Jack of Shadows

I first read this Zelazny novella a lifetime ago; I liked it then and I like it now, though I'm certain I see it in a different light given that lifetime's experience. Zelazny was enamoured of mythology, and that's what he presents here: a myth. It's trifle of a story, really, but like all good myths, speaks to deeper truths.

"Jack of Shadows" tracks as if the story of Prometheus mingled with "How the Leopard Got its Spots," and a _Just-So Stories_ version of the world reborn through an antihero came to be. There's a not-too-subtle similarity in "JoS" to the conflict and relationship between Ged and a wandering spirit of his doing in Le Guin's "A Wizard of Earthsea" to Jack's own through the last half, but with a very distinct role show more reversal. It is, frankly, satisfying. Though Jack is an unsavory and unreliable narrator, his is the best p-o-v for this telling since Zelazny's gift was to make 'dark wry' the best loaf of all. show less

3.5 stars actually.

If I did not know the actual dating of Zelazny's novels and was forced to guess at the chronology, I would situate both Jack of Shadows and Creatures of Light and Darkness as successive ur novels with the payoff being his masterpiece, Lord of Light.

In fact, the ordering is just the opposite, with Creatures of Light and Darkness and Jack of Shadows coming as enjoyable but lesser echos of Lord of Light. I suppose someone could argue the powerful simplicity of Jack's tale is like Shakespeare distilling and simplifying to produce The Tempest, but, alas, for me, no...

If you have not read Zelazny, I would not start here though this book is very much worth reading. Whatever the order in which you do end up reading Zelazny's show more corpus, Lord of Light is your ultimate destination. show less

I’m a big fan of Roger Zelazny’s books, mainly because he managed to cram so much into his books. Jack of Shadows is no exception. In a world half in darkness, ruled by magic, half in light, ruled by science, Jack of Shadows challenges the mighty and seeks his revenge.

In a lesser (or, to be honest, a more recent) author this might take five books and several thousand pages, Zelazny manages to weave a remarkably intelligent yarn. Although simple, the story is not simplistic, and for a thirty year old minor novel, Jack of Shadows takes a view of power and evil that seems remarkably sophisticated when placed next to today’s “epic” fantasy. It was never going to win literary prizes, and contains many elements re-used in his more show more famous works, but it’s worth picking up if you fancy a short break from farm boys becoming kings. show less

Not my favorite work by Zelazny; it's a world inhabited by reason (the daylight side of the earth) and magic (the night). We don't really have a satisfactory answer as to why the earth no longer rotates, and sadly, I prefer answers. The language is rich, the characters engaging, but I think this was about the era that Roger started to lose me.

A short fantasy novel from the early 70s, featuring a world divided into two halves, one of strange magical powers and permanent night and one of science and technology in the light of permanent day, focused on a being from the dark side, a thief called Jack, who has power over shadows.

Which makes it sound like a much more mundane kind of story than it actually is. In reality, it has a slightly surreal, slightly myth-like feel to it, and every time I felt like I was getting some kind of handle on the world or the story, it'd go somewhere I wasn't expecting and didn't feel remotely sure about. Most of the way through, I kept thinking that it was interesting and (as is usual for Zelazny) well-written, but that it felt more like an odd show more little writing exercise than a novel, and there was no way it was going to be entirely satisfying. And yet, in the end... I liked it, possibly more than I feel like I really should.

Rating: a bemused and possibly over-generous 4/5. show less

The old saying goes that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, But Zelazny raises the question in this book, does power corrupt or does power simply reveal what was already there. Is power the light that reveals what lurks in the shadows? Zelazny's tale of the thief who breaks the world has quite a few parallels to his 'Amber' series. For fans of Amber this one has intrigue, magic, as well as plots of double cross, revenge and power. Betrayed by his employer and the one he loves, Jack of the Shadow Guard, one of the Lords of the realm of darkness fights back against impossible odds to reclaim himself and enact his vengeance. But at the height of his revenge and power he earns the title Jack of Evil to replace Jack of show more Shadows. He is more powerful than all the darksiders - but can he stop the world from ending? This one is out of print and hard to find, but was worth the search. show less

This was kind of fun. Nice and short, not very similar to anything else I can immediately think of, and the the character seemed appropriately motivated to do what was done (half the books I read make me question why on earth characters would behave that way, outside of "the plot requires it.") It's also an elegantly-written, moody sort of a read, and while not particularly comic, it had a certain wry sensibility that can raise a smile from time-to-time.

Most of all it seemed old-fashioned (in the best possible way) and dreamlike, like an easier-to-read Worm Ouroboros, or a vastly shorter The Night Land, and is slightly episodic (somewhat like Anvil of the World). Hard to describe, worth the effort.