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Posted By: Gablety Apr 05, 2001 - 04:15 pm

I just got out one of his books from the library on the strong reccomendation of people from another thread; I'll tell people what i think of it when I finish it.

Posted By: MerleZ Apr 06, 2001 - 08:07 am

I do hope it is Nine Princes in Amber. :o)

Posted By: Gablety May 04, 2001 - 05:51 pm

Yes, it was. Even though it was only a few hundred pages long, I think less than two hundred, I couldn't finish it and returned it. I was so disappointed!

How can I state its errors? First, it had no strong female charachtars, and all of the dominant charachtars were male. What is with this?! Second, although it's an exiting concept of having "Amber" and "Shadow," with offshoots like the "Pattern" and "Rebma," that brilliance wasn't enough to drive the story; there were only a few scenes that described it, and none of them were very spectacular. It was as if he made this fascinating concept, now he doesn't care about it. Third, the style was terrible. He has days go by with maybe one sentence of description, of how he went to bed again; he consistently underdescribes things except for where he describes the cards, where there's so much description I felt bogged down and could just barely keep track of it.

So overall, I was really disappointed, and I hope that Mr. Zelazny wrote something with as brilliant a concept but much better brought out.

Posted By: Bmat May 04, 2001 - 07:59 pm

It's been a while since I read the series, but I seem to remember that descriptions of the pattern developed through the series. I remember being intrigued by what was happening and trying to solve the mystery which was revealed gradually.

Yoohoo, Merle??? You will have a better idea of this than I have.

Posted By: MerleZ May 07, 2001 - 08:25 am

LOL! Well, Gablety, I'd warned you about the lack of female characters, which is especially true in Nine Princes. I guess with your well known dislike of Tolkien, Zelazny shouldn't feel too badly that you didn't care for him, either.

On the good news side, at least since you borrowed the book from the library, you aren't out any $$$ for your effort.

I'm curious, though. I thought your complaint with Tolkien was too much description. Now with Zelazny, it's too little?

I found Amber to be very much driven by dialogue and action, not to mention Corwin's inner monologue. I found the first person narrative greatly enhanced the intrigue, as Corwin peeled the layers of lies told him by various of his family members.

So, Gablety votes thumbs down. Bmat and Merle vote thumbs up. That's the beauty of art. Different people have different opinions, and no one is right and no one is wrong.

Posted By: MerleZ May 07, 2001 - 08:29 am

Oh, yes. Zelazny wrote much of brilliance. During his lifetime, he was awarded 6 Hugos and 3 Nebulas. The Amber series itself won both the Locas and Ditmar awards.

Posted By: Bmat May 07, 2001 - 10:50 am

What Merle said!

[Gosh, Merle, you are really making me want to get my copies out and read them again. I loved watching Corwin discovering what was really going on.]

Posted By: MerleZ May 09, 2001 - 12:15 pm

Go for it, Bmat! I just reread the series last spring for the first time in probably ten years.

Posted By: Aslan Jun 10, 2001 - 09:45 pm

I'd read Nine Princes in Amber, and thought it was okay. Lots of good action sequences. A pretty fun read.

I just finished reading Lord of Light, which was much more fulfilling. Excellent worldbuilding. It's a world colonized by humans a looong time before the story begins. They decided to use their technology to give people the powers of the Hindu pantheon.

I recommend this book! It's a little confusing at first. Excepting for the first and last chapter, everything is a flashback, but it's not well marked as such. Also, although certainly not necessary, it probably helps to have a little foreknowledge of Hinduism and Buddhism. Like Amber, lots of action. The characters are pretty shallow, except for their relationships with each other. But the nice thing is that here and there throughout the story are these wonderful little gems of wisdom taken from Hindu and Buddhist tradition. I've always been a big fan of 60s/70s anthropological sci-fi and fantasy, especially with theological or folkloric themes, so this fit the bill for me. Sorry, Gablety... no strong female characters. But character is not this book's strength, and I think that the action and philological tidbits make up for it.

Posted By: Bmat Jun 21, 2001 - 01:16 pm

I just finished rereading the first five books in the Amber series. Captivating! I started "The Trumps of Doom" but find it not as strong as the previous books. Since I prefer hard sf to fantasy, that is probably the reason. Even though the Amber series is classified as fantasy, the use of the trumps and pattern makes it close enough to the kind of sf that I like that I enjoy the books. "Trumps" veers too far into magic and fantasy. Also, Merlin does not have the charisma that was possessed by Corwin. I would still like to be reading about Corwin.

To my mind a book is a success if the reader still wants the story to go on. The Amber series does that for me.