I have to read more Zelazny after this. I was struck by two things in particular: The surprising playful quality of the prose. He has little vignettes dispersed among the main narrative, and it gave me the sense that Zelazny was having a lot of fun while writing this book. It was kind of refreshing after reading so many other self-seriously, rigidly constructed novels. It gave me a feeling similar to the ones I experience when I listen to some experimental music, where the process is not treated as a mere necessary evil on the way to the finish product.

The second thing was struck a chord was the ending. I liked how it was all show and no tell, which I wasn’t expecting. It was kind of creepy, and very intense. I wasn’t expecting such a visceral end to a book which, until then, had been rather laid back.

Now that I’ve finished it, I feel like it was very dense, thematically. I suspect I will revisit it and gleam many meanings which I missed this time.

I would like to open the thread to recommendations. I’ve heard he wrote a fantasy series that is pretty good, and I think I would like to check that out.

  • Who_Wants_To_No@lemmy.ca
    1·
    1 day ago

    One of the many things I like about Zelazny is that the style of he could write in many different styles. He tends toward first person with snarky, self-aware characters, but he can also do austere and elegant (example: Dilvish the Damned), elegaic (My Name is Legion), intense and serious first person (Nine Princes in Amber), and simplified narration by a dog (A Night in the Lonesome October). It isn’t just a matter of changing genres, he changes the style of his prose to suit (or sometimes to contrast) the subject. I can’t think of any other writer who has shown that much range. It always felt, to me, that he was always experimenting in ways that established writers rarely do.

    I certainly enjoy his classics, like the Amber series, but my favorites are “This Immortal” and “A Night in the Lonesome October”.

    “This Immortal” has a snarky first-person narrator who is still a very serious characters. The background of the story has a sense of melancholy and loss that turns in an unexpected direction. It manages to be entertaining, moment by moment, and also engaging and complex as a whole.

    “A Night in the Lonesome October” has the background of a dark high-fantasy, but the odd choice of narrator gives it a unique flavor. It is told by the protagonist’s dog, who has a sound but somewhat simplified take on the events. It turns a plot that could be formal and stylized into something that feels more like a children’s story. I can’t think of anything else like it.