Isle of the Dead (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Isle of the Dead
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (paperback)
author = Roger Zelazny
illustrator =
cover_artist = Leo and Diane Dillon
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Ace Books
release_date = 1969
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
pages = 190 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-441-37469-7
preceded_by =
followed_by = "Isle of the Dead" is a science fiction novel by Roger Zelazny published in 1969. It is inspired in part by the eponymous painting. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1969, and won the French Prix Apollo in 1972.

Plot introduction

Francis Sandow is the last surviving human born in the 20th century. An early space colonist, he spent long centuries of space travel in suspended animation, and then suddenly woke in a far future world where everything had changed. Desperate for something to hold to, he sought out a mentor, who happened to be a member of a slowly dying alien race, the Pei'ans. Under this tutelage, Sandow eventually became a telepath and "worldscaper". Worldscapers have the ability to create and/or terraform planets. The process of becoming a worldscaper culminates in a mystic rite called Naming that binds the mortal to one of the gods in the Pei'an pantheon, and it is believed that the worldscaper is actually acting as an avatar for the god. There are only twenty seven worldscapers in existence; Sandow, bound to Shimbo of Darktree, Shrugger of Thunders, is the only non-Pei'an among them (although outworlders are welcome to practice the religion, which is called Strantri; Sandow opines it will be the first major religion to outlive its founders). While the rite of Naming was once reserved for the high priests of the Pei'an religion, modern Pei'an worldscapers tend to think of their relationships with the gods much more in terms of mental constructs, and Sandow is a confirmed agnostic as far as the objective existence of the gods is concerned.

At the beginning of the novel, Sandow is one of the most famous men in the Galaxy, wealthy beyond imagination, living a life of seclusion and luxury in worlds he fashions according to his taste. But he is lured into action by a series of photographs sent to him anonymously, showing him old enemies, old friends, and old lovers -- most of whom should be dead, but appearing in the photographs to be alive.

The novel is partly a tribute to Ernest Hemingway and some of its meditative sequences are written in a Hemingway-like style. Through Sandow's narrative, Zelazny presents observations on 20th-century American culture and how it has changed as other planets are created or discovered. An episode in a luxurious city of an earth colony leads to a rant on gratuities, for example.

Eventually Sandow makes his way to Illyria, a world he created as an idyllic paradise, but finds it has been severely damaged. The enemy is a Pei'an rival who as an orthodox member of the faith feels that Sandow's Naming was sacrilege. The ultimate conflict takes place on the Isle of the Dead, at the center of a great lake. It is a replica of Arnold Böcklin's famous "Isle of the Dead" painting.

Sandow also appears as a character in "To Die in Italbar" (1973) and the short story "Dismal Light" in the collection "Unicorn Variations".

Plot summary

Sandow is jolted from his wealthy, indolent lifestyle by a series of messages, each accompanied by a picture of one of a number of people once important to him, and all dead for many years. Sandow realizes the pictures could be fake, and he has other obligations, one of which is responding to a call for help from a friend, Ruth Laris. In the course of investigating her disappearance, he receives another message that he will find all his friends "on the Isle of the Dead". The message is in Pei'an, addressed to "Shimbo" (the name of the Pei'an god connected with Sandow) and signed by "Belion" (Shimbo's traditional enemy in Pei'an mythology).

Sandow soon learns that somebody has been stealing the memory records and tissue samples of people who died on Earth. These things are required of everyone who lives on Earth, so they can be recalled to life should the need arise. The six missing sets are of the people whose photos Sandow received.

Visiting his Pei'an mentor Marling, who is dying, Sandow learns that his tormentor is Gringrin, another Pei'an who was denied communion with a deity despite passing almost all the tests. Gringrin vowed revenge on the other worldscapers, starting with Sandow. Somehow Gringrin has been able to unite himself with Belion.

Sandow helps his mentor end his life with the "glitten" root ceremony, in which two telepaths take the hallucinogenic root and have a shared dream, from which only one returns alive. This is also used for duelling between telepaths, which is what Sandow must do when he finds Gringrin. After the funeral, Sandow sets out for Illyria, the world he made which has the Isle of the Dead.

Landing by stealth, and armed to the teeth, he sets out to walk the remaining distance to the Isle of the Dead. He now believes that Gringrin intended him to be lured there, and slowly humiliated before all the people who ever mattered to him. He is sure Gringrin has made a major mistake by staging this on a world Sandow made. All the forces on the planet will be allied with Sandow; he is the world's God.

He comes upon Gringrin himself, alive but injured. Things have gone badly wrong. One of the recalled persons is Mike Shandon, a con man who is also a telepath, and a deadly enemy of Sandow's. He has persuaded the god Belion to abandon Gringrin and go to him. Apparently the Pei'an gods are real and Gringrin, attempting to ordain himself independently, asked for a creative spirit to come to him, but instead was chosen by Belion. Now, Belion's abandoned him and gone to Shandon. Gringrin wants to flee, but Sandow is determined to rescue as many of his friends as possible.

As the two cross the river to the island they meet more of Sandow's revived enemies and friends. From one of them, a feisty dwarf named Nick, Sandow learns that his recalled wife Kathy is having an affair with Shandon.

Sandow decides to buy Shandon off, which he is well-equipped to do. As the two negotiate and link minds to confirm the deal, the gods assert themselves and a battle begins in which Shimbo's air and water battle Belion's earth and fire. A storm rages as the ground shakes and splits. Both Sandow and Shandon are consumed by their godgame, until Sandow sees Nick try to help Kathy, only to fall with her into a fissure. Both die, and at the same moment Shimbo deserts him. Shandon/ Belion continues attacking, and Sandow goes down under a pile of rocks, breaking his leg. Sandow has one last trick - a laser weapon surgically implanted in his middle finger. In a supremely ironic gesture, he "gives Shandon the finger", killing him and ending the battle.

Sandow crawls away to find a "power-pull" energy nexus, so he can use its energies to summon his orbiting ship. On the way he meets Gringrin, mortally wounded. Gringrin begs him to perform the "glitten" rite with him. In a psychedelic trance, Sandow faces Death in the shape of the Valley of Shadows. But he sees all the worlds he has made, and realizes that as long as he can create life, casting worlds like "jewels in the darkness", he has a purpose. Gringrin in turn loses his dread of death, and walks happily into the Valley.

Waking, Sandow crawls on and encounters his last revived friend, Lady Karle, alive but entombed in a cave. Sandow bitterly dismisses her cries and goes on, but once reunited with his ship he goes back for her. They hobble to the ship together.

External links

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* [http://www.toteninsel.net/ Toteninsel.net: an encyclopedia in progress dedicated to A.Bocklin's Isle of the Dead: copies, parodies, inspirations...]