Felon said:
If I had to pick my three favorite writers, Roger Zelazny would definitely make that list. The first five books of the Amber series are possibly my favorite books of all time. But boy did the second Amber series suck.
I was with you up until the last sentence.
Corwin was a brilliant, resourceful character I could empathize with. A hero's hero.
Much as I love Corwin- and I think he'd agree with me here- I wouldn't say he's a hero's hero. He does some things that can be characterized as heroic- and some decidedly selfless things- but he can also be pretty damn cold-blooded. My favorite Corwin scene is when he runs away from Borel at the Courts of Chaos and tricks him into an ambush, killing the other swordsman. "Oh, basely done!" cries Borel as he lay, dying. To which Corwin merely replies- "This isn't exactly the Olympic games."
He punches a guy in the groin within the first 10 pages of the first book. Add to that the hints from others throughout the books that this post-amnesia Corwin may actually be a kinder, gentler Corwin than pre-amnesia Corwin.
I love Corwin, and he's definitely a resourceful character, and determined- he's the energizer bunny of characters. I wouldn't rank him up there with, say boy-scout Superman, though. More of a Batman type.
Merlin was a shrugging schmuck who depended on his spells, magic items, and super-powers to get out of trouble (i.e. he was much more like a D&D character than his father). When locked in a cave where he can't use magic, he just sits there like a helpless jerk until someone lets him out. It was almost as if the reader was not supposed to like Merlin very much.
I liked the second series, myself. Compared to the first, I wholeheartedly agree, it is not as good- but it's almost like comparing apples and oranges, because the two series are very different sorts of tales.
I suppose in a lot of ways Merlin doesn't measure up to Corwin. He didn't exactly do nothing while trapped in the Crystal Cave (he laid a bunch of spells, set a trap with Frakir, and rested up)- but then, Corwin didn't do a whole lot for a five year period when he was blinded and imprisoned either. Both of them were caught in extreme (and extremely confining) conditions, and did the best they could under the circumstances. Both prepared contingency plans to escape, and happened to be freed by the good fortune of the intervention of others (Jasra's thugs in Merlin's case, Dworkin in Corwin's).
Merlin isn't exactly proactive- but then, Corwin wasn't at first, either. Corwin was better at bluffing his way through things, and making quick decisions than Merlin. It isn't until towards the end of both of their stories that they really begin to make things happen, rather than simply respond to what is going on around them.
The notion that Merlin relies too much on his magic, items, and powers to get out of danger making him unheroic seems a bit... odd, to me. After all, they are *his* powers and abilities. He's not quite the physical threat his father was (he's not the second or third best swordsman in the universe... but then, he hasn't had centuries to become so), but he is pretty darned powerful a magician- when he takes the time to lay out his spells. Corwin, had he had those abilities, would surely have made use of them, too. He only narrowly escapes death by the grace of the Jewel of Judgement at one point, and a couple of times by virtue of the Trumps. Does that make him more or less heroic than Merlin, who uses similar means to survive and prosper?
Merlin uses his brains as well as his brawn- he goes toe to toe, briefly, with one of the greatest swordsmen in the universe, Borel (well, Borel's ghost). He dukes it out with the Dweller on the Threshold. It seems to me, when you compare deeds, both Corwin and Merlin encountered many of the same trials, and dealt with them in similar fashion. It just seems to read better, and be more interesting, the way Corwin tells it. Which, to me, comes down to voice.
Corwin's story is epic, and is told in that sort of vein- just as one might expect from its narrator, a self-proclaimed (and well known) balladeer and romantic. Corwin's been around for centuries, and has been regaling others with tales of his exploits for that length of time. His series captures his voice and his point of view perfectly.
So does Merlin's, though. Merlin, in comparison to Corwin, is much younger, much less worldwise. Add to that, he's not quite as romantic- he's an engineer and a thaumaturgist. He is a very logical sort of character, moreso than his father. He's the scientist compared to his father's poet- and the second series captures his voice perfectly as well. You can see in the writing the two very different characters- every nuance of their thoughts and differieng personalities. Which is why I think the second series succeeded.
Again, much prefer the first series to the second, but after reading through both series a couple of times, I really enjoy the second as well. I think Zelazny succeeded in telling a similar story through a different set of eyes, a different point of view. Many of the mysteries we knew about, thanks to the first series, so it wasn't quite as enlightening as the Corwin Chronicles. Add to that, there is a lot more raw power being tossed around on all sides- the first series was much more of a swashbuckling jaunt, while the second is a magefest. I know a lot of people dislike what they see as the power creep, or munchkin effect, that seems to accompany the Merlin tales.
Anyway, I think I'm starting to ramble.
If you want to read some Amber stories that are just not good, pick up the Oberon stories by John Betancourt- better yet, don't. Aside from some questionable backstory and depictions of powers from the Zelazny tales, Betancourt simply fails to capture any sort of personality in the character of Oberon at all. Where Zelazny's stories have voices of their own, Betancourt's Oberon is a cipher. His personality traits are inconsistent at best, and uninteresting at worst. Ugh. Could have been really good, especially since Oberon as Zelazny wrote him was such a complex character- despite being in very few scenes in the series, his presence looms large over the whole of Corwin's chronicles, and even a bit in Merlin's.
Now, I didn't discover Zelazny until after he died about ten years ago. Did he ever express exactly what he was trying to accomplish with the second series? Was it one of those Douglas Adams things where your publisher pesters you for a sequel until you finally cave in with a lackluster, inferior effort?
Not a publisher demand, by any account I've ever seen. Zelazny really loved the Amber universe, and had many ideas he was working on up until his death. He had planned another series, and had written several short stories as a prelude to what he was working on. A shame he never got the opportunity.
You should check out the short stories, if you haven't read them. Very good- particularly (and this probably won't surprise you) "Blue Horse, Dancing Mountain" and "Hall of Mirrors", which feature Corwin.
