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4.0 out of 5 stars
1 great book, 1 good chunk of Zelazny., Aug 17 2002
I'm writing this because nobody else bothered, and a writer of his caliber deserves reviews on everything he ever produced.Well, this is the trouble with double editions: it's impossible to issue a single rating, especially when the two works have markedly different levels of quality, as in this one. So, I'll just do the two separately. Isle of the Dead: Really ... cool. THIS is why we read Zelazny 30-odd years after he set this stuff to paper. Of the SF novels of his I've read, this belongs on that top tier, shared with Lord of Light and at most one or two others. Where sometimes his dazzling style wanders a bit into navel-gazing(which is why he was so bloody good at short stories: they minimize such tendencies), here the descriptions are sharp, the narrator is one of his classics, and the ideas are captivating. The controlling metaphor is pretty cool, the action is exciting, and the psychology of the narrator kept me riveted. In short, this novel is EXACTLY what one thinks when s/he thinks of "good Zelazny". 5 stars. Eye of Cat, on the other hand, seems more like what happens when the old master just sits down and decides, "hey, I'll write a story about X". It's still good; I mean, the man's talents wouldn't have let him write complete tripe if he tried. There are some very interesting moments, too; Cat is a striking presence, and some of the throw-away lines are great. His exploration of "primitivism", however, is patchy, and some parts aren't very convincing; in certain spots he even sounds almost a bit bigoted (people from old tribal cultures can't order their thoughts?), even though it is clear he has respect for Native American cultures. Also, parts of the plot meander and drag. All in all, it's a must-read for those of us hungry for more books that have that signature Zelazny style, but if it weren't in this double, I'd tell you to leave it for later. So: one good + one great novel by Roger Zelazny makes this a good value and a must-buy, but remember, it's the second, shorter one that's the best part.
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