Marek reviewed The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny
Surreal and fun, though dated in parts
4 stars
I've been meaning to read these for more than thirty years, and I'm not even certain what pushed me to finally do so.
Five short novels collected here in a single 790 page tome, detailing the machinations (and outright war in places) between members of the royal family of Amber - the fixed point at the heart of infinitely moldable reality. Able to traverse realms of possibility and probability (essentially travelling between any and all possible worlds), and tussling for the throne of Amber, the one immutable city at the heart of things, the action flows from 1970s America to mythical Avalon and much further afield.
Immensely inventive, oftentimes delightfully surreal, and written with the direct simple first-person style of a noir despite the quasi-medieval context of the protagonist and his family. The whole saga has the hallmarks of a writer working on the fly, with magical powers, …
I've been meaning to read these for more than thirty years, and I'm not even certain what pushed me to finally do so.
Five short novels collected here in a single 790 page tome, detailing the machinations (and outright war in places) between members of the royal family of Amber - the fixed point at the heart of infinitely moldable reality. Able to traverse realms of possibility and probability (essentially travelling between any and all possible worlds), and tussling for the throne of Amber, the one immutable city at the heart of things, the action flows from 1970s America to mythical Avalon and much further afield.
Immensely inventive, oftentimes delightfully surreal, and written with the direct simple first-person style of a noir despite the quasi-medieval context of the protagonist and his family. The whole saga has the hallmarks of a writer working on the fly, with magical powers, artefacts, and the implications, evolving as the plot requires them. The richness of the ideas and the ruthlessness of the plotting make these indulgences forgivable for me.
Written through the 70s, there is a lamentably limited view of the female characters (very far from the worst you might see from the period, and there are strong and agentic women here, but it's in this aspect of things that has dated most notably). You could cast this characters any number of ways though all of the descriptions tend white.
All in all though, I can see why it has a following, and is considered a classic. Definitely a fun way to pass a bit of holiday reading time.