Doorways in the Sand is an occasionally goofy novel by someone who I usually think of as writing really serious science fiction. At first, I felt like the story was just a lighthearted romp, but then I started to wonder if there was something more. By the end of the book, peppered with references to Lewis Carroll and fitting together surprisingly well, I wondered if I might need to read it again to really understand it.

While I liked the story, the characters' backstories are a bit weak. The reader doesn't know anything about the main character before he entered college, what his roommate's background is, or even the motivations of some of the secondary characters. This is pretty standard for old science fiction. Not great, mind you, but standard. However, the characters have great personalities. I may have no idea who the guy riding the donkey through the party is or what his background is, but I do have an idea of his personality. Of course, the personalities are in service to the plot, but still they work. As far as I can remember, there are two female characters, neither of which serve any role other than as romantic companions and neither of whom, I think, actually says anything.

The setting is described more or less, but there isn't all that much about humans actually meeting the aliens or going into space. On the flip side, maybe this is really accurate. I feel like it would be a big deal for me if humans made contact with aliens, but for how long? Six months later, would I be still really interested if they just popped by for a bit and then left? Maybe, but how long could I keep up intense interest if nothing else happened and there was no additional info of any kind? Would most people still focus on their jobs, picking up the kids from school, and that kind of thing? Probably. That's what this book is like. Fred is mainly focused on figuring out ways to stay in school at the beginning, which is, after all, his means of subsistence.

This book is all about the plot, and the plot is really well done. I don't know if I can say that it is an especially great plot, but the way it is put together works really well. Every little detail seems to slot into a larger whole smoothly without seeming (to me) contrived. Some things might seem more obvious because they fit so well, so the plot twists might not be totally unexpected, but I'm okay with that. I really love a tight plot.

And then there is the end. The book is kind of lighthearted at times, sometimes silly, sometimes a bit stressful due to everyone being after Fred, but then the end gets down into a nice little discussion of philosophy. That part was unexpected. And it is fairly positive too. When I think of old science fiction, I mainly think of it as depressing, and this isn't.

So, this sounds like a weird, funny, and not especially challenging book, right? But for being so not-challenging, the structure is weird. The chapters start some period of time ahead of the end of the last chapter. Then they jump back to be closer to the end of the last chapter and continue past where the chapter started. For example, let's say chapter three starts at 5pm on Tuesday. After 15 minutes of action, it then jumps back to 10am on Tuesday and then continues to 9pm on Tuesday. I'm just making up times, but you see what I mean. It is confusing, because you can't know what is happening when you start the chapter, because the cause of the action you see hasn't been shown yet. It is strange for a book that is, on the surface, not so sophisticated.

I feel like I have to reread this book, because it gives me the feeling that there is more there to find. We'll see on the next readthrough (in a couple of years) if my assessment was right.

Should you read it? The biggest challenges are going to be the structure and the old-sci-fi-ness of it. If you like old scifi, you'll be fine. If you want polish (or feminism), this probably isn't for you. Likewise, if you don't want to deal with the confusing structure, you don't need to feel like you missed out terribly. Zelazny has written other really good stuff that you could enjoy instead.