The Great Book of Amber: A Novel (Chronicles of Amber)

Masterclass. This series should have movies, TV shows, videos games. Anything can happen between Order and Chaos, an infinite amount of stories to tell.

Loved this book, I rate it as good as the Lord of the Rings!

"The Great Book of Amber" combines all ten of Roger Zelazny's Princes of Amber novels into one volume, and I wish he were still alive to continue the series with number eleven. Parts of his Amber novels were serialized in the SF/Fantasy magazines of the 1970s, and it shows in his adventure-a-minute, cliff-hanging writing style. I also understand that DC Comics was going to do a series on Amber, and I think that would work, too, because Zelazny's writing is very visual, character-driven, and episodic in nature. He was one of the great fantasy writers of the last four decades, and he collected the hardware to prove it: six Hugos; two Locus Poll awards; three Nebulas; one Apollo; and two Balrog trophies. I originally read each of his Amber novels as they were published, and having all of the stories collected into one volume certainly makes it easier to keep track of the machinations and counter-plots and vendettas of Amber's homicidal First Family. The Amber novels start out as a chronicle of a royal family feud as narrated by Corwin, son of King Oberon and presumptive heir to the throne of Amber (if his immortal father should ever die). Corwin has spent the last three hundred years on Earth (which is a mere shadow of the one real world of Amber) in a state of amnesia, courtesy of one of his eight scheming siblings. He manages to survive the Great Plague of London, numerous wars, and an addiction to chain-smoking before his would-be murderer shifts through the shadows from Amber to Earth and tries to kill him again, this time via an automobile accident. Corwin survives the car crash and starts to regain his memory of who and what he is. His return to Amber and the search for his would-be assassin drives the plot from "Nine Princes in Amber" through "The Courts of Chaos". Then, after five books, Corwin's son Merlin takes over the narrative. Whereas Corwin was a hard-boiled, wise-cracking 40's kind of guy who was irresistible to women and possessed supernormal physical prowess, his son Merlin is a kinder, gentler 60's kind of guy who is irresistible to women and possesses supernormal physical prowess. He doesn't fight nearly as many duels or kill nearly as many folks as his father did. Zelazny's Royal Amberites are affable, interesting, and even noble at times. However, they are supermen so don't expect too much in the way of character development. The women are especially two-dimensional: beautiful and ineffectual, for the most part although they do evolve into something a bit more interesting as the series continues. The real reason to read "The Great Book of Amber" is the journey through the parallel worlds of Shadow. The notion of shifting to a slightly different reality as you walk or drive or ride is endlessly fascinating. Zelazny is at his most lyrical as the shadow of a tree turns from black to emerald or another sun appears in the sky. When travelling through Shadow with him, it is hard for me to remember whether I'm awake and reading, or asleep and dreaming of an effortless, exotic, changing reality. If Coleridge took opium to dream of Xanadu, what did Zelazny take to dream of Amber? You really ought to journey through Shadow with this fine author at least once in your life.

I love the Amber series. I was introduced to it by the Science Fiction Book Club in the late 70's and picked them up as I found them in book stores through the years. When I heard that Stephen Colbert was producing a series for NetFlix I thought that I should re-read them. Sadly the books I had gathered over twenty or so years were scattered and now probably missing volumes. I bought this book so that I knew I could read all of them in the correct order. It IS nice to have them all in one volume, but at 1200+ pages it is cumbersome to read in bed. Being in the middle of the book seems to be the sweet spot. Starting was difficult and I expect ending will be difficult as well. The material is fantastic. The physical book itself is a bit of a beating.

First off, reading this cover to cover is really a commitment. It's about 1260 rather large pages. If you're like me, and you get more bored of stories the longer you read them (even when the stories themselves are terrific!) you should read the first five novels, then read something else, then come back and finish off the last 5. This book is really about as imaginative as it gets. I don't think I've ever read anything more imaginative, and sometimes it put me in awe of the metaphysical mysteries underlying its universe. To vaguely summarize (no real spoilers) it's about a bunch of princes and princesses with slightly superhuman strength, beauty, health, etc, and who are also able to "walk shadow," basically shifting themselves incrementally into whatever universe they desire with whatever aspects they desire, as I understand it. Our planet is one such universe (or "shadow") and the story begins here. The first book I actually wasn't a huge fan of. It was a long time ago that I read it, and I can't any longer say why I found it so mediocre, but it seemed somehow flat to me. After that though, things really picked up in my opinion. What most impressed me about this series is how the struggle between order and chaos, presented as an existential struggle of cosmic proportions, actually DID seem to me to be an existential struggle of cosmic proportions. Zelazny's world here is believable, mostly consistent, and well connected, and that makes its issues real. There were a couple of things I wasn't a huge fan of. First were the characters. I didn't really fall in love with any of them. Most of theme are scheming bastards who would drown their own mothers if it got them ahead somehow. The only major characters who were decent human beings, at least most of the time, were Merlin and Luke, and I guess Random. If you like reading about an ensemble of sociopaths you will probably love the other characters! There were some characters I thought were good, but then it turned out they weren't, and I found that depressing. Now, this is certainly no fault of Zelazny's writing talents. The characters are well introduced and written. I just didn't like their personalities. Also, the end of the series REALLY felt like a cliff-hanger and I was quite dissatisfied with it. In fact, I'd even say that it seemed as if the series ended right before its climax! I did not get anything like that satisfied sense of closure when I read the last sentence of the series. I thought the edition itself was fine. It's a bit big and unwieldy and I think having each book separately would have been better, but this is a lot cheaper, and I have no real complaints about it. It held up quite nicely. Oh, but I don't keep it on my bookshelf because I think the art is a little tacky. Go read this. Go read this book.

TL;DR: An underrated fantasy masterpiece with compelling storytelling, but the book arrived in poor physical condition. ___________ Review on Content: "The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10" is a stunning work of fantasy literature. The writing style is mesmerizing, immersing readers in a world filled with a rich spectrum of artistry. It skillfully weaves philosophy, idealism, suspenseful battles, clever plot developments, and elements of love and fantasy. This collection is truly an underrated gem that deserves more recognition. Review on Condition: However, the physical condition of the book upon arrival was a letdown. The copy I received was marred with wear and tear - bent pages and visible marks, detracting from the joy of owning and reading such a remarkable series. Despite the condition issue, the Chronicles of Amber is an exceptional read for fans of intricate and well-crafted fantasy worlds.

Love this series! I read the first part of the series when I was a kid and fell in love with the worlds described in these books. It would take me a really long time to do an in depth review of each book in the series so I will keep this brief as I have to get ready for work in a few minutes. I recently bought this book so I could read the last 5 books of the series. I had no idea that Roger Zelazny had continued the series beyond book 5 (The Courts Of Chaos) with a different main character but I have to say I'm glad he did. Now I have a chance, as an adult, to jump back into the rich worlds contained within. There are probably many reviews that go into the content of the books more then I have time to so I will leave it at this. The writing is excellent, the story is riveting, and the characters are extremely memorable. I like that all ten books have been combined into one really well made paperback volume. If you need a great book to read then I suggest you give the Chronicles Of Amber a try. You won't be disappointed. May not be suitable for young children. I read it when I was probably about 11 or 12 which I think is probably an alright age to handle the content but there is a bunch of violence and a tiny bit of (very glossed over) sexual material within. As always it is up to the parents to decide. Anyway, check it out yourself!

If published by itself, the first half of the Amber chronicles would unquestionably one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. The second half is also quite good and definitely worth reading, but the two halves are both stand-alone novels and could and possibly should be published separately. I do not envy the people who had to read the Amber series one novel at a time, waiting for each successive volume to come out. Each individual book is so short that it seems ridiculous that they didn't just publish the work in two volumes instead of ten. But it doesn't matter because now we can read it all at once, thankfully. The story is so riveting, so suspenseful, it would have been agonizing to wait for the next book to come out. This story is too complex to even begin to try to summarize the plot. You'll just have to trust me that the Book of Amber is one of the greatest fantasy novels ever. I find it absurd that many people are still obsessed with Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings series, and that LOTR is still the standard by which all fantasy is judged. I for one do not care for the simplistic and childish works of Tolkien, and clearly the Book of Amber is exponentially better than anything by Tolkien. I get worried when people describe a book as "good, but not quite as good as Tolkien". That would be my first indication that such a book is not worth reading. Roger Zelazny's Amber is in a whole 'nother universe compared to most other fantasy, and is not even comparable to Tolkien. It may be obvious that I am not exacty a die hard fan of the fantasy genre; I read Amber mostly as a diversion from the more difficult reading I had previously been concentrating on, and I was stunned by how good it was. It speaks well for this book that someone who is not even a fantasy fanatic could be so moved by Zelazy's work.

I love having the entire series all 10 books, in one collection. Roger Zelazny was such a fantastic writer, and the amber series is one of the best all-time classics of imaginative literature.

História de fantasia incrivel! Por conter os 10 livros em um, essa edição é um pouco desengonçada, papel tipo jornal.

… published 27 Mar 23. All present and correct, all ten books. Epic collection of stories from Zelazny.

no coincide en absoluto con la portada. dentro en lugar de los 10 libros prometidos 3 páginas de texto publicitario. 3 paginas de publicidad por 9 euros!!!

アンバー10冊合本。後半は翻訳されてないです。マーリーンが、誰が真の敵かわからず、いろいろ動くのが印象的。