["The Last Defender of Camelot"] is a superlative collection by one of the genre's better authors. There are a number of early stories (including the author's first two), which are minor but vivid vignettes; and, at the heart of the book, several novelettes…. "For a Breath I Tarry," which Zelazny indicates is his favorite, is a touching story of a machine, one of the guardians of a future Earth. Interested in the long-dead human race, the machine decides to become human, and so discovers, unexpectedly, fear and despair and love.

"Science Fiction: 'The Last Defender of Camelot'," in Publishers Weekly (reprinted from the October 17, 1980, issue of Publishers Weekly by permission, published by R. R. Bowker Company, a Xerox company; copyright © 1980 by Xerox Corporation), Vol. 218, No. 16, October 17, 1980, p. 64.