Manna from Heaven

Enjoyment of stories is pretty subjective but it's hard not to argue that this collection is not of Zelazny's better work and I have read most of what is in print; my star rating reflects the unevenness of the haul. Some stories, such as "Godson," "Mana From Heaven," and "Epithalamium" were both new to me and satisfying in that familiar RZ flavor but there were others ("Prince of the Powers of the World" and "The House of the Hanged Man") that really felt like rough drafts. Further, "The Last Inn on the Road" may be the least satisfying Zelazny story I've ever read.

The Amber stories that wind up the collection were a pleasant surprise, together making a piece to fill a gap in the greater Amber corpus and doing so playfully. Really, show more though, any Amber tale with Vialle in it has my attention and Luke gets a bit better fleshed out. These taken together make me happy enough BUT this is certainly not a book for the Zelazny newbie....more like for Completists. show less

I was first introduced to the writings of Roger Zelazny when my evil twin loaned me his "Chronicles of Amber." Someday I'll have to reread them again and review them for all of you, my friends, but for now let me just say that I love the series! Zelazny is an author who writes with depth, complexity, and a fair amount of humor.

In "Manna from Heaven" we have a collection of short stories by Zelazny. After having read the Amber books through twice it was really interesting to me to sit down and read some of his writing that was completely unrelated! Well, not completely, the last few stories are based in Amber. Sadly, these stories hint that he intended to add to the Amber saga, but he has since passed on and will not be writing anything show more else.

One thing I really enjoyed about reading these stories is that your often left thinking. It's always up to the reader to interpret what they've read, but how often do we walk away from a short story pondering what we've read and imagining the implications and where the story might go next? You'll find yourself doing that with many, if not all, of these stories. And the best part? You probably will walk away with very different thoughts than I would, and neither of us would be wrong. show less

A collection of short stories by a master. There are some that are unique to this book, a few others are scattered about. Best of all, there are most of the stories that help fill in the Amber series. I think there are 3 of them, while there are 4 total. Not positive, though. Anyway, if you like fantasy short stories, I highly recommend this - if you can find it! (No, I won't lend out my copy.)

http://www.livejournal.com/users/nhw/303943.html

I confess to being a little underwhelmed by this collection. Zelazny was one of my favourite authors, but all the good stories here were ones I had read before. (And what is the point of the title? One of the stories here is "Mana from Heaven" but the extra "n" changes the meaning entirely.) It was interesting to realise that the same character pops up in "Kalifriki of the Thread" and "Come Back to the Killing Ground, Alice, My Love"; and the six short glimpses of Amber give some hope that a third series of books set in that universe would have been better than the second. But I should have waited until it came out in paperback (if it ever does).

Not his greatest, but a nice treat (but then Zelazny's "C" work is still better than most other writers). Required for Zelazny fans/completists.

Contains all the short stories pertaining to the Amber series of novels, as well as some previously unpublished short stories.