If you've never read this series of fantasy novels, you owe it to yourself to give it a look (assuming, of course, that you like books from this genre).

Here's the overall summary of the first series of books from Wikipedia:

"In the Amber stories, Amber and the Courts of Chaos are the only two true worlds; all others, including our Earth, are but "shadows" of the tension between them. Royals of Amber (and in the second series, the equivalent Chaos nobility) can freely travel through the shadows and alter them, but they cannot alter Amber itself.

The first Chronicles of Amber were written by Roger Zelazny as a series of five novels. The books are narrated by Corwin (though one chapter is told to Corwin by his brother Random), who wakes up in a hospital in New York from a coma with amnesia, only to discover that he is a scion of the ruling family of Amber.

He is taken by his brother to walk the Pattern, a labyrinth inscribed in the dungeons of Castle Amber which gives the multiverse its order. Walking the Pattern restores Corwin's memory and his powers to travel through shadow.

He attempts to conquer Amber, which is currently ruled by his elder brother Eric, but fails and is blinded and imprisoned. Blindness removes his two possible means of escape; walking through shadow, or using the Trumps, a tarot deck which allows communication between members of his family.

He regrows his eyes, and thanks to a chance encounter with Dworkin Barimen, the mad sorceror who created the Pattern, he escapes. He discovers a threat to Amber, a black road which runs across universes from the Courts of Chaos to Amber, created by damage done to the Pattern by his brother, Brand. The chronicles then follow Corwin's attempts to recapture Amber and destroy the Black Road."

It's a great series, and Zelazny's writing style perfectly captures the cynical protagonist named Corwin. Lots of swordplay, sorcery, and double-crosses. It's influenced an entire generation of fantasy novels and for good reason.

Get the first book (Nine Princes in Amber). It's available in paperback for only a few bucks. What have you got to lose?

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The first 5 Amber books are perhaps the best fantasy series I have ever read. I even like the second series about Merlin, but some don't care for it as well as the series about Corwin.

Zelazny is my favorite author, with Doorways in the Sand being my favorite book.

I've read all ten books, and I used to play the Amber RPG.

The first five books are vastly superior to the final five, though I love them all. Here's my theory on the Corwin and Merlin chronicles.

Corwin was telling the truth; Merlin was writing propaganda.

Corwin is placed in London with a skull fracture during the plague years, has both his legs broken, his eyes put out with hot pokers and is placed in prison for five years. He portrays himself in unflattering terms, even calling himself "the evil that lives to fight other evil". He succeeds, then disappears into obscurity.

Merlin, on the other hand, tells the tale of his rise to become ruler of the Courts of Chaos. Merlin gets all the babes, wins every fight with ease, and generally makes everyone else look incompetant. He even pulls one over on Fiona, when she wants him to help her explore Corwin's Pattern.

More to the point, people die left and right, allowing Merlin to ascend to the throne. Merlin claims he has nothing to do with the deaths, and that he never wanted to be king. He blames Dara and Mandor for their intrigues, and even castigates them. Then he takes the crown.

Pure revisionist history, I tell you. At least that's what I tell myself to make Merlin's story seem interesting in retrospect.

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"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us." - King Lear

sounds interesting! ten books?! i'm gonna check them out. and if they're any good, hopefully they'll turn into movies!

I forgot that there are four new books in the Amber series and a fifth one on the way. These are written by John Gregory Betancourt, and are a prequel to the Corwin novels. They involve the rise of Corwin's father, Oberon, to become the first king of Amber.

Many Amber devotees have criticized these books, mostly because they claim Betancourt's writing style isn't as pithy or witty as that of Roger Zelazny, who wrote the original ten books. I have no opinion, because I have yet to read one of them.

These books must have done well. There were originally only three planned, and we are well on our way to a fifth book.

But if you are going to read the Amber novels, start with Nine Princes in Amber. It is the beginning of Corwin's chronicles and the best introduction into the world of Amber.

Note: Corwin starts Nine Princes... with amnesia, so the reader learns about the universe as the protagonist does.

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"The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
Make instruments to plague us." - King Lear

I agree. Nine Princes in Amber is definitely the place to start.

With Hollywood constantly in search of a literary series which can be turned into a franchise, it's amazing that work hasn't started on an Amber movie. I know the film rights to the series were sold around 10 years ago.

It's funny. I used to work with a guy named Random. It wasn't until about a year or so later that he mentioned that he was named after Random from the Zelazny books (his mother was a big fan). As a fan of the books at the time, I thought that was pretty odd. I remember his description of the character consisted of Random being "a little guy" who "banged some underwater chick."

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Sorry to drag this thread from the archives, but does anyone know when the fifth book in the new Amber series is supposed to be released?

I serached around for it, but didn't find any info. Looks like you may be in for a bit of a wait.

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Thanks Shane. I looked around for information also, but couldn't come up with anything at all. I'm afraid it might have been scratched. Oh well.

As I was typing the above message, thought about trying to find the publishers site of the first four books, which was Ipress. What I found doesn't make me think any more books will be released unless someone else picks them up. Ipress filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy over a year ago and both their web sites are no longer up.