I didn't read this when I was a kid, and I'm willing to cut YA a lot of slack. But this is just bad. Really bad. And not in a "wow, that didn't age well" kind of way. How did it even get to a second book? It feels like a rough draft plot outline.
It starts out great. The incremental reveal of knowledge facilitated by amnesia was masterful, I was so thirsty to learn everything about this mysterious and dangerous world creating weird monsters and its mysterious powerful siblings warring with each other. But within a few pages our protagonist walks a deus ex machina pattern and now knows everything he forgot. There goes all of the anticipation and world building.
The strange part is that nothing is explained to the reader. He's just now trying to be the king of Amber for literally no defined reason. And apparently everyone else wants to be the king too, and are willing to kill their siblings for the privilege. Why? Power? Money? Do they not have enough of those already as princes? Who knows because literally none of the character motivations are revealed.
And where did it all lead? To the throne of Amber, of course. For that was sufficient justification for anything.
Is it? WHY?
Even now, Bleys and I could find Shadow Ambers where each of us ruled, and spend all of time and eternity ruling there. But this would not be the same, for us. For none would be the true Amber, the city into which we were born, the city from which all others take their shapes.
What, so now you're explicitly telling me this is all pointless. Why should I care about any of these idiots then?
But whatever, let's go pick up an army for this dumb war. Done. In like a page. Let's vaguely describe what they look like, and I'm now their god. Not telling why they think that or how I convinced them to die for my inexplicable power trip:
Then I reviewed the troops again and told them more of Amber. Strangely, they go along like brothers, the big red guys and the little hairy ones. It was sad and it was true. We were their gods, and that was that.
OK I think I need a navy, let me talk to my brother, OK cool got one. Let's go:
We talked for maybe an hour, after which time the northern seaways were open to the three phantom fleets of Bleys, which might enter expecting reinforcements.
Then most of the army and the navy died on the way into Amber, I won't describe it in any detail though, wouldn't want a pesky story to get in the way of just delivering death statistics:
It was three more hours before things let up, and many more later I learned that we had lost half of the fleet (and on my vessel—the flagship—we had lost forty of the crew of one hundred and twenty). It was a hard rain that fell.
Oh, and by the way, I know it's kinda mean to delude millions of people into thinking I'm a god and kill them in a pointless war for a throne I could just have in another identical world, but I feel a bit bad about it:
Then there was the card for Amber itself. I could take myself there with it and try an assassination, but I figured the odds were about a million to one against my living to effect it. I was willing to die fighting, but it was senseless for all these men to go down with me.
I mean I'm totally willing to die for this, but not if I might actually die, like, for real. Far better for millions of my red furry slaves to die instead for a war I'm pretty sure I won't actually win anyway.
If you're so keen on killing Eric, just go there and try yourself again, you came pretty close the first time.
1 star.
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