Rating: 
Summary: Amber Chronicles- strong start, middling finish
Review: Having read a portion of the influential Amber Chronicles many years ago, I leapt at the chance to own the whole series in one book. It is collection of ten books, which comprise two series. The first series is very strong and direct, despite the complicated, occasionally Machiavellian politics which occur within the ruling family of Amber. The story is an easily read narrative of the adventures of Corwin, a prince of Amber, as he travels through a multiverse of shadows and seeks kingship of the true kingdom of Amber. It is taut with very few inconsistencies and loose ends. The second series is a narrative in the voice of Corwin's son, Merlin, as his life becomes complicated by assassination attempts and political intrigue; while it remains quite readable, it suffers from excessive plot convolutions. Too many balls are juggled and minor plots are spun and resolved with abandon. Inconsistencies with the first series and within the second series abound. Ultimately, this series was much less satisfying. This book is definitely worth buying for the first series alone.
Rating: 
Summary: An overall AWESOME series
Review: I honestly must say that when I first read the "Nine Princes in Amber" I didn't like the story. The stuff about Shadow and the Pattern were too crazy. Something compelled me to continue reading on and I was completely drawn in. The intrigue, the mystery, the betrayals and the politics were brilliantly weaved together. As the story progressed, it became less of a Sci-Fi series and more of a walk through the human psyche. Amber, Shadow and Chaos representing the Freudian personality: the superego, the ego and the id. His writing style is incredible. My favorite character was Merlin although many would probably vote for Corwin as their number one hero. Merlin wasn't as experienced or as cunning as his father but I wish I had a friend like him. He was willing to help his "friends" even when they tried to kill him at one time. I loved the first 8 books in the series but the last 2 weren't as enchanting. The ending was also a slap in the face but I understood Zelazny's reasoning behind ending the series so abruptly. Don't miss out on this awesome series. You won't regret the sleep you will lose over it.
Rating:
Summary: A unique series. Clearly the best fantasy series ever
Review: I could say that the first novel of this 10 part series is a truely unique framework plot, and that both the first and second set of 5 books end in a cliffhanger. But see the other reviews for a synopsis of this series. The strength of this collection of books is the study of the character and personal growth, and increasing humanity of both Corwin and then his son Merlin. If they are the archetypes of mankind, and the premise of this book is that they are, it can't help but make the reader feel a little more noble, a little more heroic, and a little more hopeful. Zelazny was an artist unparalleled in the world of fantasy, and this collection is an incredibly great read. I've read it multiple times, and I look forward to reading it again in a few years.
Rating:
Summary: Zelazny is a master, but occassionally scatterbrained.
Review: Roger Zelazny has written quite a few books regarded as classics in the science fiction/fantasy world. Don't let this turn you off; his writing demeanor is unique in its humor while being serious and engrossing. The Great Book of Amber is the story of Corwin of Amber, bastard son of a bastard father, and his adventures. Later books also included in this collection chronicle the life of his son, Merlin, conceived against Corwin's will and/or without his knowledge. Zelazny has a way of bringing out all the things I love in books: There is combat which is artfully described, a man driven by what he believes in, plenty of enemies who are bent on stopping him, and intricate plot twists galore. The only bad thing about the book, and the reason i've given it four stars, is that it ends somewhat prematurely. I don't think that's Zelazny's fault, as he passed away in '95 and might have had his sights set on continuing the series. Occassionally there are gaffes in Zelazny's writing which make you wish he would have followed a path or described more of a given situation, but overall, he's excellent at what he does, which is writing fantasy and sci-fi with elements not often found in today's literature. If you liked this book, you may also want to read Donnerjack and Lord of Light, also by Zelazny.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, all of Amber in one great volume!
Review: I have loved Zelazny's Amber series for many years now, and recently tried to find all of the novels again, only to learn that many are out of print. But with the "Great Book of Amber" all of the Amber books are in one volume. This volume includes the original Amber series, in which Prince Corwin is the central character relearning his place in the monarchy and dissecting the politics and palace intrigues. The royal family draws its power from the Pattern in Amber, Amber being the original world from which all other universes are mere shadows and combinations. The second Amber series is included as well, in which Corwin's son is the central character. He is a prince of both Amber and Chaos, and is a master of both Amber's powers (the Pattern) and the magical/wizardly powers of Chaos. I love the magic and the epic nature of the adventures, and each individual novel within the series is a wonderful read. The volume as a whole builds a world and a saga that will stick with you for ages after you've read it. If you like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, you'll probably enjoy this volume as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely terrible editing
Review: First of all, I loved the stories when I was a kid, but AVOID this new paperback edition. There are annoying typos on almost every page. Its like the publisher scanned in the old books with with OCR, ran it once through a spell checker, and said "ok, lets ship it". I just can't believe what a crappy and careless job they did peddling such a horribly un-proofread edition. This is of course no fault of the author who wrote these great books decades ago. The publisher is the one to blame, peddling such a shoddy product. They should be ashamed.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Chronicle
Review: After reading some of the recommendations for this fantasy series, my appetite was whetted and I ordered the Complete Amber Chronicles to decide for myself. It was extremely hard to put the book down every evening and when I reached the last two chronicle sections in this book, I wound up reading through the night. Other reviewers have noted the plot twists and the admittedly slower sections, but overall this is a wonderful and pleasurable read. I even ordered another copy for family members in another state to enjoy! This is one I'll definitely return to one day--I recommend this to those who enjoy a good plot, great characters, and a longer fantasy read.
Rating: 
Summary: Good learning material for young writers
Review: I say, with some trepidation, that this book is good learning material for young writers. I do not mean to say that this book is of high quality, I mean that it is good to read this and learn this lesson: despite the fact that this book is written with some of the poorest quality prose one might ever read (I should note that I have never liked the lazily informal first-person, but this is bad even for that), and despite the fact that the story is weak and not overly compelling, a publisher has actually decided to publish it. Furthermore, some readers (and this is nearly unbelievable) like this garbage. Sometimes, while sleeping, I mumble aloud better stories than this. I have not had this bad of book experience since I read "The Catcher in The Rye," another abominably over-rated work. To have readers compare this to LOTR should make all Tolkien fans cringe. The point I try to make to young writers is this: if you are not that good of writer and tell not-so-great stories; CHEERIO! There are publishers and fans out there waiting for you, as evidenced by this book. I give it two stars because you get a lot of paper for not too much money.
Rating:
Summary: Pointless rambling
Review: Practically all of the reviews so far have been about how great this book is. So in the interest of giving you, the potential buyer, a more balanced view, here's a counterpoint. I had heard great things about the Amber books. There's a whole cult of people out there who swear by them, recommend them with a gleam in their eye, and play the RPG based on them. So, with such high expectations about how wonderful it would be, when I finally got around to reading "The Great Book of Amber," I was surprised to find that it was tediously boring and badly written. I couldn't put this book down... because I kept reading and thinking, "People enjoy this?! It *must* get better eventually." I was so, so wrong. It's almost as if Zelazny loved his ideas so much that he kept writing his story - ten whole books worth of it - without ever bothering to explain to us why what happens happens, or why we should even care. I would have given this book two or three stars if it'd had any redeeming qualities, but... no. Sorry. This was the only book I've ever hated -- and I hated it so much that I was sorely tempted to return it to the bookstore to get my money back.
The plot? Survive attempted murder, wander around, repeat. There's hardly any character development at all. People die and (cheesiness!) pop up again for more murder attempts. There's no suspense or resolution... just constant anxiety. It grates on the nerves. The one good thing I can say about these books is that his technical ideas were interesting. Transportation through Trumps? Cool. Walking the Pattern? Cool. Amber as a stable point in an endless spectrum of quantum universes? Cool. All neat, huh? Unfortunately, Zelazny didn't see the possibilities; the ideas were enough for him, not their creative execution. He didn't seem certain of the physical laws for Trumps and Pattern; the rules kept changing, leaving me, as a reader, unsettled. Similarly, since Amber is the "One True World," you'd think that Amber would be echoed in its shadow universes, right? Nope. Maybe some comparisons will help explain. The generic idea of parallel universes has been done much, much better. The sci-fi show, "Sliders," is a veritable masterpiece compared to this, because they, at least, use cultural changes to thicken the plot. But "Amber" is what would happen to "Stargate" if the lab researchers stood around the gate killing each other, and people only went through the gate to chase escapees - all but ignoring the new scenery. Practically all of his really interesting technical ideas end up the same... intriguing, but never creatively exploited. For example, at one point a character has a magical artifact implanted in their body. What amazing mystical powers did it give them? You never find out. So very many ideas just trail off this way, I wonder if Zelanzy kept forgetting what he had planned to write. I'm not nitpicking, either... multitudes of ideas trail off this way. Part of the reason I kept reading was to find out where it all led. What happened to this? To that? But... Nothing wraps up. Even at the end of the tenth book, I expected him to tie up some loose ends. But no... the last page was simply where he finished rambling. He gave fanfic authors enough fodder to write at least twenty of their own supplemental stories to try to wrap it all up (and they probably have). With all of the expectations, the disappointment level is palpable; it's like passionate necking that ends with a knee to the groin. So, am I only disappointed in the way it ends? No. All ten books were like that. There is no beginning or end to any of these books. It's just one long story. No introductions, no suspense, no climaxes, no resolutions. Just rambling. Summary of the first 5 books: Corwin hears a story - let's call it "X". Then, (between murder attempts) he talks to every other character in turn, like a detective getting alibis from suspects in a mystery. "I heard this story, X," he says. "Oh," they say, "but you got it wrong. It's actually X and Y." He then talks to the next few characters... "I heard this story: X and Y." "Oh," they say, "but X is all wrong, it's actually Y and Z." And so on. It's as if Zelazny had a quota, a minimum of 500,000 words to write, so he drew out a 200-word story to that length by telling it bit by bit, over and over again. Maybe noticing this awkward pattern spoiled my enjoyment of the book's very slow unravelling. Since I knew that the first version of every story I heard would be wrong, I had a constant nagging impulse to just skip ahead. I wish I had. Even eventually finding out "what really happened" still bored me to tears -- because I never knew that this version, finally, was the last, true recap, and not another unreliable tangent. I'm now convinced that the people who originally recommended this book to me have never read anything better. They aren't aware that they've been screwed over. Sure, by itself, this volume's weight and vaguely interesting concepts might seem impressive; but compared to several mediocre(!) scifi and fantasy series I've read, it's total dreck. If you really want political intrigue, read George R. R. Martin's "Ice and Fire" fantasy series. He's an editor, which means he spent a good portion of his life recognizing books like Amber and throwing them in the reject pile. In conclusion: "Amber" is definitely a borrow-before-you-buy title. Who knows, maybe you'll see something in it that makes reading all ten books something other than a huge waste of time.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best
Review: This series is one the best Sci-Fi/Fantasy ever. It is in my opinion just as good if not better than LOTR's and the original Dragonlance Chronicles. If you haven't read this yet do it now.
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