Lord of Light | ||||||||||||
Roger Zelazny | ||||||||||||
Avon EOS, 288 pages | ||||||||||||
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A review by Rich Horton
Lord of Light is a wonderful novel, fully worthy of the praise it has garnered. It is set many centuries in
the future, after "the death of Urath." On a colony planet, men have battled the previous inhabitants and won, and
have established a society. This society is based on technological means of imitating the Hindu religion. Specifically,
when the body nears death, it is possible to transfer the "mind" or "soul" to a new body, even the body of an
animal. But some of the earliest colonists, including the "First," have additional powers, which give them the status
of gods. They also have taken control of the means of reincarnation, and a faction among them is using that means
in political ways: punishing their enemies with reincarnation as animals, or with the "true death." The result is a
society of humans living in a world in which something resembling Hinduism is literally true. Furthermore, the leading
faction of "gods" is using its powers to keep the technological level of human society low enough that their own
position cannot be threatened.
The book opens with a renegade "god" at an isolated temple calling the book's hero back from "heaven." As the
famous opening lines have it:
The novel then continues with a long series of flashbacks to Sam's earlier career. Sam starts a new religion, much resembling Buddhism, and finds to his surprise that it might be "true." He interferes with the reincarnation scam. He travels to the depths of the planet to release some "demons" (actually, the energy beings who previously occupied the planet). And finally he takes arms against the ruling gods in a battle we know to be doomed, followed by a final segment back in the novel's present, and yet another battle. All this is both exciting adventure, and ingenious science fantasy. And throughout, the story is carried by Zelazny's always interesting prose: often pretty, and more often clever. (At times clever to a fault, as with his pages long setup for one of the most famous puns in SF history.) Most of all, Lord of Light has a strong theme, and a strong moral centre. This is definitely worthy of its place among the standard-bearing works of science fiction. Not only does Zelazny pull off the intriguing feat of creating a scientifically plausible world (given some extremely advanced technology, and a fair bit of handwaving) in which a fairly close rendering of the Hindu system of gods, demons, and their powers -- and reincarnation -- is real; he makes that just a nice background to an honest and moving story of a believable man. And his story is grounded on a sound theme. And finally, all the clever background ends up as more than just background: it reinforces the central meaning of the book. Definitely recommended, and it's nice to see that new readers will be getting a chance to encounter this excellent work.
Rich Horton is an eclectic reader in and out of the SF and fantasy genres. He's been reading SF since before the Golden Age (that is, since before he was 13). Born in Naperville, IL, he lives and works (as a Software Engineer for the proverbial Major Aerospace Company) in St. Louis area and is a regular contributor to Tangent. Stop by his website at http://www.sff.net/people/richard.horton. |
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