Bridge of Ashes Author:Roger Zelazny Surprisingly good. By: Mike Smith — Though the cover of this book may fool some readers into thinking the book tells the story of a man who designs covers for the band Yes before selling out to paint collectible plates, this book is actually about a near future society in which telepathy has been proven to have More...some validity and several t... more »housand known telepaths practice their gifts professionally.
One such telepath, the son of two telepaths, turns out to be so powerful that he is able to pick up signals from all around the world and even throughout time, and becomes overwhelmed by all the voices in his head, ultimately becoming driven by them into catatonia. He parents move him to a remote area of northern New Mexico to lessen the invasive voices, and then even go so far as to relocate him to--well, just read the book. It's a great twist.
What's cool about this story though, is that it turns out that this kid is a major player in a sort of intergalactic war over the fate of earth--against a race of aliens who basically created humanity with the intention that humans would populate and then destroy the earth for the aliens--since the aliens' ideal environment is basically a nuclear wasteland. Aiding the main character is a dark man who's using the book's main character and various figures throughout history, et cetera, to fight off the alien beings.
There's a lot going on here, and overall, it's really enjoyable, one of the better pulp sci-fi titles I can recall reading, though the ending takes the story a bit further than maybe it should have. The main character's parents are nicely drawn, particularly the casually philandering father, as are most of the side characters, a seeming rarity in the sci-fi genre.
The book is a real page-turner once you get through say, the first twenty pages or so, and it really made me want to check out more of Roger Zelazny's work. I really liked it. ...Shrink« less