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ericbuscemi 's review for:
Lord of Light
by Roger Zelazny
The front cover of this book labels Lord of Light "The Legendary SF Classic," and the blurb on the back cover begins:
That said, there is no good reason to give the protagonist this many names, and freely switch between them in the text:
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology...From these two data points, I was sure I was about to read a straight-forward sci-fi adventure, possibly in the vein of [a:Robert A. Heinlein|205|Robert A. Heinlein|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1192826560p2/205.jpg] or [a:Ray Bradbury|1630|Ray Bradbury|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361491094p2/1630.jpg]. What I should have paid more attention to was the gigantic fucking Buddha statue on the front cover, and the conclusion of the back cover blurb:
...made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light.This second-half of the quote, removed from the aforementioned sci-fi context, reads a lot more like an epic fantasy, which is what this book actually is -- albeit with a diverse assortment of actual established religions from our culture. Once I adjusted my expectations, accepted the non-linear storytelling, and figured out the multitude of names -- not to mention body/gender switching -- for each character, I really got into this book.
That said, there is no good reason to give the protagonist this many names, and freely switch between them in the text: