The greatest strength of genre fiction is also its greatest failing. Genre provides a form and a precedent for a writer to explore and write a story or a poem or a play with a common set of conditions which the audience or the reader already understands. There are some people who look down on genre fiction because they do not understand the term. Some of the greatest poems ever created are under the genre of “sonnet”, for instance. While it is my belief that the majority of quality writing is written “in genre” each year that does not mean that even the best work is immune to its greatest failing:
Being a little bit original.
By definition genre fiction is less original than (I don’t want to discuss whether EVERYTHING is a genre or not but for all intents and purposes just follow my reasoning) Literature and the fantasy genre is much like all the other genres out there. It’s repetitive and normally authors do not stray (or cannot) very far from the well beaten path. Again, this is what a genre is for and is not a knock against genre or any fantasy book. With all this being said, Zelazny is one of the most original fantasy writers I have ever encountered and The Books of Amber are a great example of originality and ingenuity within a genre.
Allow me to describe this tome. It is 10 books long with each book clocking in around 120-150 pages. In total my collected works edition was around 1300 pages. Book 5 concludes the arc of one character and the first major section of the entire saga. Books 6-10 follow a different character and explore different themes and ideas. From what I have read online books 1-5 are considered superior to the following 5 and while I agree there are aspects of them which I really adored. The chronicles of Amber are set within the world of Amber which, in these novels, is the one true world with all the Shadows (such as Earth circa 1980, I believe) being cast as versions of it with different conditions and people. It’s similar to a part of simulation theory which has an infinite number of other universes which resemble ours but might have only one change to differentiate it.
The only people who can traverse the many different worlds (for the most part) are the Princes and Princess’ of Amber herself. These are the central characters of the novels and through a process of simply walking and basically using their imagination they can cross from Amber to other Shadows until they find what they are looking for. Throughout the novels the characters will wonder whether they are discovering new worlds or actually creating them to suit their desires.
The main character of the first five books is Prince Corwin who is an able protagonist. The story begins with him in a mental institution on our earth (far from home). He is recovering from an automobile accident and he has lost all of his memories. Amnesia is a tried and true vehicle for story telling and Zelazny uses it very well. The reader is able to discover this world through Corwin’s eyes as he struggles with his faulty memory. Sometimes he can remember how a person from his past made him feel or his relationship to them or a place will remind him of some event which occurred in his past. I was worried that the entire story and all the exposition would be delivered through this method but Corwin does in fact recover most of his memories near the end of book 1.
Books 1-5 are first and foremost a revenge story. Corwin must forge an alliance with a few of his many siblings who are currently vying for the throne of Amber which their father vacated after he mysteriously disappeared. Corwin is tasked with discovering who damaged his memories and left him on our earth to die. He believes they were trying to dispose of him because he was a solid contender for the throne. Corwin does not know who to trust and his memory is a constant obstacle. This factor creates most of the tension in the early stories and makes it a fun ride.
I don’t want to review the plot points of this story. I suggest you go and read it for yourself. The collected works edition has been around for decades and can be easily found on Amazon. There are few critiques I had of Zelazny’s writing. For one, a lot of the exposition is done through dialogue. I felt as though almost every chapter (this applies especially to books 6-10) had one character saying to another “I need to talk to you right now. Let’s sit down for a few pages and discuss what is happening”. Fortunately the characters were fun and well fleshed out enough to this was not overly boring, but it is something I noticed which I wished he could have handled better. Another criticism I had was the walking. I joked with a friend that this book could have been called “Amber: Walking and Talking.” Corwin is either talking with someone, or on a multi page journey through Shadow which Zelazny describes in minute detail. These descriptions are interesting, yet after then 10th time I wanted to skip through them and get to the action. The most interesting such “walking” section was Corwin’s Hellride which is actually very well done and forces me to give a pass to some of the more boring ones. To be fair there is actual plot points occurring during it but still, its just walking (riding in this case). Look for it near the end of book 5.
Corwin’s tale is concluded after the 5th book and the following books take up with another character. Both sections are written in the first person and though it is generally agreed that section one is superior to the second even at his worst, well, it’s still Roger Zelazny, and I throughly enjoyed it. If the first 5 books are a revenge story set in a fantasy setting, the final 5 are a more cyberpunk vision with the main character trying to unravel a mystery. Being in the first person, I think that Zelazny had a challenge in distinguishing the voices of both the narrators. Overall I enjoyed Corwin more, but as I think back the second character was also interesting despite being slightly inferior.
These books are dangerous. An in genre story having the gall to be slightly original? Ba humbug. Zelazny takes some risks here and though they don’t always pan out, the journey itself is remarkable. In the end it all comes together and overall I feel confident recommending this giant book to anyone. Enjoy, and perhaps allow it to really introduce you to Zelazny’s imagination. He was a special voice in the SciFi/Fantasy world and he died too soon. Perhaps we would have gotten to read more Amber books had he lived longer. His greatest work which I have read was Lord of Light which is inspired by Indian mythology and I cannot recommend that enough.
SWF 
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