Recently picked up a copy of a couple of the old Amber books at a thrift store and was reawakened to what a powerful series it is. For anyone here who hasn't read them, they are a natural fit for any fan of the Sluggyverse.

Essentially the books are a thrill-a-minute action-packed fantasy soap opera, but what makes them distinctive is the unique metaphysics underlying the book, and the elaborated system of magic they produce.

The basic concept is that there exists one true Platonic-style Reality, a medieval type city called Amber, ruled over by a highly dysfunctional, treacherous and quarrelsome family. This city is surrounded by an infinite number of less real "shadows", essentially alternate dimensions (including Earth). These shadows can be traversed by those of royal blood using powers granted to them by upon their completion of a transit of The Pattern, a magical labyrinth that lies at a level of reality even deeper than Amber.

As the various princes and princesses of Amber battle over the throne, they begin to be aware that somewhere in the depths of the shadow realities is a realm of pure Chaos that predates the principle of order represented by the Pattern and that is violently opposed to it.

The one downside to the series is that every book, even the last, ends on a cliffhanger, and every universe-shaking revelation only serves to reveal a yet deeper ocean of mysteries --sound familiar? But the magic of the books is beyond compare, and the meaty metaphysics are a real intellectual meal for anyone into that sort of thing.

The series is also unique in that it finds a natural and organic way to treat alternate dimensions in a fantasy (as opposed to sci-fi) setting, and the way in which it nestles modern and technological aspects into a larger fantasy framework (rather than the other way around).

Oh, hey, Amber! This is Ridcully's favorite book series -- he read it in Russian off a library website when he was a kid.

He pushed me to read his (English) copy, and I did enjoy the first two books. The style is very Ian Flemming by way of Narnia. However, as with many fantasies, the ladies are written really weakly. And as kit says, lots of cliffhangers. I got a bit exhausted of the style and never finished the series.

I'd totally second the recommendation for the first book, though.

True, most of the female characters are notably weak. I noticed that all over again when rereading the ones I just bought. But the male characters aren't all that three-dimensional either. It's just not that kind of a reading experience.

The breathless pace of the books reminded me quite a lot of the recent Jim Bucher books I've been reading (upon Sluggite recommendations). Although Bucher does have stronger female characters than Zelazny does.

I stumbled on a series by Charles Stross called the Merchant Princes a couple of weeks ago, it's somewhat similar in that a family has the ability to cross dimensions. The mechanism is a touch different though.