This Immortal – Roger Zelazny

Random House Canada, Copyright 1966, 213 pages

ISBN: 0-441-80696-1

Read: February 2012 (at age 33)

What to Expect:

This Immortal is a stand-alone work of science fiction.  Other than that, I’m not really sure what it was.

From the back cover:

Rumors abound, but the records that should tell the truth about the man called Conrad Nimikos are mysteriously incomplete.  Some say that he once had a different name – that he is the hero who fought the Vegan empire to a standoff.  Some even whisper that he has had other names, through time out of mind.  But for the moment he is Conrad Nimikos, Commissioner of the Earthoffice Department of Arts, Monuments, and Archives, and incidentally the one man who may have a chance to spare the now-helpless Earth a return engagement with the Vegans.

That’s Vegans, as in “from Vega”.  It’s kind of funny that it means something different now.

My comments:  (spoilers ahoy!)

Overall: 

So, this book won a Hugo, huh?  There must be something that I’m missing, then.  I did feel like I was missing something, all the way through.  I just never figured out what the book was about.  There was a lot of Greek mythology in the story, and maybe if I was better grounded in that field, I’d have gotten more out of the book.

Rating: 3

Characters: 

The characters.  Hmm.  There were some very memorable characters.  Conrad.  Hasan.  The Vegan, Cort Myshtigo.  And then there were the rest.  I actually re-read the first 50 pages to try and make sense of who everybody was.  This wasn’t helped by the 1^st person narrator referring to most of the characters by two or more different names.  There were names that seemed to be important, but I never had a picture of the person, even after the book was done. 

Premise:

An immortal is stubbornly defending the Earth from alien invaders, even after they’ve won.  After that, it gets a bit hazy. 

Setting:

The setting was fantastic – a post-apocalyptic earth with Greek mythology popping out of the woodwork.  It was wonderfully described through matter-of-fact observations by our narrator.

Plot:

Well, this is another place where I get a bit confused.  We get a tour of a few places on the Earth.  A bunch of random violence happens, and then the book ends.  Our hero tries to keep the alien alive, because that’s what he’s been asked to do, and doesn't want to kill him without reason.  Other than that… there really didn't seem to be too much there.

One thing I liked about the book:

The aliens were actually superior.  There were lots of colonialism overtones, and it was wonderful.

One thing I didn't like about the book:

I still don’t know what the book is really about.  Even after reading the whole thing, and thinking on it for a while.

Readability:

The writing was excellent, although it took some getting used to.  It was a tougher read than I expected, but it isn't a bad thing to have to concentrate on a book.

Other opinions:

Tor.com, and here, too.

Apparently Jo Walton liked it.  I’m going to read the other 1966 winner (Dune) next, so we’ll see what I think.

Russ' Book Reviews

This book review blog is one of the bigger reasons I started writing them.  Check it out.  This review’s a bit summary, but he’s not a huge fan.

John Walters

A fan.

io9

Excellent essay as to why the book’s great.