Customer Reviews

Chaos and Amber (Bk. 2)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I had very much hoped that this second installment in the officially sanctioned continuation of Roger Zelazny's saga and character's story would have "found its voice" and, at the least, Mr. Betancourt would have tried to correct the many problems that occurred in Dawn of Amber. But, I am sorry to say, once again this effort falls far short of the legacy left by Zelazny and is far from being a literary or spiritual heir to his great Amber series. A first complaint might actually, though, be leveled at the publisher. When does the proofreading function kick in the process of bringing a book to market? Is there an editor involved in this process anymore? It looks as though it was by-passed in this edition. Typos abound, and I would be willing to bet it is a function of spell-checking software meant to substitute for proofreading. There are incorrect word substitutions that seem to be "close" in spelling to the word meant that could have been substituted in the text with a click of the mouse by an inattentive operator. Also, in the last third of the book I got out my teacher's red marker and began to circle the grammar and usage mistakes. It very much detracts from the reading experience and, again, does a disservice to Zelazny who was not only brilliant stylistically but had no problems with the mechanics of his craft.

But despite the above Mr. Betancourt still has problems with character development (two-dimensional) and style. The second item is undoubtedly open to disagreement but when a writer uses the same adjectives and comparisons repeating them time and again describing a setting that he has already described then it feels as though he is afraid that the readers just "won't get it" unless he hammers it home. With this problem it seems he should spend a little more time reflecting on writing as a creative process or at least buy a thesaurus. One example: in trying to describe the strangeness of the realm of Beyond/Chaos he uses the description of the torchlight puddling and collecting or bubbling on the ceiling at least a half dozen times in the same chapter and elsewhere. It is though he casts about for descriptions and he only finds the same repeated phrases in the box where he keeps ideas. Ok, I get it! Now tell me something different that I haven't heard. Zelazny never talked down or underestimated the reader in this way; and I fully realize that there are those who will say he is not Zelazny and should not be compared stylistically to that great writer. And yet, since he has taken on the mantle of officially continuing on how can these comparisons not be drawn to at least some extent?

I have come this far so I will read the rest, but I am not counting it as a memorable experience.

I finished the first volume of Betancourt's 'Amber' trilogy thinking that he'd made an impressive effort, even if he missed the mark on several levels, and I really thought there was good reason to hope that "Chaos and Amber" would be even better. I was disappointed, yet hopeful.

My feelings are even more mixed about the second installment in this series, "Chaos and Amber." The first half of this book continued at the same plodding pace that characterized "Dawn of Amber," but then the second half skyrocketed into gear with a lot of fast-paced action. This alone made "Chaos and Amber" a much more entertaining read than Betancourt's previous effort. Oberon emerges as a valiantly reckless hero, very much in the tradition of Corwin and Merlin. Even taking the wrong action is better than taking no action at all. Suddenly, the central hero in this tale starts thinking and acting like a true Lord of Amber!

Unfortunately, "Chaos and Amber" also dimmed my hopes that this trilogy would ever evoke the same mystery and wonder that I felt when I read Zelazny's original 'Amber' series. Despite the fact that these books have "Roger Zelazny's Amber" emblazoned across the front cover, they really aren't "Roger Zelazny's Amber" at all. The characters, settings, and events in this series are very much Betancourt's original creations, and they just don't rise to the same level of genius that Zelazny achieved with his creative talents. I realize and accept that Betancourt is NOT Zelazny, and I've tried to judge Betancourt's books on their own merits... but Betancourt is, after all, delving into Zelazny's universe, and I think that direct comparisons are fair game. Unfortunately, with "Chaos and Amber," Betancourt just hasn't measured up.

As with my review of Betancourt's previous installment, I'd have to say that "Chaos and Amber" is a pretty decent effort if taken on its own merits. As a continuation of Roger Zelazny's work, however, it falls flat.

I'd recommend "Chaos and Amber" as an above-average fantasy yarn, but this book doesn't really add anything to the 'Amber' universe.

I enjoyed this book. Betancourt's first Amber novel, "The Dawn of Amber" *was* different from Zelazny's works, and many of Oberon's family that Betancourt described were one dimensional creations who lacked depth. In his second Amber novel, "Chaos and Amber", the characters introduced have greater depth, and he develops those which were treated poorly in the first novel. The plot develops, but is also 'revealed' by some rather direct actions by Oberon (and an enemy who very nicely spills the beans and tells him what is going on). Betancourt's descriptions of Oberon's experiences in Chaos are great fun, and he is rather novel about Oberon's mishaps. In many ways, this book is very much a tale of Oberon's blunders and coming to terms with what is really going on with some inspired direct action (which I won't spoil). You can start to see some of Freda's foretelling that Oberon will challenge Dworkin in this book.

My major criticism of this work is that unlike Zelazny's novels, Betancourt feels the need to tell us what happened in the previous novel for about the first 50-100 pages. And to make it worse, nowhere on the cover does it say that this is the Second Novel of Three. So the publishers probably feel that the recapping is justified, but I don't. It's a waste of sapce. Secondly, I am beginning to feel that the story is being rushed - it could be drawn out a lot more.

The last 150 pages of the book shine, with Oberon driving the plot rather than being a passive player. I also liked the character development, as Betancourt fleshes out of a number of his brothers and sisters. We are given more description, and more information about their pasts. Suddenly Taine, Locke, Isadora etc become three dimensional characters which is great plus. (They were just names before) I like the transformation in Aber too - he goes from being the 'useful sidekick' to (well, I won't tell you, you'll have to read and see). Betancourt is definitely setting up Oberon to face off against his brothers and sisters, and against Chaos itself. I just hope Betancourt doesn't rush things in his third novel. For such a story arc, it's a real pity that he couldn't write it over five novels.

I was just so disappointed with this book. Betancourt seems to have missed all of the opportunities afforded to him with this brilliantly realised universe. Gone are the interesting characters, gone is the sense of a deep and dangerous plot, gone is any semblance of the world that Zelazny wrote of.

So much could have been made of this series -instead we seem to have Conan story or a Star Trek book by numbers.

Utter rubbish

Oh, that's poor Roger, spinning in his grave...

Betancourt is a hack. I've read better "fan fiction" on the Internet. I wish Zelazny's estate had honored his wishes, or at the very least, found a decent author to continue the legacy.

I recommend that fans of Roger's style check out the tribute collection "Lord of the Fantastic".

I remember first reading Zelazny's Amber series as a teenage. If fact, I I checked out each of the books a few times from the library back then. I loved the originality and the sense of true wonder that they gave me.

I didn't read Betancourt's first three Amber books until after they were all published, if fact I've had all three for a few years before I read them. Earlier in the year, I reread all ten of the original Amber books and now I've finished with all three of Betancourt's books. Frankly, it's night and day. The Betancout books seriously miss the mark for me. I found them uninventive, uninspired, and downright boring! The storylines were bland and predictable and the characters were scripted and stiff. Betancourt's Oberon and Dworkin were very different from how Zelazny described them. There were literally no suprises for me as I read these books and that's a shame.

Now I'm easily entertained, I enjoy a good easy entertaining read such as the Harry Potter series and the Twilight series. However, this trilogy was downright juvenile! I'm certainly no writer myself and not a great storyteller either, but I felt as if I could have easily written this myself and probably even better.

I also have a major gripe with the publisher. My first problem is with the typos; there are quite a few in each book. I rarely see typos in novels but to have at least 3-4 in each book? That's just unacceptable! My second issue is the huge font size and page spacing of all three books. I was literally finished reading each book in less than three hours! I'm not a speed reader but I'm not slow either. This "trilogy" could easily have been combined into one book, two if you want to stretch it out, but three...now you're really milking it. I feel as if I've been ripped off and that's all on the publisher.

So in my opinion, save yourself the money and the frustration and just avoid these books. If you need an Amber fix, go reread the original series again. But if you must read these then at least try to pick them up cheaply second hand or at the library. You'll probably still be disappointed in the content but at least you won't have overpaid for them.

There are moments in this book when I'm thinking to myself, "Now that's what an Amber novel is like!" But there doesn't seem to be enough of those moments. It doesn't help when the majority of important supporting characters don't come into play until the last 1/4th of the book. Like the first novel, I think this one is satisfying enough to fulfill an Amber fan's need for new material. Unfortunately, it's still not nearly on par with even Zelazny's mid-level Amber books.

After reading the excellent Pawn's Dream, I would love for Eric Nylund to be the next to take the reigns of the Amber world. He certainly has a great feel for elements like multiple worlds, magic, action sequences, an unfolding mystery, and family politics.

After escaping an attack that nearly destroyed his family, Oberon wakes up in a near-shadow to Chaos. By the time he has fully recovered consciousness, his father has left for an audience with the king of Chaos and Oberon is left in the care of his brother, Aber. Oberon's magical talents are still developing but he knows that he has to do something--before the evil mage who holds one of his brothers captive destroys their family and all of their dreams.

Hunkered down together in a family palace, Oberon and Aber discuss family, demons, responses to the threat, and a bit of the history of Chaos and Shadows. Because the shadows are a relatively recent event. Although Chaos always cast shadows, these had been few and faint until a strange storm hit Chaos--and Oberon's father has been implicated in the storm and in the creation of shadows. Since the shadows appear to drain much of the magical energy from Chaos, Oberon's father is a distinctly unpopular man.

Roger Zelazny's original Amber series, especially the opening book, NINE PRINCES IN AMBER is a classic and author John Gregory Bethancourt's prequel series is an enjoyable addition to the universe which Zelazny created. But although Bethancourt introduces plenty of information and tells the story of leading to the creation of the great maze of Amber itself, for my tastes, CHAOS AND AMBER was too much talking and not enough action. More than half the book took place in a family palace inhabited by Oberon, Aber, assorted servants, and a door. In the second half, when things actually started to happen, Oberon was too much an observer rather than an actor.

True Amber fans will want to add this to their collection. If you aren't an Amber fan, you'll definitely want to start with the Zelazny originals.

To be entirely frank, I felt like I had to dig through tons of pages to uncover a very short story hidden within. Sometimes I felt that the author was writing to a deadline and just spending pages and pages on meaningless dialog because that was in the outline that he had turned in (I don't know how many times the characters repeatedly had some some inane argument that was never resolved and repeated over and over or how so many pages were devoted to giving me history from the previous book) or how Oberon was so sick from being so close to the courts of chaos for nearly 100 pages only to suddenly get his chaos legs and be just fine....Kindof like how Rambo or Schwarzennager get shot in a movie and 3 scenes later it's miraculously healed - very unbelievable. If being sick near the courts of chaos is not a permanent thing don't focus 100 pages on that!

What a fantastic missed opportunity to really flesh out the courts of chaos and really make this interesting. You can tell that Betancourt throws a bunch of terms together to give meaning to a meaningless landscape but it's very haphazard almost like the details are an afterthought. With Zelazny I always got the feeling that his landscapes and tapestries were very real like he had lived there all his life. With Zelazny it felt real but with Betancourt when he rattles off locations in the courts of chaos just felt contrived like he hadn't lived it like Zelazny (maybe it's just me).

There are some nuggets in this work but overall I wanted more flavor. I tore through this book in one sitting vs the hours and hours that I spent in Zelazny's Amber.

At the very minimum as you get close to Amber we could at least research the original series and start to use some of the names from the original books, flora and fauna. Why no mention of these things or only mention them so superficially that the connections are lost?

One other thing. Since these books are not on Kindle, I'm buying them second hand for a few bucks on Amazon marketplace. Great prices. However, take note Mr. Betancourt and Zelazny Estate, you're getting zero royalties for those second hand sales. If you had these on Kindles, you'd be getting royalties.

Overall, I'm going to read through all of these because I love Amber so much but overall, a terribly missed opportunity with this book. Let's see what the other ones hold.

Four stars because it's AMBER! but there are clearly missed opportunities here.

Here's what they claim: Oberon get's entangled in the politics of Chaos! You finally get to see something besides the little castle that Dworkin owns in Shadow.

What really happens? Oberon spends well over half the book inside Dworkin's estate, doing very little. A couple token attempts on his life. He gets up his chutzpah and goes out to confront his enemies at one ball that he arranges, and then he kips off into shadow with Dworkin, where Dworkin deletes Pattern 1.0 and makes Pattern 2.0. This is superior to the first book only in that there's the vestige of a plot in this installment.