Quote:
Originally Posted by MdB
brief synopsis?
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Of the Amber stories?
The protagonist awakens in a hospital on Earth, with no memory of who he is or how he got there.
He turns out to be Corwin, a prince of the royal family of Amber. Amber is the real world, and the city of Amber is the one true city. All other places including ours are reflections of Amber in Shadow. Members of the royal family have the ability to travel in Shadow by "hell rides", mentally adding and subtracting elements until they reach a place that matches their conception. (It's a minor philosophical question among them over whether the shadows they travel to already exist, or are created by their attempts to reach them.)
King Oberon of Amber has disappeared, a dynastic war is brewing as various of his kids by several different mothers jockey for position to succeed him, and meanwhile, Amber is under attack by strange beings out of Shadow.
Corwin must discover who he is, who tried to put him out of commission, and who is attacking Amber, then do something about it.
The original Amber series was five books:
* 1970 Nine Princes in Amber
* 1972 The Guns of Avalon
* 1975 Sign of the Unicorn
* 1976 The Hand of Oberon
* 1978 The Courts of Chaos
There was a second series featuring Corwin's son, Merle, a computer expert who creates Ghostwheel, a computer capable of mapping Shadow:
* 1985 Trumps of Doom
* 1986 Blood of Amber
* 1987 Sign of Chaos
* 1989 Knight of Shadows
* 1991 Prince of Chaos
These are fun, but generally considered less successful, and only existing because people clamored for more Amber stories.
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Dennis