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Nine Princes In Amber by Roger Zelazny
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Nine Princes In Amber (original 1970; edition 1977)

by Roger Zelazny (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,612963,478 (3.93)3 / 175
Amber, the one real world, wherein all others, including our own Earth, are but Shadows. Amber burns in Corwin's blood. Exiled on Shadow Earth for centuries, the prince is about to return to Amber to make a mad and desperate rush upon the throne. From Arden to the blood-slippery Stairway into the Sea, the air is electrified with the powers of Eric, Random, Bleys, Caine, and all the princes of Amber whom Corwin must overcome. Yet, his savage path is blocked and guarded by eerie structures beyond imaging - impossible realities forged by demonic assassins and staggering horrors to challenge the might of Corwin's superhuman fury.… (more)
Member:Sandwich76
Title:Nine Princes In Amber
Authors:Roger Zelazny (Author)
Info:Avon (1977), 175 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading
Rating:
Tags:None

Work Information

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny (1970)

  1. 30
    The Well-Favored Man by Elizabeth Willey (saturnine13, aqualectrix)
    saturnine13: Similar in that they both feature many different interconnected worlds, family drama, and first person perspective.
  2. 20
    The maker of universes by Philip José Farmer (Amtep)
    Amtep: Those who are fascinated by the Amber universe may find the seeds of many of its ideas in Farmer's Maker of Universes and the other World of Tiers books.
  3. 20
    Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden by Jack Vance (corporate_clone)
    corporate_clone: another modern telling of fairy tales, Amber and Lyonnesse have quite a bit in common and may appeal the same readers.
  4. 00
    WebMage by Kelly McCullough (aqualectrix)
    aqualectrix: McCullough's world of cyberpunk-magic has a very similar feel to Zelazny's Amber series.
  5. 00
    The Dark World by Henry Kuttner (bluetyson)
    bluetyson: Also the rest of the five Corwin books by Zelazny, especially The Guns Of Avalon.
  6. 11
    Shadow & Claw: The First Half of The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (Frozeninja)
  7. 00
    The Family Trade by Charles Stross (adamhindman)
    adamhindman: Self-consciously a tribute to the Amber universe, but with a modern feel. Less stylish, more plot to go around.
  8. 14
    Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber by John Gregory Betancourt (Patangel)
  9. 14
    Chaos and Amber by John Gregory Betancourt (Patangel)
  10. 14
    To Rule in Amber by John Gregory Betancourt (Patangel)
  11. 05
    A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (ryvre)
    ryvre: Both are fantasy books with lots of politics and intrigue among the royal families.
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» See also 175 mentions

English (91)  French (4)  Spanish (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (97)
Showing 1-5 of 91 (next | show all)
Revisited a series I read back in 82 or 83. I thought it good then. Times change.

Fast paced plot, with cardboard characters. I might try book 2 to see if it gets better. That was what drew me to the series when I was a teenager. ( )
  wvlibrarydude | Jan 14, 2024 |
I went into this book with pretty low expectations. I’d disliked the author’s Lord of Light quite a lot. I did think A Night in the Lonesome October was cute, but nothing special. I think my reaction to this book leaned more toward the latter, but I liked it better than I feared I would and it’s less than 200 pages so it was a quick read.

The setting was initially more modern than I expected, set I guess around the time the book was published in 1970. We’re introduced to the main character, Corwin, as he wakes up in a hospital with no memories of who he is or how he got there, and it seems he’s being kept against his will. Through a combination of pretending to know more than he does and convenient intuition, he manages to get away and find allies. The actual plot doesn’t take off until a good ways into the book, so I don’t want to spoil it.

I never felt any great investment in Corwin or any of the other characters, but I remained moderately interested in him throughout the book and the plot held my attention pretty well. The amnesia trope got a little frustrating to me in the beginning because I had trouble buying into all of Corwin’s convenient intuitions. In retrospect it might be believable, but it didn’t feel that way at the time I was reading those parts. I was curious about what was going on though, so that helped to hold my attention, and then the story became more interesting to me further on, although it did have some slow spots.

This story isn’t very satisfying by itself. It doesn’t end on a true cliffhanger, but the main plot is definitely not resolved and there are a lot of open questions. I might have given in to the temptation to keep reading if I’d had it in the omnibus format, but I just had this as a single volume and I don’t feel a burning desire to read more of the series so I don’t plan to seek it out. I’m rating it at 3.5 stars and rounding down to 3 on Goodreads. ( )
  YouKneeK | Nov 30, 2023 |
This is a re-read of a long ago favourite that I really wanted to love. It started off promisingly, with the first person narrator in hospital, soon realising that he is being drugged to keep him there. He shows ruthlessness and off the cuff improvisation and is soon en route to the home of his sister who had him committed. His car accident, supposedly responsible for his amnesia, was caused by one of his brothers, Eric, for whom the sister has been keeping tabs on the narrator. Corwin, as he discovers he is called, turns out to have much deeper seated amnesia about his true nature.

The verbal sparring he engages in with the other characters, including his sister, and another brother, Random who turns up asking for protection, draws the reader in and makes the character interesting. He manages to elicit quite a few facts about himself without giving away to anyone else that he can't actually remember his background, and as he does so, he gradually begins to recall what has happened, not just recently but long ago.

It transpires that he is one of a large family who are all princes and princesses of a city called Amber on the real Earth, the archetype at the centre of existence upon which every other city and world is based - surrounded by an infinite multiverse that his family call 'Shadows'. In some respects, this is a little like the teachings of Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher though he isn't name checked. Corwin has been exiled in our particular Shadow for centuries, and as the book progresses he remembers some of his experiences here, which date back to Tudor times. As he regains his memory, he realises that his family are characterised by arrogance and a very strong sense of personal honour - and that he has been 'softened' by his long residence on our Shadow Earth, as he now has some consideration and compassion for lesser mortals.

Corwin's family are superhuman in some respects: they have greater than human strength and can heal much more rapidly. They also possess the power to travel through Shadows by adding or subtracting elements and, when trying to get to Amber, inducing their surroundings to be more Amber-like until they reach the real thing. (Amber is really the city but confusingly the real Earth is quite often called Amber.) Corwin has forgotten how to do this but will regain the ability when he walks the Pattern on the real Earth, an energy grid laid out on the floor. It was created by a mad genius-artist who also made the Trumps: sets of cards rather like Tarot cards, but depicting the family members, and used to communicate between them and even to travel to the side of the person depicted.

Eric has taken the throne of Amber after their father disappeared, presumed dead. After Eric sends creatures to attack Corwin and Random, they decide to take the fight to him in Amber.

There are aspects about this book that I still enjoyed. It has a strong beginning, with the Machiavellian dealings the family have with each other. I also like the end section where Corwin is absolutely up against a truly awful fate which I won't describe further to avoid spoilers. My problem on the re-read is with the entire central section where he and yet another brother, Bleys, recruit an army of (to use classic Star Trek terms) red shirts and march on Amber, with the intent of taking the throne. Corwin knows that most if not all of these individuals are expendable, and in fact none of them have any personality at all. They are just spear carriers, loyal and devoted to the brothers, and willing to throw their lives away in their cause. And although that whole section is non stop action with ships at sea and quite a bit of sword fighting, it comes across as a bit perfunctory. Whole sea or land battles are described in a few lines with throw away notes about how many of the troops died from this or that cause. Perhaps this is deliberate because there are a few quite low key references throughout the book that make it clear Corwin is telling the story of what has happened to him 'so far' to someone else much later on, when he is about to embark on yet another life or death struggle. The trouble is, this distancing effect also reduces the reader's involvement in the story.

There are some oddities of style because the character's dialogue veers between what was becoming rather old fashioned slang at the time that the book was first published in the early 70s, such as 'dig', and a sort of cod Shakespeare with plenty of thee and thy thrown in. It's not too prevalent so isn't a major issue.

A big problem for me on this re-read is the very poor portrayal of women. Possibly it is characteristic of the writer, as the same thing occurred in 'Jack of Shadows' written around the same time, but the present book is actually worse - at least one female character in JoS, the aged ex-barmaid, had some personality. Here we have the sister who was keeping Corwin in hospital - known as Flora though her real name is apparently something I've already forgotten - and Deidre, whom he and Random rescue from Eric's thugs when they reach the real Earth. Deidre is a complete non entity, her only function being to get them to the undersea kingdom which weirdly acts as a mirror to the city of Amber and enables Corwin to walk the Pattern which he would otherwise have to break into Amber to do. Another female character is the ruler of the undersea kingdom - she jumps into bed with Corwin and demands Random marries a disadvantaged member of her court to redeem himself for past misdeeds - but that's it. A few other sisters are mentioned, and although the brothers' father - they have one father in common but apparently some have different mothers - is mentioned, absolutely nothing is said about their mothers. I couldn't help contrasting this to 'Dune' where the protagonist's mother was a major character in her own right.

I think the book falls short of its potential. The idea of the Shadows and their real counterpart in Amber was more novel at the time of publication, although it was predated by Michael Moorcock's multiverse. More interestingly, the beginning section with its sarcasm and double dealing between the family members provided the set-up for a subtle novel of ever changing alliances and betrayal and complex politics. But all too soon the story becomes a not terribly well described slog-it-out bloodbath between the two 'sides'. There could have been an interesting role for women if the book had concentrated on personalities and Machiavellian tactics but instead of characterisation, we have detailed physical descriptions of the brothers from their Trump cards, including what they are wearing, but most of the ones who appear in this volume are minimally characterised if at all. Women have even less of a role as they do not even have much significance to the plot and are quite disrespected - Corwin comments to Random at one point that 'Flora' is stupid.

The story does get a bit back on track in the end section but I was disappointed by the deus ex machina used, especially as it was unnecessary and contrived because his friend the minstrel was already smuggling food to him, so why couldn't he have been the one to help him escape?. Hopefully, the second book will deliver on the promise in the final scene where Corwin vows to return.
( )
  kitsune_reader | Nov 23, 2023 |
De wereld en de plot zijn erg interessant. Ik heb echter geen enkele emotionele binding met welk personage dan ook. Toch interessant genoeg om het tweede deel te lezen. ( )
  weaver-of-dreams | Aug 1, 2023 |
The start of an imaginative, pulpy ride. Just solid enticing good fun! ( )
  grahzny | Jul 17, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 91 (next | show all)
Corwin verliest na een auto-ongeluk zijn geheugen en probeert beetje bij beetje zijn herinnering terug te winnen. Hij komt erachter dat hij acht broers en zussen heeft en dat zij prinsen zijn die strijden om de troon van Amber. Amber is een volmaakt koninkrijk dat slechts door de negen prinsen via een geestestoestand bereikt kan worden. De aarde en de vele andere parallelle werelden zijn slechts Schaduwen van Amber. Corwin verzamelt een leger om te voorkomen dat zijn broer Eric de troon bestijgt (deel 1). Corwin verliest en vervloekt zijn broer. Deze vervloeking bedreigt Amber als demonen van Chaos het koninkrijk binnenvallen. Corwin is genoodzaakt samen met Eric te strijden tegen deze Schaduwdemonen (deel 2). Als Corwin eenmaal heerser is, vindt hij via veel omwegen de legendarische eenhoorn (deel 3). Hoewel Zelazny veel heeft gepubliceerd, ligt zijn bloeiperiode toch in de late jaren zestig en de vroege jaren zeventig met de Amber-serie als hoogtepunt. Een SF-klassieker die gelezen moet worden. Normale druk.
added by karnoefel | editNBD / Biblion
 

» Add other authors (28 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Zelazny, Rogerprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Edwards, Amelia S.Cover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Jones, JeffCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Juliani, AlessandroNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Targete, Jean PierreCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Walotsky, RonCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
White, TimCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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It was starting to end, after what seemed most of eternity to me.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Amber, the one real world, wherein all others, including our own Earth, are but Shadows. Amber burns in Corwin's blood. Exiled on Shadow Earth for centuries, the prince is about to return to Amber to make a mad and desperate rush upon the throne. From Arden to the blood-slippery Stairway into the Sea, the air is electrified with the powers of Eric, Random, Bleys, Caine, and all the princes of Amber whom Corwin must overcome. Yet, his savage path is blocked and guarded by eerie structures beyond imaging - impossible realities forged by demonic assassins and staggering horrors to challenge the might of Corwin's superhuman fury.

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