#7. LORD OF LIGHT By Roger Zelazny

Published : 1967
Pages : 317
Overall Mark : 6/10

A distant world where gods walk as men, but wield vast and hidden powers. Are they truly immortal? Who are these gods who rule the destiny of a teeming world? Their names include Brahma, Kali, Krishna and also he who was called Buddha, the Lord of Light, but who now prefers to be known simply as Sam. How has the colonization of another planet become a re-enactment of Eastern religion and mythology?

ROGER ZELAZNY (1937-1995)
Few writers have made a more immediate impact on SF than Zelazny, each of whose first three novels won a major sf award. Altogether, in the course of his career, he won six Hugo awards and three Nebula awards. Born in Ohio, he lived for most of his writing life in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

VERDICT
This is a very strange novel and is sometimes difficult to read. It takes most of its ideas from Buddhism as well as the Hindu religion, and each chapter feels more like a parable or morality tale than part of a cohesive whole. The basic ideas of the story have been copied on occasion in such movies as Stargate, but the idea of a renegade God who wants to destroy his fellow beings has a feel to it that is both timeless and powerful as it gives us a lead character who must be either very brave or very stupid, but in any case has a firm grip on what he believes is right and wrong.