Scan barcode
mariko88's review against another edition
3.0
p. 23 - Un pezzo da museo
p. 33 - Una rosa per l'Ecclesiaste
p. 71 - I grandi, lenti sovrani
p. 78 - Lucifero
p. 84 - Febbre di collezionista
p. 88 - Il mostro e la vergine
p. 90 - Le porte del suo volto, le braci della sua bocca
p. 124 - Devil Car
p. 138 - L'amore è un numero immaginario
p. 145 - Quel momento della tempesta
p. 176 - Divina follia
p. 183 - Le chiavi di dicembre
p. 207 - La montagna dell'infinito
p. 246 - L'uomo che amò la Faioli
p. 254 - Corrida
p. 33 - Una rosa per l'Ecclesiaste
p. 71 - I grandi, lenti sovrani
p. 78 - Lucifero
p. 84 - Febbre di collezionista
p. 88 - Il mostro e la vergine
p. 90 - Le porte del suo volto, le braci della sua bocca
p. 124 - Devil Car
p. 138 - L'amore è un numero immaginario
p. 145 - Quel momento della tempesta
p. 176 - Divina follia
p. 183 - Le chiavi di dicembre
p. 207 - La montagna dell'infinito
p. 246 - L'uomo che amò la Faioli
p. 254 - Corrida
stephenmeansme's review against another edition
3.0
My first full reading of (a collection of works by) Roger Zelazny, whose name gets thrown around as One of the Good Ones in 60s/70s sf. As this is a short-story collection, I'll give each one a rating out of 5 and then take a slightly weighted average for the whole book.
"The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth" ★★★ | Got a bunch of nominations for the Nebula and Hugo awards (it won the '65 Nebula for Best Novelette). Not sure I agree. The setting (waterworld Venus, an intentional diversion from science by Zelazny) and the setup (celebrity-sponsored fishermen hunting for "Ikky," a leviathanesque Venusian sea monster) are very cool. The plot... is fine. The style is... well, stylized in a way that was probably hip in the Sixties but doesn't quite work in $CURRENT_YEAR.
"The Keys to December" ★★½ | Melancholy story about gene-spliced humans (cat-people, specifically, bred for high gravity, cold temperature, and toxic atmosphere) trying to make a new home for themselves after the one they were designed for blows up in a nebula. But the new world has semi-sapient life of its own...
"Devil Car" ★★★½ | Probably some personal bias on account of my liking the "Mad Max" / cars-with-weapons-dueling-in-the-wasteland tropes. This is a short story about a man, his souped-up computerized car, and his quest for vengeance against the titular machine that destroyed his brother. Some cool imagery and good action, with strong spaghetti-Western overtones.
"A Rose for Ecclesiastes" ★★★★ | I'm also a sucker for pulpy Mars stories. In this case, a linguist gets to visit the remnant civilization on Mars to transcribe their histories and legends before they all die. Many allusions to previous "Barsoomian" Mars stories (I think the ending is a sort of melancholy inversion of Burroughs, actually) set in beautiful prose.
"The Monster and the Maiden" ★★ | More of vignette, an obvious inversion of the title trope.
"Collector's Fever" ★★ | A man talks to a talking rock. Amusing but forgettable.
"This Mortal Mountain" ★★★ | Similar in many respects to "The Doors of His Face..." (extreme sports, protagonist out for one last score, estranged from his wife...) but this time on a planet with a mountain that extends above the atmosphere. The setup was good, but the ending wasn't quite up to snuff.
"This Moment of the Storm" ★★★ | Interesting ideas, or at least well-crafted if not original. The actual storyline didn't quite get there for me.
"The Great Slow Kings" ★★½ | Short satirical piece about two lizard-kings who literally live according to geologic time. Not a whole lot to say after that, although the dialogue is amusing on first read.
"A Museum Piece" ★½ | Basically not sf at all; if anything it's sf-ex-machina at the end. The concept (a satiric literalization of "museums are where lesser artists go to die") is sort of amusing but didn't really take off for me.
"Divine Madness" ★★★½ | A man has time-slip seizures that get exacerbated by booze. But what grief caused him to go on a drunken bender in the first place...? Very well written, sitting on the edge of sf and regular literary fiction. The literal mechanics of the time travel nicely parallel what someone in real life might feel like in the protagonist's situation, sans time travel.
"Corrida" ★ | The title is the Spanish word for 'bullfight,' and what's being described is certainly remniscent of a bullfight, but it's mostly just a jumble of images and happenings. Hallucinatory and dull, but mercifully short. Just skip to the next one.
"Love Is An Imaginary Number" ★★½ | Interesting take on the Lucifer/Loki/Coyote/Prometheus archetypes. Worth reading and appreciating for Zelazny's prose, but it's too much of a vignette for me to rate it much higher.
"The Man Who Loved the Faioli" ★★★★ | I really liked this one, probably on par with "A Rose for Ecclesiastes." John Auden, a man who is not always living (a la Cordwainer Smith's "Scanners Live in Vain"), tends a planetary graveyard where robots bring the dead of countless worlds. (That alone is a cool concept.) The Faioli are siren/succubus/nymph-like energy beings who trade carnal pleasure for one's remaining life-force. Auden meets a Faioli... This also reminded me somewhat of George R. R. Martin's early sf story "Fast-Friend" (written 9 years later), so I wonder if GRRM was influenced.
"Lucifer" ★★★ | Ironically, not about a fallen angel-type character as in "Love Is an Imaginary Number," but in other ways the title fits: the protagonist is a bringer of light, and the setting is apocalyptic. Bleak in a very "we must consider Sisyphus happy" sort of way.
OVERALL RATING: ★★★ | I would definitely recommend the title story, "A Rose For Ecclesiastes," "Devil Car," "Divine Madness," and "The Man Who Loved the Faioli." That's, fittingly, 5 out of 15 of the stories.
"The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth" ★★★ | Got a bunch of nominations for the Nebula and Hugo awards (it won the '65 Nebula for Best Novelette). Not sure I agree. The setting (waterworld Venus, an intentional diversion from science by Zelazny) and the setup (celebrity-sponsored fishermen hunting for "Ikky," a leviathanesque Venusian sea monster) are very cool. The plot... is fine. The style is... well, stylized in a way that was probably hip in the Sixties but doesn't quite work in $CURRENT_YEAR.
"The Keys to December" ★★½ | Melancholy story about gene-spliced humans (cat-people, specifically, bred for high gravity, cold temperature, and toxic atmosphere) trying to make a new home for themselves after the one they were designed for blows up in a nebula. But the new world has semi-sapient life of its own...
"Devil Car" ★★★½ | Probably some personal bias on account of my liking the "Mad Max" / cars-with-weapons-dueling-in-the-wasteland tropes. This is a short story about a man, his souped-up computerized car, and his quest for vengeance against the titular machine that destroyed his brother. Some cool imagery and good action, with strong spaghetti-Western overtones.
"A Rose for Ecclesiastes" ★★★★ | I'm also a sucker for pulpy Mars stories. In this case, a linguist gets to visit the remnant civilization on Mars to transcribe their histories and legends before they all die. Many allusions to previous "Barsoomian" Mars stories (I think the ending is a sort of melancholy inversion of Burroughs, actually) set in beautiful prose.
"The Monster and the Maiden" ★★ | More of vignette, an obvious inversion of the title trope.
"Collector's Fever" ★★ | A man talks to a talking rock. Amusing but forgettable.
"This Mortal Mountain" ★★★ | Similar in many respects to "The Doors of His Face..." (extreme sports, protagonist out for one last score, estranged from his wife...) but this time on a planet with a mountain that extends above the atmosphere. The setup was good, but the ending wasn't quite up to snuff.
"This Moment of the Storm" ★★★ | Interesting ideas, or at least well-crafted if not original. The actual storyline didn't quite get there for me.
"The Great Slow Kings" ★★½ | Short satirical piece about two lizard-kings who literally live according to geologic time. Not a whole lot to say after that, although the dialogue is amusing on first read.
"A Museum Piece" ★½ | Basically not sf at all; if anything it's sf-ex-machina at the end. The concept (a satiric literalization of "museums are where lesser artists go to die") is sort of amusing but didn't really take off for me.
"Divine Madness" ★★★½ | A man has time-slip seizures that get exacerbated by booze. But what grief caused him to go on a drunken bender in the first place...? Very well written, sitting on the edge of sf and regular literary fiction. The literal mechanics of the time travel nicely parallel what someone in real life might feel like in the protagonist's situation, sans time travel.
"Corrida" ★ | The title is the Spanish word for 'bullfight,' and what's being described is certainly remniscent of a bullfight, but it's mostly just a jumble of images and happenings. Hallucinatory and dull, but mercifully short. Just skip to the next one.
"Love Is An Imaginary Number" ★★½ | Interesting take on the Lucifer/Loki/Coyote/Prometheus archetypes. Worth reading and appreciating for Zelazny's prose, but it's too much of a vignette for me to rate it much higher.
"The Man Who Loved the Faioli" ★★★★ | I really liked this one, probably on par with "A Rose for Ecclesiastes." John Auden, a man who is not always living (a la Cordwainer Smith's "Scanners Live in Vain"), tends a planetary graveyard where robots bring the dead of countless worlds. (That alone is a cool concept.) The Faioli are siren/succubus/nymph-like energy beings who trade carnal pleasure for one's remaining life-force. Auden meets a Faioli... This also reminded me somewhat of George R. R. Martin's early sf story "Fast-Friend" (written 9 years later), so I wonder if GRRM was influenced.
"Lucifer" ★★★ | Ironically, not about a fallen angel-type character as in "Love Is an Imaginary Number," but in other ways the title fits: the protagonist is a bringer of light, and the setting is apocalyptic. Bleak in a very "we must consider Sisyphus happy" sort of way.
OVERALL RATING: ★★★ | I would definitely recommend the title story, "A Rose For Ecclesiastes," "Devil Car," "Divine Madness," and "The Man Who Loved the Faioli." That's, fittingly, 5 out of 15 of the stories.
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of the best collections I've read as far as the stories being consistently good to great. Below is a short blurb about each story. There may be spoilers there.
Corrida (6.5) Bullfighting, you’re the bull, Satan's the toreador.
The Man Who Loved the Faioli (7.0) I don't really get it but it was just so damn cool. Robot graveyard keeper gets together with life draining, angel/slut of death.
The Monster and the Maiden (7.0) Sacrifice a dragon to a human. Pretty funny, very short like a joke
A Museum Piece (6.5) Short silly, sometimes witty, if you can't be an artist then be art.
Collector's Fever (6.0) Short, quirky, I guess it's a hard sci-fi joke.
Devil Car (7.0) This was cool and fun. Mad Max-ish, but totally original.
Divine Madness (6.0) Man loses wife in car accident, now has siezures where everything happens in reverse. Finally reverses to before accident and stops accident from happening.
Love is an Imaginary Number (6.5) Not bad. Trying to figure out if he's the devil, Prometheus or just man in general.
Lucifer (7.0) Not sure why it's called "Lucifer" but damn is it poignant.
The Great Slow Kings (9.0) Excellent, they're like ents only even slower.
The Keys to December (7.0) Forgot to add notes, but I remember liking it.
The Mortal Mountain (6.0) Original. Team climbs highest mountain ever and is haunted by computers trying to protect a woman dying in the mountain. I didn't get the ending at all.
This Moment of the Storm (7.0) This was good, not super creative but poignant and interesting.
A Rose for Ecclesiastes (7.5) Anyone else would have stopped with the basic plot but he gave it so much more
The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth (9.0) This is Zelazny at the top of his game. Amazing writing. Super witty, cool original plot.
Corrida (6.5) Bullfighting, you’re the bull, Satan's the toreador.
The Man Who Loved the Faioli (7.0) I don't really get it but it was just so damn cool. Robot graveyard keeper gets together with life draining, angel/slut of death.
The Monster and the Maiden (7.0) Sacrifice a dragon to a human. Pretty funny, very short like a joke
A Museum Piece (6.5) Short silly, sometimes witty, if you can't be an artist then be art.
Collector's Fever (6.0) Short, quirky, I guess it's a hard sci-fi joke.
Devil Car (7.0) This was cool and fun. Mad Max-ish, but totally original.
Divine Madness (6.0) Man loses wife in car accident, now has siezures where everything happens in reverse. Finally reverses to before accident and stops accident from happening.
Love is an Imaginary Number (6.5) Not bad. Trying to figure out if he's the devil, Prometheus or just man in general.
Lucifer (7.0) Not sure why it's called "Lucifer" but damn is it poignant.
The Great Slow Kings (9.0) Excellent, they're like ents only even slower.
The Keys to December (7.0) Forgot to add notes, but I remember liking it.
The Mortal Mountain (6.0) Original. Team climbs highest mountain ever and is haunted by computers trying to protect a woman dying in the mountain. I didn't get the ending at all.
This Moment of the Storm (7.0) This was good, not super creative but poignant and interesting.
A Rose for Ecclesiastes (7.5) Anyone else would have stopped with the basic plot but he gave it so much more
The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth (9.0) This is Zelazny at the top of his game. Amazing writing. Super witty, cool original plot.
ebil's review against another edition
4.0
(This listing, and this review, is for the short story itself and not the Zelazny anthology of the same name.) Very interesting, rich prose that warrants multiple workings-over from time to time; lovely classic monster-hunting story. I've been neglecting Zelazny's work more than a classic SF fan should and running across this story has whet my appetite for sure. One star off for the climax and payoff seeming set before the actual climax, which was abrupt in comparison, but I don't presume to know better than the Nebula people :)
una_10bananas's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
phileasfogg's review against another edition
5.0
This is one of my favourite short story collections. I haven't read all of Zelazny, but most of my favourites among his works are in here. (I also really liked Nine Princes in Amber.) Generally I prefer shorter short stories - twenty pages or less - but the stories in this book are an exception: the longer the better.
I doubt Zelazny wrote much that was better than these five stories:
- A Rose for Ecclesiastes
- This Moment of the Storm
- This Mortal Mountain
- The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth
- Devil Car
With honourable mentions to:
- Divine Madness
- The Man Who Loved the Faioli
I did wonder about the title story's title. Huh? It reads like a quotation, but googling it only produced references to the Zelazny story and book.
I doubt Zelazny wrote much that was better than these five stories:
- A Rose for Ecclesiastes
- This Moment of the Storm
- This Mortal Mountain
- The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth
- Devil Car
With honourable mentions to:
- Divine Madness
- The Man Who Loved the Faioli
I did wonder about the title story's title. Huh? It reads like a quotation, but googling it only produced references to the Zelazny story and book.
krakentamer's review against another edition
4.0
This is the second time that I've attempted to read Zelazny. I'd previously tried [b:Lord of Light|13821|Lord of Light|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1330127327s/13821.jpg|1011388], but had to move it to my DNF shelf, as it was too much 60's mysticism. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with this collection, but not all stories were winners. I noticed that there was a ROUGH inverse relation between the length of a story and the number of stars I rated it. Maybe I only enjoy him in short doses?
By far, the best story here was Divine Madness, which has also moved into my list of all-time favorite short stories. Others of particular note: The Keys To December and The Monster and the Maiden.
The DNF's were usually caused either by too much hippy-trippy or too slow of a pace.
The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth: 3 Stars
The Keys to December: 5
Devil Car: 5
A Rose for Ecclesiastes: DNF
The Monster and the Maiden: 5
Collector's Fever: 5
This Mortal Mountain: 4
This Moment of the Storm: DNF
The Great Slow Kings: 5
A Museum Piece: 5
Divine Madness: 5
Corrida: 5
Love Is an Imaginary Number: 4
The Man Who Loved the Faioli: 3
Lucifer: 4
The Furies: DNF
The Graveyard Heart: DNF
If I average all ratings, it's 3.46. Disregarding the DNF's, it's 4.46. So I'll split the difference and rate it 4 stars. I have another Zelazny collection ([b:The Last Defender of Camelot|13822|The Last Defender of Camelot|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422107785s/13822.jpg|1105534]), but will wait a bit before I take it up.
By far, the best story here was Divine Madness, which has also moved into my list of all-time favorite short stories. Others of particular note: The Keys To December and The Monster and the Maiden.
The DNF's were usually caused either by too much hippy-trippy or too slow of a pace.
The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth: 3 Stars
The Keys to December: 5
Devil Car: 5
A Rose for Ecclesiastes: DNF
The Monster and the Maiden: 5
Collector's Fever: 5
This Mortal Mountain: 4
This Moment of the Storm: DNF
The Great Slow Kings: 5
A Museum Piece: 5
Divine Madness: 5
Corrida: 5
Love Is an Imaginary Number: 4
The Man Who Loved the Faioli: 3
Lucifer: 4
The Furies: DNF
The Graveyard Heart: DNF
If I average all ratings, it's 3.46. Disregarding the DNF's, it's 4.46. So I'll split the difference and rate it 4 stars. I have another Zelazny collection ([b:The Last Defender of Camelot|13822|The Last Defender of Camelot|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422107785s/13822.jpg|1105534]), but will wait a bit before I take it up.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
The Doors of His Face, The Lamp of His Mouth","Roger Zelazny","1596871423","review","The title story is the best one. But Zelazny is terrific in all of them.
dllman05's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
codeeater's review against another edition
3.0
Die Türen seines Gesichts: *** 1/2
Dezemberwelt: ****
Der Teufelswagen: ****
Die 2224 Tänze des Locar: ****
Der Drache und die Jungfrau: ***
Der Sammler: ***
Die Graue Schwester: ***
Sturm über Tierra del Cygnus: *** 1/2
Die großen, trägen Herrscher: **
Museumsstück: **
Göttlicher Wahnsinn: ***
Corrida: **
Liebe ist eine imaginäre Zahl: **
Der Mann, der die Faioli liebte: ***
Luzifer: ***
Dezemberwelt: ****
Der Teufelswagen: ****
Die 2224 Tänze des Locar: ****
Der Drache und die Jungfrau: ***
Der Sammler: ***
Die Graue Schwester: ***
Sturm über Tierra del Cygnus: *** 1/2
Die großen, trägen Herrscher: **
Museumsstück: **
Göttlicher Wahnsinn: ***
Corrida: **
Liebe ist eine imaginäre Zahl: **
Der Mann, der die Faioli liebte: ***
Luzifer: ***