What do You think about Isle Of The Dead (1969)?
I was never sure if this book was science fiction trying to be a little bit fantasy or vice versa. Zelazny systematically avoids giving us enough detail to make it clear. From the first sentence, it is philosophical. At times it seems merely a prose poem reflecting on life, death, love, wealth, and revenge. The sparse story is just a wireframe on which to arrange those deeper thoughts. Yet even these seem belabored, cold, and distant. The only character that comes alive is Frank Sandow. In the end, I wonder if we really care about him (or were even meant to).
—Bill
I feel like I’ve heard a lot of people talk about how much they love Francis Sandow in Zelazny discussions online. As such, I was excited to dive into this book, and had very high expectations.To put things simply, it was great. But there was something about Isle that I felt kept it from being on the level of stuff like the Amber series, Lord of Light, This Immortal, A Night in the Lonesome October . . . you get the idea. I’m not sure what it was. I think it may have just been that the book felt like it started a little slow to me. Once things really started taking off, it was great, but I wasn’t immediately sucked in like I was with some of the aforementioned titles.The thing I probably liked most was the mythology Zelazny created here. In a lot of his books he used pre-existing mythology and adapted it to a real-world (or, rather, future-real-world) setting (like with Lord of Light and Creatures of Light and Darkness). And I love those books. But in Isle, Zelazny created his own religion (which, as far as I know, wasn’t based on any real mythology) and melded it with the scientific process of “worldscaping.” The idea was that, in order to create a new world, you have to have a sort of God-complex, and that means invoking the power of a deity during the creation process. The question is: are the gods invoked by worldscapers real, or are they just a belief that gives the worldscapers the confidence they need to make their creations?As I write this, I respect Zelazny’s creativity in this book more and more. A part of me wants to give Isle 5 stars, but I’m going to stick with 4 just because it’s becoming too much of a habit to just immediately give Zelazny books 5. (It sorta cheapens things for the rest of the books!)Overall, Isle of the Dead was fantastic, and I’ll be happy to read it again some day.
—Alazzar
Yes, my inspiration came from the departure ceremony of Dra Marling on page 80 of my copy of the novel... Not being telepathic or having a supply of glitten root guided meditation, a form of hypnosis, has been substituted. Smahain honors the ancestors so there is a journey to the barrier of Side, the curtain that separates life from death, and the participants spend some time in conversation with those of theirs who have passed beyond.
—George
