The Chronicles of Amber | Series Review
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- Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
- I finished my re-read of The Chronicles of Amber. Here's my overview of the series! (No spoilers!) #withcaptions
I guess I never exactly addressed whether people should stick with this series beyond the Corwin Cycle (the first 5 books). Yes... and no? Some things gets better in the Merlin Cycle, some things don't. After this re-read, I wouldn't recommend this series as anyone's first Zelazny. I think there are rewards to pushing through the Merlin Cycle, but probably not if you really disliked the Corwin Cycle.
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The funny thing is that I think you missed the point of Merlin “ personality”. Merlin was raised to be a tool of chaos. The were planning on destroying Amber and then placing Merlin on the throne to rule as a tool or puppet. So it makes since that Merlin has a hard time seeing though the deception and lies and is not good at making smart decisions. He was never ment to make his own decisions. Merlins whole arc is about learning about his weaknesses and short coming learning to think for himself and then challenging those how try to use him as a tool which was what the whole last showdown was about.
I liked all ten Amber books , the first five are pure classic .
The most fun Zelazny book is his last, A Night in the Lonesome October. It it basically a Halloween advent calendar. When you put Jack the Ripper, as the good guy, the Great Detective (Sherlock Holmes), the mad monk (Rasputin), the Count (Dracula), the Good Doctor (Victor Frankenstein), and others I’ll leave you to puzzle out, into the same book, narrated by a dog who is the smartest, most interesting character in the book, you’ve got something.
Get the audio book narrated by Zelazny himself. It’s a treat.
I read Nine Princes when I was fourteen and loved it. I read the remainder of the first sequence over the following couple of years, getting hold of The Courts of Chaos pretty much as soon as it came out. Overall, I was enchanted. I still think RZ writes the best descriptions of fantasy landscapes I've ever read and the description of the Courts in The Hand of Oberon is this particular sort of genius at its most astonishing. And I was bowled over by the wit and sarcasm of sister Fiona; I thought she was gorgeous (what can I say? I was 15). During the 90s, I didn't take to the Merlin books so well and gave up. But they were still on my shelves and, in the summer of 2017, I read the Merlin books to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my reading Nine Princes. Well, as with anything apart from single malt whisky and Henry James, Amber isn't as good at 54 as it is at 14. But the Merlin books benefit from being read back-to-back and it was a lovely thing to rekindle my affection for Zelazny's creation. I did sense, though, that if he'd not been taken from us so early, there'd have been more from Merlin and Corwin. It saddens me to think this because RZ, along with LeGuin, was the absolute boss for me as a teenage reader. I'd never have wanted to try writing myself if it hadn't been for them.
I read about an Urban Legend that sort of makes a bit of sense. When Mr. Zelazny wrote Nine Princes In Amber, it was a novella. It ended with Corwin escaping and vowing vengeance AND THAT WAS IT! He was done with the story. He had no real intention of writing more! But, after the book was released, readers kept writing the publishing company asking when the NEXT BOOK was due to come out! They told Roger and he decided to write more!
I read the series starting with Nine Princes in Amber and I still would recommend anyone to start there. Roger started there.
I love the Amber series, all ten books. My only complaint is the description of walking through shadow can be very disjointed but such is the nature of the beast. My most unexpected character is ghost wheel.
I read all 10 of the Amber books when I was around 14 or so back in 2010 because I liked to pick up books off my dads book shelf to read. Prior to that, the only landmark fantasy (If you could call it that) I had read were Dragonlance (and various similar played-straight fantasy), and John Carter, which I was very fond of. I was at first very shaky on the premise since it had a bit of an unconventional start, but once Corwin had recruited Random and started working their way to Amber I was hooked. Roger Zelazny is a king of concepts, and so many of his ideas were incredibly fun to dwell on for a young me.
Between the Corwin and Merlin cycle, both have different merits to them. I think the core concepts of the Corwin cycle and that arc in general are just prime classic fantasy that stands apart from the tons of super generic and played-straight fantasy novels I have read (not that I dislike some classic fantasy action, but it's nice to have something with an irreverent style that can grip you and be more fun to read). I think that the Merlin cycle brings a fun, different angle to the already established world by giving us a character with an opposite modus operandi of Corwin. A sorcerer and Logrus initiate who gives us a look into the function of magic, trumps, and the Logrus in the universe.
All in all, I still like to go back and read the series every couple years. It's probably my favorite fantasy series of all time.
Zelazny's book "Roadmarks" is one of my favorites.
I could read it yearly and not get bored.
I have owned three copies of the Amber series and either gave them to others to read or had copies stolen. I just ordered my fourth copy of the Chronicles of Amber and I look forward to re-reading it in 2020.
I feel the merlin cycle left a lot of.loose.ends or alot of stuff.just kind of resolved itself.
It almost felt like zelazny was setting up for one more book.
There are 5 ( 6 if you count the convention one ) sort stories ( chapters really ) that show he was working towards a new cycle. They can be found online easily. There is even a Corwin chapter, and one with Corwin and Luke.
So, forgive me, I must comment on this. Not only am I reading this series again (for which iteration, I cannot recall) but my given name is Corwin. I was literally named for the protagonist of the first five books. I first read them as a pre-pubescent child and have revisited them frequently. Whether or not that provides me any definitive jurisdiction on the matter, I leave to the reader. But I wholeheartedly agree that Merlin is a short-sighted, lilly-hearted dipshit who deserves little attention and even lesser condolence than his father. He anticipates nothing, reacts like any given naive child you might expect, and furthers the world only in his accidental discovery of powers greater than himself. As for female influences on Corwin himself (please forgive any SPOILERS) . . . Dara uses and manipulates him to fantastic effect, Vialle undeniably defines his very nature and sets into motion the remainder of his efforts, and Fiona (a personal favorite) lends strength and knowledge beyond Corwin's own to help him achieve his goals as well as those of the realm in which they dwell. I may be a little biased, but those women made the chronicles what that are. Without them, it'd just be a bunch of macho, immortal men flailing around for the next kill.
I read the first 3 books at age 14, I think... Been trying ever since to finish. Today decided to reread everything all over again. thanks for video, you inspired me to do so😊... I remember this book as the one of the books I enjoyed the most in high school. I miss reading in general with all the RUclips and the Netflix.
In my humble opinion, you are spot on about Zelazny's writing ability -- that they were not so well written as I thought when I read them during my childhood. At least it seemed that way when I re-read them last year (in my 40s). I read the Amber series whne I was a kid, just like you said you did. I was about 11 or so then, however. And I re-read them recently just like you said you did. I chalk up my changed reaction to his writing style to the way sci-fi / fantasy novels were written in the 1960s and 1970s, though. Anyways, I have to say that this was my reaction to re-reading the Elric series, too. At least this is the case for me.
I think the order/chaos dichotomy was inspired by Michael Moorcocks elric novels.
Spot on! This is the greatest review I saw about the series. You absolutely nailed it all perfectly. I'm defo subscribing! :)
Hey! 😊 I recently replied to your comment over at Paul's channel, telling you that you were the reason I purchased The Count of Monte Cristo. I had completely forgotten that I also - at the same time - picked up the omnibus of this series (books1 through 5) due to this review. You really have amazing taste in books hun! Thanks so much for introducing me to so many great books 😉
Have you read Psycho Shop by Roger Zelazny and Alfred Bester? I havent read any of these in more than a decade lol thanks for the refresher
I re read them decades apart. When I was young the last 5 books had not been written. What a great discovery the last 5 books where.
Agree- don't start with Nine Princes . By coincidence the first edition was almost completely destroyed- its a rarity. The Changing Land is perhaps my favorite stand alone. It's a followup on a series of short stories collected in Dilvish the Damned. Of the short stories, which first appeared in 1965, Tower of ice is a pretty exceptional "long" short story, as is Bells of Shoredan.
Hahahaha Great review. I love your explanation of Merlin.
Awwww, I never got to Mander, I think. :(
I am SO HAPPY to hear that the treatment of women gets better in the second cycle. I love your complaints about Merlin and his stupidity regarding women. XD
I'm really happy to have heard your thoughts on the overall series, and the incidental thoughts on Zelazny's writing here and elsewhere. I haven't read anything else by him, but I'm thinking about This Immortal now. Thank you!
Yeah, Mandor is in only the last 3 books. I can't believe I forgot about him until my reread! My younger self had a serious crush on him :-)
I would highly recommend This Immortal. It's my favorite of his so far, but I am going to dive into his short fiction and see if my theory is correct.
Let me know how that goes. :D
That's a nice primer to get me started on the series. It will be months down the road but anticipation is growing.
Let's Read I hope it is helpful whenever you get around to reading the series!
loved amber series... but i agree lord of light was probably his best . just an opinion
Excellent review! I still haven't finished the second series (migraines have totally ruined my reading these past few months). I hope to finish these in the next few months.
That's no fun - I hope you feel better soon! I'm curious what you think about the final books.
Excellent review. I read this series about 10 years ago so it was nice to recall a lot of this as you spoke of it. Have you read "Bring Me The Head of Prince Charming?" It's a Zelazny collaboration with Robert Sheckley that's a pretty fun fantasy comedy.
Brian Dassero I haven't read "Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming" - yet! It's on my list because of that fantastic title :-) That's actually one of the great book titles my dad told me about way back when I was a kid. I'll be reading the first volume of Zelazny's collected short fiction next.
Im reading it now....I love it
"No spoilers"? You just said that every time Merlin beds a woman, he ends up finding out he was getting scammed! Well, if that ain't a spoiler, what is? =)
my name is Amber!!!! And i read the books to i like them(> -
black mirror got me here