(no subject)

[avevale_intelligencer]

I'm coming to the end of the second series of Amber books, as discussed earlier, and I haven't found them nearly as bad as some of my friends have. Yay for me. First rule of reading: "If you enjoy it, you win."

I think I understand why some people found them less satisfying than the first series. For one thing, as I said in comments, Zelazny had already told his big Platonic-theory-of-forms story in the first books, and by the nature of the things he was dealing with there could be nothing as big (idea-wise) to unveil in the next. Of course, that didn't necessarily matter, as all a lot of the fans (me included) were panting for was more in that setting and with those characters...but it does inevitably lead to a sense of anticlimax if you read it looking for Big Ideas.

The other thing is that whereas the first five books were written separately with longish intervals in between (I remember wondering if The Courts Of Chaos would ever get published, or if it would languish in limbo forever like The Universal Pantograph and yes I am looking at you Mr Panshin), these books are more obviously through-composed, one long story chopped into chunks. Which is a perfectly good way to write, but can lead to the separate volumes feeling like episodes rather than standalone stories, because, well, they are.

One thing I haven't found that was reported is the protagonist becoming a superbeing "who could give God a hard time." I'm in the tenth book and he may have negotiated just about every archetypal symbol in the universe and acquired a very powerful but eevil magic ring tee em, but he's still getting pushed around by his little brother. I mean really. :)

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

I didn't find the second series so much "bad" as disappointing. I'm glad you enjoyed them -- lord knows I've enjoyed books and movies that other people gave me funny looks for. :)

The thing I mostly didn't like about the books was that....in the first series, the Courts of Chaos were something that were mentioned, but never actually seen. It was a mysterious, hellish place Way Over There, and we were free to imagine it being as outlandish and freaky and weird as we could devise.

Along come the second series, and it turns out to be...pretty much another squabbling set of competing fiefdoms, more *like* Amber than its antithesis. And I think that's what I found disappointing. It would be like a Tolkien sequel set in Mordor, where we found out Sauron is really just an ambitious bureaucrat with PR problems.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Lovecraft Syndrome. I do see what you mean.

But that's all Sauron was really. He certainly had problems at the end there, trying to get out of the public eye...

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

I also rather like the second series, and I agree that they don't quite measure up to the first.

But consider: perhaps the fact that the Courts are so like Amber was intentional, a comment on "human" (sentient?) nature. Let it be reflected in the Unicorn and the Serpent, or the Pattern and the Logrus, in terms of what they can do, abd there's a serious comment on the nature of difference and experience per se. (This is the point at which we pull out the disclaimer that says "even though Zelazny could and did write at that level, there's no guarantee that this is simply something being read into his work by an overzealous fanbiy with literary pretensions" :-)

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

But consider: perhaps the fact that the Courts are so like Amber was intentional, a comment on "human" (sentient?) nature. Let it be reflected in the Unicorn and the Serpent, or the Pattern and the Logrus, in terms of what they can do, abd there's a serious comment on the nature of difference and experience per se.

That's certainly possible. My finding it disappointing is not evidence of anything other than my own disappointment. :)

[(Anonymous)]

"If you enjoy it, you win."

Yes, indeed. You may recall that I still enjoy the Capt. WE Johns space series, which are by any objective standard pretty awful.

I didn't find the second Amber series to be bad, merely not as good. I still enjoy them. And I didn't understand that comment about becoming a superbeing either, he had a powerful but not omnipotent ally in Ghostwheel but that was becoming rather a liability, I didn't see him as becoming godlike.

Have you read the Betancourt prequels?

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Er, that was me having been logged out of LJ without noticing...

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Not yet. :)

[hurdle1gal.livejournal.com]

My issue with the second series of books was related to the ex-girlfriend of Merlin (I forget her name, but whatever). She was the main motivation for Merlin during the first three books, and then you find out she's the Mask. I was totally expecting another big showdown to prove who was better. But no! She disappears and when she reappears again, she's all nicey-good again. What? I thought that was a crummy way to end that storyline.
I liked it how the Pattern and Logus were sentient. But the whole journey through that middle ground where both systems were fighting over Merlin I thought was somewhat pointless and probably one of the most boring sections of that entire second series.

But the first series felt like it had a much more complete conclusion to what happened, and you could see and understand all of the little elements that happened along the side and how it all connected to the big picture.

Just my few cents.

[billroper]

daisy_knotwise is still waiting for The Universal Pantograph too. Sadly, it seems to be on the same library shelf with The Last Dangerous Visions.

[pickledginger.livejournal.com]

Ah, but brothers are like that, aren't they?

It's true, the later Amber books weren't quite as exciting as round one, but their worst characteristic is their number: too few. *g*