Lord of Light (1969)

In the 1960s, Roger Zelazny dazzled the SF world with what seemed to be inexhaustible talent & inventiveness. Lord of Light, his 3rd novel, is his finest a science fantasy in which the intricate, colorful mechanisms of Hindu religion, capricious gods & repeated reincarnations are wittily underpinned by technology. "For six days he had offered many kilowatts of prayer, but the static kept him from being heard On High." The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world; developed godlike--tho often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies; & now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops & weapons, plays dirty with politics & poison, & dies horribly but won't stay dead. It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language & one unforgivable pun that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading.--David Langford