Nine Princes in Amber

Rating:
Summary: Meet Fantasy's First Family
Review: "Nine Princes" begins the Chronicles of Amber, perhaps the most utterly fun series in Sci-fi/Fantasy.

As it begins, the narrator Corwin - Prince of the magical realm of Amber - wakes up in a hospital with amnesia after an apparent murder attempt, aware only that it was probably a member of his own family who tried to do him in. Leaving the hospital with intentions to interrogate the sister who admitted him, he meets wild child youngest brother Random. Initially keeping his condition close to the vest, Corwin learns that his father and brother Brand are missing, throwing the family power struggle - involving the family's nine princes and to a lesser extent their sisters - into chaos. With little other choice, Corwin decides to trust Random and put his life into his hands. It turns out to be a lucky gamble - he's run into the right brother first, and Random points him to a magical means of restoring his memory, promising (and more importantly actually intending) to stick with him. Through the next four books Corwin - sometimes solo and sometimes with major and minor assists from Random (who becomes the story's "safe place") - begins the long process of finding out what happened to his father and Brand and who wants him dead. On the way, he discovers that some of his siblings were exactly what he thought them, others were better or worse than he believed, some have changed and some he never even really knew at all.

The series is always suspenseful, often darkly funny, and sometimes even surprisingly moving. A second series followed, but it in no way compared to the original first five novels.

This is one of the greats. Buy the next four books too, or you'll regret the wait in between.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Zelazny's best
Review: Starts off with a bang and accelerates from there. Zelazny combines science fiction, fantasy and modern-day themes with with, prose and a wild plot. This is one of those rare books that I could not put down, and even more rare that I reread every now and again. That this is the first book in the series only adds to its overall appeal. Zelazny's depiction of the fantasy elements are among the most prosaic and yet surprisingly concise you'll find. This book manages to cram more into its relatiuvely few pages than most 1000+ page fantasy doorstops. Amber, Rebma, it's all good.

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Summary: [e-mail]
Review: What can I say.....?

This book is the first one,of the best series ever written.
Is that enough?

Think of a family of Demigods,who can travle to any world they can imagine.....
I can`t describe the books... I don`t have the authors grasp of words.....
Lets just say... that I love Tolkien.. but given the choice .... I would take the Amber Chronicles to a deserted island.. instead of Lord of the Rings.
Nine Princes in Amber is the first book to a 10 book series... And every one of them.. is an incredible work of art.

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Summary: best book in the amber series....
Review: im a big fan of roger zelazny and i read when i was kid - which further biases my opinion, but here goes anyway. the first impressive thing i noticed about this book was its enthralling storyline. when corwin (the protagonist) wakes up with a sudden loss of his memory, you feel yourself waking up with him. you can relate with the main character, which is what i think makes a writer good - if he can create a fictional character the audience feels for. the next thing i noticed was how well it was written without being mind-boggling. a common bane of sci-fi/fantasy stories are bogged down and made confusing by unnessessary locations or historical allusions. not here, zelazny uses a very ingenious approach and has us learn things about amber and shadow AS corwin learns them. things are explained to the reader without becoming a '50s sci-fi monologue. a very entertaining read (i was so enthralled i read it in one night - and was dead tired for school the next morning, lol). a must-buy for readers of all preferences! especially casual sci-fi readers like myself!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent - Must Read
Review: This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys Fantasy/Scifi.
At the start of the book the reader as is as unsure and as clueless as the main character. As the story unfolds the circumstances and the nature of the world is revealed. Very capitivating and unique. You will not want to put this book down!

Rating:
Summary: THREE AND A HALF STARS
Review: This is a work of MODERN FANTASY. You'll find cars and guns alongside swords and horses. High-tech hospitals and dungeons, castles and cities. The main premise behind this series is that our world is just a SHADOW among infinitely many other shadows. PARALLEL UNIVERSES OR MULTIVERSES as some would call it. At first this idea can be a little hard to grasp, but you'll get the hang of it pretty soon. The story starts with a man waking up in a hospital and he soon tries to escape. The beginning is very interesting and well-written--worth reading again. The man ends up at someone's house and starts to learn about who he really is. At the same time, the reader starts to understand who he is. Basically, the man learns that he is but one of nine princes of a land called AMBER. That about wraps it up for the story, without giving too much away. I prefer non-modern fantasy, but I liked NPOA enough to read the next book in the series and I'm working on the third. As far as modern-fantasy goes, this was not bad, but for those who expected medieval-fantasy, this may be a little bit of a disappointment, hence the 3 and half stars.

Rating:
Summary: Needs a higher rating than five stars, pal!
Review: Man, all the good stuff has been said to let me be brief:

OVERALL FEELING: One of my favorite fantasy pieces; sort of starts out as a PI man who lost his memory and has to figure out that he's the prince of another world

MARKETING APPEAL: The Amber series is greatly loved; I imagine that it sold well; it took a first person point of view of a wise cracking PI type fantasy hero who discovered the realm of Amber; a conflict of sibling gods who are out for dominance and then discover a great evil. Superbly written.

FAVORITE METAPHORS: The night was bargaining weakly with the sun. The rising sun cast billions of bright shards into the foaming swell of the waters, and our eyes were dazzled by their dance so that we could not see beneath the surface.

The devil danced in his blue eyes . . .

I saw the fleet, sailing on a great ocean the color of blood. FAVORITE ACTION PASSAGE: As soon as we came to a halt, I flung open my door and leaped out --- barefooted yet! ... it!

We pushed on, slowly, and there was blood on every step for as far back as I could see. There's a moral there, somewhere.

FAVORITE DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGE: It was about eight o'clock when the cab deposited me on a random corner in the nearest town. I paid off the driver and walked for around twenty minutes. Then I stopped in a diner, found a booth and had juice, a couple of eggs, toast, bacon and three cups of coffee. The bacon was too greasy.

Very, very much would they pay. An anger, a terrible one, flared within the middle of my body.

Answers? None.

DIALOGUE: I really liked the dialogue. It was terse and to the point with witty remarks all over the place, as well as some deep insights. Does a good job of not telling too much in the dialogue. No one is an idiot or constant talker. All, are sort of street smart. Corwin also has this fatalist attitude that I like. At times, he wonders as to the words he uses which makes it feel only more so that you are involved in the discussion with him (even if you can't talk back and ask questions). Good threats, too.

"Blood!" I called out. "Give me blood and vengeance this day, my warriors, and you will be remembered in Amber forever!" And as a man, they raised their weapons and cried out, "Blood!" And gallons --- no, rivers --- of it were let that day. We destroyed two more of Caine's raiders, replenishing our numbers from those of the survivors of our own fleet. As we headed toward a sixth, I climbed the mainmast and tried to take a quick count.

"Catch them, you fool!" And he did.

All I have to say is that Zelazny is my my favorite fantasy writer next to only one other writer: George Martin who is known for his incredible A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE series.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent and Bloody Science Fiction.
Review: With one exception, every fantasy book I have read occurs in the past, in the Middle ages. Meet the exception. In Nine Prince of Amber, our hero awakens today, somewhere in modern America, in a hospital. He doesn't remember who he is or why he is there. He does know that people seem to be trying to kill him. Thus, begins the Amber saga.

"Nine Princes of Amber" tells the tale of a power struggle beyond Earth. Nine princes fight and die for their father's throne on Amber. Amber is the perfect world, of which, even our own Earth is but a pale reflection.

Corwin, the hero of this book, eventually learns his part in this struggle. He was one a favored contender, now he is a unknown wildcard. As Corwin slowly regains some memories, he finds his place in the upcoming battle.

Meanwhile other threats seem to be lurking close by. "Nine Princes of Amber" has everything a good book requires. A good plot, an interesting hero, and a writing style that moves the book along. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Superlative fantasy writing
Review: I hated to finish this book. The need for more made the outcome inevitable. A vicious catch 22 - You want find out what happens but you don't want it to end. Zelazny has an uncanny ability to completely immerse you in this world. Fantasy story telling at it's finest. Every word is another stroke on the canvas that is Amber.

The main character, Corwin, wakes up with amnesia. I had to look at the cover and the binding, during the first chapters; to be sure they didn't accidentally insert the wrong book. You'll be thinking, "where's the sci-fi? Where's the fantasy?" But hang on, it's right around the corner. It begins when the word "Amber" sends a shock through Corwin.

A fantasy world so compelling you'll want to go there yourself. You'll find action, evil, revenge, an epic war with a plot to overthrow the reigning king who is absolute fiend. One of the only texts I've known to have both a happy and unhappy ending [that's all I can say without giving too much away].

Rating:
Summary: I really wanted to like this book
Review: Original? yes. Lacking any and all emotional impact, yes. I wanted to like this book. I read the other reviews the people here posted and ordered all ten books. I guess its just me, but i thought it was dreadful. This is a warning to any like me who read the reviews for this and may want to buy it. I gave it to my father as well. He stopped after 80 pages with the same opinion as me. I have read many books, but this is among the worst. Perhaps I am too old for the series(25), maybe if I had read it in junior high.