Reviews

The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny

johnnydanger's review against another edition

5.0

I adore new wave.
I tried to re-read some sci-fi/fantasy that I loved as a 13, 14-year old, and I could not believe how bad those books sound now; flat characters, silly plots. I am sorry, Asimov and Clarke.
But this is definitively not the case with the mind-bending experimentations of the new wave. Upon re-reading, they just become much much better, and this is particularly the case with Chronicles of Amber.
What started something like an urban fantasy in the first book of the Amber series, in The Hand of Oberon, it became a pure psychedelic poetry when describing "moving through shadows", and following dream-like logics and twists of the book. This is one of my favourite book/series of all time.

tstevens3's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

vorkosigan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

olletokstolle's review

adventurous

3.0

lesserjoke's review against another edition

2.0

These novels are short enough that it's never a major investment to continue on with the series, but that also means each volume has limited space to really wow a reader. In this fourth book, a lot of that valuable real estate is squandered on our protagonist needlessly recapping previous events to either us or another character, and the remaining balance is shifted too far towards the latest backstabbing family drama and away from the neat multiverse weirdness inherent in the setting. (Why does Corwin still trust any of his siblings, honestly? And why does author Roger Zelazny expect us to care about each soapy betrayal as though it were shattering any actual sense of established loyalty and not simply the latest unmotivated heel turn?)

I've heard the next title brings the initial storyline to a close, but at this point it's an open question whether I'll then bother with the second arc or not.

[Content warning for incest and sexism including slurs.]

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t_shaffner's review against another edition

3.0

Back to the quality of the earlier books; i.e. not as fun as #3 but still fun.

mbs1236's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Reread Update:
So many answers and finally the whole bigger picture has been revealed in this book. Also that final scene, no matter how many times I read it, it manages to impress me the same. An extremely enjoying reread.

halieh's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

5.0

7dcw7wqz2yfpwok_hpput2x_7779gu's review against another edition

fast-paced

4.75

sylda's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0