Lord of Light is a wonderful concept, let down by a lack of depth, and a confusing veil of Indian myth concealing very one dimensional characters. Zelazny seems to have been intent on writing based on the setting, and yet does not seem to know how to make it not come out as a convoluted mess of names, with many of the cast indistinguishable from each other.
Ultimately, Lord of Light is a story of revenge and liberation. Unfortunately we are trapped in a man made heaven, with a bunch of egotistical self made gods, with little or no focus on the oppressed or their interpretation of the "gods".As to why these rulers decided to play out Indian myth is unclear, much like the plot for the rest of the book.
The writing style is difficult to follow, conversations flow with no indication of the speaker, and action plays out in scenes I found difficult to visualise. There is some interesting debate, and philosophical musing, but it is severely let down by a indecipherable mess of a story, which never engaged me to any significant degree. The main meat of the story is contained in the final few chapters and the events appear rushed, resulting in a distinctly unsatisfying conclusion. I was really wanting to like this novel, the setting appealed greatly to me, but ultimately all I'm left feeling is very let down!
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