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Lord of Light
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
35 posts | 28 read | 22 to read
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.
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review
Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Mehso-so

I think I'm destined to unfairly compare Zelazny's other work to my personal favourite (Doorways in the Sand) and come out less in favour of these myth/religion based experiments. It's an intriguing exercise to take on a certain writing style that echoes bits of scripture, far away (historically or geographically) or fantastical periods and places but it created a bit of distance from the characters for me. Similar to my high fantasy issue. 1/?

Robotswithpersonality 2/? Long chapters seem more like short stories in a book-ended chronology. The bummer is that I would have liked a bit more in the timeline of the first and last chapters, instead of detailed retrospective of 'how they got here'. 14mo
Robotswithpersonality 3/? I can appreciate a Promethean figure, someone more than human working on behalf of humans to improve civilization/human progress, but I feel like we only got snippets of that Sam, and him being relatable in his words and actions - the rest of the cast was particularly esoteric from a western perspective - I'll admit my schooling/pop culture references steep me in Greek/Roman/European myths and religions rather than Eastern ones - and following an ancient pantheon known to be selfish and violent is always pretty alienating (the Olympians are at least as bad, I recognize this). 14mo
Robotswithpersonality 4/? I think if certain Buddhist concepts were new to me upon reading this it might have made for more interesting musings, but I had a period where I went hard on non-fiction on the topic and as a result this felt pretty surface level. 🤷🏼‍♂️ 14mo
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Robotswithpersonality 5/6 Less ambiguous downside involves messy gender stuff - gods taking new bodies to match certain roles, might be dated/offensive slang about lesbians in there, insinuation they'd prefer to be men.
Heteronormative BS that they couldn't stay committed, that Yama couldn't stay with Kali when she changed to male form/new position. And then there's the 'tragedy' of Kali's transfer issue, mega ableist.
14mo
Robotswithpersonality 6/6 And yet, definitely better than Creature of Light and Darkness.

⚠️ableism, fatphobia, non-consensual demon possession, mention of SA, outdated/offensive term for cognitive disability
14mo
Larkken I remember enjoying the Amber series but not being able to get into this one. 14mo
Robotswithpersonality @Larkken definitely going to try the Amber series (it's on my TBR somewhere!) 13mo
8 likes7 comments
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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Touché.

RamsFan1963 One of my all time favorite books ❤ 14mo
10 likes1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Happy Spooky Season! 😈😱

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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Good news, fellow introverts, new welcome mat design just dropped!

Larkken Perfect! 😂 14mo
7 likes1 comment
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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Elevated trash talk.

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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Smooth-talking Sam and effective intimidation tactics. 😏

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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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*sniff, sniff* Why, yes, I do believe that is the burning of bridges I smell! 🔥🫣

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Robotswithpersonality
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Oh, goody, the fake Buddha reincarnated con man is also a gambler and an adrenaline junkie. This will end well. 🤦🏼‍♂️

5 likes1 stack add
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RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
The Sixth Extinction - Elizabeth Kolbert

#littenswanttoknow

Bookwomble I really enjoy so much of Zelazny's writing, but I can't seem to get past the first few pages of LoL. Weird 🤷🏻‍♂️ I still have it - not given up on it yet! 2y
RamsFan1963 @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks I think Station Eleven is the dystopian novel for people who don't like dystopian fiction. It's so beautifully written, its dare I say, kind of magical. 2y
RamsFan1963 @Bookwomble I can understand that. The first time I read the book I put it down after one chapter, sure it wasn't a book for me. I picked it up again a few months later, and couldn't put it down, breezed through it in a couple of days. 2y
Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @RamsFan1963 sounds like I would like it!! 2y
44 likes5 comments
blurb
RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
The Sixth Extinction - Elizabeth Kolbert

#littenswanttoknow

review
Pjwagner
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Mehso-so

Finished!! While I appreciate the writing, it wasn‘t my jam.

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Pjwagner
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Trying to power through this one tonight.

RamsFan1963 One of my all time favorite books!! Its a bit slow going at first, but it's worth the patience put into it. 3y
Pjwagner @RamsFan1963 I‘ll keep at it! Thanks for the encouragement. 3y
1 like2 comments
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Pjwagner
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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review
NeonKnight
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Pickpick

Why did I like this? I shouldn‘t have... but I did? Zelazny is better as a short story novelist for sure, he seems terrified of scene descriptors or even coherent plot structures sometimes. But his ideas are fantastic, his dialogue poetic and he isn‘t afraid to blend sci-fi and fantasy into a surreal setting.

Overall, it makes me think of future mythology and I might even read it again, now that it makes more sense.

#lordoflight
#rogerzelazny

majkia One of my favorite books 7mo
6 likes1 comment
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NeonKnight
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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“You would like me to strike you, wouldn‘t you, Buddha? It would make feel superior. Unfortunately, I‘m a sadist and will not do it.”
Sam laughed.
“Touché, Death,” he said.

#rogerzelazny #lordoflight

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NeonKnight
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
This post contains spoilers
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A great passage from the weird but fascinating Rodger Zelazny book “Lord of Light”.
#lordoflight
#rodgerzelazny
#hugo
#scifi

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RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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1. Rural Virginia, now in Vienna, West Virginia
2. Just one? Lol yeah right!! Tagged one of many.
3. Nightside Series by Simon R. Green
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark
5. The X-Files
6. David Bowie, ELO, The Beatles
7. Green
8. Science-fiction
9. Hell...uh I mean Office Depot
10. Sadly no, my apt doesn't allow pets.

#meetthelittens

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TK-421
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Just started the tagged book. Minerva looks so freaking adorable when she‘s sleeping so had to share just because! 😊 #CatsofLitsy #ReadingBuddy #CatwithBook

RamsFan1963 One of my all time favorite books. I think IMHO that its Zelazny's best work. 4y
TK-421 @RamsFan1963 I‘ve enjoyed the other Zelazny works I‘ve read so I‘ve been really looking forward to this one! 4y
66 likes2 comments
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RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Day 5 #7Days7Books

My all-time favorite book 😁

TK-421 Zelazny! 💜 I own this but haven‘t read it yet. I think it‘s good to be my Z pick for #LitsyAtoZ2020! 5y
AutumnRLS Zelazny got me into reading fantasy in the 7th grade. One of the first books that I read and couldn't put down. I read a lot before, but his books were the turning point for me that made me officially "bookish." 5y
SpaceCowboyBooks Been meaning to read this one 5y
50 likes2 stack adds3 comments
review
Vinjii
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Pickpick

Wonderful mash-up of science fiction and fantasy with lovely prose and an interesting story of humans colonising a new planet and presenting themselves as gods ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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TK-421
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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“The entire universe is a revelation," said the monk. "All things change, yet all things remain. Day follows night… each day is different, yet each is day. Much of the world is illusion, yet the forms of that illusion follow a #pattern which is a part of divine reality.” #QuotsyJune19

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Geeklet
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Okay, last #bookhaul for awhile, I swear. My order from Thriftbooks arrived while I was gone. I‘m pretty picky about damage on used books. I only ordered things with good and above quality assigned to them. The Terror has some electrical tape on it and The Forever War has an obnoxious sticker I couldn‘t easily remove. Overall though, I‘m fairly happy and will probably use them again.

Lady_Tigana_20 I‘m pretty happy with them. Usually I just want a reading copy (if library doesn‘t have it). I did once receive a children‘s anthology missing first couple of pages. They let me keep it and credited back my money since there was no replacement copy available. One time, they sent me a book in better condition (perfect condition hardcover) because my other books were coming from that warehouse and it was cheaper for them to ship it. 5y
RamsFan1963 Ohhhh both Lord of Light and The Forever War, two solid sci-fi classics. Nice haul!! 5y
Geeklet @RamsFan1963 Thanks! I already had The Forever War but I really like these SF Masterworks covers. It‘s a shame that‘s one of the books with an ugly sticker on it. A hair dryer should help me remove it but it sucks. 5y
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esurient Oooo nice finds! My favorite deepest-winter read is currently 5y
Geeklet @esurient I was borderline obsessed with the Erebus and Terror after finishing the audiobook. That sucker is really long though so I thought a hardcover would be nice for rereads. 5y
esurient @geeklet Prudent! 5y
45 likes6 comments
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kadath
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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“But I recall the springtime of the world as though it were yesterday, those days when we rode together to battle, and those nights when we shook the stars loose from the fresh-painted skies! The world was so new and different then, with a menace lurking within every flower and a bomb behind every sunrise. Together we beat a world, you and I, for nothing really wanted us here and everything disputed our coming.“

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kadath
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Lord of Light blew my teenage mind. In the mid-90s, I was a high schooler cashiering in a supermarket that shared a plaza with a used bookstore, which proved devastating to my paychecks. The bookstore and the supermarket are both long gone, but some things remain. (“This year's Hugo Award“ was 1968, by the way.) #scifi #hugoaward #nostalgia

Geeklet I‘ve been meaning to buy this one for ages! 6y
kadath @Geeklet I highly recommend it! Zelazny was one of the genre's best prose stylists, so even in the places where the story is showing its age, it's still a gorgeous read.

Plus, there's an entire chapter that's just a setup for a godawful pun, and you have to respect that.
6y
Geeklet @kadath I approve of any such dedication to the art of pun-crafting. 😆 6y
2 likes1 stack add3 comments
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RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Future humans use technology to pretend to be Hindu Gods.

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RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Something Wicked This Way Comes
3. The Dark Tower, worst King adaptation ever!!
4. Tom Cruise/Sandra Bullock
5. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

#frideas @SailorMoon

SailorMoon Thanks for playing!!! 🥰🌙 6y
43 likes1 comment
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RamsFan1963
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Book: Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Author: Erik Larson
Movie: Ladyhawke
Food: Lasagna

#manicmonday #letterL. @JoScho

JoScho Thanks for playing 💜 6y
BibliOphelia Zelazny ❤️❤️❤️ 6y
18 likes2 comments
review
rwmg
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
Pickpick

1960s SF romp based on the Hindu pantheon. I enjoyed it but I don't know if a believer would.

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rwmg
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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4 likes1 stack add
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rwmg
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Curry and an SFF book inspired by Hindu myth

review
Misanthropester
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Pickpick

A well-worn copy lent to me by a friend. This novel was unique & enthralling; its Indian pantheon mythology (Hindu v Buddhist) mixed with an ingenious #scifi technology was fantastic. Also, I learned that making this into a movie was the real life cover used in the Iranian hostage situation depicted in Argo

RealBooks4ever Zelazny 💜 7y
10 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Misanthropester
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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I see why this novel is consider a masterwork of #scifi / #fantasy, it moves at a stunning clip but reads truly like a sacred text

9 likes1 stack add
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Misanthropester
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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“baffling devices” is a glorious phrase #scifi

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Misanthropester
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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Friend lent me this #scifi classic

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Oblomov26
Lord of Light | Roger Zelazny
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#badcovergoodbook #aprilbookshowers Zelazny was a great fantasy writer mixing fantasy, mythology and science fiction and this one his best. A colony world where the colonists have regressed to a medieval society and the immortal crew have taken the roles of the Indian gods to guide their development. However this book was from the late 60's and the covers were often psychedelic and trippy as evidenced by the above examples.

erzascarletbookgasm Yikes to these covers 👎🏼 8y
BookHermit I live 60/70s sci-fi covers! 8y
Soubhiville I remember lots of similar looking books on my dad's bookshelf growing up, and wondering if the stories inside would've just as weird! 8y
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ReadingEnvy I tried this one and then.... my dog ate it. 8y
Oblomov26 @ReadingEnvy LOL - literally your dog ate it. 8y
StaceyKondla Love the old covers! ❤😂 Bad Sci-fi covers are my guilty pleasure 8y
57 likes7 comments