Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Gollancz
Publication Date: January 1978
Wendy's Rating: 4 of 5 stars
"...and while I had often said that I wanted to die in bed, what I really meant was that in my old age I wanted to be stepped on by an elephant while making love."
This book was fervently recommended by a friend, and, being an obsessive compulsive book shopper, I bought it almost immediately. When I started reading it, I was both surprised and impressed by the responses I got to my posts on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Google+ – all praising the Chronicles of Amber and/or Zelazny himself. Clearly I had missed out on something very important and my impulse shopping was not in vain.
Amber is a realm that casts hundreds of shadows of itself, each one easily manipulated by those of royal blood, including Corwin, whom we first meet as an amnesia patient in the hospital under questionable circumstances. Despite his memory loss, his wits slip him out of captivity and into the home of his sister, where he slowly tries to piece his history together. Knowing nothing of Amber, who’s trying to kill Corwin, or the Trump cards that he finds, each depicting a person he comes to recognize as a sibling, the reader gets to tag along on this curious journey of discovery. Corwin is soon joined by his brother Random who is fleeing mysterious and deadly assailants. Together they make their way back to Amber in a bizarre process that sets the tone for the unusual way magic works in Zelazny’s world.
As the threads unwind and Corwin’s memory returns, we learn that the king of Amber is missing, presumed dead, and one of the nine princes, Eric, has assumed the throne. Corwin is determined to usurp his brother's rule and sets about building an army.
After the first book, which managed to go from memory loss, to walking the Pattern, to all out war in such a brief time, I quickly came to understand that nothing would be as I expected – including the motivations of each of the siblings and their companions. Zelazny fashions an unbelievably intense story of sibling rivalry, within a fantasy setting unlike any other. The transitions between worlds is so smooth and the language a perfect blend of contemporary and everything else. But the most striking thing for me was the way, as each book progressed, I felt like Zelazny was simply writing everything that spilled from his mind. It felt like he was adding twists and turns and new elements as they came to him – but everything fit in place like the world’s most perfect Tetris game. And when I got to the end of book four’s big reveal. Well .. fuuuhhh….
Side note: The book focuses mainly on Corwin and his interactions with his male companions and brothers. Initially, his sisters and the other women who vaguely show up are considered little more than useless fools. Fortunately, Zelazny seemed to gain a bit more respect for females by book four and five and the women at least served a bit more purpose and earned the respect of the nice men in their lives.
I actually bought the The Great Book of Amber, which includes ten stories within this world. The first five deal with Corwin’s incredible journey, while the second half follows his son Merlin. I have heard that the second half is not quite as good as the first. While this doesn’t deter me from continuing on eventually, I decided to focus on Corwin alone for this review.
