nastya 's Reviews > Nine Princes in Amber

Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny
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bookshelves: under-200, fantasy-classics

Tell me if you know the feeling: with most books I read, I always think at some point, 'Damn, I can never write like that.' But when I read Zelazny, my thought is, 'Oh, I could definitely write better myself, and this is a classic of the genre!' I’m not implying I’m any good; it’s just that bad. And you know what? It makes me feel better about myself, and that’s important, so thank you, man. This book is just nonstop action, with so much packed into its meager 125 pages. Everything in this world has skin-deep complexity—I assume it’s like reading comic books. And yet, it was dumb fun. Will the writing get better in the next 9 books? Some reviewers swear it does. Let’s see.
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Reading Progress

August 11, 2024 – Started Reading
August 11, 2024 – Shelved
August 11, 2024 –
page 0
0.0% "i’ve read this as a teenager, ages ago and in a different language. Remember absolutely nothing, not even how many books I’ve read back then. Let’s see how long will I last this time!"
August 14, 2024 –
50.0% "He’s not a great wordsmith, but damn, this is so entertaining."
August 15, 2024 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-33 of 33 (33 new)

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message 1: by Jonathan (new)

Jonathan O'Neill Looks like it peaks at book 4?
Though the same people that gave this an average of 4.05 obviously rated that too so... 🤷‍♂️


nastya Jonathan wrote: "Looks like it peaks at book 4?
Though the same people that gave this an average of 4.05 obviously rated that too so... 🤷‍♂️"


And you can never trust the average rating of sequels in a series, because those are mostly rated by fans, not counting a few begrudging completists. Well, except for myself—you can always trust my ability to be critical at any point in the series! :)
I'll keep going for now, but the moment this stops being fun, it's off to the second-hand bookshop or a little free library.


message 3: by Jonathan (new)

Jonathan O'Neill Very true!
One that comes to mind is Brandon Sanderson. The average ratings for all the sequels of his 'Stormlight' series are ABSURD!

Well, fingers crossed the fun factor continues to carry this one for ya! :)


message 4: by Ken (new) - rated it 4 stars

Ken If only I had a deck of cards like that. Although I wouldn't want that many untrustworthy brothers. Let's see how many names I remember. Um. Not many. Random? Benedict? Julian? Corwin? And the sisters, less featured, have completely slipped from my memory bank (which is low on accounts).


message 5: by nastya (last edited Aug 15, 2024 12:05PM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

nastya Ken wrote: "If only I had a deck of cards like that. Although I wouldn't want that many untrustworthy brothers. Let's see how many names I remember. Um. Not many. Random? Benedict? Julian? Corwin? And the sist..."

Random’ is easily my favorite so far, no competition. I’m watching George R.R. Martin talk about these books (he picked this one as his favorite), and he mentions that the length was dictated by his publisher, who did small hardcovers for them. He also says the first five books make up one story and that they’re better than the last ‘Merlin’ cycle.

Also how did you forget Eric?? Also Bleys is important


nastya Jonathan wrote: "Very true!
One that comes to mind is Brandon Sanderson. The average ratings for all the sequels of his 'Stormlight' series are ABSURD!

Well, fingers crossed the fun factor continues to carry this ..."


I keep ignoring the Brandon Sanderson world and all the hoopla surrounding him. There's a charm to these older books; and Corwin is a chainsmoker, I started craving a cigarette myself!


Nataliya Hehe, simply written 125-page fun? I may actually try to find it on audio for a long hike or something like that.


nastya Nataliya wrote: "Hehe, simply written 125-page fun? I may actually try to find it on audio for a long hike or something like that."

Should I then wait for you before continuing? I have no clue if you will like it!


message 9: by Ulysse (new)

Ulysse Sometimes dumb fun is the best kind of fun, but maybe smart fun is more rewarding?

Fun review, nastya, and not dumb!


nastya Ulysse wrote: "Sometimes dumb fun is the best kind of fun, but maybe smart fun is more rewarding?

Fun review, nastya, and not dumb!"


Everything in moderation! And 120 pages is just the perfect length. And I forgot to mention this was the series I read as a very young teenager, so this is nostalgia read :)


Nataliya nastya wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Hehe, simply written 125-page fun? I may actually try to find it on audio for a long hike or something like that."

Should I then wait for you before continuing? I have no clue if ..."


Sorry, haven’t been checking anything for a bit on GR (real life got a bit crazy). When do you plan to continue?


nastya Nataliya wrote: "nastya wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Hehe, simply written 125-page fun? I may actually try to find it on audio for a long hike or something like that."

Should I then wait for you before continuing? I h..."


I'm ~10 pages into the second book


Nataliya nastya wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "nastya wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Hehe, simply written 125-page fun? I may actually try to find it on audio for a long hike or something like that."

Should I then wait for you befor..."


Alright, I just got book 1. 125 pages - let’s see if I can knock it out before bed 😅


nastya Nataliya wrote: "nastya wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "nastya wrote: "Nataliya wrote: "Hehe, simply written 125-page fun? I may actually try to find it on audio for a long hike or something like that."

Should I then wai..."


Unless it bores you to death, I give it like 1 hour with your reading speed :)


message 15: by Ken (new) - rated it 4 stars

Ken About 6 minutes per brother...


message 16: by Nataliya (last edited Aug 25, 2024 09:15AM) (new) - rated it 1 star

Nataliya Nastenka, I’m 2/3 through it and will finish it soon, but oh dear, it’s incredibly strange reading the words “family Trumps” over and over again 🤦‍♀️


nastya Ken wrote: "About 6 minutes per brother..."

😀


nastya Nataliya wrote: "Nastenka, I’m 2/3 through it and will finish it soon, but oh dear, it’s incredibly strange reading the words “family Trumps” over and over again 🤦‍♀️"

I also noticed that one! 🙂


Nataliya Finished it (had to take a break mid-day for real-life stuff) and I’m quite underwhelmed. With Zelazny, I adored A Night in the Lonesome October and Doorways in the Sand and was alright with Jack of Shadows (which I think was written in a single draft, therefore to me seeming a bit more rough than the other two) — but this one felt like Zelazny had a deadline and had to knock out a book before that hits.

No idea why I am supposed to care for Corwin over Eric or who those people are other than their names.

Is book 2 so far any better? I’m irritated with this one, but curious if it gets better as it goes. I mean, storytelling-wise Zelazny can be very good, and I’m hoping that maybe this was just a rough start. I’m looking for book 2 in the library, if you haven’t gone too far into it yet.


nastya Nataliya wrote: "Finished it (had to take a break mid-day for real-life stuff) and I’m quite underwhelmed. With Zelazny, I adored A Night in the Lonesome October and Doorways in the Sand a..."

I think you're right about the deadline feeling, this book is wonky. No reason to care about any of them, but the high-energy plot kept me going. I'm not far into the second book, cause I was waiting for you, but I felt the writing was a bit better, less awkward. Also the title mentions Avalon so you know what it means. :)


message 21: by Nataliya (last edited Aug 25, 2024 03:30PM) (new) - rated it 1 star

Nataliya Alright, just found it through Hoopla. Wanna make us a thread in Oasis while I knock out a scathing review of Roger Z’s half-assed “pattern”? So that we can chat?


message 22: by nastya (last edited Aug 25, 2024 03:51PM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

nastya Nataliya wrote: "Alright, just found it through Hoopla. Wanna make us a thread in Oasis while I knock out a scathing review of Roger Z’s half-assed “pattern”? So that we can chat?"

sure! wow, you really hated it! :D


Nataliya Hehe, I did, but I’m willing to give the series one more chance.


message 24: by carol. (new)

carol. hilarious review :D


nastya carol. wrote: "hilarious review :D"

You tend to say things like that on my reviews, and I tend to enjoy your comments immensely, carol!


message 26: by L (new) - rated it 4 stars

L Will the writing get better in the next 9 books? Some reviewers swear it does.

I have always felt that Zelazny's Amber novels were his least impressive work (except for Roadmarks and Dilvish). I liked the second half, books 6-10, somewhat better than the first.


nastya L wrote: "Will the writing get better in the next 9 books? Some reviewers swear it does.

I have always felt that Zelazny's Amber novels were his least impressive work (except for [book:Roadmar..."


That's not a popular opinion! Now I am more curious about those books of Merlin.


message 28: by L (new) - rated it 4 stars

L nastya wrote: "L wrote: "That's not a popular opinion!"

You're right about that, for sure.

I think Zelazny's real mastery was short stories.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


message 29: by Nick (new)

Nick It's interesting because the last five books felt like Zelazny had no deadline at all... almost to a fault, he spends half of the Merlin cycle just letting the characters breathe and only gets started with the story in the last two...the intention was clearly to write more books... leaving behind what's clearly ground work that never reached its peak


nastya Nick wrote: "It's interesting because the last five books felt like Zelazny had no deadline at all... almost to a fault, he spends half of the Merlin cycle just letting the characters breathe and only gets star..."

I've heard about that–that he didn't get to finish those books. And that the story is very unfocused and meandering, that he hasn't mapped out the bigger story. But switching it up so that the main character is not some grand prince, but just a computer programmer in San Francisco sound interesting.


message 31: by Nick (new)

Nick It sounds more interesting than it is, ha ha, It is sort of meandering and slow, but I could see it almost being something great if he got to write more books


message 32: by Nick (new)

Nick (My comment got cropped for some reason)- Although I'm not even sure he could have pulled it off. Zelazny literary mastermind that he was.


message 33: by carol. (new)

carol. Nick, I always had the same sense, that he hadn't mapped out the bigger story. I wish he would have, because there is so much potential there.

L, agree, master of many short stories.


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