Amber Chronicles

[Blue_Spawn]

In the first five books she seems okay. In the beggining she was even my favorite character. But later on, when we see her as an "adult" and finally discover what she did to Corwin in the end turns her into a total cowardly bitch. It made me loose all respect for her.


Corwin was a jerk in a sense, yes. But at least he did not rape anybody

Although, since he's over a thousand years old, we don't know that for sure.

[Lord Mhoram]

LOL Good point(s)!

[Farm Ur-Ted]

I just started 9 Princes this week. It's kind of weird; not really what I expected (my first Zelazny). I like it, though. I bought the first set of chronicles (from 1978). The first two books are in the first book, and the last 3 in the second book. They're pretty funny books just to look at. They kind of remind me of the old Hardy Boys books. And the darn thing is censored! Early on, when Corwin is breaking out of the hospital, there are a few scenes where he says stuff like "Well then ---- ---!" I don't think I've seen a censored book in 20 years.

Some parts seem a little on the cheesy side, kind of like reading Piers Anthony (Rebma!? Are you kidding me? That would make Piers Anthony blush.). It's pretty amazing to read a 150 page book, though. I just finished Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, so it's nice to read something short. I was pretty worn out by MST at the end (although I absolutely loved it), and couldn't really stomach the thought of reading another massive set of books.

[Lady Revel]

I saw this post and pulled out my Great Book of Amber. Its been a few years since I have read it, so I am looking forward to some good times.

[Fist and Faith]

Ted, I was the same way. I had no idea what to expect from my first Z book. I enjoyed the Great Book quite a bit, as it turned out! I guess I have several posts about it all at the Hangar.

[Ur Dead]

I have lost all my amber Books. (misplaced) But I read the first series over 25 years ago and tried to keep up with the next novels. It was a shock to me when Roger passed away. He is one of my favorite authors. His series had backstabbing on scale that no body did..

Reading the Amber series was like a Sherlock Holmes fantansy novel.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

9 Princes really got going in the second half, and I'm maybe halfway through Guns now. That book is awesome, I really like it.

Ted, I was the same way. I had no idea what to expect from my first Z book. I enjoyed the Great Book quite a bit, as it turned out! I guess I have several posts about it all at the Hangar.

Ya know, what amazes me is how similar Erikson is to Zelazny. The Malazan books have the deck, shadows and chaos, and the hounds.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

Just finished Sign of the Unicorn last night. It was late, and I was fading hard the last few pages. It had a weird ending. I'm not sure I understood it completely. It's also weird that Hand of Oberon picks up right where Unicorn leaves off. I thought that Unicorn was the weakest of the three books. There's a lot of revelations in the book, but very little happens plot-wise. At least is sort of fizzled for me near the end. I thought Guns was the best of the three so far. I really loved that book.

It was late, though, and thanks to a sick young 'un I haven't slept much the last month or so, so I think that has colored my thoughts.

[Cagliostro]

I too was very sad when I heard Zelazny had passed. And a good deal of that was selfishness, as I wanted to know what happened next. Such a good person for setups and delivery. Too bad he never was able to deliver the end of it.

[Fullmetal660]

I've only read the first five (corwin's ones), how to merlin's five compare?

[Cagliostro]

They seemed to be setting up to something great. I think if they were finished, I would have found them superior. As it stands, the setup is superior, once I got over the fact Corwin wasn't the lead anymore. That took some adjustment, which seemed like the author had to make that adjustment as much as I did.

[Menolly]

I still have yet to read the Merlin POV chronicles, and any after, if there are any. But it sounds as though it is similar to adjusting to Linden's POV in TCTC?

[deer of the dawn]

I read the first few books years ago (all the library had) and loved them. The Tir-na-N'og thing was a little corny, but it didn't ruin the whole thing for me.

When I was a teen (in the Pleistocene era) I loved Zelazny's Nova, and thought it had one of the greatest endings ever!!

[TheFallen]

New to Kevin's Watch, but browsing the archives, I found this discussion on Zelazny's Amber series, which I have firmly down as one of two appropriate stablemates to TCC (the other being Julian May's 4 volume Saga of the Exiles - go read if you haven't already. My other great addiction is Terry Pratchett, but that's for entirely different reasons).

I too have managed to lose all my copies of the various Amber novels, so it's off to Amazon for me to get the 10 volume compendium. Yes, I know that Zelazny's series doesn't have the epic quality of TCC (or LOTR for that matter). And I know that they're much more "of their time" - think late 60's Easy Rider culture meets mid 70's psychedelia. But they're a helluva read - strongly recommended.

Speaking of such - and only of interest to UK-based members for reasons that are about to become apparent - I fondly remember a great SF/fantasy bookshop in London's SoHo, rejoicing under the fabulous name of "Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed"... now there's a name to conjure with.

Happy days...

[rusmeister]

I just read "9 Princes in Amber" because I read that it had been an influence on SRD.

I was very disappointed. The main thing was that the author gave me no reason to care about the character or whether he succeeded or not. A few passing statements that "Amber is the best of all worlds" does not communicate to me that it actually is. It is an unsupported assertion. Now SRD described the Land and made me care very much about it. The whole concept of Shadows makes for 'anything can come out of anywhere' (and the underlying primitive message that religions are devices for duping masses of ignorant beings didn't help, either; the vague "I have become more moral since my accident and now disapprove of mindless killing"... it all came across to me as something my 19/20-year-old self might have found interesting, but can't hold a mature me. It felt really dated, too. The modern language and references - sure I can read through that stuff, but a good author makes it so I don't have to.

Maybe there's something down the line that really sheds light and justifies everything - I'll admit that if my only experience of SRD were "The Wounded Land", I'd have dumped him. The conclusion of WGW was so spectacular and did enlighten everything that it was worth it - but only barely.

I only have 3 books anyway - "The Guns of Avalon" and "The Sign of the Unicorn" besides "9 Princes".

Apologies to folks whose boat this floated.

[danlo]

Seems to me you're missing a few key points...if you are where you say you are then you probably need to read The Hand of Oberon and The Courts of Chaos to really figure out what's going on. -"It felt really dated, too" yeah I know certain other author I can think of has the same effect on me... Oh well, to each their own...

[rusmeister]

Seems to me you're missing a few key points...if you are where you say you are then you probably need to read The Hand of Oberon and The Courts of Chaos to really figure out what's going on. -"It felt really dated, too" yeah I know certain other author I can think of has the same effect on me... Oh well, to each their own...

I don't have those books, Danlo. (And thanks to insane copyright laws that I would sharply muzzle, I have no way of getting them, electronic or otherwise). I simply happen to have the three books I listed in my library, which has a large sci-fi/fantasy section from my teen and young adult years. They are among the very few that I hadn't/haven't read.

I don't feel I had any problem figuring out what is going on, and again, maybe I'll read "Guns" and change my mind. But one whole book usually ought to be enough to hook you, and I've granted the exceptions - only they are exceptional.

Suspension of disbelief is a quality that modifies over time. As children and young people, we can believe almost anything. As we get older, we know more about human behavior and life and there are things that we might have accepted at 20 that we can't when we are 40.

On dated, what I mean is that it has qualities that limit it sharply to its time. When the characters speak using jargon of the 1970's, you have to "read through it". It's like watching Disney films that attempt to be 'hip' and 'relevant' to their time ("The Jungle Book", with its extensive use of hippie language, is a good example of that). Now I can read through stuff like that. But here, what is underneath still disappoints.

I'll grant that further reading may change that view. I'm just less motivated. That's all. No more raining on the parade. Just trying to explain my own experience.

[danlo]

Right, that is, probably, Zelazny's major "problem" as an author and it is apparent some of his other books as well, he is a product of his time, as is Philip K. Dick-on a bit more subtle level-such as his "Cold War" way of looking at certain political structures. A Zelazny book that you would probably enjoy more than any other, for it's "timelessness" and religious explorations, is Lord of Light-so should really give it a go, if you can find it...

[Orlion]

Lord of Light is amazing.

[rusmeister]

Thanks for the rec, but my problem is obtaining ANYTHING at all in English. I have stuff to read thanks to my e-book. Ordering, paying for and delivery from overseas are all problems. I still don't have the latest Covenant book. As is, I have to make a big holler and fuss for someone over there to buy something, get someone who's traveling to bring it over...