Lord of Light

"They called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He himself preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be."

Lord of Light was Roger Zelazny's third novel and it won him the Hugo award for Best Novel in 1968.

The story on the surface seems like diefied fantasy, based around the Hindu pantheon. Deeper in however clues are revealed as to what is truly going on. The book starts out with the introduction of Sam, or Buddha, or Siddhartha, or any of the half dozen other names he is known by. Each of the subsequent 5 chapters are flashbacks telling the story of Sam's fight against "Heaven", with the seventh and final chapter occurring chronologically after the first.

Many consider this to be Zelazny's finest work. I still prefer the first Chronicles of Amber, but I can certainly see why other chose this. Once I got a grasp on how the story was being told, and began to pick up clues as to what the gods truly were the story made a lot more sense. This is a book that really makes you work.

8.5 out of 10