To borrow Alex’s favourite phrase: uh-oh.
“Roger Zelazny’s The Dawn Of Amber – The New Amber Novel by John Gregory Betancourt.” I found this in Transreal bookshop this morning, and I cannot help but be afraid…very afraid.
The reviews I’ve found of it (Paul Di Filippo on SciFi.com, and Alma A. Hromic on SFSite.com) do nothing to alleviate this anxiety.
I myself have extensively abused the Amber universe and mythology in numerous Amber role-playing sessions, but Zelazny’s canon has always been sacred. Yet here is the first volume in a new trilogy that has been sanctioned by Zelazny’s estate. (Note: not necessarily in accordance with Zelazny’s actual wishes.)
One of the cover quotes is from twice-Hugo-winning Richard A. Lupoff, who says:
“[Betancourt] is the ideal choice to assume Roger Zelazny’s mantle…”
Um. Neil Gaiman or Steven Brust would seem a more obvious choice, but there you go….
I bought the book, but I’m still not sure if I actually want to read it. I’ll let you know what I think if I do.
There was quite a lot of discussion of this book on the Amber mailing list when it first became available in the US…
There were a few people who said it was okay, and a few more who claimed it wasn’t a bad book if you didn’t think of it as part of the Amber series, but generally speaking people who read it were not impressed either buy the story or the writing style.
Then there were hoards of folk who refused to read it, but claimed it must be bad simply because Zelazny didn’t want it written…
I’ve not read it and probably won’t, not for any political reason but because I’ve don’t find enough time to read these days and already have a big backlog of books to get through.
I’d be interested to hear your opinion when you have read it though.
Having read the preface (offerred online for palm), I find that you are right: Gaiman or Brust could have handled it… Betancourt, no.
I have read the Chronicles many times. they are my favorite books of all time, and i think that the Dawn of Amber is a good book. Now the estate authorized it so they must tink so as well. He isnt Roger but i think that nobody will replace Zelazny, this guy is doing a good job expanding the universe that we all wish we could.
I am a huge fan of Roger Zelazny’s work, particularly the Amber Chronicles, and at first I was not sure I wanted to read another author’s interpretation of the world of Amber. However, I have read the Amber series at least three times and I just couldn’t resist the temptation to delve into the world of Amber in a new light of discovery. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. While I probably would have chosen a different author myself, I found that I could not put the book down. I read the whole thing in two days. The only complaint I have is that it wasn’t long enough. I eagerly await the next book in the trilogy and I would encourage you to give it a read. You’ll be done before you know it and you just might like it. Happy reading 🙂