Nine Princes in Amber

Rating:
Summary: A great introduction to a great series
Review: Zelazny's launch of the classic Amber series is a great book. This book is almost as much fun as the introduction to a great fantasy series as it is a period piece--I find the Earthbound and Earthlike scenes strangely compelling as being just outside the realm of modern life from Zelazny's 1970 perspective.

Corwin is perhaps the best first-person narrator I've ever read: his view is biased, judgemental, but still believable. You see the world through his eyes and gather up the experiences of this man and his many lives. The book should leave you scrambling to buy the others in the series.

A word about the series: The first set (the first 5 books) are vastly superior to the second set of 5, which start strong but begin to run out of steam around Book 8 and lead to an extremely unsatisfying conclusion, when Zelazny has nothing but cliches and fantasy conventions to fall back on. Up until that point, though, the series is original and full of life.