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EAN: 9780380448340 ISBN: 0380448343 Label: Avon Books Manufacturer: Avon Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 320 Publication Date: 1987-02 Publisher: Avon Books Studio: Avon Books Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: In the 1960s, Roger Zelazny dazzled the SF world with what seemed to be inexhaustible talent and inventiveness. Lord of Light, his third novel, is his finest book: a science fantasy in which the intricate, colorful mechanisms of Hindu religion, capricious gods, and repeated reincarnations are wittily underpinned by technology. "For six days he had offered many kilowatts of prayer, but the static kept him from being heard On High." The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world; developed godlike--though often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies; and now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops and weapons, plays dirty with politics and poison, and dies horribly but won't stay dead. It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language (and one unforgivable pun) that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk Product Description: Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons. Lord of Light. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - A perennial readSome readers have said it better already. This is a classic. It is not about Hinduism and Buddhism, but it is about humanity, and religeon in large part. I read this book every year. I love Zelazny's prose as much as anything, but I really love the central character. He is very passionate about this belief regarding all humanity, but isn't a raging lunatic. One of my favorite authors and my favorite book. Rating: - as smooth going down now as it was over twenty years agoThis novel is classic and ageless, and it reads just as well now as it did when I first read it more than twenty years ago. On a distant Earth colony, some of the original settlers decide to keep the technology for themselves, dooming their own descendants to a brutal and primitive life. Those settlers with the high tech eventually take on the roles of the Hindu pantheon and become gods, turning the world and its people into mere playthings. But not all of ... Read More Rating:  - UnderwhelmedI was severely underwhelmed with this book when I read it several years ago. It's always difficult to represent the Buddha in Novel form, and for my part, I believe Zelazny does a fairly poor job. He comes off as a bit immature for "one who awoke", and when he does interject Buddhist wisdom (the protagonist cries out at one point "revenge is an illusion of self!") it seems a bit more like sophomoric whining than any sort of meaningful instruction. One notable exception ... Read More Rating: - I can't add more to the earlier reviews EXCEPT...... when can we have this on Kindle?! There aren't many books I continually re-read over the years but this one is at the top of stack. Rating:  - Knowledge of Hinduism and Buddhism HelpfulGot your Eastern Gods straight? If not, you'll find slow sledding at the beginning of Roger Zelazny's science fiction classic, LORD OF LIGHT. Once you're into it, however, you will appreciate the philosophy and the mythology equally. As a bonus, Zelazny provides some interesting battle scenes, too. In one episode, a demon possesses the protagonist of many name's (I'll use Sam here, as that's the easiest) body, giving Zelazny an opportunity to riff on the extended metaphor of our innate ... Read More |
