Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber (The New Amber Trilogy, Book 1) [Paperback]

John Gregory Betancourt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003 | Series: The New Amber Trilogy, Book 1

The third book in the Roger Zelazny trilogy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ibooks, Inc. (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596870214
• ISBN-13: 978-1596870215
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,203,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Gregory Betancourt (b. October 25, 1963 in Missouri) is a writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels as well as short stories. He has worked as an assistant editor at "Amazing Storie"s and editor of "Horror: The Newsmagazine of the Horror Field," the revived "Weird Tales" magazine, the first issue of "H. P. Lovecraft's Magazine of Horror" (which he subsequently hired Marvin Kaye to edit), "Cat Tales" (which he subsequently hired George H. Scithers to edit), and "Adventure Tales" magazine. He is the writer of four Star Trek novels and the new "Chronicles of Amber" prequel series, as well as a dozen original novels. His essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in such diverse publications as "Writer's Digest," "The Washington Post," and "Amazing Stories."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dull and predictable, December 12, 2008

By 

James Carvin (Hamburg, Pa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber (The New Amber Trilogy, Book 1) (Paperback)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic walk in Shadows, April 7, 2011

By 

Just Anonymous (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber (Kindle Edition)

OK I'll say it, this does not measure up to Roger Zelazny's original works -- in any way (nothing against Betancourt a fine writer in and of himself). That said, a valiant effort to Betancourt who was brave enough to jump in knowing that he was going to have a hard time measureing up....he was though able to create a decent SHADOW of Zelazny and he did pour his heart into trying to be 'true' to The one and only Roger Zelazny.

I'll be frank, Once I stopped comparing Betancourt to Zelazny - I got into this book and I had fun reading it and hearing some of the backstory of Oberon and Dworkin and for that alone I am thankful and Betancourt did a fairly good job. And yes, it really made me miss Roger Zelazny. Would I have prefered the story have been written by Roger? Yes!!! in a million years but alas we don't have the old master anymore.

What is missing? I'll say that the "flavor" of Zelazny is not there. Zelazny had a very casual and unique laid back first person style and he would play with words, "...and a handful of stars were standing naked beyond the window. I winked back at them..." COME ON! That's gorgeous prose and that playfulness with words is missing from Betancourt's work so you can tell right away that the old master is not sitting next to you on some oversized smoking chair telling you this story.

What is there?
The usual.
Feuding Family
Dworkin
Oberon
Courts of Chaos
Schemes
more schemes
Trumps
oh and
SHADOWS!!!

I read the Kindle Edition. I was happy it existed. I will say that it's a bit pricey for a Kindle book. It really should be priced less than a bestseller. Also, I did notice quite a few typos (Wel1 instead of Well). I found maybe two dozen typos, the majority being the substitution of a 1 for a lower case l...might have been the OCR. I'm a fairly accepting person so it didn't bother me and I guess that's also why I wasn't bothered by Betancourt writing in the world of Amber.

Frustrating point - It is mystifying to me why just this first book and not all three books are not on Kindle?!?!?! I had to go buy an old used hardcopy of the second book so I can continue. PLEASE PLEASE Betancourt, Zelazny estate -- whomever, please get these on Kindle!!! And, while you're at it, please get the entire Chronicles of Amber on to Kindle as well!

If you're a first timer to the world of Amber. I recommend reading The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10 (Chronicles of Amber) and then coming back to this. That said, most of these books are from the 70s and 80s but the concept is true today just like it was back then. Also be aware that there are a lot of loyal fans of Roger Zelazny (go easy on me and my review, please).

5 stars for effort and for Betancourt being brave enough to take me back to Amber! Thank you Mr. Betancourt for that.(and I know some would prefer Amber be left to RIP)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor quality control at Amazon, December 29, 2011

By 

Dwhite - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber (Kindle Edition)

The book was acceptable. Betancourt is not Zelazny, and I was looking for differences in style. My complain is the quality of the eBook. The ebook was NOT created form publisher's master copy, but by an OCR scan of a printed book. And, they did a crap job of it. Misspelled words, numbers instead of letters, changes in format in the middle of a paragraph or sentence. Changes in font. My eleven year old grand daughter could have not better. It's really hard to read with all the typos. AMAZON! You want me to buy more Ebooks? If this is an example of the quality, I'll send the Kindle back for a refund.