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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
I love Roger Zelazny but I could not get into this book. I didn't finish it because I've made myself a promise to not force myself to read something I'm not interested in. I'm sad because there's an Anubis and Osiris characters but it wasn't enough to keep my interest.
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Ill need to reread it during more calm times in my life, but god is it well written. Does not feel dated, only in a sence that nowdays mainstream books do not reqire nearly as much as this book from the reader. But you dont cringe at any other sentence like it usually happens with Heinlein. And this book is not much younger then most of Heinleins. Zelazny is a treasure even if sometimes his books feel like a fever dream
Funny how you can see opinions that "he was trying to recreate some myths with this or that book". He wasnt recreating shit, he just used fascinating forms and images for his own things.
Funny how you can see opinions that "he was trying to recreate some myths with this or that book". He wasnt recreating shit, he just used fascinating forms and images for his own things.
The narrator was not a good fit and I'm not interested in dude bro battles in space
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Weird prose but very entertaining.
The Steel General and Vramin are amazing characters!
The Steel General and Vramin are amazing characters!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A great example of the importance of prose. Creatures of Light and Darkness is essentially pulp space opera, with superpowered beings zipping about space and fighting each other. But Zelazny's prose is mysterious and evocative, turning lurid science fiction into enigmatic mythology.
According to Wikipedia, the author originally didn't intend to publish this and used it as an experiment. It shows.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is blatantly a writing exercise - still, I'm glad Delaney convinced Zelazny to publish this. Reading "Creatures of LIght and Darkness" is an interesting experience because of how much the book simultaneously takes you in and out of things *knowing* it was an experiment as opposed to an intentional book. The prose is haphazard (lots of ambiguous antecedents), the mini-stories flit in and out of existence, and the characterization changes as time goes on (why does Madrak suddenly start working with Anubis?). But I like it as an exercise not only in disparate prose styles, but as an interpretation of "sufficiently advanced technology" taken to an extreme of gods. (Also - the first chapter is incredibly good.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Cursing, Sexual content
1 star. Unfinished at page 86 of 167, 52%. There was a hint of an interesting conflict here, but the prose was too experimental for me. The plot and the weird interludes were too difficult to follow to be worth continuing, even for such a short book.