Bridge of Ashes

Another blend of fantasy & SF. A futuristic world where space travel & psi talent are both commonplace. When a boy is born with a gift of telepathy that is so powerful that it becomes a curse - even moving him to the moon isn't the answer. He taps into too many minds, including one that is extremely unique mind that belongs to a man who knows how we were created & why we are here. Our societal problems are explained & time seems to wrap. Tightly written in a broken series of mental flashes & a variety of scenes, told from several points of view that carry a sense of discovery to the reader that a straight narration wouldn't have done. Very well done, as usual & expected.

Zelazny's sci-fi is like no one else's - very personal, always thought provoking. Man struggles to outwit the extraterrestrial masters who have laid claim to Earth. For 1976, Zelazny is prescient: “'The wealthy, powerful nations owe their power, their wealth, their standards of existence, to the sort of exploitation the others are now being called upon to forgo - and the call comes just at the point when those others are approaching a position where they can indulge in the same sorts of enterprise and reap similar benefits.'”

Alien invaders have manipulated humans for millennia in order to create the post-ecological-catastrophe environment that is their natural habitat. Because of pollution, the self-destruction of the human race is imminent.

Dennis Guise is a 13-year-old boy, the most powerful telepath in the world, and the sheer volume of thoughts inadvertently received from others is catatonic. He sometimes takes on whole personalities, often famous people, living or dead.

Through therapy, he eliminates these people from his mind and learns to block the experiential input of others. He can then be his own person. He decides to help a mysterious figure called the dark man convince the aliens to leave Earth, and they are successful.

I haven't read any Zelazny in a while, but this was definitely what I remember. Short, to the point, not
a ton of character building, sometimes surreal and incomprehensible, interesting plot, quick ending.

This isn't the worst book I've read from him, but I would only recommend it to hardcore fans.