This Immortal (1966 original; edició 1966)

For Zelazny fans, this is a worthwhile read. For those new to Zelazny, you'll probably want to start somewhere else. (I recommend Lord of Light).

I loved many of the scenes in this book, and yet it never quite came together. I think this was for two reasons: first, the quality of the iBooks Kindle version is low enough to be annoying. I recommend against it. Ideally, this would not affect my rating, but until I can read a better version, it's the only impression I have.

The other challenge I had is that the pacing never quite grabbed me. After reading it, I learned that this was a novelization of a serialization. I suspect that if I had gone into this knowing that, then I would have enjoyed it more. ( )

The novel is filled with allusions and hints and name-dropping and metaphors that display Zelazny’s interest and knowledge of ancient Greek (and other) mythologies. Overall, the novel wants you to like it and as a reader I really wanted to, as well. So engaging and breezy, but ultimately ridiculous and stupid. It is really quite like taking the well-worn concept of “humans do not treat their planet well” and then turning it into some Edwardian/ancient Greek farce. What did Zelazny want to do with this? He did not know, either, I think. Its mid-1960s sentiment with some leftover 1940s pulp. Good luck, readers. ( )

Hmm.. Not my favorite Zelazny. Not much of a plot, llthough parts of the story were very good. The mythology mainly. ( )

For a long time, Zelazny was my favorite author and he definitely had much to do with the shaping of my world view. This isn't one of my favorites, although a good read. I find the protagonist's view of women problematic, and every tense violent situation has a 'just in time' rescue. On the other hand, his deep Greek folklore in a post-apocalyptic setting is intriguing, if under explored. ( )

This is Zelazny's first novel - and, unfortunately, it shows. There's enough plot for a taut novella but this is bulked up to twice that size by lengthy, dull conversations and superfluous or overly emphasized fight scenes. The characters are not particularly interesting and the plot, such as there is of it, is basically incomprehensible until explained by a pile of exposition at the end. I can't really recommend this even to Zelazny fans.