The Crhonicles of Amber

Sator · #1 (**permalink**) 01-18-2007, 12:51 PM

I read the complete series a few months ago (really glad i read it in English and not some retarded translation to BG) and i've been looking around for a decent Amber fansite. I've found none so far. I mean there are some sites, but they're horribly outdated and really badly done. So if anyone know of a good site, please let me know.
On the side note, I was looking for pictures of The Pattern and was able to find none.. Does this mean that nobody ever bothered to draw it? It took me around an hour do do this in Photoshop ( http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/1...patternuv3.jpg ) - criticism will appreciated (not mindless flaming)

Gilliatt · #2 (**permalink**) 02-08-2007, 04:07 PM

I have not red the Chronicles of Amber yet, so I cannot help you much. I don't know about any site, but I do know about a book illustrated by a very talented French artist named Florence Magnin. There might be a problem tough, since the texts in the book are in French and I have no idea if you can read that language. The book is titled L'Univers d'Ambre. Maybe this book won't interest you at all, but I thought I could mention it just in case.

Sator · #3 (**permalink**) 02-09-2007, 11:40 AM

Thanks none the less! I'll look it up, but if there's no English/bg translation available it won't do me any good. It strikes me as odd that no one here has read the series or wants to talk about it. I mean the books are brilliant, a perfect mixture of high-fantasy and real life... Well if anyone would like to talk fantasy in general I'm also up for it. be it LOTR WoT SOIAF...

Gilliatt · #4 (**permalink**) 02-13-2007, 03:11 PM

Well I haven't red Jordan or Martin either. One author I really like is Guy Gavriel Kay. I red his second novel, Tigana, last summer and enjoyed it very much. And I'm not the only one, Anne McCaffrey said it is one of the best fantasy novel she ever red!

Sator · #5 (**permalink**) 02-18-2007, 11:13 PM

Well, i was just wandering which book to buy now

Thanks! I just hope he is really original and hasn't stolen ideas from Tolkein/Jordan.

Gilliatt · #6 (**permalink**) 02-19-2007, 12:05 AM

Well, as I said, I have not red Jordan, but the critics I red about him said he was not original at all.

I hope you will love Tigana as much as I did. Don't worry, it is not a LOtR remake or a D&D campaign transformed into a novel.

Sator · #7 (**permalink**) 02-19-2007, 02:20 AM

You read that Jordan was not original at all?

Well, i must admit, he does borrow several themes from Tolkein, but it's impossible not to, i mean The Lord of the Rings is the first fantasy series ever. And we all know Tolkein borrowed ideas from the various mythologies, most notably Celtic/Scandinavian. Overall, Jordan creates a much different world than Middle Earth, and focuses on different issues in his story. The high-fantasy elements are greatly reduced compared to Tolkein's work but his world still stands out with it's unique magic system, monsters and antagonists. Oh, and Jordan has his trademark strong women, that make men quiver in fear with a mere glance

I recommend you go and buy The Eye of the World, and guarantee you that you won't be able to put it down until the last page.

Cheers!

Gilliatt · #8 (**permalink**) 02-19-2007, 02:04 PM

While there is no doubt that Tolkien is the king of fantasy and the author that had the biggest impact on the genre, he did not invent it. Lord Dunsany wrote The King of Elfland's Daughter in 1924, Robert E. Howard created Conan in 1932, Fritz Leiber started is Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser cycle in 1939, and there is also James Branch Cabell, T.H. White, etc. The Lord of the Rings is not the first fantasy series and Tolkien wrote The Hobbit before LOtR.

About Jordan, the critics I red said that David Eddings and Tad Williams were much more original and interesting; but they could be wrong.

Sator · #9 (**permalink**) 02-20-2007, 06:00 AM

Ah, well, i know that The Hobbit was written before The Lord of the Rings but i think that LOTR was the saga that delivered the huge impact on the fantasy scene at that time.. That's why i tend to think of Tolkein as the genre's inventor. Further more, i know that several of the latter Conan books were, in fact, written by Robert Jordan (under a different alias of course).. As i said, original or not, i suggest you start reading The Wheel of Time and see for your self if you agree with the critics.

Gilliatt · #10 (**permalink**) 02-20-2007, 05:20 PM

I don't mention it to try to convince you or anything like that, I do it just for the sake of telling you what I red. Yesterday, I red another critic about The Wheel of Time and the person said that it was very entertaining and very fun to read, but that everyone looking for originality should go somewhere else. He said that Jordan borrowed a lot from Feist and Howard. I know Jordan wrote some of the Conan's sequels, but I also red somewhere else that none of the Conan's sequels were coming close to what Howard wrote.

That being said, I had no intention of reading Jordan before we had this discussion, but you have convinced me to do so. However, there are still many many series I want to read before, and fantasy occupies approximately 10 % of what I read, so it might take a will before I start The Wheel of Time.

About Tolkien being the inventor of fantasy, I truly understand your point, fantasy would be completely different without Tolkien, and I do think no one comes close to him. But since he his not the real inventor of fantasy, I saw it as a good opportunity to list some other authors that were there before him.

Sator · #11 (**permalink**) 02-21-2007, 02:06 AM

Point well taken

Well, since fantasy occupies 95% of MY reading, i guess i am a bit biased. And about the sequels not being as good as the originals written by the inventor of the series - that is always the case.

The first 5 books of the Chronicles of Amber were written masterfully by Zelazny, the next 5 by the Amber Corporation (whatever that is, i just saw it on my US copy of the book).. They are worlds apart. While in the first 5 you really don't know what's happening, who to like and who to view as the villain, things constantly change and to top it off, you really see just how smart the leading character is. The book is not a "superhero bashes bad guys" thing, ti's much more complex and shows the character as a vulnerable and believable person one could relate to.. Not some all-powerful Mary Sue

The next 5 books are just a cheap imitation, trying to do what was done by Zelazny in basically the same way but under different circumstances. And they failed..

And further more, they completely ruined the universe of the books with making drastic changes (such as adding the Logrus and making it and the Pattern sentient - can you say CORN?) That's why before Robert Jordan was diagnosed with Amylidosis he had stated that no one will ever have the chance to write in his universe after he passes away.. He sort of started having second thoughts now, but that's a different story.