AnyBook4Less.com
Find the Best Price on the Web
Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Developed by Fintix
Home  |  Store List  |  FAQ  |  Contact Us  |  
 
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money

Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber

Please fill out form in order to compare prices
Title: Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber
by Roger Zelazny, Neil Randall, Todd Cameron Hamilton
ISBN: 0-380-75566-1
Publisher: Avon
Pub. Date: November, 1988
Format: Paperback
Volumes: 1
List Price(USD): $10.00
Your Country
Currency
Delivery
Include Used Books
Are you a club member of: Barnes and Noble
Books A Million Chapters.Indigo.ca

Average Customer Rating: 3 (6 reviews)

Customer Reviews

Rating: 3
Summary: A Review from the Middle of the Road...
Comment: I've never understood the "love it or hate it" reaction that so many people have to this book.

Zelazny was interviewed by Randall and Hamilton for the express purpose of creating this little book. He described the people, the places, and the history of Castle Amber in more concrete detail than you get from the 'Amber' novels, and his descriptions were then "fleshed out" a bit with original prose and illustrations to create 'The Visual Guide to Castle Amber.'

Your guide is Flora, one of the characters from Zelazny's 'Amber' series, and her narration takes you on a floor-by-floor tour of the Castle. Each floor and many rooms of the castle are mapped and thoroughly described. There are also Trump illustrations, along with an incomplete family tree (the 'Visual Guide' appeared before all of the 'Amber' novels were published). Quite interesting, fairly well-organized and well-presented, and authorized by Roger himself. What's the fuss?

The way that fans react to this book has always been amusing to me. Depending upon the individual, the 'Visual Guide' is either a foul blasphemy that defiles THAT WHICH IS THE ONE TRUE AMBER, or else it's a definitive "last word" that was so important that Zelazny assumed flesh-and-blood form to deliver it to the unworthy masses.

I look at it this way: The 'Visual Guide' is ONE VIEW of what Amber might be like, informed by Roger Zelazny and expanded by a couple of self-professed Ambermaniacs. I've seen better, I've seen worse. Generally speaking, I like the maps fairly well but most of the Trump illustrations are run-of-the-mill. I enjoyed leafing through this book quite a bit, and I'd say it's worth reading if you're an 'Amber' fan like me, but I don't go back to it time and time again the way I do with Zelazny's fiction.

Taken for what it is, the 'Visual Guide' is a nifty piece of fan art and fiction, no more and no less.

Rating: 2
Summary: Disappointed
Comment: I got this book expecting to read about the secrets of Castle Amber, to put a "face" on the Pattern, and to see some COLOR pictures of the beautiful artwork described in the books. None of that happened. There was no color, only black and white floorplans of everyone's rooms. ZZZ. Worse, they made all the Amberites obsessed with Earth. They made it seem like they were all there all the time, with everyone having a decor drawn from Earth. And worst of all, the authors made no effort to give a picture of the Pattern. I always have a hard time trying to visualize it.

For nonfans, this book is filled with allusions to the other books, so it may pique your interest to read the others. For someone familair with "Corwin's story", it was very very tame.

Rating: 4
Summary: Much maligned, but quite interesting
Comment: Looking over the past reviews, one would surmise that this book is simply awful. Actually, quite to the contrary. Example: The illustrations are far from crude. In fact, they are well-drawn and very detailed. I think this is similar to the controversy surrounding the "Lord of the Rings" movies coming out. Many fans are crying "Heresy!" because the director's vision doesn't fit their notions of how the characters look and act. ....Read this one, and enjoy, it is rich!

Wayne Gralian
Wayne's World of Books / Krakow RPGs

Similar Books:

Title: The Great Book of Amber : The Complete Amber Chronicles, 1-10
by Roger Zelazny
ISBN: 0380809060
Publisher: Eos
Pub. Date: 08 December, 1999
List Price(USD): $22.95
Title: Seven No-Trump (A Crossroads Adventure in the World of Roger Zelazny's Amber)
by Neil Randall
ISBN: 0812564197
Publisher: Tor Books
Pub. Date: February, 1988
List Price(USD): $3.50
Title: The Complete Amber Sourcebook
by Theodore Krulik
ISBN: 0380754096
Publisher: Avon
Pub. Date: January, 1996
List Price(USD): $15.00
Title: Chaos and Amber (Roger Zelazny's The Dawn of Amber)
by John Gregory Betancourt, John Betancourt
ISBN: 0743474945
Publisher: I Books
Pub. Date: September, 2003
List Price(USD): $22.95
Title: Combat Command: In the World of Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber, The Black Road War
by Neil Randall
ISBN: 0441115373
Publisher: Ace Books
Pub. Date: July, 1988
List Price(USD): $3.50

Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!

Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments

Powered by Apache