'The Great book of Amber'Follow

Amber was a good read. I have not read anything not written by Zelzany in that series, so can't say how well the prequil is.

As it goes for a mmorpg it might work, though how you work everyones abilities is beyond me. I know a pnp rgp was made from the series, just don't know how it is, since I never played it.

All in all worth the time to read it.

True, and ofcourse the principle of a near endless amount of worlds would be impossible to do. (perhaps instanced zones, but even then there would be limits)

But Chaos could be something like shadowknights and necromancers perhaps? Basically, it would be a bit like FF XI, two or even three kingdoms constantly fighting for more control, more power.

I didn't know there was already a game based on Amber, I'll try and find it.

I've read the entire series many, many times. IMO, the Corwyn books are better than the Merlin ones. Perhaps because it seems more "fresh" in those.

Still, it's on my Top 10 lists for great series.

For those who need more of a Zelazny fix, may I suggest...

Manna From Heaven: Short story collection which contains all of the Amber short stories (events that happen AFTER the ten book series)

This Immortal: Roger's mixing of Greek mythology with post-nuclear war

The Dream Master: A psychiatrist that tries to teach a blind girl how to shape dreams... sweetness...

Doorways in the Sand: College student who's been in college for like 20 years (without failing, just keeps changing major) gets mixed up with aliens looking for something...

Any other short story book collections: Zelazny was a short story writer primarily; that is what he loved and what he excelled at (why do you think the Amber books were so short? :-) ) so that's where his best stuff is.

Hope this helps!

I have a friend at work who plays Exalted at a local gaming shop here in Salt Lake, and he described the world and history of that game yesterday... I think that the makers of that game may have borrowed heavily from the Amber series to make the world, though it also has a lot of Greek mythology for the history. Of course, this is just from what he told me in about a 2 hour period after work.

I enjoyed it immensely.

Zelazny's short stories were my favorites for close to 18 years but somehow missed Amber. Ran across a copy of the whole series in one big ole book at a library a couple of years back and tore through it like a redneck through balogna on wonder bread.


Thanks for mentioning the prequels, I've found my next reading material now! [:briggin:]


The 80's brought about a style change in sci-fi writing that seemed to change alot of the older series. The Corwin - Merlin reflects that imo. I much preferred the older writing. Herbert's Dune went through similar moves, but part of his change could be attributed to the slow death of his wife (changing from male to female lead characters).



The first time I entered to fight a Prime Avatar one of my first thoughts was that the scenery reminded me of Zelazny's Chaos. As far as backgrounds go, I think that would be a start.

If you haven't picked up Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming, it's a worthy read.