merlin is not corwin.......but he's still interesting: of course merlin isn't corwin, thank god, if he was then what would be the point of a "sequel series"? i found this book to be the most interesting of books 6-10 other than the 9th book in the series. granted the "2nd series of the amber chronicles" isn't as inspired or original as books 1-5, but its still way better than most of the other sci-fi/fantasy novels out there! zelazny always seemed to be on top of his form, he never betrayed his style and ceaselessly used "logical" surprises, not contrived surprises, as well as incorporating a sense of humor. the only qualm i have about the book is that its too short!!!

It's a good read, a must for the ones who loved the first part of Amber cycle. ( )

The second quintology is a huge disappointment for me. The story line moves on to Corwin's son, Merlin. The characters are flatter; the plots are much thinner; the motivations murkier. The story line is left hanging at the end—it seems clear Zelazny intended another series to finish (rescue?) this story, but died before creating it.

I would strongly recommend reading the first five and then stopping. You miss nothing...there's a clear ending at that point. ( )

http://www.fascinationplace.org/2006/... ( )

The second Amber pentology is about Corwin's son, Merlin. He has been developing a reality altering computer named Ghostwheel, in Shadow, while living on Earth studying computing.

King Random doesn't like the Ghostwheel develops meant, and orders it disabled, but Ghostwheel has other ideas, as do enemies of Merlin.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/11... ( )