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Michael Stibitz stibitzmichael — The Great Book of Amber collects all ten novels of Roger Zelazny's Amber series, a swashbuckling tale of magic and wonder that ranges across parallel worlds. The central conceit is that there is an infinite set of parallel universes, spanning just about any possibility you can think of -- but they are not all created equal. Somewhere in back of it all lies the golden city of Amber, ruled by scheming immortals who regard themselves as lords of creation, and their land as the one true world, of which all others, including our own prosaic Earth, are but "Shadows." They are partly right, but their hubris nearly brings about their downfall, and therein lies a tale... This wildly open setting is half the fun, and the other half is the characters, particularly the narrator of the first five books, Prince Corwin, a loser in Amber's ongoing power struggles, who in the beginning is an amnesiac living on our Earth. How Corwin fights, loves, and schemes his way back into competition for the throne -- and how he grows up a little in the bargain -- makes for a fantastic tale. The next five books, written years later, are a bit of a letdown, as both the narrator Merlin and his story seem just a bit less focused and engaging, and Zelazny not quite on top of his game. For a Zelazny fanatic like myself, the second set of five books, beginning with Trumps of Doom, is a certainly a fun read, but a more casual reader might want to stop with the end of Corwin's saga, The Courts of Chaos. If you're new to Amber, I'd suggest buying or borrowing a standalone copy of the first book, Nine Princes in Amber. If you're as swept up as I was, then you'll find The Great Book of Amber a good value. You should also be aware that Zelazny published a few short stories about Amber that are not in this volume. Although I haven't read them, I understand at least some can be found in his story collection Manna From Heaven. Also, there is a prequel series available, written by John Gregory Betancourt.

Muralight Team muralight — One of my goals this year is to better familiarize myself with the most popular mystery writers - so I'm creating a mystery bookshelf for this purpose. If this book is typical of a J.A. Jance mystery, I wasn't impressed. I prefer mysteries that unravel slowly, where the reader knows the guilty party and understands their motives. I like surprises, but ones which make sense as you look back upon the book. This really had neither - the murderer stayed out of the story until the last chapter or so, and got caught because of his stupidity; much of the book was about the main character's upcoming wedding, with a parallel storyline dealing with the death of a neighbor. I liked the writing but it just went on and on with little to keep me interested. Perhaps it was because I entered the Joanna Brady series at #8 - but I really found little to enjoy about this one. Suggested readalikes were Tony Hillerman, Nevada Barr, and Janet Evanovich - I guess because of story location or female main character, but I'd read all three of these authors again before reading another one by Jance.