The First Chronicles of Amber

Wow, never had I thought that I would like Roger Zelazny's work. I know that the series is a classic in the genre, and that, yes, the series consists of 10 books... But luckily the first 5 are complete on their own, whereas the others apparently focus on the main character's (Corwin) son, Merlin. Maybe one day I'll read those other six, but when reading other peoples' comments, it seems they're not as good and written to exploit the series.

Roger Zelazny has a great writing style, very fluent, very smooth, great prose. It's been a while since I last was so engulfed by one's way with words.

As one other reader wrote in his review - see here: you have to read the whole series as one, not as stand-alone books, because they do link up and show more follow one another. That way you get to see the bigger picture, the puzzle being completed.

In the beginning, it's hard to discover who Corwin is, why he lost his memory, how it happened, who was involved, etcetera. Then you learn that he's part of a big family of brothers and sisters and that it involves the kingdom of Amber and specifically the throne. Some of the brothers/princes of Amber want to ascend the throne, as the king and their father, Oberon, seems lost or dead. Of course, there's a whole scheme behind it, each character has his/her reasons to help or work against the other. Hypocrisy, enmity, jealousy, distrust, betrayal, conspiracies, and so on... the evil that men do, unbelievable.

But apparently such events can also change a human being, making him see his errors and providing the opportunity to set things right, to renew the family ties for the better instead of the worst. And how to see what one really wants in life. Daddy's influence is here and there omni-present, it seems, as Corwin succeeds where he normally would fail or be dead. Zelazny added some nice surprises to twist the events and make you even more excited to read on, despite certain details (about certain characters or areas) not being (completely) known. But then again, were they all that necessary in the grand design?

Also, lovely to see how contemporary and Fantasy elements are mixed, how the scenery changes as Corwin goes into shadow worlds, working his way through different sceneries in the blink of an eye, changing the setting so he reaches his destination faster.

How the Trumps, or set of cards with pictures of the other family members, are used as smartphones avant la lettre. Swiping/touching the card, focusing on the picture and establishing contact. Even being able to be transported to where that other person is, through the card. Interesting idea. Star Trek ("Beam me up, Scotty" meets contemporary times).

However, as was probably very common back in the day (1970s): lots of smoking and drinking. It's still common today, but since there are anti-smoking laws in certain countries...

Long story short: A great series that kept me excited from start to finish, despite at times nothing much happened, not much action, yet all the more descriptions and dialogues. While the ending is an ending and things have been set aright, or sort of, it does make one curious of how it goes on. What about Amber? Will it be like before, how are the family ties now that there are two new members? And so on. I guess I'll have to read the other 5 books for that, no? But that's for later. The first five were very entertaining, so let's leave it behind with positive thoughts. :) show less

I kept hearing about how great the Amber series was, how I had to check it out. Well, I finally opened the first five books and I must say - I'm disappointed. I don't feel that the writing has held up through time. It feels like someone wrote while on a bad psychotropic trip. There is limited character development. For all the character went through, I didn't see much growth, either to him or to the characters around him. Politics aside, this book didn't encourage me to look into any other of Zelazny's writing.

From a writer's outlook, it shows the problems with a static character and a level plot with no real arc. I'll hold it as a reference for later, but not recommending it.

The Guns of Avalon 1972
The Sign of the Unicorn 1975
The Hand of Oberon 1976
The Courts of Chaos 1978
Author - Roger Zelazny

These four books following on from Nine Princes in Amber make up the first Chronicles of Amber series. The whole story is told in the first person by Corwin one of the nine princes. There are also four princesses and daughters of the princes and so there are many characters for the author to juggle around and so it is no wonder that Corwin who has lost his memory in the first book never really gets to the bottom of who is doing what to whom. This is part of the fascination of the series as alliances are made and broken and the reader only gets Corwin's side of the story as many of the other members of the family are at show more best unreliable witnesses.

It is a fantasy series where Amber and to a lesser extent The courts of Chaos being at the centre of the action and where present day Earth is merely in another dimension. The princes can move from one dimension to another by reshaping the fauna and flora as they go. There are jewels that give them special powers and some of the characters are able to shape shift. There is a crisis in Amber because Oberon the father of the princes has disappeared leaving the throne vacant and also the very fabric of the world is governed by a pattern on the ground which has been disrupted. The descendants of Oberon when old enough walk the pattern which gives them their power. Amber is threatened by the expansion of a dark road which is winding itself round the kingdom and from which malign creatures are launching concerted attacks.

The first book of the series is almost wholly concerned with Corwin's memory loss and his troubles with a few of "the family". It is in the second book The Guns of Avalon where more of the family members appear and the struggle for the vacant throne and the battle against the creatures of darkness take centre stage. The story picks up from one book to the other and so provides some cliff hangers between novels. Of the five books I thought that books three and four: The sign of the Unicorn and The Hand of Oberon were the best reads. The journey to the end of existence and the Courts of Chaos that ends book three is imaginative and well paced, while book four fills in many of the gaps in the back story and starts to point to the guiding hand of all the villainy. I thought that the final book of the series was a bit tired as much of the subterfuge had been worked through well before the end and the book for me had lost some of its charm.

This series is by no means an essential read for fantasy lovers, but it is an early example of the genre that still entertains. Zelazny's descriptions of the hellrides between dimension told in short breathless phrases tended to become a little repetitive and it was not always easy to imagine what was happening: if they were meant to be confusing then they succeeded. I was happy to read through until the end, but will not immediately embark on the second chronicles: 3.5 stars for the series. show less

On the plus side The Chronicles of Amber has an interesting universe and an epic scope, but on the other hand Zelazny's unimpressive writing and inability to breathe life into that universe means that the series becomes a slog.

Right off the bat the protagonist Corwin wakes up with amnesia- cliché to the extreme, but let's be charitable. From there the book introduces its universe, one where there is a central universe and numerous others that are mere shadows cast by that one- our universe being one of them. As a prince of amber Corwin has mastery over this multiverse far more so than others, but his abilities are not unique. Instead he has an extended family that shares his powers, some being allies and some enemies. While the show more extensive family opens up the possibility for manifold machinations and schemes, few of the characters feel developed in the slightest. Most can be defined by one or two traits. I would much rather have had the family be half the size but more developed, but instead we're left with various names that it's hard to care about. Random is crowned regent in the end- but because Random isn't a character with any depth I'm left not caring. Why is Random crowned and not another member of the family? Perhaps his name was picked out of a hat- there isn't any sufficient explanation in the first five volumes at least.

Speaking of the first five volumes, I began the sixth as well, but I honestly just couldn't force myself to read any more of Zelazny's writing. It's mediocre, but not in an inoffensive way: read him for long enough and it becomes grating to the extreme. Corwin navigates many a strange universe, but a) they're not as creative or inventive as they should be, 2) there is only a connection to Amber about half the time, with the other half being universes that Zelazny just thought would be cool, and 3) Zelazny's writing isn't strong enough to imbue this exploration with any sense of wonder or discovery. They are reduced to places that Corwin must go to do this thing that advances the plot. What fun. There's a universe here that might warrant a ten-volume series almost the length of War & Peace, but if so Zelazny isn't the one to deliver it. What should be a fun and creative series to read is instead overwhelmingly bland. show less

Nine Princes in Amber

This is a very short book, but it felt much longer and in a good way.

We start with Corwin waking up in a hospital and not remembering anything. I really enjoyed the slow uncovering of the characters and the world as he remembers them. It's also quite tense as his life might depend on others not noticing that he is just pretending to know everything.

Now the world that gets slowly uncovered is certainly an interesting one. Same as the magic.

This series is one of the most original and interesting fantasy series ever written. Amber is the one true realm, and all others are just "shadows" (including ours!) The royal family of Amber has the power to walk through Shadows. This royal family has been engaged in scheming and betrayal in an attempt to inherit the throne, and that fight is about to become the center of the universe. Amazing.

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 show more 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. show less