Saturday, 3 November 2018 05:33 pm
Book Review: Nine Princes in Amber
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deckardcanineA year ago, a local used-book store had a sale on sci-fi and fantasy. (They may have said just sci-fi, but I'd quibble with that designation here.) I chose this in addition to The Ship Who Searched, mainly because I'd heard of Roger Zelazny but never read him. The Internet confirmed that this first volume of his best-known work, The Chronicles of Amber, was popular enough for me to try.
It starts with a first-person narrator waking up in a hospital, dimly recalling a car crash followed by weeks of narcotic overdose...and not recalling much else. Having physically recovered faster than anyone expected, he strong-arms his way out and follows what leads he can. Soon he learns that he has siblings in driving distance, who may or may not be his enemies, and that his real name is Corwin. Memories return in waves as he realizes that he and the world are not as he's believed...for centuries.
"Amber" refers not to the substance but to a world. The one that Corwin has lived in lately, apparently ours circa the publication date of 1970, is considered one of many "shadows" of Amber. Corwin is a prince of Amber who has had 14 brothers, 6 of whom he knows to have died (hence the title), along with 8 sisters, at least 2 of whom have died. We never meet them all, nor do they all have an important part to play in his story. What matters is that they are superhuman in strength and especially longevity, their father Oberon has abdicated for some reason, and multiple brothers would like to be the new king. The one called Eric is deliberately responsible for Corwin's location and mental condition, so they may have the most bad blood between them.
I'm glad for the amnesia premise. Without it, we readers would have a hard time catching up with Corwin's take on the situation. Besides, it's interesting when he fakes a decent degree of memory in front of his sibs. No one quite catches on before he confesses, about halfway through the book.
Why did Corwin wait so long to confide? Because he can hardly trust anyone to remain on his side for long. Nor do they trust him. I've never read A Song of Ice and Fire or watched its adaptation, Game of Thrones, but I imagine similar dynamics therein. Perhaps I can more safely allude to the familial strife of Greek mythology.
Shortly after that confession, Corwin takes a path that both cures his amnesia and takes him to Amber. From then on, the story feels rather different. He's willing to engage in a massive war to snatch the crown from Eric. At times I suspected that he would make no better a king, or at least not better enough to justify hundreds of thousands of soldier deaths. But his life on what we'd call Earth has helped him develop more empathy than even his most benign brethren. He cares about the "shadows" almost as much as if they were denizens of Amber.
Well, in theory. I'm afraid the narrator skimps on a number of details I'd like to know. Zelazny could make the case that they'd bog down the telling, but at about 170 pages, this book could stand to be longer. (I'd also like to know why Amber seems to be at a lower level of technology than Earth, if not other shadows.)
The most innovative premise involves magical travel and communication by images, as on Trump cards or even sometimes in one's mind. Simply concentrating on the image connects it to the reality or shadow that it represents. A prince can sense when someone is holding his Trump. He can grab the holder's free hand. The holder can even freeze him in place with enough willpower, but that's risky.
The end of Volume 1 is designed to be terribly unsatisfying. I might check out a sequel -- probably the very next, The Guns of Avalon, to avoid getting lost. It should deliver more of what I've been looking for in the wake of the setup. But I'll wait a while. I need a break from the darkness.
OK, my current read, Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow, may not be a good choice for breaking from darkness. It's just not dark epic fantasy.
It starts with a first-person narrator waking up in a hospital, dimly recalling a car crash followed by weeks of narcotic overdose...and not recalling much else. Having physically recovered faster than anyone expected, he strong-arms his way out and follows what leads he can. Soon he learns that he has siblings in driving distance, who may or may not be his enemies, and that his real name is Corwin. Memories return in waves as he realizes that he and the world are not as he's believed...for centuries.
"Amber" refers not to the substance but to a world. The one that Corwin has lived in lately, apparently ours circa the publication date of 1970, is considered one of many "shadows" of Amber. Corwin is a prince of Amber who has had 14 brothers, 6 of whom he knows to have died (hence the title), along with 8 sisters, at least 2 of whom have died. We never meet them all, nor do they all have an important part to play in his story. What matters is that they are superhuman in strength and especially longevity, their father Oberon has abdicated for some reason, and multiple brothers would like to be the new king. The one called Eric is deliberately responsible for Corwin's location and mental condition, so they may have the most bad blood between them.
I'm glad for the amnesia premise. Without it, we readers would have a hard time catching up with Corwin's take on the situation. Besides, it's interesting when he fakes a decent degree of memory in front of his sibs. No one quite catches on before he confesses, about halfway through the book.
Why did Corwin wait so long to confide? Because he can hardly trust anyone to remain on his side for long. Nor do they trust him. I've never read A Song of Ice and Fire or watched its adaptation, Game of Thrones, but I imagine similar dynamics therein. Perhaps I can more safely allude to the familial strife of Greek mythology.
Shortly after that confession, Corwin takes a path that both cures his amnesia and takes him to Amber. From then on, the story feels rather different. He's willing to engage in a massive war to snatch the crown from Eric. At times I suspected that he would make no better a king, or at least not better enough to justify hundreds of thousands of soldier deaths. But his life on what we'd call Earth has helped him develop more empathy than even his most benign brethren. He cares about the "shadows" almost as much as if they were denizens of Amber.
Well, in theory. I'm afraid the narrator skimps on a number of details I'd like to know. Zelazny could make the case that they'd bog down the telling, but at about 170 pages, this book could stand to be longer. (I'd also like to know why Amber seems to be at a lower level of technology than Earth, if not other shadows.)
The most innovative premise involves magical travel and communication by images, as on Trump cards or even sometimes in one's mind. Simply concentrating on the image connects it to the reality or shadow that it represents. A prince can sense when someone is holding his Trump. He can grab the holder's free hand. The holder can even freeze him in place with enough willpower, but that's risky.
The end of Volume 1 is designed to be terribly unsatisfying. I might check out a sequel -- probably the very next, The Guns of Avalon, to avoid getting lost. It should deliver more of what I've been looking for in the wake of the setup. But I'll wait a while. I need a break from the darkness.
OK, my current read, Matthew Pearl's The Poe Shadow, may not be a good choice for breaking from darkness. It's just not dark epic fantasy.