Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50306 in Books
• Published on: 1972-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 175 pages

Customer Reviews

Just the start of a great series
On first impressions this book does not appear to be much - the characters seem fairly limited, the events generally go unexplained and the plot the kind of thing you might have written in the back of your English book at school.

Don't be fooled.

This series is one of the hidden gems of the Science fiction / fantasy genre. The story gets progressively better through each volume, and you find yourself drawn in closer and closer as each new event brings you nearer to finding out what's "really" going on.

You come to realise that the characters are far deeper than you thought, the plot simply too Macchiavellian to tie up quickly, and the slimness of the books to be a sign of concise vivid decription, rather than a lack of creativity.

It's the kind of series you can spend as long thinking about after you put it down as you did when you were reading it - so don't expect to be spoon fed. The plot is very complex, intricate, and tinted by the fact that the narrator could at any point be lying.

I would still have to give this book 4 out of five, however, as it is the weakest of the series (5 in total, plus a follow up series of 5 more). However, don't let this dissuade you - it is an absoulte classic, and if you stick with it for all 5 it pays off with interest.

The only down side is that many of the books are out of print, so it can take a lot of internet browsing to find second hand copies!

Just read them for yourself. It's well worth the effort involved.

One of the true originals
This is the first book in Zelazny's first Amber-series, introducing fantasy's number one hero; Corwin of Amber. It has a flavour of Western all' Italiana in the sardonic language of the Malteser Falcon, with very believable personas and a fast-moving unpredictable plot. If you like heroes, you'll love this book and this series (that is, the five first books - the second series does not cut it).

Zelasny's 'Weltforming' is sine qua non, the world(s) stretching from the Courts of Chaos to Amber, the perfect kingdom, truly original.

A must have (well, if you're a social democrat or worse, and hate say Ayn Rand you might just as well pass on this).

First in a series of 5, Good gripping fantasy with a twist
One of the few books I like to re-read. This book starts with the central character in hospital suffering from amnesia, and you unravel the mysteries of his existance with him, as his adventure begins. Works as a novel in its own right, but I bet you will want to read the others in the series.