hugo-award-novels-before-2000

I had this on TBR status for too long to confess. Long. Even before a friend highly recommended it, about oh 6 years ago and I felt guilty then I still had it waiting, physically, on my TBR, and told myself: soon. It was one of my challenges for 2011, to get this read, and with some help from a goodreads group, done.

All that said, I am uncertain if it was worth reading or not. The numeric rating for once feels easy to give, but I am not sure if I am glad I read it or if I regret it. It is so 19 I had this on TBR status for too long to confess. Long. Even before a friend highly recommended it, about oh 6 years ago and I felt guilty then I still had it waiting, physically, on my TBR, and told myself: soon. It was one of my challenges for 2011, to get this read, and with some help from a goodreads group, done.

All that said, I am uncertain if it was worth reading or not. The numeric rating for once feels easy to give, but I am not sure if I am glad I read it or if I regret it. It is so 1960s sf for good and bad. The good is the ideas, the scope (view spoiler). Wow. That is ambitious and "oldie" sf ideas of a more vibrant and ambitious (if less realistic) age. Also on the plus side is the writing, or to be more specific, the prose. It is lovely at times, the great first line, the great last line, things like "frowning his frown of success" or "Because a world has need of your humility, your piety, your great teaching and your Machiavellian scheming".

That was on one hand. Then there is the other side which is everything else. And it is to the credit of the good, that it, on my mental judgment, balances the everything else, because there were many other things here which impaired my judgment of the book:
- the structure of this book is uneven. It is non-linear, I can process it, nothing new. But some of the chapters read like almost independent short stories (or novellas, of whatever the word count) of uneven rhythm and variable importance to plot, with not much of a follow through. The pace here was not too comfortable for me, either.
- God is in the details so they say. When building a sf universe to parallel a complicated cultural-religious myth, it is important that is consistent with the sf introduced and the plot and characters introduced. I felt a lot of the book and characters were introduced as "easter eggs" for hinduism-buddhism, to bring as many possible references. It must be specially enjoyable for those with a profound knowledge of the things being mentioned, though I think I missed a lot of cleverness . But plot falls so often into a mythical tone, that the characters and their tech seem vague props. Some examples (view spoiler). And then there are clumsy bits which are possibly plot holes like for example (view spoiler).
- it is very dated in perspectives. None of the characters or author seems to have much environmentalist or speciesist angst over the idea of settling a planet or indigenous species. Characters smoke all the time -if you have read more Zelazny you are not surprised by this, are you? It often felt historical rather than sf.
- for last, and splitting from the last item and earning an item just for itself, this book felt pretty sexist, maybe even misogynistic. It would never pass the Bechdel test. There is a character who is either a lesbian or suffering from penis envy, or both (view spoiler) ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Dec 28, 2017 Terence rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

My brother got me this for Christmas last year (2017) - It was 1967's Hugo Award winner (my birthdate). [Which, logically speaking, would have made it a more appropriate birthday gift...but I digress.]

I like Zelazny but am not an enthusiastic fan. The first five Amber novels (the Corwin-centric ones) are some of my favorite, as are This Immortal and Damnation Alley (the latter a bit guiltily), and the rest I have mixed reactions to.

Lord of Light is on the positive end of my Zelazny spectrum. I l ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2009 Simon rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf, sf-masterworks

If you weave together elements of religion, science fiction and fantasy, what do you get? In the skillful hands of Zelazny, a profound and witty story.

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2008 Nicky rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction

Interesting, but I found it a bit confusing. This is something I'm definitely planning to reread with more care and attention. And yay for not conforming to medieval-white-Christian fantastical norms. ...more

1 like · Like · see review