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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5
Siendo sincero esto ha sido bastante original. Comencé un poco confundido en los primeros dos capítulos, luego fui entendiendo poco a poco a qué iba todo esto y, a pesar de mi discrepancia con las religiones en general, terminé disfrutando el libro. La prosa de Zelazny contribuyó bastante en esos momentos en los cuales estuve apunto de no terminarlo y me alegra no haberlo hecho.
Siendo sincero esto ha sido bastante original. Comencé un poco confundido en los primeros dos capítulos, luego fui entendiendo poco a poco a qué iba todo esto y, a pesar de mi discrepancia con las religiones en general, terminé disfrutando el libro. La prosa de Zelazny contribuyó bastante en esos momentos en los cuales estuve apunto de no terminarlo y me alegra no haberlo hecho.
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Picture a bell curve. The start is low, flat… but gradually the curve rises until it peaks in the middle. Then, the downward trend begins and before you know it, you’re at the end of the curve - just as flat as the beginning. This pretty much sums up how interesting/ engaging I found this book as it progressed.
The first two chapters had me scratching my head and very disinterested. There were way too many characters who were bland and faceless, lacking any distinguishing traits except for their roots in Hindu mythology. The plot didn’t really make sense, and the constantly shifting pov in the first chapter left me feeling untethered and confused.
However, about ninety pages in, things randomly clicked for me. Everything suddenly made sense: the plot, the world, the characters, everything. The Hellwell chapter was mostly responsible for this - it was so good!! Exciting, intriguing, unique - everything a high-concept sci-fantasy fusion should be. I quickly devoured the following few chapters eagerly anticipating what was to happen next.
But sadly, as with the bell curve, it wasn’t set to last. Things got quite convoluted with the last few chapters (bearing in mind there were only seven chapters for a nearly three-hundred page book???) and it all sort of fell apart with the last two. The stakes felt infinitesimally small - with death and reincarnation a prominent theme, there lacked a further, more dire consequence for failure (there’s only so many times one can die before it starts to feel inconsequential). The final battle scene - which should’ve been an exciting climax - felt a relief, for it signalled that the book was finally coming to an end.
Looking back, I think this book does too much ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing’, which is why it felt sluggish and disinteresting: a PBJ sandwich with white bread - an exciting filling squashed between two slices of bland.
Feeling a bit betrayed since George R R Martin supposedly thinks this is ‘one of the five best sf novels ever written’, which is absolutely not the case, sorry George xx
The first two chapters had me scratching my head and very disinterested. There were way too many characters who were bland and faceless, lacking any distinguishing traits except for their roots in Hindu mythology. The plot didn’t really make sense, and the constantly shifting pov in the first chapter left me feeling untethered and confused.
However, about ninety pages in, things randomly clicked for me. Everything suddenly made sense: the plot, the world, the characters, everything. The Hellwell chapter was mostly responsible for this - it was so good!! Exciting, intriguing, unique - everything a high-concept sci-fantasy fusion should be. I quickly devoured the following few chapters eagerly anticipating what was to happen next.
But sadly, as with the bell curve, it wasn’t set to last. Things got quite convoluted with the last few chapters (bearing in mind there were only seven chapters for a nearly three-hundred page book???) and it all sort of fell apart with the last two. The stakes felt infinitesimally small - with death and reincarnation a prominent theme, there lacked a further, more dire consequence for failure (there’s only so many times one can die before it starts to feel inconsequential). The final battle scene - which should’ve been an exciting climax - felt a relief, for it signalled that the book was finally coming to an end.
Looking back, I think this book does too much ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing’, which is why it felt sluggish and disinteresting: a PBJ sandwich with white bread - an exciting filling squashed between two slices of bland.
Feeling a bit betrayed since George R R Martin supposedly thinks this is ‘one of the five best sf novels ever written’, which is absolutely not the case, sorry George xx
challenging
fast-paced
DNF'd al 20%. Lo empecé buscando una cosa absolutamente distinta.
adventurous
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Knowing only names from Buddhist/Hindu religion, I took this as a light introduction to them both in terms of deity theme. Really enjoyed the themes around oppression and use of a culture to enable yourself. Enjoyed the cynical humour of the main character.
Intriguing mix of science fiction and the Hindu pantheon. It was epic in scale but somehow fell short of expectation. Perhaps it was because I was hoping to get a better sense of the characters. Or that Amber just set a very high bar for Zelazny in my eyes? Still, this story had some amusing moments, and there is much imagination here.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Story 4 to 5 stars, audiobook narration 2 stars. This is definitely one of the more original stories I have ever read, and it's hard to comment much on the story without spoiling it. I may have given it a higher overall rating if I had eye-read the book. I found the audiobook narration difficult to navigate - especially the non-dialogue parts, which are almost read in a bored, list-like fashion - though the choice of accents for some of the dialogue also seems really strange. Anyway, I wish now I had stopped listening and picked up the printed text early on, but I gritted my teeth and made it through, I'm sure missing out on some of the enjoyment I would have found reading it to myself.
Still, I think, one of my favourite reads. I read it first when I was 14, and have read it many times, something of which I cannot say of any other novel.