Excerpt from Lord of Light

Reading Zelazny's Lord of Light, this excerpt struck me as oustanding exposition:

Ahead, a crowd gathered to watch the passing troop. Horses were ridden only by those who could afford them, and few were that wealthy. The slizzard was the common mount -- a scaled creature with snakelike neck, many teeth, dubious lineage, brief life span and a vicious temperament; the horse, for some reason, having grown barren in recent generations.

Good stuff, good stuff.