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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Zelazny Trickster Tale...Sort Of,
By
This review is from: The Mask of Loki (Paperback)
Starting in the 12th Century Crusades, "The Mask of Loki" follows the centuries long battle between Loki Laufeyjarson, the Norse trickster god, and Hasan al Sabah, the first and Chief Assassin. Loki uses human avatars throughout the history of these battles, while al Sabah is an immortal sorcerer. Starting with Thomas Amnet - a Knight Templar and White Magician - during the Crusades, Loki's avatars have lost this battle over and over; but, in the 21st Century, the final battle between Loki and al Sabah is at hand and Thomas Gurden, the latest avatar will be thrust into history as Loki must win at all costs.
This is an uneven novel, not a common thing for Zelazny; this is probably due to working with a co-author. When a well known writer starts working with a co-writer late in their career, I always assume that the well known writer writes a complete outline and hands it off the younger writer to do the work. There are glimmers of Zelazny in this book, but that makes it uneven. Plus, jumping back and forth in time is not usually his style. Zelazny usually bulls full steam ahead with the storyline, and this book plods along. I did find the historical aspects of the story interesting, and I did stop abruptly a few times to consult some history books to learn more. But, in the end, I was disappointed with "The Mask of Loki".
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love it when I stumble across another Zelazny book!,
By
This review is from: The Mask of Loki (Paperback)
Even if this one was only begun by Zelazny and fleshed-out by Thomas. This is not just another Vast-Dark-Powers-meet-Unrelenting-Good-Powers saga, oh no! The premise is a fascinating one, one which I think I'd better keep to myself rather than spoil the flowering of the idea as you read the story. The frame leaps from century to century which can get fairly confusing at times, but it of course all makes sense in the end. I love the way Zelazny doesn't *quite* tell you everything you need (or rather, want) to know right off the bat, but lets you put it all together near the end. This one took me longer than most of his books to finish, but I thoroughly enjoyed it; Zelazny is like a dense baklava compared to most fantasy-writer's yellow cake.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Skip the flashbacks for a truer Zelazny experience,
By
This review is from: The Mask of Loki (Paperback)
This is a book from the nadir of Zelazny's life and career as a writer. It's a much better book, though still heavily flawed, if the chapters with the flash backs are skipped. The flashbacks are written out of chracter for Zelazny's usual style of writing so I can only guess that they are Thomas T. Thomas's contribution to this book. The story itself isn't much different than the second half of the Amber series, namely that of Merle and his semi-sentient computer. Zelazny usually doesn't bother with a lot of back story and in his better pieces, Tom Gurgen would have known by about page 30 that he was somehow tied to Loki. He'd have his powers and be trying to figure out why he had them, who wanted them and who he should aly himself with. But here the pacing is off and all the really typical (and good) Zelazny stuff doesn't happen until the last thirty pages of the book!
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