Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Check Amazon.com for a copy and buy it!
Zelazny is famous for his Amber series, but this is why he's a scifi master. Lord of Light is near-perfect science fiction. Why? Because it's an entertaining, seriously well-written story that could pass for honest-to-goodness literature. There's ideas in here that have never been touched by other SF authors, and the science element, although not as hard as others would like, is seemlessly woven into the plot. It all makes sense, no matter how weird it gets.
And there's a talking monkey. I like monkeys.
You betrayed Vishnu!
SPOILER ALERT! Although this isn't much of a spoiler; in fact I think it helps appreciate the story, since it starts in the middle and goes between flashbacks and current events. Here's the basic plot:
- There's this human colony on another world. Earth is gone, and never figures into this story.
- A group of humans from the colony ship's original crew (or a new ship that wandered by, I'm not entirely sure) decides they want to rule the colony. So they deprive the colonists of any technology more advanced than a plow. We're talking Age of Rome level.
- To keep the masses quiet, the group with all the fancy tech pretends they're Hindu gods. Why Hindu? It has a caste system that works to keep people in their place and relatively happy.
- This works wonderfully. The "gods" keep cloning themselves and living in paradise while humans toil below.
- One "god" finally finds morality and rebels by starting Buddhism. Why? Buddhism challenged the Hindu caste system and drove people away from Hindu gods.
- The two sides eventually fight for control of the world.
Now that's an unusual plot. History combined with science with a dash of warfare and a pinch of sociology. Try to find that in your Star Trek novelization.
Is the Bright Spear a laser gun of sorts?
None of this would work, however, if Zelazny didn't know how to write damn well. All of his characters are deep, interesting, and belieavable. Because the people of this world think technology is magic, all the high tech stuff is framed as magical. This draws you deeper into the novel as you read about prayer machines and flying chariots. This could have turned out really cheesy; a flying chariot? Who is this, Thor? But Zelazny comes through. Everything makes sense.
My only complaint would be the rhakasa. In Hindu mythology, these are demons. In the story, they are energy beings who lived on the planet before humans came there. Energy beings? Sorry, but that's impossible. Check the science section of this website for more info. In Zelazny's defense, these beings are very well presented and make the plot much more interesting.
Science fiction is full of unique ideas, but this novel stands out. It is unique without being overly weird, and it's entertaining from start to finish. Buy this one and you will be rewarded. Buddha says so.
Think you know a great SF book or story? Prove it.
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