Scan barcode
solaireastora's review against another edition
4.0
Weird prose but very entertaining.
The Steel General and Vramin are amazing characters!
The Steel General and Vramin are amazing characters!
trilbynorton's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
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.
ronanbossard's review against another edition
2.0
According to Wikipedia, the author originally didn't intend to publish this and used it as an experiment. It shows.
theobviousmystery's review against another edition
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
3.75
sunn_bleach's review
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
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 and Sexual content
humanignorance's review against another edition
1.0
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.
zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
Now this was a trippy, LSD-ish story.
I guess it goes with the territory because Zelazny was first and foremost a poet and this book is exactly that kind of weird poetry-become-prose fantasy story that will cause a lot of headaches for people who are more accustomed to standard structured approach to the story telling.
It will need concentration to go through it and figure it out - parts of it are almost movie-like, like first chapter where Lord of the Dead sends his henchman to kill the Immortals that are ruining the balance of dead-and-life-cycle or fight against the dragon (cobra? old man?) that destroys the entire continents, oceans and worlds. Parts of it just .... weird. Trippy.... did I say LSD-ish? You know with spirals and stuff.
Do note that Egyptian mythology given here is not exactly what you would expect - again, that poetic weirdness comes to surface, like copulation with the machine to gain knowledge (because machine works on sexual arousal and satisfaction - had me laughing there :)) or constant incestual father-son-who-is-father's-father relations (?? I know). I guess this comes with the territory (Jodorowsky is another creator that has this approach to art - do not just amaze, make the reader go what-the-.... and OMG and oh blimey because shock is the value - right? Well, not all the time in my opinion and to be honest Zelazny is much better writer and artist).
Story in it essence is pretty straight-forward fantasy story - our hero (who at times was like anything in the world that ever existed except maybe ball-pen) is fighting creature that threatens the very foundation of the world. Then he gets confronted by bunch of heroes on the quest to kill him because our hero is anomaly that is seen as threat to dead-life-cycle (because he is Immortal) but they'll finally decide to join the forces and fight the main danger.
All in all interesting story and I suggest you find the concentration to finish it. If you expect Lord of Light like story then you are looking at the wrong place - this is more like having several storytellers sitting around, taking drugs, re-telling known stories and going "Now it would be cool to have giant rooster attacking the shoe that can talk - because shoe, oh yeah, they are to be worshiped" :):) And yeah, shoes matter in this one, believe me :)
I guess it goes with the territory because Zelazny was first and foremost a poet and this book is exactly that kind of weird poetry-become-prose fantasy story that will cause a lot of headaches for people who are more accustomed to standard structured approach to the story telling.
It will need concentration to go through it and figure it out - parts of it are almost movie-like, like first chapter where Lord of the Dead sends his henchman to kill the Immortals that are ruining the balance of dead-and-life-cycle or fight against the dragon (cobra? old man?) that destroys the entire continents, oceans and worlds. Parts of it just .... weird. Trippy.... did I say LSD-ish? You know with spirals and stuff.
Do note that Egyptian mythology given here is not exactly what you would expect - again, that poetic weirdness comes to surface, like copulation with the machine to gain knowledge (because machine works on sexual arousal and satisfaction - had me laughing there :)) or constant incestual father-son-who-is-father's-father relations (?? I know). I guess this comes with the territory (Jodorowsky is another creator that has this approach to art - do not just amaze, make the reader go what-the-.... and OMG and oh blimey because shock is the value - right? Well, not all the time in my opinion and to be honest Zelazny is much better writer and artist).
Story in it essence is pretty straight-forward fantasy story - our hero (who at times was like anything in the world that ever existed except maybe ball-pen) is fighting creature that threatens the very foundation of the world. Then he gets confronted by bunch of heroes on the quest to kill him because our hero is anomaly that is seen as threat to dead-life-cycle (because he is Immortal) but they'll finally decide to join the forces and fight the main danger.
All in all interesting story and I suggest you find the concentration to finish it. If you expect Lord of Light like story then you are looking at the wrong place - this is more like having several storytellers sitting around, taking drugs, re-telling known stories and going "Now it would be cool to have giant rooster attacking the shoe that can talk - because shoe, oh yeah, they are to be worshiped" :):) And yeah, shoes matter in this one, believe me :)
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
4.0
A quick, freewheeling, Jack-Kirby-comic-cover / prog-rock-album-cover of a book. Zelazny is great with words, and a great plunderer of mythologies: in this case, (mostly) Egyptian. Ostensibly the plot is about a cosmic war between post-human demigods over the "Powers" and Life and Death and maybe killing God? But various little interludes and vignettes demonstrate that Zelazny is nowhere near taking himself as seriously as all that. Some of the scenes were as if Monty Python did sf. The "serious" sfnal images and concepts are pretty cool, though - for example, Zelazny's hallucinatory description of "temporal fugue" combat.
And at less than 200 pages, it doesn't overstay its welcome, either. I think I actually liked this better than LORD OF LIGHT; that was a fine story, but I think a lot more of it was borrowed and refined by later authors so it didn't feel as fresh. Whereas, even though Egyptian mythology has been done to death, its familiarity allows Zelazny to throw piles of weird sf goodness on top.
Overall, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Read for a fun trip.
And at less than 200 pages, it doesn't overstay its welcome, either. I think I actually liked this better than LORD OF LIGHT; that was a fine story, but I think a lot more of it was borrowed and refined by later authors so it didn't feel as fresh. Whereas, even though Egyptian mythology has been done to death, its familiarity allows Zelazny to throw piles of weird sf goodness on top.
Overall, 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Read for a fun trip.
tarugani's review against another edition
3.0
Fantastic premise, bizarre story, great writing, awful style, meh characters--but largely redeemed by the last few chapters (at least enough to bump it up to 3 stars), though I can't really say why, since they didn't make a whole lot more sense than the rest of the book. Anyways, from what I've read about this being a bit of an experiment, and thanks to the last twenty pages, I may give Zelazny another go...but not until I've forgotten how annoyed I was by the first 150 pages.
branch_c's review against another edition
1.0
In Zelazny's defense, I read that he apparently wrote this as an experiment, never really intending it to be published. So how did the experiment turn out? Well, let's see - the book is pretentiously surreal, at many times just plain nonsensical. The characters are bizarrely unlikable, with incomprehensible motivations. The writing is - well, who am I to criticize the writing of a Hugo and Nebula award winner? Yeah, I know: when you're a pro, you've learned all the rules and earned the right to break them. Whatever - these "experimental" ramblings just come across as sloppy.
So, with all due respect to fans of this book, I can almost say it's the worst book I've read in all the years that I've been keeping track of such things. Almost - after all, I did read the entire Bible back in '05, and at least this was maybe a tenth as long.
After reading this one and Nine Princes in Amber I feel like I ought to read Lord of Light again to see if I really did like it as much as I thought I did at the time.
So, with all due respect to fans of this book, I can almost say it's the worst book I've read in all the years that I've been keeping track of such things. Almost - after all, I did read the entire Bible back in '05, and at least this was maybe a tenth as long.
After reading this one and Nine Princes in Amber I feel like I ought to read Lord of Light again to see if I really did like it as much as I thought I did at the time.