Lord of Light

Zelazny, Roger

ISBN 10: 0586035184 / ISBN 13: 9780586035184

Published by Panther Books, 1971

vg+ Panther Book 1971 edition paperback book In stock shipped from our UK warehouse. Seller Inventory # 224811

Synopsis:

SCIENCE FICTION-THE TIME:LONG AFTER THE DEATH OF EARTH.THE PLACE:A COLONY PLANET WHERE A GROUP OF MEN HAVE GAINED CONTROL OF ALL AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY.WITH IT,THEY HAVE GIVEN THEMSELVES GODLIKE POWERS AND IMMORTALITY.THEY RULE THEIR WORLD AS THE GODS OF THE HINDU PANTHEON.KALI,GODDESS OF DESTRUCTION:YAMA,LORD OF DEATH:KRISHNA,GOD OF LUST-ALL ARE OPPOSED BY HE WHO WAS SIDDHARTHA AND IS NOW MAHASAMATAMAN,BINDER OF DEMONS,LORD OF LIGHT.BATTLE IS JOINED.

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 and the seventh in Millennium's SF Masterworks series, is his finest book: a science fantasy in which the intricate, colourful mechanisms of Hindu religion, of 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, despite this edition's tiresome typographic errors. --David Langford

Bibliographic Details

Title: Lord of Light
Publisher: Panther Books
Publication Date: 1971
Binding: paperback / softback
Condition: vg+