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Title: Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny, Kurt Mueller ISBN: 1-56431-015-9 Publisher: Sunset Productions Pub. Date: February, 1992 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 2 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.79 (72 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Mind-boggling imagination!
Comment: This is the lead off in simply one of the greatest, most imaginative, and mind-blowing fantasy series ever written. (What was the late great Roger Zelazny smoking when he released this novel back in 1970?) "Nine Princes in Amber" is the first in a series of ten books chronicling the ever-feuding bloodlines of the House of Amber -- the true kingdom of Order in the Universe -- and the struggle with its eternal nemesis: the Courts of Chaos. The protagonist, Prince Corwin, is both noble & just and wise-cracking & street smart. Zelazny has created a universe so original, and dozens of characters so rich that it truly boggles the mind. And instead of whisking us off to some remote fairyland, he combines modern day Earth (a mere shadow world) with his infinitely rich universe. Where else are you going to find MIB's (Men in Black), a fast food chain called "Kentucky Fried Lizzard Partes" and swordfights all in the same book! Roger, we will sorely miss you.
Rating: 5
Summary: A great introduction to a great series
Comment: Zelazny's launch of the classic Amber series is a great book. This book is almost as much fun as the introduction to a great fantasy series as it is a period piece--I find the Earthbound and Earthlike scenes strangely compelling as being just outside the realm of modern life from Zelazny's 1970 perspective.
Corwin is perhaps the best first-person narrator I've ever read: his view is biased, judgemental, but still believable. You see the world through his eyes and gather up the experiences of this man and his many lives. The book should leave you scrambling to buy the others in the series.
A word about the series: The first set (the first 5 books) are vastly superior to the second set of 5, which start strong but begin to run out of steam around Book 8 and lead to an extremely unsatisfying conclusion, when Zelazny has nothing but cliches and fantasy conventions to fall back on. Up until that point, though, the series is original and full of life.
Rating: 4
Summary: Slim volume leaves questions for later stories to address
Comment: Corwin is one of the titular nine princes who vie for the throne of Amber, the one true city, of which the Earth we know and countless other realities are mere reflections. He has been suffering amnesia on our world but recovers his memory and, in uneasy partnership with some of his siblings and outright conflict with others, attempts to wrest Amber from his brother Eric, who has assumed the throne.
The main drawback of this imaginative novel is its brevity. Roger Zelazny's story is epic in scope but he relates it in less than two hundred pages, making for a narrative that is extremely sketchy at times, reading more like a synopsis than a finished novel. At one point, Corwin and his brother Bleys travel to a Shadow world, insinuate themselves into the local culture, become worshipped as gods, and forge an army ready to march on Amber and fight with the zeal of Crusaders in a holy war-all in the space of two or three sentences! In addition, I was never quite clear on the nature of Amber and its powerful ruling family. What does it mean for one world to a "shadow" of another? The brothers seem godlike at the times with their abilities to manipulate the environment of shadow worlds through willpower alone and affect change in Amber itself by pronouncing curses. What does this say about the nature of reality? Ultimately, my opinion of Zelazny's series will depend on how well he addresses these concerns. I am sufficiently intrigued that I look forward to reading more.
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Title: The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny ISBN: 0380000830 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny ISBN: 0380016648 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny ISBN: 0380008319 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Courts of Chaos (The Chronicles of Amber Series, Book 5) by Roger Zelazny ISBN: 0380471752 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: September, 1997 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: Blood of Amber by Roger Zelazny ISBN: 0877958297 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: September, 1986 List Price(USD): $2.98 |
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