I was a bit concerned before reading this, as i enjoyed the great book of amber immensely, and didn't want this story to spoil the original. However after waiting a long time for the great book to be put on kindle, something which i am still waiting for, i decided to give this a try. i was pleasantly surprised the book had the same feel to it as roger zelazny's own creation. The only problem i had was the conversion to kindle. the punctuation isn't always in the right place and many i's have been replaced by 1's that's the only true fault i can find anyway. perhaps another is that the next book hasn't been released on kindle yet which is annoying. But i would definitely recommend this if you are a fan of amber. it's also nice to see that Oberon does not have inappropriate feelings towards his sisters as Corwin seemed to have, that always made me feel uncomfortable in the original.

If you're expecting RZ's inimitable writing style, then you're going to be disappointed.

But if you want an interesting story based in his Amber universe, you should enjoy this.

I certainly did and I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Now for book 2...

Firstly, this is well-written. It gallops along at a good pace, is exteremely easy to read and the author has definitely attempted to get familiar with the Amber canon.

Secondly, despite that effort on Betancourt's part and a pretty good opening, the story becomes increasingly prosaic as it goes along. Betancourt simply doesn't have Zelazny's imagination and the story and characters are rather ordinary, which is the complete opposite of Zelazny's Amber.

Thirdly, it's a bit rich adding Zelazny's name as co-author, even though his estate authorized this project, because he was completely opposed to anyone carrying on with the Amber universe after his death - I would have been a happy hypocrite on this subject had the book been really good though.

Fourthly, my copy of this book was riddled with typos and other editing errors. Hopefully those were fixed in later editions.

Fifthly, the second book in the trilogy was worse and I haven't read the last one so I don't know if it's really worth starting at all.

EDIT: I see on closer inspection I see that it's Amazon claimimg Zelazny as co-author, rather than the book itself, I think that's rather mis-leading.

I have read all the original Amber books. Although there is no replacing the master, this is also very good and mimics the style of the original series nicely. It has been like visiting an old friend that you haven't seen for a while, some changes have occurred over time but the magic is still there.

Brilliant read cannot wait for the next instalment in the series. Will now have to re-read the original Amber series

I love Zelazny. I love the way he plays with themes like immortality in his various books.

Thisnhas been a decent attempt at a prequel. I do wish that it hadn't followed the same storyline as the others. Unknown prince rescued from imminent death meets the family. Survives assassin. Traitor in family. It's all very familiar.

Why doesn't amazon UK have the original nine princes amber available for kindle?? Not good. I bought this incorrectly:\

As a stand alone novel this would have been fine, but anyone familiar with Zelazny's work will soon see that this book clearly is not set in the Amberverse RZ wrote about. Treat the book as fan-ficion and you'll be on the right track.

Like many other Zelazny fans I was very sad to hear about his passing. I for one was definitely looking forward to more Corwin and Merlin Adventures or perhaps Adventures focused around the other princes or princesses of Amber. This author has gone above and beyond with giving us back story in a zelazny esque way.

That being said, his books feel a little more like your typical modern fantasy meaning it reads easy and is a definite page-turner. I know that sounds great, but zelazny is books were deep and made you think and this book kind of does the thinking for you.

I am really looking forward to more of these books though.

While it was obviously not Zelazny's writing it is Zelazny's world and characters. I did not reach for he dictionary as often as I did with Zelazny's works and its funny but that's the real difference in the feel of this story. Zelazny's use of old english words gave an ancient and timeless feel to the story. Anyway, the book is ably written and has a storyline that is engaging and flows well enough. The story itself is great and easy to follow. The huge cast of characters handicaps the storytelling and it feels like more time could have been spent setting up the central theme than on trying to develop a small army of characters.

It has been over 25 years since I read the original Amber series and this book and the rest of the trilogy felt like old friends. Bentancourt does a great job setting up the background story to the original series. Good story telling kept me engaged to read all three of the books. The only thing that keeps me from giving it a 5 star is the poor job of converting the book to Kindle format - misspellings and funky punctuation marks are prevalent throughout the book.

A straightforward entertaining novel. A few twists, but nothing totally crazy... and here in lies the difference/problem.

Roger has a twisted way of narrating.. losing me in some of his more descriptive passages. He has stretched stuff out that I just didn't understand... especially in the second half of the Amber series. Having said that, he also leaves alot of mystery and ambiguity for the reader to reflect on.

John is a much more direct writer, at least from what I can see in this first book. There is mystery to be had, characters to warm to, and a story to be learned. As of reading this novel, I would recommend it anyone interested in the Amber series.

I was hooked on the first page. It's an intriguing story,and

I can hardly wait to start the next one to see where it leads me.

Any fantasy adventure lover will enjoy this book and the 'Great Book Of Amber' (all 9 ) as well.