Book Review: Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny

Book Review: Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny

"I am Jack of Shadows!" he cried out. "Lord of Shadowguard! I am Shadowjack the thief who walks in silence and in shadows!..." pg 85 First Signet Printing August 1972

This is the story of one of the powers of Darkside. Sometime in the future the world has stopped spinning. The Darkside has magic and power and the Shield Compact to hold off the icy cold from space. The Lightside has technology and forcefields to hold the eternally shining Sun at bay. Both parts of the world are separated by Twilight, an in-between section of the world where both sets of rules work on an intermittent or slow basis.

This is the story of Jack of Shadows. He was beheaded when he was caught observing the singular Hellflame. Being a Power of the Twilight, he arose and strode across the lands seeking vengeance on those that caused his untimely death.

This is the story of possession, either of others or avarice in material items. It is also a story of friendship and devotion as well as to inevitable change coming to a static society, with lies and politics involved.

This is one of the finest of Roger Zelazny's novels. While short at 142 pages, it is one of this reviewers most frequently re-read novels.

The story is, in this writer's mind, intricately caught up with the song Moonshadow by Cat Stevens and the Eerie Magazine, especially the issues with Moonshadow (an assassin in a dark magical land as far as I can recall that far back 30 plus years).
In reading on the old series, it perhaps was more in memory than in actuality. However it is still linked in my mind to this novel.

No more spoilers in this review save to state, this is one of the most endearing and enduring novels in Mr Zelazny's epic writing career. A shame there were are not more stories of Jack of Shadows, Shadowjack the Thief, Lord of Shadowguard.



This novel Jack of Shadows, Isle of the Dead, Donnerjack, and Lord of Light are perhaps my favorites of his, beating out the Enduring Amber Novels for my personal reading pleasure. They do all have some shared characteristics, mixture of fantasy and sf, which has carried on to this day in a strong overall reading preference of this reviewer.

A superb novel.



Links:

Jack of Shadows on Wikipedia

Moonshadow the song by Cat Stevens on Wikipedia

Eerie Magazine on Wikipedia

A superb blog covering Eerie and other Warren Comics of the time period

A note I recall owning this particular issue based on the cover art Eerie 92



Note:

The cover illustrator is not noted in the frontispiece of the novel. The art chosen is for the edition I own purchased sometime in High School, when it was newly published.