Prince Corwin of Amber has escaped his brother and finally has healed enough to begin planning the overthrow of his brother, Eric, who he believes has stolen the throne from him. He makes his way through Shadow to reach the places he remembers, to gather the tools he needs, and finds that Amber and the Shadows are under siege by an enemy never seen before. The source appears to be a mysterious black road. As Corwin unravels the mystery of the black road and begins moving against his brother, he realizes the welfare of Amber is at stake, and that takes precedence over who sits in the throne.
Impression: One thing about the Amber books, they read fast. They're short, not very complicated, and very focused on the main plot arc. So the plot is very straightforward: Corwin wants to be the ruler of Amber because he thinks he has more of a right to it than his (half) brother, Eric. The black road is something of a secondary plot, but it doesn't affect Corwin's goals until near the end of the novel, even though he thinks he knows where it came from and that he'll have to deal with it eventually.
Perhaps my one complaint is that the characters overall are too simple, too one dimensional. Corwin has some depth, and his brothers seem to have a little less so, but the other characters don't have any complication to them at all. This might change in future volumes as more comes out about each character, but in the story as written, they all seem to be more plot supports than real people: this man gives a chemical Corwin needs with little difficulty, Ganelon is the supportive follower even though Corwin exiled him and he originally hated Cowin for being a "devil" (though the exile was for a just cause), and so on. There is no hint of anything else in these characters. In fact, Ganelon just accepts the abilities that made him think Corwin was a devil before, even before meeting the brothers who have the same abilities. The advantage is that the plot remains uncomplicated and straightforward; the disadvantage is that the characters aren't believable.
The book was okay, overall. The characters being so simple can almost be overlooked as this was definitely more of a plot driven story than a character driven story. The books are fast, easy, and generally non-offensive. The writing is fairly clean, if a bit dry, and the story is engaging even if the characters (other than Corwin) are not. I can't list the book as being among my favorites, but I can recommend it if you're looking for an uncomplicated, fast read. If you can, you may want to pick up the individual Amber books rather than the 10 book omnibus. The omnibus is just a bit much to manage sometimes.
Unless otherwise noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by me.
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