For me, it might be Zelazny's "Lord of Light". it's a great tale about humans who come to rule a planet by scientifically giving themselves powers to match those of the Hindu pantheon. The powers are given to those called the First--the crew and passengers of the ship that brought the humans to the planet. The planet was already inhabited by malevolent--will, cruelly prankish--beings of energy that are soon considered to be "demons", as well as other beings of various near-mystical abilities. So, the First, by giving themselves powers, fight these evil entities over centuries, and by dint of machines that transfer their spirits to new bodies, are immortal. In time they are regarded by the rest of the human population --all descened from the First, but mostly kept ignorant of their pasts--as the true Hindi gods. The "gods" keep the populace in thrall by making sure they never progress beyond a certain level of technology. Whenever someone discovers gunpowder, the printing press, electricity, etc., the gods declare some kind of holy punishment and eliminate that person's discoveries, records--and life. The book deals with one of the First--Sam-- who decides to fight the power structure. He models himself after Siddharta, and in a way uses the game of the gods against them. The story plays out over two or three lifetimes, (incarnations) of Sam's, as he tries to turn some of the gods against their follows, and bring enlightenment and learning to the rest of the world. It's told with Zelazny's wit and caustic sense of humor ,and is an amazing blend of philosophy, good scifi, and just good storytelling.
----- Original Message ----- From: "ravenadal" <ravena...@yahoo.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 7:46:14 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] What was the last SF novel you read that made you go "WOW!"? The question about Asimov's "Foundation" septology leads me to ask what was the last SF novel you read that made you go "WOW!" And, by that, I mean the last novel that made your head spin around. For me it was William Gibson's "Neuromancer" and that was published in 1984, twenty-five years ago! By-the-by, I am only interested in novel novels - do not summit graphic novels. Thanks, ~rave!
