Conference noted::sf

As a confirmed Zelazny addict (I'll read ANYTHING he writes), I thought the
first 2 of the AMBER series were excellent.  The last three were only
mediocre (for Zelazny).

His prose in some cases rates an 11 on a scale of 10.  Try reading some
of his descriptions of travelling across shadows!

I hear that more stories are on the way. Is any more info available on your side
of the pond?

    there is now an "Illustrated Guide to Castle Amber" by Zelazney
    and some-other-dude-that-I-can't-remember.
    
    mildly interesting, I wouldn't spend money for it. I was both
    disappointed and relieved that they did not illustrate the Pattern.
    
                                                   
                  /
                 (  ___
                  ) ///
                 /
    

                Note 609 seems  to  be  the  most active note for
                Zelazny  lately,  but  I  thought  I'd  move  the
                conversation on Amber over to  this  one where it
                belongs.
                
                I just went out and bought Knight of Shadows this
                afternoon.    I  also  finished  reading it  this
                afternoon.  Concensus:
                
                
                
                I  WAITED  OVER  3  YEARS  FOR  THIS  BOOK?!?!?!?
                Nothing  is really resolved, it is fairly boring,
                especially all  the  crap  about  Merlin choosing
                about Order or  Chaos.    He  must  have  devoted
                80-100 pages for that part, and basically nothing
                occured, or I felt that  more should have in that
                many  pages.  I felt like  I  was  reading  about
                Corwin's hellride to the Patternfall War.  Ugh.  
                
                It was great reading some new Amber again, but it
                seems like Z took some shortcuts, Dworkin showing
                up  out  of  nowhere with no explanations, Merlin
                respecting Corwin's  privacy, so he doesn't check
                on  the voices  he  hears  coming  from  Corwin's
                chambers, and that ring.    Brand  would not have
                lost if he used it,  and  he was psycho enough to
                do it.  On top of  it, anybody notice that Merlin
                left Frakir tied to Brand's bedpost when  he took
                off for Kafsha?  And what was the significance of
                the  Hall  of Mirrors??  [That was interesting in
                only that  there  is an AD&D module titled Castle
                Amber with a  Hall  of Mirrors that's been around
                for years].  Z  could  have done better than this
                with the 3+ years he  had to write KOS.  Compared
                to other stuff it's still a  great book, but it's
                not up to par with the rest.    There is also too
                much 'other' magic showing up.  Again, that  ring
                sounds  like  it  would  waste The Pattern or The
                Logrus, so  whatever made it is around somewhere.
                On the other  hand,  Ghostwheel  is getting to be
                pretty cool (and pretty  powerful now that it has
                been  attuned  to  the  Jewel,  which  brings  up
                another  point...)  How  did  Merlin  repair  the
                secondary  pattern  [how  many patterns are there
                these  days  anyway) without being attuned to the
                Jewel??
                
                Enough...  Rob...
                
                

                
                Nobody else  that's  finished  this  book has any
                comments??
                
                I'm interested in  what  other people think about
                it.
                
                Cheers, Rob
                
                

>                Nobody else  that's  finished  this  book has any
>                comments??
Sure.
 
spoiler

The first part of the book has Merlin and Jasra sitting down to 'tea'.  At this
point, various items from previous books are explained (example, Julie).

The second part is the 'choose which side you are on' test of Merlin mentioned 
in a previous note.  As was mentioned there, it was a lot of pages that did
not really convey anything.

The third part was pretty much setting up for another book.  Merlin with Brand's
ring, Hall of Mirrors, Julie, Jurt(?) etc.  So, a few 'ends' get tied up and 
some more get created (with what I consider a lot of hand waving... no pun
intended).


<spoiler>

In previous books, plot was expanded by having various relatives of the family
pop up from time to time to time etc.  Luke, Dalt, etc.  Whenever a new enemy
was needed, out comes a new relative.  That, to me, gets stale pretty quickly.

A twist was put into this technique with the idea of Ghostwheel, which 
effectively becomes sentient and goes off on its own.  That seems to have been
the start of a new technique (after all, just how many relatives CAN you dream
up :-)) that gives previously inanimate things (or seemingly so) intelligence.
Now we find that both the Logrus and the Pattern are alive... So now we have
a new host of players to contend with.  At least another book's worth :-)
Personally, they should have been left inanimate.


Where will it go?  Well, at the end of the book we are left with Merlin having
fought Jurt, with the outcome inconclusive.  Merlin has Brand's ring and Jurt
gets away with a newly invented companion sword to Corwin's sword.  Of course
this new sword seems to be magical as well.  The Logrus and the Pattern are off
whining about how each has encroached upon the territory of the other.  The
Ghostwheel seems to be taking a back seat towards the end.  I believe it will
be a very minor player in the future.  And then there is the tying up of the
loose end of the battle at the fountain at the Keep.  There was some detail
placed on the protection of the fountain (by putting the losing wizard (what
was his name...) as a guard on it.  I would think that the fountain play a
major role in the next book.  Jurt/Julie seem to be getting there power from
it, I got the impression that Brand's ring is tied into it somehow.  Once the
next book is out (3+ more years?), if this does not happen I will sneak in here
and delete this note :-).

-Joe

                Thanks!  Too funny!  Handwaving... HAHAHA!!