I started going through my father's bookshelf when I was around nine. My father, bless his soul, didn't understand English, so there was a sparse array of Science Fiction in Swedish. Asimov. Clarke. Heinlein. And one book by Roger Zelazny - Jack of Shadows. That became my absolute favourite. As soon as I was able to read English, I started to devour everything by Zelazny. Lord of Light was among the first. It just blew me away. I must have read it a dozen times. I even did a translation of it (unofficially) into Swedish, so that I could read it to my children. Roger Zelazny is still my favourite author, and I was devastated to read his obituary in 1995. I have a bookshelf dedicated to all his books and all magazines containing any short story of his.
Love those old Amber Chronicle stories. And I'll need to pick up a copy of Jack of Shadows! Good stuff and that must have been a challenge to translate LoL into Swedish!
Two of my favorite Zelazny novels which are lesser known are Doorways in the Sand and Night of the Lonesome October. I also like the Francis Sandow novels, Isle of the Dead and To Die in Italbar!
I'm just starting to delve into some of Zelazny's other works Vilstef. Some really interesting stuff. But I'm sure I'll wind up comparing it all to LoL and Amber!
@@lewiscoates1691 It is. However, the Poet Laureate of Science Fiction pulls it off, effortlessly, and with his usual sardonic humor and brilliant skill. 😮😳🙂. It is awesome, every year a bunch of Zelazny fans read a chapter out loud beginning September the First. 🙂
@@GrammaticusBooks Do try Creatures of Light and Darkness. Zelazny had not published it, after writing it, because he thought it was unpublishable. One of his author friends found the manuscript, and urged Zelazny to publish it. It is as brilliant as Lord of Light, and to me, as good. Warning, though. You'll have to read it several times to make sense of it, and I have to recommend doing actual research on various sources analyzing Zelazny to understand it. It's worth it, I still remember much of the book, despite being years since my last read. Its unforgettable, brilliant, and awesome.😉😉
Definitely! I've read Lord of light at least 5 times over the decades since I first read it at age 15! Zelazny, the prose stylist at his absolute best! An innovative classic which is sadly underrated. The paperback edition you hold in your hand is exactly the one I first read in my childhood in Manila in the late Sixties!
@@GrammaticusBooks I practically grew up with it! The first two books I ever read cover to cover were Martian Chronicles and Dune at a precocious eleven. Zelazny was a favorite! I also loved his award-winning "The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of his Mouth" which was Moby Dick in a Venusian water world setting with a dash of Sixties fashion chic, Jack of Shadows, Dream Master (He Who Shapes) and Damnation Alley. I don’t like Fantasy so I passed on Princes of Amber, thopugh my friends loved that. And of course I loved that precursor of Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, "A Rose for Ecclesiastes", Zelazny’s first story. I was in a clique of friends at this four hundred year old Dominican school nestled in the Spanish ruins of old Manila, Intramuros, who traded our SF books and magazines with each other. That's when I also dicovered Vernor Vinge's Grimm's World - a revelation! We were quite diverse. I am a white-passing mestizo (Spanish/Chinese/Filipino) and my friends were Chinese, Indian and Filipino. I have come out as non-binary and at least one of my friends, as gay. We all loved SF. What a time it was! Enfants terribles Harlan Ellison and Samuel Delaney were were shockingly innovative and liberating, stretching the boundaries of gender. No one knew James Tiptree Jr., one of the most "masculine" writers around - even more "masculine" than Ellison, was Alice Sheldon. Ursula LeGuin had just come out with Left Hand of Darkness and Joanna Russ with Female Man. This was in Manila, the Philippines in the late Sixties - and oh yes, we loved Star Trek (TOS)of the first hour and Lost in Space... I'd love to see HBO make a limited series of Lord of Light!
@@GrammaticusBooks That's not the half of it. My father was a science fiction and comics fan. He bought me and my brother all the comics you could imagine, DC, Marvel, remember Gold Key and Charleston Comics? The Philippines were like a US state like Hawaii in the Sixties in all but name, especially when it came to media and popular culture enriching the local culture immensely. I had a brilliant childhood and youth. When my family moved to Germany in 1975, my brother and I went to a British comprehensive school at a UK military base, where we could buy SF magazines like F&SF and Analog and SF books at the NAAFI (the PX). We git at least 5 comic books per week! Superman, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Superboy, Lois Lane, etc. Too bad our mother would periodically throw them out or we would have had a truly epic collection of first editions! Our father taught my brither and me to read English with the help of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.
I enjoyed your review and the fact that you present an honest take. I mean it's nice to hear you say you didn't enjoy it, although I would probably disagree. I've got (almost) all of Zelazny's books and plan re re-read this one when I can.
I would say I enjoyed it but in a different way. Not as visceral a reaction. I LOVED Amber. And I appreciated LoL genius. But I don't think I can honestly say I loved it.
Excellent review! I've had the book for some 40 years but never got to read the whole thing, just parts of it. I think it must've been the convoluted language style you mentioned, since I never had trouble with any other Zelazny book. Loved the Amber series, btw. Perhaps it's also because I've always found Hinduism a bit overwhelming, with its myriads of gods, goddesses, magical creatures, etc. Too messy! Maybe I should give it another go, inspired by your review...
A huge difference in style and readability between Lord of Light and the Amber Chronicles Luiz. Lord of Light is an exceptional book. But the Amber Chronicles are a pure adrenaline ride.
'Lord of Light' has always been my favorite Zelazny book. I read it before the Amber novels and that could be the reason I enjoyed this story more. Perhaps I'm a product of my times but I had no problem with his prose nor did I find it difficult to follow the characters or the story. It may not be as straightforward, but the language seems to me to fit the characters perfectly. (But then, I had read Mallory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" in its original language three times by the time I was 12. Took me that long to really figure it all out...)
Same here. A great take of Hinduism and politics. I read this and The Left Hand of Darkness in 1970 when I was a field corpsman. Two of my all time favorites.
It's funny, I had the opposite reaction to Zelazny. I gobbled up his lyrical works (Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness), and kind of bounced off the Amber series. I love L.o.L. and have re-visited it several times. Thanks for the excellent review, and I'll think of you next time I stop by the Pray-O-Mat. Edit to add: it's a good observation that you can't read too much of the book at once. It is like whiskey in that way, you have to sip it. More prosaically, I'd read for maybe an hour, then take a break.
Probably the best way to digest it! Speaks well of Zelazny that he was able to write books with such different flavors to appeal to many different types of readers.
I absolutely don't do fantasy, unless it's better than 99% of science fiction, like Tolkien, or Watership Down, which I read in high school. I didn't know the Amber series was fantasy, and I let out a scream of anguish...
Hah! ... I saw the movie (in the theatre which gives you an idea of how old I am) but I've never read the book. I should probably check it out. Thanks MKV!
This Immortal. RZ also wrote one of the funniest books I've ever read, and the first laugh-out-loud sci-fi books I read, years before The Hitchhikers Guide, "Doorways In the Sand"! 😂😂😂
Sadly Zelazney loved his cigarettes too much :( I tend to think of Zelazney as having two phases, one where he was in love with language and grand metaphor and one where he embraced a more pure form of story and greater simplicity of language. I like both phases, but it takes a shift in expectations to read one or the other. Both phases share a lot of common themes and a mythic imagination which makes all his work compelling on one level or another.
Roger's probably hanging out up there with his fellow chain-smokers, like Rod Sterling, and early Sixties game show host Gary Moore (I've Got a Secret). Moore was such a heavy smoker, he smoked in practically every episode of the show. 😢
I particularly like that scene between Sam and Yama where Sam preaches a sermon as Yama is sinking into the quicksand. I didn't have a problem with the prose and thought that much of it was brilliant. I read that Roger was into fencing and other martial arts, but I don't know if this is true.
@@GrammaticusBooks I did reply but it seems to have disappeared even from google history. I did read the Amber series long ago, but found it more tedious: The narrative of some God or demigod in an arbitrary reality was fairly interesting for the first couple of books and there was the occasional quip or well imagined scene but nothing that really grabbed my attention compared to the other works. Chewing gum for my brain and a lot better than TV. His other books were worthwhile ( I haven't read all of them) for the most part, but aren't hard science fiction. Rather they are often enjoyable fantasies with science excuses much like Lord of Light. Zelazny's thing was invention and experiment.
I've only read three Zelazny books This Immortal, Lord of Light and The Dream Master and Lord of Light was the most challenging of the three to read. My favourite of the three is The Dream Master but I'm still up for reading more of his works.
Now that I've watched the video and read the comments I'd like to add: for me the Amber series was great fun the first time but - if there had only been Nine Princes I would have gotten the one great concept the series offered: re (Spoiler!) ...walking in shadow and changing one thing at a time until you are in the world you are aiming for. This is simple but powerful. I wanted to like the whole series; I owned the compilation volumes and read the series three times over the decades, but for me it got more tedious as it went on, and earlier in each revisit. I eventually got a copy of the first book and gave away the compilations. Lord of Light was confusing the first time because I missed the cues about the extremely extended flashback -- the second time I marked up the book to be sure I knew 'when' I was all the way through. I have since read it close to a dozen times and have pulled a few passages into my Don't Forget folder for more frequent perusal. It's by far my favorite Zelazny and one of my top ten non-Heinlein novels. I'm working my way through your videos now that the algo brought you to my attention, starting with the books and authors I know. I look forward to continuing beyond and into the unknown.
Thanks ORT! LoL is most likely one of those books that needs several reads to absorb it all. There is a lot going on there! Also, allegedly they are working on a TV production of Amber. I hope they make that happen. And at the same time a little cautious over what it will look like.
@@GrammaticusBooks I've been sorely disappointed by many adaptations of favorite books but occasionally it goes well. Predestination (from Heinlein's short story All You Zombies), Arrival (from Ted Chang's Story of Your Life) and Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy extended edition are the best of them all for me.
Wonderful. I loved the book tho' I agree its a chore at parts and the confusion quotient is really when dealing with who is who in the zoo/pantheon . I loved it for its strong transhumanist cleverness in relation to its technology. I cant help but love Zelazny's Noir/Hardboiled sensibilities, its part of what I like about his style. I think this is a classic even given its foibles.
@@GrammaticusBooks totally agree and honestly Amber is so good so idiosyncratic with its shadows, trump, pattern and its characters its mythological hooks etc what a fun series.
You're right about the self-indulgent bloating in Lord of Light. Zelazny at his best was tight as a drum. At his worst he forgot the audience. But I still love the book. I just don't find myself wanting to reread it like Damnation Alley and Bridge of Ashes.
Lord of Light is not hard to read once you get past the opening sequence and realize that most of the book is flashback, recounting the episodes that lead up to the opening. Zelazny was a brilliant and extremely entertaining writer and Lord of Light is still my favorite of his books, with Isle of the Dead at number 2. One characteristic (weakness?) of Zelazny's work is that there is not a lot of character development, since his protagonists are almost always old, powerful and fully formed when the book begins, with a history of great deeds in the past. The action of the book winds up changing the protagonist's circumstances, but neither his character nor abilities, which are already formed, and Lord of Light is no exception. One poignant factoid that I don't think most know is that when Zelazny went to the hospital where he died (I think from liver cancer), he was driven by his good friend and protege, George R. R. Martin.
@GrammaticusBooks Yes indeed, in fact the reason I learned about Lord of Light is because GRRM has the title used in his own Song of Ice and Fire, and even has characters who dress all in red like Yama.
I'm reading the comments largely to see if anyone has already pointed out that most of the book is flashback (it threw me the first time I read it) and that it was rumored to be the basis for the fake movie in the movie Argo.
I like Zalazny but I have the same issues with Lord Of Light as you mentioned. You should read This Immortal by him. It's written in more shall I say normal prose. Isle Of The Dead is another good one. When I first came upon Zalazny he made me think of sort of beat poetry.
So i don't comment much, but Lord of Light is better than the Corwin cycle imo. Here's why, the Corwin Cycle is pretty much pure pulp action. That's i am actually a huge fan of pulp action, see the first four Honor Harrington to books which i find freaking awesome for pulp action. Lord of of Light challenges you on concepts and i for some reason didnt have the pronoun problem you did nor thought it was bloated, and the bloat comment seems especially weird to me given the modern fantasy books that clock in at over 700 pages, but i am an old fart that loved say REH and Moorcock novels that told stories in 200/250 pages
Can't argue with the LoL being a better literary work than the Amber Chronicles. It undoubtedly is. On several levels. But I did not enjoy it like I did Amber. And you hit the nail on the head about 700+ page modern fiction novels! Probably why I don't read them! (Although I did like 'Name of the Wind'). Great comments.
Oh no, you went with Name of the Wind. Ugh. It's like the worst overhyped/liked fantasy book imo. I mean it is a book of fantasy series college setting. I struggled with it so hard and the author appears to be having the GRRM problem with the series. Midern wise you are much better served by Sanderson's Storm light Archives series despite its ponderous nature. I am not sure why CZcams recommended your channel, I could speculate. But Lord of Light is my second most important fantasy/scifi book after Dune. And that isn't me in anyway disparaging LotR, The Hobbit, REH's Conan, Kane, Elric, Mouser & Fafhrd. So I really trend obviously to short stories and pulp action, I read to escape. But I really love big idea and thinky books as being the pinnacle. The difference between a top tier steak and a good hamburger. My latest find was Fouth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I rather liked it and a sequel was just released.
Also I listed a bunch of sword and sorcery stuff,, I have plenty of sci-fi stuff my favorite, outside of Dune is "All Summer in a Day" by Bradbury. 0:06
Curious. I never had a problem knowing who was talking to whom at all. Never thought it was bloated. Quite the contrary, I admire its economy of words. And I had no trouble with the prose at any given moment. I thought the whole thing flowed like a river. And he does write duels like very few do, not unlike Leiber. I still like, personally, Amber better, (Gaiman, a confessed Zelazny mega fan, sacked that MF like a pro for his Sandman, which is not a criticism as I do believe in the mantra "great artist steal", and how can you not love a fantasy written almost like a Noir? You want high fantasy written by Raymond Chandler? Then Amber is right for you.) but this one is right up there. And I have probably read all of Zelazny (most of it would be more accurate perhaps). Don't get me wrong, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz. Different reading experiences, that's all. Maybe this book hits different if you are used to some of Zelazny´s idiosyncrasies. Or maybe I am just too big of a fan. I still read A Night In The Lonesome October every year in (you guessed it) October, one chapter per day, as God intended, so go figure. PD: His smoking has nothing on his drinking. It truly is like watching Merlin smoke more than Bogart and drinking without ever knowing what a hangover is. Hell, even the dwarves in Lord of the Rings would get smashed from time to time, but a Zelazny character could teach the great Gatsby and the roaring twenties a lesson or two about how to party.
I've wanted to read Lord of Light ever since finding out that the fake movie "Argo" from the Canadian Caper was based on it. I think they even got Kirby to do some gnarly concept art to make the project seem more legit! Sounds challenging but worth a read. Dunno when I'll get around to it though. The books on my TBR pile are stacked so high they nearly reach the moon!
I had no idea there was movie based on the book. Thank you for that tip. And yes, they did have Kirby do some artwork for the novel at some point. Point in fact, the art on the thumbnail for the video is Jack Kirby!
@@GrammaticusBooksActually, the movie isn't based on the book. It's about this CIA operation to free american hostages in Iran. The agents pretended to be a film crew working on a science fiction movie, the "Argo" of the title, which is totally made up. But in real life they went to, supposedly, make a movie based on Zelazny's Lord of Light. Too bad It was just a ruse...
I love Lord of Light, but it's not my favorite. I love This Immortal, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Doorways in the Sand, Damnation Alley, The Dream Master, Bridge of Ashes, and so many others even more. I also love Amber and his short stories. We don't have a single writer on the scene who comes anywhere close to the genius of Zelazny.
Your negative points are very astute. Lord of Light is vastly over-rated. I DNF'd it towards the end. I didn't feel that I was reading a science fiction book at all. You've hit on some of the reasons. It felt a bit superficial... maybe even mis-appropriated? Yes, the idea in the book is an excellent one, but other authors would have executed it in a less onerous way.
I LOVE this book
It has great aspects to it and was tremendously ambitious and new!
I started going through my father's bookshelf when I was around nine. My father, bless his soul, didn't understand English, so there was a sparse array of Science Fiction in Swedish. Asimov. Clarke. Heinlein. And one book by Roger Zelazny - Jack of Shadows. That became my absolute favourite. As soon as I was able to read English, I started to devour everything by Zelazny. Lord of Light was among the first. It just blew me away. I must have read it a dozen times. I even did a translation of it (unofficially) into Swedish, so that I could read it to my children.
Roger Zelazny is still my favourite author, and I was devastated to read his obituary in 1995. I have a bookshelf dedicated to all his books and all magazines containing any short story of his.
Love those old Amber Chronicle stories. And I'll need to pick up a copy of Jack of Shadows! Good stuff and that must have been a challenge to translate LoL into Swedish!
@@GrammaticusBooks It was a challenge. But also a labour of love.
Two of my favorite Zelazny novels which are lesser known are Doorways in the Sand and Night of the Lonesome October. I also like the Francis Sandow novels, Isle of the Dead and To Die in Italbar!
I'm just starting to delve into some of Zelazny's other works Vilstef. Some really interesting stuff. But I'm sure I'll wind up comparing it all to LoL and Amber!
I’ve just picked up Night of the Lonesome October in the Sci-Fi book shop in Stockholm. Sounded like a crazy idea for a novel
@@lewiscoates1691 It is. However, the Poet Laureate of Science Fiction pulls it off, effortlessly, and with his usual sardonic humor and brilliant skill. 😮😳🙂. It is awesome, every year a bunch of Zelazny fans read a chapter out loud beginning September the First. 🙂
Roadmarks. Jack of Shadows. Creatures of Light and Darkness. 😉
@@GrammaticusBooks Do try Creatures of Light and Darkness. Zelazny had not published it, after writing it, because he thought it was unpublishable. One of his author friends found the manuscript, and urged Zelazny to publish it. It is as brilliant as Lord of Light, and to me, as good. Warning, though. You'll have to read it several times to make sense of it, and I have to recommend doing actual research on various sources analyzing Zelazny to understand it. It's worth it, I still remember much of the book, despite being years since my last read. Its unforgettable, brilliant, and awesome.😉😉
Definitely! I've read Lord of light at least 5 times over the decades since I first read it at age 15! Zelazny, the prose stylist at his absolute best! An innovative classic which is sadly underrated. The paperback edition you hold in your hand is exactly the one I first read in my childhood in Manila in the late Sixties!
It is a fantastic book deserving of the praise it gets. Sounds like one of your favorites Isagani!
@@GrammaticusBooks I practically grew up with it! The first two books I ever read cover to cover were Martian Chronicles and Dune at a precocious eleven. Zelazny was a favorite! I also loved his award-winning "The Doors of his Face, the Lamps of his Mouth" which was Moby Dick in a Venusian water world setting with a dash of Sixties fashion chic, Jack of Shadows, Dream Master (He Who Shapes) and Damnation Alley. I don’t like Fantasy so I passed on Princes of Amber, thopugh my friends loved that. And of course I loved that precursor of Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, "A Rose for Ecclesiastes", Zelazny’s first story. I was in a clique of friends at this four hundred year old Dominican school nestled in the Spanish ruins of old Manila, Intramuros, who traded our SF books and magazines with each other. That's when I also dicovered Vernor Vinge's Grimm's World - a revelation! We were quite diverse. I am a white-passing mestizo (Spanish/Chinese/Filipino) and my friends were Chinese, Indian and Filipino. I have come out as non-binary and at least one of my friends, as gay. We all loved SF. What a time it was! Enfants terribles Harlan Ellison and Samuel Delaney were were shockingly innovative and liberating, stretching the boundaries of gender. No one knew James Tiptree Jr., one of the most "masculine" writers around - even more "masculine" than Ellison, was Alice Sheldon. Ursula LeGuin had just come out with Left Hand of Darkness and Joanna Russ with Female Man. This was in Manila, the Philippines in the late Sixties - and oh yes, we loved Star Trek (TOS)of the first hour and Lost in Space... I'd love to see HBO make a limited series of Lord of Light!
@@isaganipalanca8803 Wow! You guys had great access to a ton of classic SciFi! Great books and it sounds like it was a great experience Isagani!
@@GrammaticusBooks That's not the half of it. My father was a science fiction and comics fan. He bought me and my brother all the comics you could imagine, DC, Marvel, remember Gold Key and Charleston Comics? The Philippines were like a US state like Hawaii in the Sixties in all but name, especially when it came to media and popular culture enriching the local culture immensely. I had a brilliant childhood and youth. When my family moved to Germany in 1975, my brother and I went to a British comprehensive school at a UK military base, where we could buy SF magazines like F&SF and Analog and SF books at the NAAFI (the PX). We git at least 5 comic books per week! Superman, Captain America, Fantastic Four, Superboy, Lois Lane, etc. Too bad our mother would periodically throw them out or we would have had a truly epic collection of first editions! Our father taught my brither and me to read English with the help of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.
@@isaganipalanca8803Please, NO! Look at the utter sh!t Wheel of Time, and Rings of Power. Well, the Foundation series is somewhat ok...😳😳
Thanks for this review! I haven’t read any Zelazny, and I was interested in this one. I’ll probably still try it out.
Absolutely, give it a try. And if you like action / urban-fantasy, I highly recommend Zelazny's Amber Chronicles.
Check out: A Rose for Ecclesiastes
I will certainly do that. I'm all on board with the Zelazny train!
I enjoyed your review and the fact that you present an honest take. I mean it's nice to hear you say you didn't enjoy it, although I would probably disagree. I've got (almost) all of Zelazny's books and plan re re-read this one when I can.
I would say I enjoyed it but in a different way. Not as visceral a reaction. I LOVED Amber. And I appreciated LoL genius. But I don't think I can honestly say I loved it.
Excellent review! I've had the book for some 40 years but never got to read the whole thing, just parts of it. I think it must've been the convoluted language style you mentioned, since I never had trouble with any other Zelazny book. Loved the Amber series, btw. Perhaps it's also because I've always found Hinduism a bit overwhelming, with its myriads of gods, goddesses, magical creatures, etc. Too messy! Maybe I should give it another go, inspired by your review...
A huge difference in style and readability between Lord of Light and the Amber Chronicles Luiz. Lord of Light is an exceptional book. But the Amber Chronicles are a pure adrenaline ride.
@@GrammaticusBooks Right. It took me a while to gather all the books, so there was some added tension because of that. Worth the wait, though.
'Lord of Light' has always been my favorite Zelazny book. I read it before the Amber novels and that could be the reason I enjoyed this story more. Perhaps I'm a product of my times but I had no problem with his prose nor did I find it difficult to follow the characters or the story. It may not be as straightforward, but the language seems to me to fit the characters perfectly. (But then, I had read Mallory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" in its original language three times by the time I was 12. Took me that long to really figure it all out...)
'Le Morte d'Arthur'...dang!
Lord of Light was the first thing I ever read by Zelazny.
Did you like it or was it a bit too much of a chore to get through?
Same here. A great take of Hinduism and politics. I read this and The Left Hand of Darkness in 1970 when I was a field corpsman. Two of my all time favorites.
@GrammaticusBooks: I read it when I was in highschool, an reread about four times in the next year. Zelazny's way with a story captured me!
It's funny, I had the opposite reaction to Zelazny. I gobbled up his lyrical works (Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness), and kind of bounced off the Amber series. I love L.o.L. and have re-visited it several times. Thanks for the excellent review, and I'll think of you next time I stop by the Pray-O-Mat.
Edit to add: it's a good observation that you can't read too much of the book at once. It is like whiskey in that way, you have to sip it. More prosaically, I'd read for maybe an hour, then take a break.
Probably the best way to digest it! Speaks well of Zelazny that he was able to write books with such different flavors to appeal to many different types of readers.
I absolutely don't do fantasy, unless it's better than 99% of science fiction, like Tolkien, or Watership Down, which I read in high school. I didn't know the Amber series was fantasy, and I let out a scream of anguish...
This sounds pretty awesome actually. I mean…I’m sure it’s no Damnation Alley…but awesome nonetheless.
Hah! ... I saw the movie (in the theatre which gives you an idea of how old I am) but I've never read the book. I should probably check it out. Thanks MKV!
Damnation Ally was the first science fiction book I read. It got me hooked for the genre.
This Immortal. RZ also wrote one of the funniest books I've ever read, and the first laugh-out-loud sci-fi books I read, years before The Hitchhikers Guide, "Doorways In the Sand"! 😂😂😂
That sounds like one I'll need to track down Leyden!
Sadly Zelazney loved his cigarettes too much :(
I tend to think of Zelazney as having two phases, one where he was in love with language and grand metaphor and one where he embraced a more pure form of story and greater simplicity of language. I like both phases, but it takes a shift in expectations to read one or the other. Both phases share a lot of common themes and a mythic imagination which makes all his work compelling on one level or another.
Well said sir!
Roger's probably hanging out up there with his fellow chain-smokers, like Rod Sterling, and early Sixties game show host Gary Moore (I've Got a Secret). Moore was such a heavy smoker, he smoked in practically every episode of the show. 😢
Gimme that Kirby goodness
I have to admit your comment stumped me for a second. But yes! You are quite right, that is Kirby! And it is good!
I particularly like that scene between Sam and Yama where Sam preaches a sermon as Yama is sinking into the quicksand. I didn't have a problem with the prose and thought that much of it was brilliant. I read that Roger was into fencing and other martial arts, but I don't know if this is true.
It is absolutely a brilliant book Tom. And Zelazny did fence, you are correct sir! Have you read his Amber Chronicles by chance?
@@GrammaticusBooks I did reply but it seems to have disappeared even from google history. I did read the Amber series long ago, but found it more tedious: The narrative of some God or demigod in an arbitrary reality was fairly interesting for the first couple of books and there was the occasional quip or well imagined scene but nothing that really grabbed my attention compared to the other works. Chewing gum for my brain and a lot better than TV. His other books were worthwhile ( I haven't read all of them) for the most part, but aren't hard science fiction. Rather they are often enjoyable fantasies with science excuses much like Lord of Light. Zelazny's thing was invention and experiment.
I've only read three Zelazny books This Immortal, Lord of Light and The Dream Master and Lord of Light was the most challenging of the three to read. My favourite of the three is The Dream Master but I'm still up for reading more of his works.
I highly recommend the Amber series!
Now that I've watched the video and read the comments I'd like to add: for me the Amber series was great fun the first time but - if there had only been Nine Princes I would have gotten the one great concept the series offered: re (Spoiler!)
...walking in shadow and changing one thing at a time until you are in the world you are aiming for. This is simple but powerful.
I wanted to like the whole series; I owned the compilation volumes and read the series three times over the decades, but for me it got more tedious as it went on, and earlier in each revisit. I eventually got a copy of the first book and gave away the compilations.
Lord of Light was confusing the first time because I missed the cues about the extremely extended flashback -- the second time I marked up the book to be sure I knew 'when' I was all the way through.
I have since read it close to a dozen times and have pulled a few passages into my Don't Forget folder for more frequent perusal. It's by far my favorite Zelazny and one of my top ten non-Heinlein novels.
I'm working my way through your videos now that the algo brought you to my attention, starting with the books and authors I know. I look forward to continuing beyond and into the unknown.
Thanks ORT! LoL is most likely one of those books that needs several reads to absorb it all. There is a lot going on there! Also, allegedly they are working on a TV production of Amber. I hope they make that happen. And at the same time a little cautious over what it will look like.
@@GrammaticusBooks I've been sorely disappointed by many adaptations of favorite books but occasionally it goes well. Predestination (from Heinlein's short story All You Zombies), Arrival (from Ted Chang's Story of Your Life) and Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy extended edition are the best of them all for me.
Wonderful. I loved the book tho' I agree its a chore at parts and the confusion quotient is really when dealing with who is who in the zoo/pantheon . I loved it for its strong transhumanist cleverness in relation to its technology. I cant help but love Zelazny's Noir/Hardboiled sensibilities, its part of what I like about his style. I think this is a classic even given its foibles.
It is definitely a classic. But came as a bit of a shock to the system after reading Amber!
@@GrammaticusBooks totally agree and honestly Amber is so good so idiosyncratic with its shadows, trump, pattern and its characters its mythological hooks etc what a fun series.
No one sings hymns to the good air....but oh to be without it....
Also, I never had any problem getting through it. I think it's his masterwork.
I agree it is his masterwork. It's a genius work. I just enjoy Amber more.
You're right about the self-indulgent bloating in Lord of Light. Zelazny at his best was tight as a drum. At his worst he forgot the audience. But I still love the book. I just don't find myself wanting to reread it like Damnation Alley and Bridge of Ashes.
Roger that and how did you like Damnation Alley?
I need to get around to this book, the only book by Zelazny I've finished is Jack of Shadows and I LOVED that one.
A ton of Zelazny books out there. Jack of Shadows looks good!
Lord of Light is not hard to read once you get past the opening sequence and realize that most of the book is flashback, recounting the episodes that lead up to the opening. Zelazny was a brilliant and extremely entertaining writer and Lord of Light is still my favorite of his books, with Isle of the Dead at number 2. One characteristic (weakness?) of Zelazny's work is that there is not a lot of character development, since his protagonists are almost always old, powerful and fully formed when the book begins, with a history of great deeds in the past. The action of the book winds up changing the protagonist's circumstances, but neither his character nor abilities, which are already formed, and Lord of Light is no exception. One poignant factoid that I don't think most know is that when Zelazny went to the hospital where he died (I think from liver cancer), he was driven by his good friend and protege, George R. R. Martin.
Great comments Rob! Thanks for checking out the video and I did not know Zelazny and George R. R. were friends. Great insights!
@GrammaticusBooks
Yes indeed, in fact the reason I learned about Lord of Light is because GRRM has the title used in his own Song of Ice and Fire, and even has characters who dress all in red like Yama.
I'm reading the comments largely to see if anyone has already pointed out that most of the book is flashback (it threw me the first time I read it) and that it was rumored to be the basis for the fake movie in the movie Argo.
Jack of shadows - the character development is there. My second favourite book of RZ.
I like Zalazny but I have the same issues with Lord Of Light as you mentioned. You should read This Immortal by him. It's written in more shall I say normal prose. Isle Of The Dead is another good one. When I first came upon Zalazny he made me think of sort of beat poetry.
I definitely need to start working my way through his non-amber books. Great suggestion!
So i don't comment much, but Lord of Light is better than the Corwin cycle imo. Here's why, the Corwin Cycle is pretty much pure pulp action. That's i am actually a huge fan of pulp action, see the first four Honor Harrington to books which i find freaking awesome for pulp action. Lord of of Light challenges you on concepts and i for some reason didnt have the pronoun problem you did nor thought it was bloated, and the bloat comment seems especially weird to me given the modern fantasy books that clock in at over 700 pages, but i am an old fart that loved say REH and Moorcock novels that told stories in 200/250 pages
Can't argue with the LoL being a better literary work than the Amber Chronicles. It undoubtedly is. On several levels.
But I did not enjoy it like I did Amber. And you hit the nail on the head about 700+ page modern fiction novels! Probably why I don't read them! (Although I did like 'Name of the Wind'). Great comments.
Oh no, you went with Name of the Wind. Ugh. It's like the worst overhyped/liked fantasy book imo. I mean it is a book of fantasy series college setting. I struggled with it so hard and the author appears to be having the GRRM problem with the series. Midern wise you are much better served by Sanderson's Storm light Archives series despite its ponderous nature.
I am not sure why CZcams recommended your channel, I could speculate. But Lord of Light is my second most important fantasy/scifi book after Dune. And that isn't me in anyway disparaging LotR, The Hobbit, REH's Conan, Kane, Elric, Mouser & Fafhrd.
So I really trend obviously to short stories and pulp action, I read to escape. But I really love big idea and thinky books as being the pinnacle. The difference between a top tier steak and a good hamburger.
My latest find was Fouth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I rather liked it and a sequel was just released.
Also I listed a bunch of sword and sorcery stuff,, I have plenty of sci-fi stuff my favorite, outside of Dune is "All Summer in a Day" by Bradbury. 0:06
An interesting review. On the contrary, I was not impressed by the chronicles, But the lord of light is perhaps the best Sci-Fi that I have read
Understood and it did win a Hugo award for a reason!
Curious. I never had a problem knowing who was talking to whom at all. Never thought it was bloated. Quite the contrary, I admire its economy of words. And I had no trouble with the prose at any given moment. I thought the whole thing flowed like a river. And he does write duels like very few do, not unlike Leiber. I still like, personally, Amber better, (Gaiman, a confessed Zelazny mega fan, sacked that MF like a pro for his Sandman, which is not a criticism as I do believe in the mantra "great artist steal", and how can you not love a fantasy written almost like a Noir? You want high fantasy written by Raymond Chandler? Then Amber is right for you.) but this one is right up there. And I have probably read all of Zelazny (most of it would be more accurate perhaps). Don't get me wrong, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that jazz. Different reading experiences, that's all. Maybe this book hits different if you are used to some of Zelazny´s idiosyncrasies. Or maybe I am just too big of a fan. I still read A Night In The Lonesome October every year in (you guessed it) October, one chapter per day, as God intended, so go figure.
PD: His smoking has nothing on his drinking. It truly is like watching Merlin smoke more than Bogart and drinking without ever knowing what a hangover is. Hell, even the dwarves in Lord of the Rings would get smashed from time to time, but a Zelazny character could teach the great Gatsby and the roaring twenties a lesson or two about how to party.
Glad you enjoyed Lord of Light! It is a brilliant book. And you're right on the money about the drinking as well!
Good review.
A bit of topic, is that a Rip Kirby comic in the backgound? I have some of those. I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet though.
If I'm thinking of the correct book, that's actually a hardback collection of Jack Kirby comics and art.
I have to be honest, I read this back in the early '80s and I can't remember a thing about it.
That may be for the best!
I've wanted to read Lord of Light ever since finding out that the fake movie "Argo" from the Canadian Caper was based on it.
I think they even got Kirby to do some gnarly concept art to make the project seem more legit!
Sounds challenging but worth a read.
Dunno when I'll get around to it though. The books on my TBR pile are stacked so high they nearly reach the moon!
I had no idea there was movie based on the book. Thank you for that tip. And yes, they did have Kirby do some artwork for the novel at some point. Point in fact, the art on the thumbnail for the video is Jack Kirby!
@@GrammaticusBooksActually, the movie isn't based on the book. It's about this CIA operation to free american hostages in Iran. The agents pretended to be a film crew working on a science fiction movie, the "Argo" of the title, which is totally made up. But in real life they went to, supposedly, make a movie based on Zelazny's Lord of Light. Too bad It was just a ruse...
@@luiznogueira1579 Ahh. I actually saw that one, 'Argo'.
I love Lord of Light, but it's not my favorite. I love This Immortal, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Doorways in the Sand, Damnation Alley, The Dream Master, Bridge of Ashes, and so many others even more. I also love Amber and his short stories. We don't have a single writer on the scene who comes anywhere close to the genius of Zelazny.
It's a shame we're not going to have any more works by Zelazny. His Amber series is one of my favorites of all time.
5:43 The Old Testament? I think you mean the King James Bible, either Testament.
I suppose either testament could work.
Your negative points are very astute. Lord of Light is vastly over-rated. I DNF'd it towards the end. I didn't feel that I was reading a science fiction book at all. You've hit on some of the reasons. It felt a bit superficial... maybe even mis-appropriated? Yes, the idea in the book is an excellent one, but other authors would have executed it in a less onerous way.
It was certainly a difficult read...and at the end of the day, not as enjoyable as some of his other works. Thanks for checking out the video David!