The Chronicles of Amber Volume 1 - Roger Zelazny

The Chronicles of Amber Volume 1 contains the first two books in the series, Nine Princes in Amber and The Guns of Avalon. Detailing Lord Corwin regaining his memories after someone tries eliminating him, and setting himself to claim the throne of Amber in his father's absence. Except his brother is already there, and not prepared to give way. Corwin makes two attempts, the first relying on a partnership with another brother and a huge army, which fails. The second, he opts to rely on superior firepower, as well as benefiting from Eric's forces being otherwise engaged. I wouldn't call it luck, since the distraction was caused by him, and especially since it becomes his problem to deal with.

Corwin is not an easy character to root for. He makes a lot of Amber being the only true world, and all other worlds are mere "shadows": infinite, lesser variations of the true world. As a result, he doesn't have any problem finding a world where he and his kin are worshipped as gods, so he can recruit a lot of cannon fodder for his dick-waving contest with his brother. That's really all it is, because Corwin never makes any sort of argument for why he would make a better ruler than Eric. He just wants the job, and thinks his parentage gives him better claim than Eric.

(He starts in with that at one point, and the brother he was conversing with cut him, for which I was grateful.)

Corwin feels some twinge of guilt at getting all these people killed, or that some of the Shadows he ruled fell to ruin, but it feels less like it's because he cares about the people there, and more because it looks bad on him. And for all we know, his siblings feel similarly. We don't get to see inside their minds, so we only have Corwin's word that he's grown soft-hearted over time, in contrast to the rest of his family. He's going to fix the problem he created, because he won't have much of a reign if he doesn't, but it's hardly an altruistic motivation. Which, for the people he may end up saving if he pulls it off, won't matter a heck of a lot.

Zelazny likes to write battle scenes by describing incremental progress by Corwin's forces, contrasted with their losses or dwindling remaining numbers. 'We took five steps, but our vanguard was down to twenty. Ten more steps and it was down to fourteen,' that kind of thing. It certainly conveys the grim attrition of the battle, and also demonstrates how ultimately disposable Corwin's forces are to him. The armies are faceless fodder, outside of one character Corwin had a past with who becomes a sidekick, Zelazny wastes zero time fleshing out anyone, because they don't matter. Means to an end.

The moving through Shadows to seek a particular world is an interesting idea, and the uneasy alliances between the siblings could lead to some neat twists in the remaining three stories (collected in the second volume). There are a few mysteries I'm curious to see how Zelazny resolves them.

'I thought about the girl. The knowledge of her existence changed things somewhat. I was not certain how. Despite our major hatreds and petty animosities, we Amberites are a very family-conscious bunch always eager for news of one another, desirous to know everyone's position in the changing picture. A pause for gossip has doubtless stayed a few death blows among us. I sometimes think of us as a gang of mean little old ladies in a combination rest home and obstacle course.'