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Books : Science Fiction & Fantasy : Authors, A-Z : Z
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In the 1960s, Roger Zelazny dazzled the SF world with what seemed to be inexhaustible talent and inventiveness. Lord of Light, his third novel and the seventh in Millennium's SF Masterworks series, is his finest book: a science fantasy in which the intricate, colourful mechanisms of Hindu religion, of capricious gods and repeated reincarnations, are wittily underpinned by technology. "For six days he had offered many kilowatts of prayer, but the static kept him from being heard On High." The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world, developed godlike--though often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies and now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops and weapons, plays dirty with politics and poison and dies horribly but won't stay dead.... It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language (and one unforgivable pun) that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading, despite this edition's tiresome typographic errors. --David Langford
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Already an accomplished SF novelist, Sarah Zettell's debut fantasy, Sorcerer's Treason, shows her to be equally adept in lands of myth and magic.Bridget Lederele is Keeper of the Light on Sand Island, shunned by the mainland following the birth and death of her bastard child and rumours of her psychic visions. Now she keeps the lighthouse blazing, warning sailors away from the rocky dangers of the lake. Her life is thrown into turmoil when she rescues the tattooed stranger Kalami from the wreckage of his boat and tells her she is needed in another world to defeat the sorceress step-daughter of the Empress Dowager Medeoan. Seeing the chance for a new start, Bridget accepts Kalami's offer but the world she finds waiting for her is unlike anything she has been promised.
Zettell's first fantasy novel is a triumph of story-telling, taking fairytale and folklore and dressing it in lies, half-truths and dark magic. All the characters are powerfully drawn, especially Bridget, a strong and attractive heroine, willing to face her responsibilities as much as the aged Dowager is willing to run from hers, if only because she thinks it the right thing to do. This is a world populated by characters who are flawed to the extreme, not totally evil, but driven by motivations they know to be wrong. It's a world of grey areas and twisted truths that thanks to Zettell's superb plotting only gradually revels themselves. The magic system is rich and detailed with truth spells woven into warm herb bread and transportation spells cast out nothing but air itself. Sorcerer's Treason is a magnificent fantasy novel, showcasing just how good this genre can be. Rich, compelling and exciting, this could be the best fantasy debut in years and is certainly as good as fantasy gets. --Jonathan Weir
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Ingeniously, in The Usurper's Crown, Sarah Zettel shows us the tragic past events which led up to the plot of her first fantasy novel A Sorcerer's Treason, leaving her heroine Bridget a child of two worlds and an orphan in both. On the shores of late nineteenth- century Lake Michigan, Bridget's mother Ingrid becomes the lover of the exiled magician Avanasy and in the magical realm of Istavalta the partner in his enterprises. The young empress Medeoan, not yet the pathetic dangerous villainess of the earlier book, is in danger from her treacherous husband, and Avanasy, her teacher in magic, has to save her from the consequences of her actions. Part of the dark strength of this second book is that we already know how badly things will work out, and come to understand how they might have been even worse. Zettel has a sense of the nightmare side of magic and the irresponsible games of magical beings; these books draw eclectically on the legends of Russia, China and India and cherry-pick some of the darkest themes of all three. The Usurper's Crown has a sense of the price of everything and the moments of joy and victory that redeem tragedy; it is one of the most adult fantasies of the year. --Roz Kaveney
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In the 1960s, Roger Zelazny dazzled the SF world with what seemed to be inexhaustible talent and inventiveness. Lord of Light, his third novel and the seventh in Millennium's SF Masterworks series, is his finest book: a science fantasy in which the intricate, colourful mechanisms of Hindu religion, of capricious gods and repeated reincarnations, are wittily underpinned by technology. "For six days he had offered many kilowatts of prayer, but the static kept him from being heard On High." The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world, developed godlike--though often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies and now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops and weapons, plays dirty with politics and poison and dies horribly but won't stay dead.... It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language (and one unforgivable pun) that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading, despite this edition's tiresome typographic errors. --David Langford
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