Lord of Light discussion

Rivaled only by the disheveled and sprawling Amber series, Lord of Light is the Zelazny work that is packed with brilliantly-drawn characters, corresponding in most cases to the gods of the Hindu pantheon.

While many find it confusing at first read, it's much clearer with one non-spoiling spoiler -- the first chapter, for some narrative reason, describes action that actually occurs fairly late in the book.

Many of Zelazny's works covered characters from religion or myth -- Hindu and Buddhist (Lord of Light), Greek (This Immortal), Tarot (the Amber Series), Egyptian (Creatures of Light and Darkness), Jack the Ripper, a made-up pantheon, and more. Lord of Light has the best characters of those, Amber perhaps excepted, and the tightest story, excepting only This Immortal. It's also lighter/more fun than most of the others. One of the truly great reads.

It does, however, contain internal inconsistencies. Like the fact that there is a continent full of mysteries (as alluded to in the last page) yet the 'gods' have control of the entire planet.

Pretty much all of Roger's works were religion based and they all touched on personal immortality. Ironical, given Roger died at 58.

I would rate his books -

This Immortal
Lord of Light
Creatures of Light and Darkness
Jack of Shadows
Amber 1-5
Isle of the Dead
Today We Choose Faces
A Night in the Lonesome October
To Die in Italbar
Roadmarks
Every short story
The ones he did with Sheckley
The cashing in Amber 6-10

The man was a genius... and as with most geniuses his earlier works were better than the latter ones.

Although October was as good as the 60s stuff.

Not forgetting that 'The Last Defender of Camelot' got a gig on 'The Twilight Zone'. A rendition that I felt matched the story.