Isle of the Dead

Rating:
Summary: 1 great book, 1 good chunk of Zelazny.
Review: I'm writing this because nobody else bothered, and a writer of his caliber deserves reviews on everything he ever produced.

Well, this is the trouble with double editions: it's impossible to issue a single rating, especially when the two works have markedly different levels of quality, as in this one. So, I'll just do the two separately.

Isle of the Dead: Really ... cool. THIS is why we read Zelazny 30-odd years after he set this stuff to paper. Of the SF novels of his I've read, this belongs on that top tier, shared with Lord of Light and at most one or two others. Where sometimes his dazzling style wanders a bit into navel-gazing(which is why he was so bloody good at short stories: they minimize such tendencies), here the descriptions are sharp, the narrator is one of his classics, and the ideas are captivating. The controlling metaphor is pretty cool, the action is exciting, and the psychology of the narrator kept me riveted. In short, this novel is EXACTLY what one thinks when s/he thinks of "good Zelazny". 5 stars.

Eye of Cat, on the other hand, seems more like what happens when the old master just sits down and decides, "hey, I'll write a story about X". It's still good; I mean, the man's talents wouldn't have let him write complete tripe if he tried. There are some very interesting moments, too; Cat is a striking presence, and some of the throw-away lines are great. His exploration of "primitivism", however, is patchy, and some parts aren't very convincing; in certain spots he even sounds almost a bit bigoted (people from old tribal cultures can't order their thoughts?), even though it is clear he has respect for Native American cultures. Also, parts of the plot meander and drag. All in all, it's a must-read for those of us hungry for more books that have that signature Zelazny style, but if it weren't in this double, I'd tell you to leave it for later.

So: one good + one great novel by Roger Zelazny makes this a good value and a must-buy, but remember, it's the second, shorter one that's the best part.

Rating:
Summary: A concise, compelling epic
Review: One of Roger Zelazny's finest novels, this tale of a man who embodies an alien god encompasses science-fiction, mythology, psychology, and the poignancy of being human - and does so in well under 200 pages. There's no overload of unconvincing background minutiae here - with no more than a few colorful strokes, Zelazny creates a rich and meaningful universe for his flawed protagonist Francis Sandow. What begins as a confrontation between two powerful men swiftly becomes a private apocalypse between two gods ... without ever losing its human scale. Dazzling, exciting, moving, satiric, this book deserves to be reprinted soon!

Rating:
Summary: A concise, compelling epic
Review: One of Roger Zelazny's finest novels, this tale of a man who embodies an alien god encompasses science-fiction, mythology, psychology, and the poignancy of being human - and does so in well under 200 pages. There's no overload of unconvincing background minutiae here - with no more than a few colorful strokes, Zelazny creates a rich and meaningful universe for his flawed protagonist Francis Sandow. What begins as a confrontation between two powerful men swiftly becomes a private apocalypse between two gods ... without ever losing its human scale. Dazzling, exciting, moving, satiric, this book deserves to be reprinted soon!

Rating:
Summary: The Waters of Acheron
Review: Roger Zelazny has a tendency to create main characters who are either eternal or have lived a very long time. This isn't a fault, because he relies on this only to establish the depth of the character, not as a major plot device. In fact, perhaps the biggest lesson his heroes learn is that, if you live forever, you can make a lot of enemies. Some of them aren't even your enemies.

Francis Sandow is on such mein character. After a shaky star in this century, modern science and sheer luck have contrived to make him the worlds oldest rich man. The luck was falling into the hands of the Peians, who taught him how to create worlds and some experience in the fine are of revenge. Worldscaping is the basis for his money, but it didn't save him from offending people.

One such antagonist has taken up stealing the dying personality tapes of some of Sandow's best friends and enemies in an effort to lure him to the Isle of the Dead. His offense was to be a human and qualify for the honor of bonding with a Peian god and becoming a planetscaper. A Peian who didn't pass the grade took offense and has spent several hundred years working on getting even. Now he has reconstructed the people and Sandow bites the lure.

Of course, the revenge you see is not necessarily the revenge you get. Things go awry in spectacular style. Sandow is forced to incarnate Shimbo, the Shrugger of Thunders, and suddenly the scope of the conflict goes out of control. Anotherr truth about Zelazny is that even his villains have redeeming traits, and in this wry but tragic tale, the reader will find it hard to dislike anyone.

For some reason, Isle of the Dead has remained one of my favorite Zelazny stories. I won't claim that it is his best, but it pushes all the right buttons for me and I keep coming back to it. Sandow is my kind of hero - a bit of a rat, but basically a good guy in a tough universe. He has every excuse to be bitter, but he refuses to crumble. In any case, this book has a habit of regularly going out of print. If you are a Zelazny fan than find it how you may, I promise you will find it worth the effort.

Rating:
Summary: what a shame!
Review: This book is out of print? Gosh. It's hard. It's a really good fantastico-mythologico-science fiction book. Zelazny writes an excellent book, of the same lineage that Lord of Light. Reward worth!