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mburnamfink 's review for:
Lord of Light
by Roger Zelazny
Lord of Light runs Zelazny's trickster-god antihero through a proper epic this time, using Indian mythology as a front for a story of rebellion against decadent power, and the role that the super-powered can play in liberating the common people. While some of the orientalism and sexism hasn't aged particularly well, the plot is a proper mythological thriller, the setting is top-notch, and the characters seem to fit the scope of the action; unlike the constrained and dying world of Call me Conrad. Zelazny's wordcraft is topnotch as always, and there are some long philosophical passages which I would have marked, if I weren't reading in bed.
On a distant colony world of a dead Earth, man has separated into a race of gods based on Hindu mythology, and a mass of ordinary peasants. The gods are the First, the original colonists from Earth, exceptional men and women who use a combination of psionic powers and super-science to rule a world forced into medieval squalor. The Wheel of Karma is very real, used to concentrate and promote conservative and obedient brahmins towards the heavenly city, while banishing Accelerationists and other radicals to the oblivion of true death. While once the world was a vibrant place full of adventure and danger (Rakshasa energy demons foremost among them), now it is a playground and brothel for the decadent gods. Sam, a rebel among the First, uses a version of Buddhism and his own political wiles to wage war against the gods.
A lot stuff comes together real well. The slow revelation of the setting, and the realization that this was set up by people who know about as much about Indian mythology as I do (selections from the Mahabharata in comparative religion class ages ago), but who think it's a fricking metal framework for supernatural powers. Sam and his foil, the deathgod-scientist Yama, as super competent individuals who must use cleverness against the even greater forces that oppose then. It's not so much about any specific technology, but about the idea that given the power to create a paradise, what kind of paradise will people create?
On a distant colony world of a dead Earth, man has separated into a race of gods based on Hindu mythology, and a mass of ordinary peasants. The gods are the First, the original colonists from Earth, exceptional men and women who use a combination of psionic powers and super-science to rule a world forced into medieval squalor. The Wheel of Karma is very real, used to concentrate and promote conservative and obedient brahmins towards the heavenly city, while banishing Accelerationists and other radicals to the oblivion of true death. While once the world was a vibrant place full of adventure and danger (Rakshasa energy demons foremost among them), now it is a playground and brothel for the decadent gods. Sam, a rebel among the First, uses a version of Buddhism and his own political wiles to wage war against the gods.
A lot stuff comes together real well. The slow revelation of the setting, and the realization that this was set up by people who know about as much about Indian mythology as I do (selections from the Mahabharata in comparative religion class ages ago), but who think it's a fricking metal framework for supernatural powers. Sam and his foil, the deathgod-scientist Yama, as super competent individuals who must use cleverness against the even greater forces that oppose then. It's not so much about any specific technology, but about the idea that given the power to create a paradise, what kind of paradise will people create?