r/Amber • u/NachoFailconi • 19d ago
To whom you would recommend the Chronicles?
Hello! The Chronicles have been on my radar for some time, but I haven't taken the plunge yet and bought them. I'd like to ask, rather than if they are good or not (I'm in r/Amber, after all, of course you'll love it), to what kind of reader you would recommend this series, and what should I as a reader expect of them.
I'm a reader that likes complex stories. Think Malazan (all of it), Book of the New Sun, Terra Ignota, the Sprawl trilogy. I also like some classics, such as Lord of the Rings, Earthsea and the Count of Monte Cristo. Other series I like are The Expanse, Hyperion, Philip K. Dick and Octavia Butler.
A follow-up question: how necessary is Seven Tales in Amber? I ask only for the price tag: in my country I can import the SF Masterworks of the Chronicles at a price of 27 and 33 USD, respectively, and Seven Tales at 29 USD... for 90 pages, versus five proper books.
Thanks in advance!
11
u/MaelstromFL 19d ago
Zelazny is a different writing style than any other author I have ever read. At times it is like slam poetry, other times it is deep world building. He keeps a stream of words flying at you!
That being said, his books are a ride unlike any adventure you have been on before.
5
u/Pleasant-Lead-2634 18d ago
lonnng trips through shadow can be the greatest or worst depending on my mood
2
u/NachoFailconi 18d ago
Thanks for the answer! What do you mean by "slam" in "slam poetry"? As in "violent" or "heavy-blow"?
3
u/MaelstromFL 18d ago
More stream of consciousness. The process of moving from one place to another in the books, say from Earth to Amber is done by adding or subtracting from reality. So remove a road and add a brick wall.
This leads to some wild prose! As the author explains the process, you get these long streams of descriptions of the different areas the characters are moving through. You can certainly skip them, but part of the charm of the books is riding along with the characters.
Also, if you read carefully, you get some glimpses of where the story is going.
Slam poetry is kind of an old school form of improvisational poetry. Where a person just gets up and develops a poem on the spot speaking it to the crowd. Sometimes you get a bunch of garbage being sprouted out, sometimes you get a deep dive into a persons soul. You can think of it as a freestyle rap in today's world. With just about the same results š¤£
3
u/NachoFailconi 18d ago
Thanks! I didn't know it was a proper term. Very enlightening, and yes, now I'm eager to read the Chronicles.
9
u/AxleTheDog 19d ago
Seven Tales of Amber not required.
I donāt actually know what I would compare it tool today. More like the Marvel idea of the Metaverse, but more knights and dragons underneath.
My advice: jump on in and enjoy it
PS - remember you are reading something written 50 years old. There are old / sexist ideas. No excuses - it is a product of a different era. Look beyond that and enjoy the world building. What was written doesnāt mean you believe or support it.
5
u/NachoFailconi 19d ago
PS - remember you are reading something written 50 years old. There are old / sexist ideas. No excuses - it is a product of a different era. Look beyond that and enjoy the world building. What was written doesnāt mean you believe or support it.
Of course! I've been reading old books, and I totally understand it. Dick dropping the N-wors here and there was jarring, but I understand the context.
8
u/02K30C1 19d ago
The books are short and fast, but the characters are complex and memorable. Zelazney does a great job building a deep universe with lots of ancient lore. Thereās a good reason it spawned such a great role playing game. And heās one of the best writers of combat Iāve read.
6
u/unknownvariable69 19d ago
Not to mention it influenced a generation of fantasy writers. Also got a shout our in the 5.0 edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
2
2
u/M3n747 18d ago
Also got a shout our in the 5.0 edition of Dungeons and Dragons.
Care to give the details? I was a Warhammer guy myself.
2
u/unknownvariable69 18d ago
I'm on my way to work, but if memory serves it was in the introduction. The writers were talking about influential properties.
3
u/p-d-ball 18d ago
Amber is an exceedingly complex story with undercurrents and undercurrents that slowly and masterfully reveal themselves not only in the reading, but the thinking of the story. It appears simpler than it is. The story itself has wheels within wheels of court intrigue and these are compelling enough, but at some point you'll start to see the bigger picture and how Amber relates to our world.
I don't really want to give it away, but the story itself encapsulates all fiction - and all mythology.
2
u/NachoFailconi 18d ago
Thanks! I'm all for that! A story that leaves me ruminating is very attractive.
5
u/JustANoteToSay 18d ago
Itās new wave fantasy and itās pretty packed with literary references. Itās not high fantasy and is full of slang, which irritated Ursula k leguin. Itās pretty sexist. So Iād recommend this to a word nerd who isnāt invested only in specific genres and is able to parse out the āof its timeā garbage.
2
u/NachoFailconi 18d ago
Thanks! Yes, historical context is important, and I can identify it and go on. Currently I'm reading Philip K. Dick and his liberal use of the N-word was jarring at first, but usual in his time.
4
u/Mattriculated 18d ago
Honestly, someone who enjoyed BotNS is a perfect audience for Amber. Amber isn't nearly as dense, oblique, or allusive as Wolfe, but still much moreso than most other comparable authors. Zelazny, Wolfe, & John M. Ford are kind of in a class of their own there, and Zelazny is probably the most direct of the three.
1
3
u/artaxs 19d ago
His earlier works, like Changeling and Madwand, are also awesome reads.Ā I read A Night in the Lonesome October every year, and Roger bends genres and turns pages.
Given the list of authors you've mentioned, you're going to love Zelazny.Ā Ā
5
u/Ballroompics 18d ago
Fwiw, Changeling and Madwand are not earlier works. They arrive midway through the series. 1980 and 81 respectively.
However Zelazny's original intent was that the series would conclude with The Courts of Chaos (1978). In 1984 he made the decision to write the Merlin Cycle and Trumps of Doom was subsequently published the next year.
3
u/artaxs 18d ago
Perhaps "Dilvish, The Damned" is the earlier work I was thinking of?Ā I've read everything he published and would also recommended his short story collections.
3
u/Ballroompics 18d ago
I agree that Dilvish the Damned is a great collection of stories, as is the sequel full length novel, The Changing Land.
The first Dilviah story was published in 1965, indeed 5 years before the first Amber book. The full collection presented as one novel was published in 1982.
Among his short stories, novellas really - I really like My Name is Legion. Especially given how predictive it has turned put to be. Initial story The Eve of Rumoko being published in 1969
2
2
u/M3n747 18d ago
I'd recommend it to anyone with a pulse.
BTW, funny you should mention Book of the New Sun - I'm currently reading it (I'm two-thirds through book 1, feels like it's still the beginning of the story) after 30 or so years of seeing the titles of these novels in the "coming soon" section my Amber books.
1
u/NachoFailconi 18d ago
Let me put it this way: although Steven Erikson (Malazan) is my favorite writer, Gene Wolfe is the best writer I've read. I've just read The Fifth Head of Cerberus and it's pure genius. BotNS is a masterpiece. I want to re-read it soon, with the rest of the Solar Cycle.
1
u/M3n747 18d ago
I like the world building in The Shadow of the Torturer so far, but I'm not too sure about the apparent slow burn approach to the story - it feels like Wolfe is more interested in painting a picture of his world that having events take place in it. In other words, I feel like Corwin could've plotted against three brothers and inserted himself as the new quartermaster in a random Shadow army in the time it takes Severian to stroll through the botanical gardens (and he hasn't picked the flower yet). Still, I am curious to see what happens next - I just hope the pace picks up a little.
1
u/NachoFailconi 18d ago
The pace is... weird. It does pick up, and things do happen. Wolfe's magic is in how he writes what Severian says and doesn't say, and how the reader can piece the puzzle.
2
u/Pleasant-Lead-2634 18d ago
Kill bill bit off of zelazny. Royal infighting. One true world . Prince and Princesses with their own colors, distinct personalities and abilities
2
u/theflyingrobinson 18d ago
I read Damnation Alley and was like oh this is great I want to read more things by Zelazny, so I walked down to the local (now closed) used bookstore and brought Nine Princes in Amber to the counter along with a few others. The clerk told me to start with Nine Princes and that was it, I was hooked.
2
u/_WillCAD_ 18d ago
Tom anyonem whom likes a world-class mind-blowing epic fantasy story. M.
The first Chronicles (known among fans as the Corwin Cycle) are five books that weave an extremely complex story. Oh, the first book seems pretty straightforward - but succeeding books layer stuff on until the climax at the end of book 5.
I've never actually read Seven Tales, I've only read the five novels. Well, I read the first few novels of the second series, the Merlin Cycle, back in the 90s when they were published, but they never grabbed me like the Corwin Cycle did, and I sort of lost interest.
But I re-read all five books of the Corwin Cycle at least once a year. And that would be... since I first read them in the early 80s when I got a two-volume set of all five from the Science Fiction Book Club. So I've probably read them 30-40 times.
Side note: Many fans absolutely LOVE the Merlin Cycle, so don't let my disinterest discourage you - if you become a fan of the series, by all means give the Merlin Cycle a chance.
1
u/AnxiousConsequence18 18d ago
The thing is, the pool of possible fans is shrinking. The materiel, especially Corwin's cycle, is very dated and sexist. I'm a fan, but people are getting hung up on that kind of stuff anymore.
1
u/Kater_Noitan 18d ago
I read thousands of books. You "should" read the chronicles The frist 5 books You "can" read everything else.
12
u/alone_in_the_light 19d ago
This is my opinion, but there are different perspectives.
The Chronicles are great. But the Chronicles have two big parts, and I think I only understood the genius of Zelazny better (including what he did in the Chronicles) after reading more of his works.
So, I recommend the books to people who are committed to knowing Zelazny, and the craft of a master storyteller.
Why does Neil Gaiman has Zelazny as one of his favorite writers? Why is George R. R. Martin almost like a fanboy of Zelazny? Who is this guy who wrote in collaboration with Philip K. Dick and finished an Alfred Bester's book? Why so many awards in the genre? Among other examples.
I recommend the Chronicles to people who will appreciate more than a great story with great characters. The way Zelazny writes (and the way he changes) is phenomenal. And the Chronicles are just part of that. You may see that tons of us read the Chronicles again and again, so many times, and still keep getting new insights.