Jack of Shadows

Roger Zelazny

Completed 8/11/2019, Reviewed 8/17/2019

4 stars

I really like Zelazny’s work.  He comes up with some really strange concepts.  This short but complicated novel was a mix of fantasy and science fiction, and though at times the execution seemed a little off, it was still a masterful work.  The book was nominated for a Hugo when it first came out in 1971, but has long since been out of print.  It’s recently been put on e-book and I was glad to pick it up as a cheap Deal of the Day. 

In this universe, the Earth doesn’t rotate.  One side always faces the sun.  That side is the land of science and technology.  On the side that faces away from the sun, it is a land of magic.  Jack of Shadows is a master thief who lives in both worlds.  He doesn’t have a soul, like the people of the dark side, and he has mighty powers that draw from shadow.  He can’t work his magic in the total light or total darkness.  He must have a shadow in which to use his powers.  The book begins with his execution.  He was recognized and captured while trying to steal a great treasure.  After dying, he’s resurrected like all dark-siders, though only a specific number of times, and takes his revenge on the people who did him in, including the powerful Lord of Bats. 

Jack is basically an anti-hero.  He’s not really that likeable, and by the end of the book, you question whether he is good or not.  But he is still an interesting character.  The book is basically about his journey from his resurrection point on the dark side in the dung pits to the light side, and then back to the dark side.  His only friend is what seems like an angel or demon captured and chained down by the gods who can foresee the future. 

This is a short book, as many of Zelazny’s books are.  He manages to cram a lot of plot into it.  He’s short on character development, though, with the other characters, especially the women.  There is one woman though who gets a fair amount of page time.  She’s a light side woman who has learned some magic and now lives on the dark side.  She’s an interesting character as well, having once been a love interest of Jack’s, but is now old.  Jack of course isn’t old because he gets resurrected repeatedly (although we know it’s only a limited number of times). 

The book has some flaws, like the two dimensional-ness of the other characters.  The whole second half seems like a different book from the first half.  It’s much darker and is the part where you really start to dislike Jack.  But the ending makes up for it.  I give the book four stars out of five because the despite the problems, I really enjoyed it.  Like most of the books of Zelazny’s I’ve read, it’s very unique, feeling like it’s nothing I’ve read before.