The Courts of Chaos

It was sheer stubbornness that pulled me on to the end of this series. And because of that, I'm not even going to attempt the second Amber arc. But I finished it, and that feels like an accomplishment of some sort.

At first I was excited that this series was comprised of such short books. Indeed, I probably wouldn't have finished this one if it had been any longer. But I bet I would have enjoyed the story a lot more had the books been longer. As it was there were so many twists and turns that came so fast I felt like I couldn't catch my breath. And then I got bored because as soon as I accepted one story it changed all over again. So why bother caring?

This story needed more room to breath. There were entirely too many characters which meant that most of them got the short shrift. Plenty of relationships were stated rather than ever being explored. And given how many times Corwin had the wool pulled over his eyes, it was hard to really trust his assessments of his siblings without seeing them in action.

There were things to like here. It was to finally learn who Corwin had been telling this story to. All those sly asides were put in a nice context. And I was still seeing shadows of other fantasy series I love. Those shadows were some of my favorite parts, particularly Oberon's funeral which gave me visions of Dream's funeral. I'm sure it was intentional.

So, I guess I'm glad I read it. Now I know what people are talking about when they talk about Zelazny. But from now on I'll stick to the writers he inspired and their additions to his legacy.

Or maybe I'll go back and pick up Lord of Light one of these days.

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