11-06-2006, 12:59 PM
I picked these up at the library book sale. Doorways in the Sand was one I had been seeking for a while. It was not bad; about a layabout college student who is involved in the search for a missing alien artifact. Cleverly done, some good action, but on the whole pretty slight.
Lord of Light was a re-read for me, and I had really liked the book the first time around. For those of you who haven't read it, human colonists on a distant planet set themselves up as Hindu gods; one of them decides to oppose the "gods" by introducing Buddhism. Again, it reads quick, with good action, and it's cleverly done. Occasionally in both novels he introduces some psychedelic style stream of consiousness; fortunately usually only for a sentence or two at a time - so it's not as dated and foolish as much late 60s and early 70s Sci Fi (See pretty much anything in Ellison's Dangerous Visions for examples - from "groundbreaking" to garbage in only 30 years.) This is definitely the better of the two, although it was not as good as I remembered, but perhaps that's because I knew the plot outline already.
Ultimately, however, I think his best from that era is Creatures of Light and Darkness; his use of the mythological material there is better done.
If you like that sort of thing, also check out Delany's Nova, where he uses Tarot and Grail quest imagery.
Lord of Light was a re-read for me, and I had really liked the book the first time around. For those of you who haven't read it, human colonists on a distant planet set themselves up as Hindu gods; one of them decides to oppose the "gods" by introducing Buddhism. Again, it reads quick, with good action, and it's cleverly done. Occasionally in both novels he introduces some psychedelic style stream of consiousness; fortunately usually only for a sentence or two at a time - so it's not as dated and foolish as much late 60s and early 70s Sci Fi (See pretty much anything in Ellison's Dangerous Visions for examples - from "groundbreaking" to garbage in only 30 years.) This is definitely the better of the two, although it was not as good as I remembered, but perhaps that's because I knew the plot outline already.
Ultimately, however, I think his best from that era is Creatures of Light and Darkness; his use of the mythological material there is better done.
If you like that sort of thing, also check out Delany's Nova, where he uses Tarot and Grail quest imagery.
the hands that guide me are invisible