The Last Defender of Camelot

Rating:
Summary: worth looking for....
Review: ....this collection of some of Z's short stories include the title story, in which Lancelot and Merlin meet up for a bit of unfinished business, the short story version of "Damnation Alley," and the moving "Comes Now The Power."

Rating:
Summary: A hacked version of the classic anthology
Review: As a huge fan of the author and the original release of this brilliant short story collection, I am extremely disappointed in the new release. HUNT DOWN THE ORIGINAL. The new version omits all of Zelazny's forewords and, more damning, it actually omits some of the better stories found in the original collection. Silverburg mentions "Horsemen!" in the introduction, then the story is strangely absent. This is a travesty.

Rating:
Summary: An exquisite classic
Review: I discovered Roger Zelazny's writings long ago when I was young and impressionable, for which I am eternally grateful. This collection of his short stories is my personal favorite because the stories contained within are each unique and distinct, no two alike. Think of a banquet with many courses, each one delicious and completely different and you will know what I mean.

From "Passion Play" to the "Stainless Steel Leech", through "Comes Now the Power" and "Damnation Alley", Zelazny demonstrates his uncanny insight into the soul of man, machine, and beast. And in the title piece, "Last Defender of Camelot", he takes the over-told Arthurian legend and twists it into something fresh and original. Yum!

But my favorite story is "For a Breath I Tarry", a post-apocalyptic vision of hope and humanity springing from a most unlikely and accidental hero.

If science fiction, GOOD science fiction, is something you value, this book will please you for many years because just when you think you know everything these stories have to offer, some other facet or nuance will creep up behind you and remind you how strange and wonderful the universe really is.

BKA

Rating:
Summary: one of Zelazny's best books
Review: Ihave owned several copys of this book , and given them as gifts, a practice that will stop now that this book is becoming hard to find. Filled with short stories, this book is wonderful to read. The only regret i have is that the story The last defender of camelot was not made into a full size novel. It really was a great book i highly recomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Some fine stories but give your eyes a rest!!!
Review: Like previous reviewers, I think it's a shame that I-books released this anthology with the same title as a previous collection (that had different stories). It's very confusing esp when the older collection had more stories and a better selection in my opinion.

I think I-books deserves credit for reprinting SF classics from the likes of Zelazny, Robert Silverberg and Jack Vance. I have no problem with their trade editions (although I prefer paperbacks because they're cheaper, so the following tirade is applicable only to their paperbacks.) However, I-books has made some serious mistakes with their paperback editions- in general, the font-size is WAY TOO SMALL! I swear, all of the Zelazny paperbacks from I-Books (with the exception of Damnation Alley) have ridiculously small font. I have fairly good vision, but I refuse to buy them for that one reason. In some cases the page count of the I-book edition is much greater than previous editions (with bigger font), but for some bizarre reason, the I-book editions have wider margins. They're not saving paper, so what gives? Are they actually trying to save ink??!





Rating:
Summary: A book of wonderful short stories
Review: This is a great book of short stories that covers a whole range of subjects in fantasy and science fiction. The title story gives a hopeful continuation of the Arthur legend. The novelette, "And Now, for a Breath, I Tarry," is sheer poetry as it tells a Faustian tale using robots and computers instead of humans. It's definitely worth the time to find it.

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff.... with 1 total classic!
Review: This is worth it all 4 "For a Breath I Tarry," which is 1 of my all-time faves -- words fail me; it's hilarious, heart-wrenching; it'll change your world in 25 pages. "He Who Shapes" (aka "The Dream Master") is also outstanding. Also solid: "The Last Defender of Camelot," & a romantic heart-wringer called "The Engine at Heartspring's Center." There R many others which R at LEAST worth reading. Zelazny was a poet; I miss him. If U like him, U might also try early George R.R. Martin, early Samuel R. Delany, & some of Robert Silverberg's mellower work (like DOWNWARD TO THE EARTH, DYING INSIDE, THE BOOK OF SKULLS).

Rating:
Summary: A good new selection with an old title
Review: This new collection of Zelazny stories, selected by
Robert Silverberg, is a good one. It contains 3 of his
stronger stories from earlier collections made by
Zelazny himself: "For A Breath I Tarry," "The Last
Defender of Camelot," and "24 Views of Mt. Fuji."
It also contains several other worthy stories to
create a collection that spans Zelazny's career.
I suspect length issues caused the selection to
be limited to only 11 stories. Still, as a long-time
reader of Zelazny's work since the '60s, I think
he would have been better represented if I Books
could have made the collection bigger. New readers
of Zelazny can't easily get a feeling for the
magnitude of his accomplishments with such a small
selection. The absence of "He Who Shapes" and
"Damnation Alley," for instance, is to be regretted.
Still, the collection is good overall. New readers
who wish to read more of Zelazny's work will simply
need to scour 2nd hand bookstores.

Another, somewhat irksome problem is that the collection
name, _The Last Defender of Camelot_, matches that of
a collection that Zelazny published himself back in
1980. That collection was probably one of his 2 or 3
best, and it was also quite large. Giving this collection
the same name will result in some confusion that should
have been avoided. Oh, well.