Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny
Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rules their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons. Lord of Light.
Hey, remember when NPR had their top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy list last summer? I ended up picking a lot of recommendations off of that, including this one. I’m always interested in multicultural speculative fiction, and I can’t say I’ve ever met a science fiction book that had anything specific to do with Hinduism. Let’s fix that!
Adam at the Wertzone loves it, and notes especially how fresh the forty year-old book feels. Mervi at Mervi’s Book Reviews liked it, but noted problematic representations of women. Rich Horton at SFSite considers it to be a classic. Steven Wu at Steven Wu’s Book Reviews liked it, but found the characterization shaky and the formatting willfully confusing.
Lord of Light was released in 1967.
