All Roads Lead to Amber

Oberon gets to know his siblings in a place called Juniper, and we barely care. Finally Oberon realizes what we've known all along: that he's the son of Dworkin. I'll talk about the shallow references to Nine Princes, and the lack of any interesting mythology behind the choices being made. Not much happens in these chapters as we get mired down in more exposition and little action.

Across the first few chapters of Dawn of Amber, Oberon is thrust into a confusing world, and all of the Nine Princes in Amber tropes are re-hashed in an uninspired introduction to this new story.

In this episode, I cover the overview of the plot of the Dawn of Amber trilogy, and unpack the prologue of the first book.

We return to the All Roads Lead to Amber podcast with a series of episodes that cover the controversial John Betancourt prequels to the Amber series, written in the 2000's following Roger Zelazny's death. I'll kick off the series with a discussion of how the project came to be, despite the explicit wishes of the author that no one else write in the Amber universe. I'll reference my in depth interview with Jane Lindskold, who lived with Roger in his final year, after Roger left his wife Judy.

Wrapping up the series, including George R. R. Martin's tribute, and a passage from Jane Lindskold. Thanks to all my listeners who made it this far!

In this 2nd to last episode of the podcast series, we tackle the mid-section of Prince of Chaos, as the pace increases... as does the silliness. There are a few interesting references and allusions to things that the author liked. But there is a lack of depth, character, and a continued flaunting of the lore. And far too many characters to keep track of, but I'll do my best to string it all together.

In this lengthy episode, we cover chapters 3 through 6 of Prince of Chaos. We'll discuss the origin story of the universe, the Houses of Chaos, Merlin's childhood, as well as Brand, Jasra, and Dara, and the connective tissue -- or glue -- between the Corwin and Merlin chronicles.

Kicking off the final book in the Amber series: Prince of Chaos. This episode covers the first two chapters, entailing a lot of recap, as Merlin is summoned to the Courts for the funeral of the dead King Swayvill. The story pivots toward a succession-to-the-throne plot, in a somewhat implausible manner, while Merlin claims to be a changed person, though he really isn't,

The final 2 chapters of Knight of Shadows are covered in this episode, including Merlin's experience in the Corridor of Mirrors, and the final showdown in Kashfa.

The origin of the origin story is discussed in this episode, covering chapters 9 and 10 of Knight of Shadows. More minor references are discussed, along with the palace, the politics, and the powers.