By: Roger Zelazny Publisher: Eos Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Eos Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 304 Publication Date: May 01, 2004 Release Date: May 11, 2004
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.
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
Underwhelmed I 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 is a metaphysical aside about the nature of words and representation, which is eloquently done.
For all it's Buddhist references, the book concludes with a kind of melancholy, ride into the sunset fantasy-esque ending which is peculiarly non-Buddhist.
On a positive not, the book maintains some interesting in its mixture of technology with classical Hindu/Buddhist concepts, and a few characters who are fairly engaging.
While I thoroughly enjoyed "He Who Shapes", I have never given this book a second read, and never intend to.
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.
Knowledge of Hinduism and Buddhism Helpful Got 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 capacities for good and evil. The purely evil demon gets his comeuppance when Sam gives him the "gift" of guilt, which sure ruins a lot of his debauchery and drunken pleasures.
Ultimately, with gods dying and coming back to life in new bodies and with everyone switching sides in the epic battle of the heavens, my interest began to wane a bit. Just a bit. But you'll like this without fail if you are a fan of science fiction and are conversant in Eastern mythologies.
My hope is that the AMBER series will now be republished in ten separate editions. Presently there's a big book of AMBER with all ten novels in one tome, but it's too unwieldy and teens who love science fiction and fantasy especially are shortchanged, as they seldom take to such formats. I hope, with the new issues of LORD OF LIGHT, that the publisher will now republish the much-loved AMBER series as well, starting with the beloved NINE PRINCES OF AMBER.
Story is good, if you can get halfway I struggled with the book. It does not grab you right away. I picked it up and put it down several times...and read everything else available before I waded through. The story picks up about half way through and I enjoyed the second half. The first half of the book might be better on a second reading but it was difficult to get interested in the story until you get to know "Sam" and develop an understanding of the story world.
on of the greatest Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books ever At the top of the Sci-Fi pile is Dune, some people will disagree of course, but generally, there it sits. What comes next is even more debatable, but for me there are 2 books that really stand out; Lord of Light and Tiger,Tiger (opps sorry - The Stars my Destination) by Alfred Bester (no not the Telepath in Babylon 5!). I have read Lord of Light over 30 times (easily, I 1st read it in 1974!), when I'm bored and can't be bothered to start a new novel, out it comes. It's a small gem of a book; it borders the line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy and can easily sit in both. In all this time no author has matched (imho) Zelanzy for using magic/magic like powers in novels. The idea is very simple, and follows an old adage by A.C.Clarke (I believe) concerning sufficiently advanced technology and magic/god like powers. Here some people with all the technology start believing they are gods, in this case from Hindu faith. Like many of his books the protagonist really doesn't want to get into the situation they gets into, he's happy with his world until someone decides that a change is required which of course directly affects him!!! The writing is pure Zelanzy, very direct with no excessive/ott descriptions; romantic and charming; and just plain sneaky with people change situations, alliances and it all, just works perfectly. In some respects the writing style remains me of Herman Hesse (though from a literary point of view even Zelanzy has to bow down to Herr Hesse) and unlike Dune (and like Stars my Destination) it's microcosm, (and of course relatively short). Of course other fans prefer the (excellent) Amber series, or even This Immortal, but for me it's Lord of Light followed by his take on the Ancient Egyptian gods; Creatures of Light and Darkness (when are they going to re-release this one so I can replace my coverless copy?), even more outrageous I've only read this about 20 times! And of course his short stories are a treat.
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