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Loading... Nine Princes In Amber (The Chronicles of Amber, Vol. 1) (original 1970; edition 1977)by Roger Zelazny
Work InformationNine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny (1970)
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I first read this maybe 20 years ago and it always stuck in my memory. Unfortunately, didn't have the rest of the books in the series at the time. Got all 10 Amber books now and am currently reading them. Absolutely Loving them. They keep building up, with twists that I at least didn't see coming. Even the fourth book keeps referring back to this book and the pieces keep coming together. Also like the fact that they are all reasonably short. I'm not a big one for sophisticated writing and overblown imagery. Just loving the story, the plot twists, and excited about what direction it will head next. 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.
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. Belongs to SeriesBelongs to Publisher SeriesAvon (35527) F-sari (18) Gallimard, Folio SF (19) Prisma Science Fiction (1626) Présence du futur (190 / 461) — 1 more Varraku F-sari (18) AwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
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. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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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.
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