Science Fiction: The Lord Of Light By Robert Zelazny Redux

 (Drivebycuriosity) - "The Lord of Light" by Robert Zelazny belongs to the classics of the science fiction genre. I owned the book once in German translation, but I had to give up my library when I moved to New York. Recently I bought the original version and read it again on Kindle ( amazon).

The novel is set in a far future. Some humans acquired god-like powers thanks to a very advanced technology. These humans could reincarnate themselves - and others - into new bodies and became immortal. This omnipotent elite gave themselves the names of Hindu gods and they ruled as Shiva, Kali, Vishnu, Brahman etc. over the rest of the humans, the mortals, suppressing the technological progress of the world.  The immortals built themselves "an impregnable paradise and treated the world as a combination of game preserve and whorehouse..........wondrous harems were paraded before them, and banquets were laid at their feeds". But then a Buddha appears, a reformer, and the arrogance, wilfulness and ridicule of the immortals leads to civil war and a revolution. 

The novel is certainly influenced by Europe`s medieval history. It seems to be an allegory on the almighty Catholic Church (crusades, inquisition) which got challenged by Martin Luther and other reformers which lead to devastating wars in the 17th century, but also started the Renaissance and opened the way for technological progress and the industrial revolution. 

Zelazny possessed a rich fantasy and created bizarre, surreal scenes & tableaus. "This happened as the Lord Mara swept onto the field in his cloudy chariot of colors, drawn by horses who vomited rivers of smoking blood................... A blizzard suddenly swirled about him and the cold of interstellar space itself entered into his bones".

I like the basic idea about a revolution challenging a Hindu pantheon and was fascinated by many ideas & descriptions, but over the time and about 300 pages, I got exhausted. "The Lord.." would have better functioned for me as a novella of about 100 pages. But anyway, the novel is certainly worth browsing and to pick the raisins out of it.