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bigenk's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This is the opening novel of Zelazny's lengthy Chronicles in Amber series, detailing the lives and exploits of the princes of a magical realm adjacent but removed from our own, who are locked in a power vacuum struggle for the throne and title to the greatest city that ever was or ever shall be. There's also this neat idea of infinite worlds with unlimited possibilities, that only the princes have the power to jump between. It opens with a tired but effective literary trick, where the main protagonist, Corwin, is suffering from amnesia, and slowly uncovers his history and powers along with the reader.
Nine Princes in Amber is a romp, a tight tale told compellingly, that despite some sagging in the middle has excellent pacing. This is the type of story that you can read cover to cover in a day, and not just because of its pages length. It's an entertainment forward read that has a good balance between vivid action sequences and glimpses into the mystical vale that Amber inhabits. Unfortunately, it's also essentially just a prequel to a much larger story, which most of the time feels like a scam to me, but here at least Zelazny leaves you with a conclusion that could theoretically be satisfying on its own.
Something that held Nine Princes in Amber back from a higher rating is Zelazny's insistence on using 70's slang and fourth wall breaking quips towards the reader that clashed with the rest of his high fantasy ideas. Why did Zelazny choose to do this? Who's to say other than him, but it's hard to see the value in the main character, who is infinite powerful and part of a royal bloodline, sarcastically saying things like "Ya dig?". Perhaps Zelazny was trying to hedge his bets, uncomfortable with how the novel would sell, and tried to make it more relatable to the reader of the time, but it just serves to degrade the authority of the work and will forever date it as a work of its time.
Is Nine Princes in Amber fun? Yes. I had an enjoyable time with my glimpse into this world, and am tempted to continue that peak with at least one of the many sequels. Ultimately though, at its heart Nine Princes in Amber is a boy's power fantasy that does little to become something greater. There is little room for anyone other than the arrogant male characters, while the prince's many sisters are summarily dismissed as unimportant and/or stupid. There are lengthy portions of description dedicated to the power, strength, and ingenuity of the princes, without nuanced exploration of their internal lives, emotions, or the political drama that rules the land. Perhaps the sequels are more complete works, but this one is mostly a work of escapism in a vivid, dream-like land.
Nine Princes in Amber is a romp, a tight tale told compellingly, that despite some sagging in the middle has excellent pacing. This is the type of story that you can read cover to cover in a day, and not just because of its pages length. It's an entertainment forward read that has a good balance between vivid action sequences and glimpses into the mystical vale that Amber inhabits. Unfortunately, it's also essentially just a prequel to a much larger story, which most of the time feels like a scam to me, but here at least Zelazny leaves you with a conclusion that could theoretically be satisfying on its own.
Something that held Nine Princes in Amber back from a higher rating is Zelazny's insistence on using 70's slang and fourth wall breaking quips towards the reader that clashed with the rest of his high fantasy ideas. Why did Zelazny choose to do this? Who's to say other than him, but it's hard to see the value in the main character, who is infinite powerful and part of a royal bloodline, sarcastically saying things like "Ya dig?". Perhaps Zelazny was trying to hedge his bets, uncomfortable with how the novel would sell, and tried to make it more relatable to the reader of the time, but it just serves to degrade the authority of the work and will forever date it as a work of its time.
Is Nine Princes in Amber fun? Yes. I had an enjoyable time with my glimpse into this world, and am tempted to continue that peak with at least one of the many sequels. Ultimately though, at its heart Nine Princes in Amber is a boy's power fantasy that does little to become something greater. There is little room for anyone other than the arrogant male characters, while the prince's many sisters are summarily dismissed as unimportant and/or stupid. There are lengthy portions of description dedicated to the power, strength, and ingenuity of the princes, without nuanced exploration of their internal lives, emotions, or the political drama that rules the land. Perhaps the sequels are more complete works, but this one is mostly a work of escapism in a vivid, dream-like land.
michinio's review against another edition
4.0
Roger Zelazny in fantasy for me slowly becomes Robert Sheckey in sci-fi - meaning my favorite author with amazing sense of humor. This specific book represents a genre that I'd call post-podern fantasy and I liked it much, though could feel it is just the beginning...
diarmuid's review against another edition
Decent book. I actually enjoyed all the stuff up to his duel with Eric the most, all the army stuff didn't really work for me as it had no stakes (and ultimately accomplished nothing other than killing 250,000 dudes). The prison bit was interesting also. But after he starts throwing away life in the army, I start to wonder why I should care about his success or failure. I mean, Eric doesn't seem to do anything worse than him? I guess he might have an extra person or two on his side, and his dad told him he should be king (but only after he'd already made up his mind), but other than that they both have equal claims and a similar lack of scruples. Yes Corwin seems to care _more_ about his army of shadow people than his brothers do, but still not an awful lot. And why does he raise an army when we know from the outset that only a few hundred would actually make it into the city? Surely he'd have been better off trying to convince the people of amber to support him, like that old caretaker he meets in the library.
I'm not sure how he's going to keep the stakes high for another 9 books when everyone is so powerful, like what's to stop Corwin finding a world with sentient T-Rex's who worship him as a god? Surely that'd be a better army than the one he had. Better yet, why not grab a million of them? Nothing stopping him from collecting his army from multiple worlds. Okay, maybe multiple worlds is hard to coordinate. But still, there surely exists a world with a standing army of 1 million highly trained t rex's who worship him as a god!
On the writing, the prose is definitely good, but it has a similar issue to other 70s/80s scifi/fantasy authors like Glen Cook and Gene Wolfe, where the reader is kept at a bit of a distance. I don't know if it's a stylistic choice or just the way people wrote back then. It reads more like a guy is telling the story down in the pub rather than you getting into his head, like "and then I grabbed some guys for the army with my brother. We trained them up, and then we were off! I was in charge of the fleet. Day 1 we lost 500, day 2 400, day 3 560, and so on. It was tough going! Then we hit the worst storm you've ever seen" etc etc. Interestingly, all 3 series are written in 1st person!
I'm not sure how he's going to keep the stakes high for another 9 books when everyone is so powerful, like what's to stop Corwin finding a world with sentient T-Rex's who worship him as a god? Surely that'd be a better army than the one he had. Better yet, why not grab a million of them? Nothing stopping him from collecting his army from multiple worlds. Okay, maybe multiple worlds is hard to coordinate. But still, there surely exists a world with a standing army of 1 million highly trained t rex's who worship him as a god!
On the writing, the prose is definitely good, but it has a similar issue to other 70s/80s scifi/fantasy authors like Glen Cook and Gene Wolfe, where the reader is kept at a bit of a distance. I don't know if it's a stylistic choice or just the way people wrote back then. It reads more like a guy is telling the story down in the pub rather than you getting into his head, like "and then I grabbed some guys for the army with my brother. We trained them up, and then we were off! I was in charge of the fleet. Day 1 we lost 500, day 2 400, day 3 560, and so on. It was tough going! Then we hit the worst storm you've ever seen" etc etc. Interestingly, all 3 series are written in 1st person!
mrgeof's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
mysterion's review against another edition
Didnt like the writing. Everything was an action after action after action without any thoughts i liked
elizafiedler's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
wouterk's review against another edition
4.0
I was not prepared. I've read Zelazny before and I know he has inspired writers like Gaiman and GRR Martin, but I somehow thought this was going to be Zelazny's take on classical fanatasy with moral clarity and the good guys winning. Boy, was I wrong. I might've been misled by goodreads labelling it as YA and the sweet name of amber, but this was a great and very new experience.
Nine Princes of Amber follows Corwin as he wakes up with memory loss in a hospital. And somehow within 175 pages this ends up in an epic battle to reach and besiege Amber.
What I loved about the writing is the fact that Zelazny uses the amnesia well as a writing tool. Rather than it being a convenience to not go into all kinds of details, it is used for the reader to become invested in the world building. We want to know what's going on and that means that Corwin has to find out that he is named Corwin, why he's in the hospital and later on what Amber is and what the hell is going on. What was also fun is that sometimes Corwin breaks the first wall, like he's telling you, the reader, his story.
But like I said, I was not prepared. This book is gritty and dark and extremely political. It is somehow reminiscent of story beats in A Song of Ice and Fire, with backstabbing and political play to get or gain influence with the throne of amber. Those who lose suffer quite cruel fates and punishments and many relatively innocent people are sacrificed.
Also, I was not prepared for how its time influenced these books. First and foremost, people are continuously smoking. It is like the key activity outside of furthering the plot. Second I was not prepared for the joke referring to the Eichmann trial (very dark, though I can appreciate it). Third, there's some scenes that clearly refer to the culture of liberal consumption of drugs and each other.
All in all, a very interesting read with a large story told in a short book. Curious to contiue.
Nine Princes of Amber follows Corwin as he wakes up with memory loss in a hospital. And somehow within 175 pages this ends up in an epic battle to reach and besiege Amber.
What I loved about the writing is the fact that Zelazny uses the amnesia well as a writing tool. Rather than it being a convenience to not go into all kinds of details, it is used for the reader to become invested in the world building. We want to know what's going on and that means that Corwin has to find out that he is named Corwin, why he's in the hospital and later on what Amber is and what the hell is going on. What was also fun is that sometimes Corwin breaks the first wall, like he's telling you, the reader, his story.
But like I said, I was not prepared. This book is gritty and dark and extremely political. It is somehow reminiscent of story beats in A Song of Ice and Fire, with backstabbing and political play to get or gain influence with the throne of amber. Those who lose suffer quite cruel fates and punishments and many relatively innocent people are sacrificed.
Also, I was not prepared for how its time influenced these books. First and foremost, people are continuously smoking. It is like the key activity outside of furthering the plot. Second I was not prepared for the joke referring to the Eichmann trial (very dark, though I can appreciate it). Third, there's some scenes that clearly refer to the culture of liberal consumption of drugs and each other.
All in all, a very interesting read with a large story told in a short book. Curious to contiue.
brendalovesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
The idea for this book was really great. I just wish someone else had written it. I didn't care for Roger Zelazny's writing style, and would love to have read this same story by someone that I consider more skilled at writing.
That's not to say that I won't continue on with the series. I'm interested enough to go on, but probably won't be in any hurry to do so.
That's not to say that I won't continue on with the series. I'm interested enough to go on, but probably won't be in any hurry to do so.
syn_06's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I'm a huge sci Fi and fantasy fan. I've seen a lot of online chatter about how unserious the Hugos have gotten recently and decided to check out some past Hugo winners for comparison.
and wow....this is objectively not a good book. The writing style is all over the place. There's typos and bad grammar. Nothing is really explained. The characters aren't developed at all. At no point was I given a reason to care about any of the characters or what was happening. I gave it 1 star because it at least kept my attention enough to finish. But I'm not sure why this is such a beloved classic
and wow....this is objectively not a good book. The writing style is all over the place. There's typos and bad grammar. Nothing is really explained. The characters aren't developed at all. At no point was I given a reason to care about any of the characters or what was happening. I gave it 1 star because it at least kept my attention enough to finish. But I'm not sure why this is such a beloved classic