Lord Of Light

Author: Roger Zelazny

The barriers between science fiction and fantasy are porous, but even so it is usually pretty clear whether you are reading one or the other. But Lord of Light is a science fiction novel that reads like fantasy (or perhaps it is the other way round), an intentional ambiguity that is typical of the work of Roger Zelazny.The crew of the "Star of India", refugees from vanished Earth, find themselves on a planet where the indigenous people are hostile. To survive, the crew use electronic equipment, biofeedback and other techniques to give themselves greater powers that allow them to subjugate the natives. As a result of these powers, including a form of identity transfer that gives them virtual immortality, the crew begin to take on the attributes of the Hindu pantheon. But one of the crew revolts against the idea of being a god. He decides to bring the benefits of technology to all mortals, and so takes on the role of Buddha, effectively recapitulating the story of the arrival of Buddhism as he gradually works to cripple the power of the gods. Zelazny, on form, was always a colourful writer, using mythological structures to tell highly complex psychological tales. Of these, Lord of Light, which won the Hugo Award, was easily his most sustained and effective.

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Zelazny was always prolific, and much of his work was therefore of variable quality. Creatures of Light and Darkness, for instance, recapitulatesLord of Light with Egyptian gods replacing the Hindu pantheon, but without a tenth of the style and vigour of the original. But when he was on form his books sparkled. As, for instance, in This Immortal, winner of the Hugo Award, in which the Earth has become a theme park for aliens, and the immortal Conrad turns out to be the human zoo keeper. Or The Dream Master, which won a Nebula for Best Novella in its original version, which tells of a psychiatrist who enters and shapes the dreams of his patients, until he becomes trapped when one of his patients begins to take control of his dreams.

Zelazny is probably best known for the Amber series, of which the first sequence, consisting of Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon and The Courts of Chaos, is easily the best. In the series, Earth is just one of a vast number of shadow worlds that lie between the true world, Amber, and Chaos. The sequence tells of the struggles within the ruling family for control of Amber. As with so much of Zelazny's work, they are novels that can be read as either fantasy or science fiction.