mostly harmless books

I think it’s fitting that the first real entry on this blog should be about my favorite writer.

Last month’s reading highlight: I read Lord of Light and I liked it.

Why is that unusual? It needs a little (personal) history lesson.

I discovered Zelazny around 1996. I was 12 and I think me or my brother got Nine Princes in Amber (the translation) as a present at the end of the school year. I was already a voracious reader and had just started discovering speculative fiction via my parents’ collection (which included stuff like Dune and Foundation). So, I read Nine Princes in Amber and I loved it. Then re-read it. And again. I honestly think I must’ve read it 10 times. Thing is, 1996 Romania didn’t have two things that are important for me now: many SF/F books and internet. So it took me 7 or 8 years until I got online and found out there were 9 more books in the series! You can imagine my joy.

Anyway, back to the story. I determined that Zelazny was a very cool writer and set out to find more books by him. Until 2007, only four of his books were published here: Nine Princes in Amber, Lord of Light, Damnation Alley and This Immortal. (In 2007, Tritonic started publishing The Amber Chronicles and they’re up to book 6 at the moment.)

So I read Lord of Light (knowing that it was considered Zelazny’s best by many) and was dissapointed. I just couldn’t see what the fuss was about. A few years later, I read it in English (maybe something had been lost in the translation). Nope, the translation was fine, I just didn’t get it. Then, last month, I re-read the book as part of a book club and lo and behold, it was amazing!
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