The First Chronicles of Amber

Review of Nine Princes in Amber

This is a tough book to summarize. Let’s just say that Mr. Corey wakes up with amnesia after a nasty car crash and sets out to recover his memory and then to take back what he sees as his.

Starting this was a leap of faith. Corey tells the story and since he doesn’t know anything about what’s going on, neither do we. He’s confused, we’re confused, and I for one was left wondering if it was worth the effort to continue on. Luckily, I decided that since I’d heard so many good things about this author and since the book was only about 150 pages, I really had nothing to lose and possibly a lot to gain. Once I got going with the story and started getting tantalizing pieces about the story behind the story, I was hooked. Even after finishing, I have some questions, but I know that this series has to be worth the ride.

I love Zelazny’s writing. He has a unique voice and some of his descriptions were incredibly original. Of course I didn’t do anything useful like mark them, but here’s one I did find again: “his skin was as porous as an orange rind and the elements had darkened it to resemble a fine old piece of furniture.” Can’t you just picture this guy’s skin?

As much as I liked it, there were a couple of things I didn’t care for. There’s a big old deus ex machina at the end. (Here’s hoping I got hold of the correct phrase) Maybe it will tie in later, but right now it just felt like an easy way out after he had painted himself into a corner.

This isn’t really anything to do with the story, but my copy is chock-full of typos. It’s easy enough to figure out what Zelazny meant most of the time, but there were a few instances where the sentence could work in a couple of different ways. There was at least one time when a few sentences were repeated for no reason. It got really distracting.

I’m going to give this three stars, mostly because of what I just mentioned and because I still have lots of questions about what exactly is going on. I’ll definitely be continuing the series, and who knows? I might bump my rating up later.

The Guns of Avalon

I don't have too much more to add except that the typos were better in this section and I'm hugely surprised that one story arc wrapped up as quickly as it did. I'm glad we got to see a few more members of the family. I really didn't see the big twist coming. It's still three stars and I'll still keep on reading. ( )

It's been so long since I first read it, I could only remember fragments and some of the broad strokes. It held up very well. ( )

It is more than the sum of its parts. That description really fits with the first Amber Chronicles. Each book, on its own, was to me a four-star. They were all very enjoyable (and addicting) but they don't really stand on their own. But by the time you put all five together, you have one hell of a great story that deserves no less than 5 stars.

I've heard great things about the Amber series for years, and I finally broke down and tried them. I sure am glad that I did. I can see that this will be a series that I will need to read again someday, as its multiple layers will show things through a re-read that might have been overlooked the first time through.

The other thing I can say for sure is that I will be looking to read the Second Chronicles soon. All roads lead to Amber... ( )

Despite roughly a hundred malapropisms (including incorrect names) in this edition (upto page 498 so far), it's exciting stuff. ( )

I went to a reading by G.R.R. Martin, the author of A Game of Thrones, and he mentioned this author as one who has inspired many science fiction writers but never came into the fame he deserved. At this point I have only finished The Nine Princes of Amber. Corwin is the name of the protagonist of this book. The father of these Nine princes is Oberon and he ruled Amber, the only real earth, all other earths being only shadows of the one real one. It is presumed at the onset of the story that Oberon is dead and Eric, one of the contenders for the throne, has caused Corwin to be in a car accident.
He wakes up in a sanitarium not knowing who he is, but knowing that the nurses are trying to keep him sedated and that he does not need to be wearing the casts on his legs. Little by little his memories come back as he leaves the sanitarium and makes his way to his sister Flora's house. She has sided with Eric and was the one paying for his "care taking." While he is at her house he finds a deck of cards ,somewhat like tarot cards, only with pictures of his family, Using these cards he can contact any of his siblings, and unless they are dead, or can withstand his power, he can go to them. With his brother Random he tries to get back to Amber, all along learning more about his family and himself. Corwin decides he will combine his forces with another brother Bleys, and make a stab at overthrowing Eric before he can crown himself King. I can see why Mr. Martin respects this author. This story had some surprising and very original plot devices. He develops his characters well. I had only two small problems. One was with the slang. Nine Princes of Amber was published in 1970 and uses slang from that time, which in 2012 dates it. It would have been better not to use slang from that time as these nine princes are hundreds of years old and not creatures of one time. The other problem was with the battle scenes. The tall red men and the short hairy men all seem to be one big expendable mass. There are no names, and even though Corwin feels something for their sacrifices, there is still too much indifference to the thousands upon thousands who die horrible deaths. Those two things aside I highly recommend this book. ( )