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A review by thomasroche
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
3.0
The novella this novel is based on is one of the best action-adventure stories ever written. I had always resisted reading the book because expanding on that virtually perfect work of pulp art always seemed kind of like bullsh*t. Well... sad to say, it is. The novel still works pretty well, but it doesn't have the tightly plotted forward momentum of the original. It feels like Zelazny just sort of added some irrelevant stuff to bulk it out. It just doesn't feel right.
The original, which is in [b:The Last Defender of Camelot|13822|Last Defender of Camelot (Fantasy Classics)|Roger Zelazny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166573587s/13822.jpg|1105534], is one of the greatest pieces of action ever. This version has one thing going for it: it got Zelazny a movie deal; to my knowledge it is the only movie that's ever been made from a Zelazny book. It's an outrageously crappy and bizarre movie, but if the cashola he gained from that allowed him to write some of the amazing stuff he did in the next few years following this book, then rock on, yo.
Since [b:The Last Defender of Camelot|13822|Last Defender of Camelot (Fantasy Classics)|Roger Zelazny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166573587s/13822.jpg|1105534] is so good on so many other levels, I recommend picking that up and reading the short version of this story, which retains the best of the characterizations and the crazy forward momentum.
The original, which is in [b:The Last Defender of Camelot|13822|Last Defender of Camelot (Fantasy Classics)|Roger Zelazny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166573587s/13822.jpg|1105534], is one of the greatest pieces of action ever. This version has one thing going for it: it got Zelazny a movie deal; to my knowledge it is the only movie that's ever been made from a Zelazny book. It's an outrageously crappy and bizarre movie, but if the cashola he gained from that allowed him to write some of the amazing stuff he did in the next few years following this book, then rock on, yo.
Since [b:The Last Defender of Camelot|13822|Last Defender of Camelot (Fantasy Classics)|Roger Zelazny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166573587s/13822.jpg|1105534] is so good on so many other levels, I recommend picking that up and reading the short version of this story, which retains the best of the characterizations and the crazy forward momentum.