| Title | : | Roger Zelazny's Shadows of Amber (The Dawn of Amber, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1596871180 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781596871182 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published October 31, 2001 |
-Publishers' Weekly
"Betancourt creates a thrill-a-minute series ... that should appeal to longtime fans of the previous series." -Library Journal
At last, Dworkin has created the magic Pattern, and Amber has been established with its own myriad of shadow worlds. Now, King Oberon works on repairing Castle Amber after winning his epic battle with the forces of Chaos. And his world is at peace ... until he is attacked by a nightmare creature that refuses to die, while everything in its path withers and turns to dust.
Oberon leads the monster away from Amber, on through an almost infinite number of Shadows, and still the creature presses ever closer. At last, Oberon travels to the world of the Pattern itself - his source of power - to make a stand against it. His fight, from the center of the Pattern, rips the world asunder - even damaging the Pattern itself. But Oberon manages to defeat the deadly monstrosity ... and the Pattern repairs itself.
Still, much time has passed, and much damage has been done. Among other things, when Oberon returns to Amber, his father tells him that the Pattern has been magically transported to the bowels of the castle. Further examination reveals that the original Pattern remains where it was drawn, and Castle Amber now possesses its identical double.
But more damage than that may have been done. In a single evening, Oberon discovers that Amber hosts another race of creatures - a whole civilization living beneath the ocean in a mirror duplicate of Amber. He learns that it, too, has had a copy of the Pattern appear in its depths, that the Queen of the undersea kingdom knows all about him and desires him to get rid of the Pattern from her realm; and that she has plans for him ... and the powers to perhaps make her wishes real.
JOHN GREGORY BETANCOURT is an editor, publisher, and bestselling author of science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. He has had over 36 books published, including the bestselling Star Trek novel, Infection, and three other Star Trek novels; a trilogy of mythic novels starring Hercules; the critically acclaimed Born of Elven Blood; Rememory; Johnny Zed; The Blind Archer; and many others. He is personally responsible for the revival of Weird Tales, the classic magazine of the fantastic, and has authored two critical works in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Channel: The Sci-Fi Channel Trivia Book and The Sci-Fi Channel Encyclopedia of TV Science Fiction.
ROGER ZELAZNY authored many science fiction and fantasy classics, and won three Nebula Awards and six Hugo Awards over the course of his long and distinguished career. While he is best known for his ten-volume Chronicles of Amber series of novels (beginning with 1970's Nine Princes in Amber), Zelazny also wrote many other novels, short stories, and novellas, including Psychoshop (with Alfred Bester), Damnation Alley, the award-winning The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth and Lord of Light, and the stories "24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Hokusai," "Permafrost," and "Home is the Hangman." Zelazny died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in June 1995.
Roger Zelazny's Shadows of Amber (The Dawn of Amber, #4) Reviews
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After reading the first Amber prequel, "The Dawn of Amber", the next book I could quickly lay my hands on was this, which is from a follow-on set after the "Dawn" trilogy was completed. Here, the familiar world of Zelazny's original Amber series is beginning to take shape. Unlike the prior book which felt like it started off slowly (despite opening with battles and night attacks), the pacing of this one seemed faster and edgier. We are shown how it was that the Pattern ended up having alternate copies (not why, just how) something that is important because of the role the alternates play in other novels. Here, they are more of a setup piece to allow a further volume to continue with sub-plots.
Not having read the intervening two books, I was left wondering about some of the "facts" that are present in this one, but the author throws enough backwards references (refreshingly lean and few) that one does not feel out of touch. All things considered, I consider this book to be significantly superior to Mr. Betancourt's first effort. I would give it a strong "3.5" or "3.75", but think it falls just a bit short of a "4". I did find myself making time to read pages, rather than doing so only when convenient as with "The Dawn of Amber". I can only hope that every book after the first will make me feel that same way. -
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/shadows-of-amber-by-john-betancourt/
Fourth and, praise be to God, final of the prequels to Roger Zelazny’s classic Amber series. It’s noticeably shorter than the other three, as if the writer had simply given up. Understandable if so. I read it several days before writing this and can’t now remember anything about it -
Too episodic, more setup for the Zaleazny books
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It was not bad _bad_, but it was still bad.
Aside from the plot holes, inconsistent characters, ridiculous tropes, the tone is definitively off.
It felt more like a Xanth novel than an Amber story.
I'm disappointed, the reviews and the previous books of the series were a warnings. But at least I'm done with it. -
It was fine, not Roger but fine, I just wish I had known the 5th book had never been published. Ends on a cliffhanger
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It’s been awhile.
I read my last Amber book well over 30 years ago. Now I can’t wait to read the next one! -
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