Amber
by Roger Zelazny · first published 1989
55% recommend45% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Ten-novel fantasy series about a family of immortal princes and a hidden realm, praised as highly original and creatively exciting; readers return to it repeatedly and find it a good entry point into Zelazny's work.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Corwin, een van de prinsen van Amber, komt meer te weten over wat er gebeurd is tijdens zijn lange afwezigheid.
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I too am a huge fan of the Amber series. I don't think Zelazny's estate has managed that asset very well though. See the Bettencourt novels and the controversy relating to their publication as an example. Or how rarely one will find…
on “Ask HN: I Want to Make “The Chronicles of Amber” into a TV Series. How?” ↗+1 for Amber. Much of the rest of Zelazny is good, too. I actually like Lord Of Light better, though it's a bit less approachable (in the specific sense that I picked it up and put it down a few times before getting…
on “Entitlement issues (2009)” ↗+N to any Zelazny praise, for N a rather large integer. An attempt was actually made to codify Amber into a "diceless" RPG. Had some great times playing it.
on “Breaking Out of Scientific Magic Systems in RPGs” ↗"The Amber Chronicles" by Roger Zelazny (It's actually a series of 10 novels, but they can be bought together in one massive book. It's the most original and creatively exciting thing I've ever read.) "The Left…
on “Ask HN: Inspirational Books” ↗Well... I just reread Roger Zelazny's Amber series, and recent political events did lend a certain surreality to the Amberites' magical fast travel system (named after certain playing cards). So you'll be missing out on some things. (They're…
on “Prenda Law “copyright trolls” Steele and Hansmeier arrested” ↗The Dune series. The Lord of the Rings. All the Amber books, by Zelazny. Pretty much the same books I read every year or two. I'm going to start re-reading the Steven Brust Vlad-series, in the near future. Mostly to anticipate his forthcoming novel.
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read recently?” ↗…Braun's "Cat Who ..." book as read by Mr. Guidall. Even when I was reading from the dead tree version I'd still hear it in his voice. My favorite audio books, however, were of Roger Zelazny reading his own Amber books. He obviously wasn't a professional voice artist, but he really brought these non-standard fantasy novels to life with his, literally, authorial voice. I only have them on actual cassette tapes,…
on “Why George Guidall Is the Undisputed King of Audiobooks” ↗I've read the classics, Dune (+sequels), Lord of the Rings, and the Amber books by Zelazny at least 20 times each over the past twenty years. Other favourites include the Vlad Taltos novels by Brust which I've read at least ten times each (still thinking "WTF?" over Vallista…
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read the most times? how many times?” ↗Dune, 3 or 4 times. Amber series by Zelazny, couple of times. Lots of Light by Zelazny, 4 times.
on “Ask HN: Which book have you re-read the most times? how many times?” ↗Roger Zelazny's, the Amber series. I only like Corwin story arc. Must have read them 5 or 6 times...
on “Ask HN: Which books have you read more than once?” ↗…slower-than-realtime environments.) I liked Book of the New Sun in a pulpy way. I'm a huge sucker for dying earth settings, and it was great to read one of the originals. I greatly enjoyed Zelazny's Amber series and have tried to get into some of his sci-fi, but failed. Perhaps it's time to give Lord of Light a third try.
on “Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read” ↗Besides Amber, I found Jack of Shadows to be an accessible road into Zelazny.
on “Sci-fi books that you may never have heard of, but definitely should read” ↗…science, physics etc., for hard SF, modulo some additional plot device, whereas for sci-fantasy it has its own rules but they're not our rules. Say, an innate ability to step into other universes (say, Amber by Roger Zelazny, or the Family Trade by Charles Stross), or using a machine (the Long Earth books by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett). I take this line-vs-area argument from /Red/, /Green/ and /Blue…
on “It Awaits Your Experiments” ↗I've read the ten Amber books by Roger Zelazny all the way through ten times, which sorta-counts. A total read-through of those books can be done in a 3-day weekend if you read the whole day, so if you want a rough idea of the…
on “Why reading a book 100 times is a great idea” ↗Is this the real-life equivalent to Plato's Allegory of the Cave [1]? I wonder if books like Zelazny's Amber series will seem, in retrospect, more insightful. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave
on “Study reveals substantial evidence of holographic universe” ↗