Review: Zelazny’s Manna from Heaven
I found out about Manna from Heaven a bit ago and when I was stymied in trying to get Betancourt’s Amber and Chaos, I felt the need for some more time in Amber and Manna from Heaven promised a few short stories in the setting. I’d settle for some crumbs from the master.
So I haven’t loved everything I’ve read by Zelazny. I loved the Amber novels (a lot), especially the original 5 as well as Lord of Light. I didn’t love Jack of Shadows or Donnerjack. So I was curious to see what I’d make of these short stories. Also, I tend not to read too much in the way of short stories in SF/F - if I really like a story, especially in SF/F I hate leaving it (why do you think I’ve been trying to read Betancourt’s Amber novels??) and short stories especially leave me vainly wanting more.
Having set that scene, Manna from Heaven was definitely a worthy read. As with any collection of short stories there are ones I really enjoyed and others that I could have lived with out. But the writing both in terms of content and style seems so diverse, there’s something there that is identifiably Zelazny, but each one is quite different from the others, which I really appreciate.
The book starts out the strongest - I really enjoyed Godson, Mana from Heaven and Prince of the Powers of this World. Stories about a guy growing up with the fact that Death is his godfather and another with a really interesting take on magic and how it was and came to be, all the way to a slightly lopsided view of the saviour. He pulls you in easily with mystery - you immediately want to find more both about what’s happening and about what new world he’s defined. And he builds these worlds deftly in very few pages - something that I’d imagine is incredibly difficult to do. I think he does it by letting you fill in the blanks yourself, he just keeps telling the story without needing to go into backstory or explain new concepts and he gives his readers enough respect to believe that they can figure out how things are working as they read.
I think that is what really gives him the power to develop these strange and diverse stories so effectively. It also engages you, the reader, in the process so you’re really thinking about things and trying to figure them out as you go.
The Amber part at the back of the book, I found was good, but not great. It seemed to be more of the first few chapters of a new novel succeeding the second five-ology - featuring Merlin, Luke, Corwin and speaking of the just past events of that set of Amber books. I wish it had been more self contained stories, more vignettes set in that world - I would have loved some short stories told from the viewpoint of other’s from Amber or the Courts of Chaos.
Overall, it’s a pretty strong set of stories (although the cover is a little cheesy, if you ask me). It’s got a nice introduction by Steven Brust, another favourite of mine. I’m definitely happy to have read them and sad only that there can’t be any more. Check it out.
