Roger Zelanzy is a reliable sci-fi writer, who generally delivers. This is a bit quirky, but I found it very enjoyable.

Ich habe von Zelazny noch nicht viel gelesen. Sein Stil ist etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig, aber unterhaltsam.Das Buch handelt von einen ewigen Schüler und dem Verschwinden eines Sternsteins. Es hat einige Intrigen und viele Wendungen durchaus in einem humorigen Stil.

Auf ca. 181 Seiten ist es eine kurze Lektüre, aber es fühlt sich ungefähr richtig an. Gutes Stück Science-Fiction, das für einen Hugo und einen Nebula nominiert, aber leider keinen gewonne hat. Empfehlenswert.

Some elements of Roger Zelazny’s Doorways in the Sand haven’t aged well in the 40 years since it was first published. Protagonist Fred Cassidy lives in a world that has, on the one hand, made contact with alien life forms, but, on the other, contains lots of chain-smoking; no 24/7 news channels, fax machines or Internet; and nothing but landline telephones — jarring to 21st century readers. But Zelazny more than makes up for those near-anachronisms by sending readers on a roller coaster of a ride.

Equal parts hard science-fiction novel and suspense thriller, Doorways in the Sand follows the cynical, aimless but very clever Cassidy, who has spent the last 13 years as a full-time university student, due to the peculiarities of Cassidy’s uncle’s will. The wise-cracking though philosophical Cassidy finds himself besieged by State Department agents, hard-core criminals and a wombat and kangaroo (the latter are aliens in disguise) — all of them in search of a star-stone, a relic entrusted by the alien federation to the United Nations that has disappeared. The many twists and cliffhangers will have readers glued to this novel until the last page. This is the sci-fi novel that even those who aren’t fans of the genre will love, high praise, indeed.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Farrago in exchange for an honest review.

If you're looking for a slightly different and more lighthearted scifi to relax with, Doorways in the Sand is for you. I mean, you could probably tell that from the cover anyway. Doorways in the Sand is actually no newcomer – first released in 1976, it was nominated for the Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. This year, we are seeing Farrago bring this witty classic back for a new incarnation!

Fred Cassidy is actually quite happy with his life, thank you very much. He has very actively been trying NOT TO graduate his university for the past god knows how many years - simply because his previously cryogenated uncle has provided a trust fund for him, so long as he's a student. But one day... He is basically bullied into graduating by outside circumstances, and furthermore, forced into quite a funny affair, involving an ancient intergalactic artefact and a lot of angry aliens and humans trying to find it. This isn't your traditional sci-fi and you know it. I mean, just look at that cover.

Reason #1. We Are Talking Assassin's Creed + Scifi Here
The main character climbs buildings to relax. You could find him on the roof of a university campus building on a quiet evening any day. In fact, the campus has even come up with specific rules regarding this, because of him. I don't know about you, but it only makes me think of this: [assassin's creed gif]

Reason #2. Oh My Gosh, The Aliens!
They are so refreshing! The aliens dress up as a wombat, a kangaroo and a donkey - TO BLEND IN. It was so bizarre (and bizarrely amazing!) that it just... worked. Basically, you've got talking and smoking kangaroos. And they say things like "on the other paw". It's pretty hilarious!

Reason #3. The Villain... In Style
So I was very partial to the villain. I will not give major spoilers... let's just say all aliens follow the same style in this book. Only, you know, more in style.

Reason #4. It's Very Witty And Lighthearted
If you're tired of serious spacey sci-fi, then Doorways in the Sand is the right book for you. You won't find seriousness here. I thought we were already clear about this when I told you about the roof-climbing protag and the kangaroo aliens!!

Reason #5. You'll Never Expect To Go Where It's Taking You
I mean, that's all I should really say. Anything else would be a spoiler. So just take the trip yourself.

Other Books You Might Like
It seems, I never fail to recommend Way Station, whenever scifi is involved, do I? It's just that good. But in connection to Doorways in the Sand, it shares a similar topic of a missing/discovered intergalactic artefact that causes a lot of interesting things to happen. I also never seem to fail to recommend Slaves of the Switchboard of Doom – which is definitely one of my favorite scifis ever. What it shares with Doorways in the Sand is its wittiness and lighthearted manner. And of course, if it's wittiness we seek, we must not forget The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

I thank Farrago for giving me a copy of the book in exchange to my honest opinion.

Something of a nostalgic and memorable children's fairy tale and a riveting detective novel, Doorways in the Sand is out there among the most memorable. You're switching between various realities and even getting your usual dash of Terry Pratchett-like humor. There's never a dull moment and the humorous dialogue reasserts itself as a story element which keeps the pages turning.

3.5 stars. The first 2/3 of the book are great fun, light science fiction with good solid science. Unfortunately, the last 1/3 is pretty contrived and over-the-top.

<b>Reminds me of a student friend of mine at MIT in the 1970s, Russ W., who also managed to never quite graduate for many, many years!</b>

Nice quote
<I>"As a student of business administration, I know that there is a law of evolution for organizations as stringent and inevitable as anything in life. The longer one exists, the more it grinds out restrictions that slow its own functions. It reaches entropy in a state of total narcissism. Only the people sufficiently far out in the field get anything done, and every time they do they are breaking half a dozen rules in the process.”</i>

12.0% "... a bit dated but fun. Reminds me of a student-friend of mine at MIT in the 1970s, Russ W. who also managed to never quite graduate for many, many years."

14.0% ".... some fine humourous exposition here."

24.0% ".... now the book is great fun."

37.0% "... why is it so few books have a hero/protagonist named: Fred"

71.0% "... this was great fun, very cute until 2/3 the way through. Then it got verbose and overly complicated just for show. Too bad."

This was a really interesting story, it was very confusing at first but I loved how the plot intertwined and the fact that aliens were in touch with the planet. The characters were fascinating, I just wish it had been a bit clearer sooner: there seemed to be random things put in and I had no idea what was going on.

I first read this novel more than thirty years ago when I was a teenager and Zelazny was my science fiction hero. I never thought this to be among the best of his novels and did wonder if after such a gap of time I would still enjoy it. The answer is a resounding yes! Witty, inventive and intelligent at all times, the book has stood the test of time. Funny now, to read of a world where aliens have made contact but which still uses old fashioned telephones and the internet is unknown. Still, it is a test of a novel's quality that such matters do not detract from the overall experience of pleasure when reading a novel for the second time.

Zelazny is a master in the sci-fi and fantasy genre, which is why this one was surprisingly disappointing for me. It tells the story of Fred Cassidy, an eternal undergraduate, who finds himself in the middle of a search for the star stone and dealing with telepathic aliens and annoying academic supervisors. The premise is great and I did really enjoy the cynical tone of the prose. Any section that dealt with Fred at university was great. For me though, the plot was far too muddled and convoluted. I found it really difficult to keep things straight both in terms of narrative chronology and character motivation. Some of the ideas here are fascinating and others just don't quite hit the mark and ultimately, I thought it was a tough book to get through.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

An interesting and quite convoluted read. It doesn't take itself too seriously but does make some assumptions about the reader. It is clear that the author was writing for a literate reader who has some understanding of a wide range of topics. Don't be surprised if a few of the references pass you by, it only stimulates you to read a little more just so that you get it.

This is a relatively short read, but it still manages to provide a rich tapestry. Despite there being a range of locations, these pale compared to the characters who are each unusual and have quirks that take a little while to get your head around. In addition there are quite a few of them, so be prepared to keep tabs on all of the names.

I guess the strength of the writing is such that it would encourage me to read it again, as I am sure there are many things I have missed.

First a confession - I am one of the few that hasn't enjoyed the stylistic humour of the venerable Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. So when I encounter a talking wombat and kangaroo offering a peanut butter sandwich, I am on shaky ground.

Fortunately, Roger Zelazny weaves together a wonderful narrative with insightful humour and wordplay that both provokes and entertains the reader in equal measure.

Zelazny employs an unusual narrative device in the structuring of the story - each chapter jumps ahead in time before backtracking to resolve the previous chapter's cliffhanger and then moving forward to a new cliffhanger which will only later resolve in the next chapter.

A very accessible and entertaining read for anybody that has not had the privilege of reading Zelazny's body of work.

Zelazny is a must read for classical SF - three Nebula awards, six Hugos (two for his novels This Immortal in a tie with Dune, and Lord of Light) speak a language of their own. So do the titles of his stories like The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth or A Rose for Ecclesiastes. Zelazny belonged to a group of authors - Chip Delany, Tom Disch, Harlan Ellison, John Sladek - starting in the 60s to form a kind of offshoot of the British New Wave. British New Wave was more experimental with authors like Ballard, Aldiss and Moorcock. But those authors helped to bring in other aspects than Science to SF.

The author usually uses characters from myth and interprets them in a modern world. In this novel, he changes his style by adapting a work from phantastic literature - Alice in Wonderland - to SF. In one other aspect, he stays true to his style, namely the smoking density; I think, I counted more than 30 occurrences of smoking pipes and cigarettes in this short novel. Also, he uses his typical motif of absent father (e.g. in his Amber cycle) who reflects the unexpected death of Zelazny's own father in 1962.
Like many others of his works, the novel is a kind of literary experiment. He uses flash-forward technique by starting chapters with a jump forward in time to the result of the chapter and then using the rest of the chapter to describe how it came to it. I had to get used to this and didn't recognize the technique for the first couple of chapters, but then expected and liked it.

I think, this is the most funny work from him. He mixes SF, detective, and comic elements in a near future SF setting where aliens contacted Earth and started cultural exchange. But mostly, it is a homage to Lewis Carroll's works. Zelazny includes loads of references to Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, Through The Looking Glass, or The Hunting of the Snark.
To really like this novel, you also have to like Zelazny's absurd humour:
"Enter, pray."
"In which order?"
O bless this house, by all means, first. It could use a little grace."
"Bless," I said, stepping in.

You will also find Zelazny's intelligent, poetic language: "Sunflash, some splash. Darkle. Stardance. Phaeton's solid gold Cadillac crashed where there was no ear to hear, lay burning, flickered, went out. Like me."

The plot itself? Not that important or memorable. But fun and full of action with a nice main protagonist, and short enough!

I'd like to recommend reading the great wikipedia article about it.