[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 18 KB, 400x327, roger.zelazny.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1451681 No.1451681 [Reply] [Original]

I liked the Merlin Cycle.

80s critics lambasted it for not having ideas as expansive and original as the Corwin books, but a) the Corwin books were derivative in the first place and b) in retrospect, the "80s hacker" ideas presented in the Merlin books are actually still relevant today and not dated at all (like "Neuromancer" or "Snow Crash"). Also the major flaws of the Corwin books are pretty much done away with, like the incessant recaps or the unnecessary repeated descriptions of travel through Shadow.

Merlin cycle ≥ Corwin cycle

>> No.1452056

I was just trying to share my feelings on the Merlin Cycle, guys, I didn't mean to offend anyone.

>> No.1454173

I didn't like all the swordplay jargon. It was bad enough having to look up a dozen fencing terms. When he started using the kendo terms I just didn't bother.

>> No.1454191

OMG OMG OMG OMG, SOMEONE BESIDES ME STARTED AN AMBER THREAD!!!!!!! On the topic though. I liked the Merlin cycle a lot too though I felt that Zelazny gave in to more traditional fantasy by giving the characters access to a more stereotypical form of magic such as spells and whatnot. The idea of the spikard is still something that makes me shit bricks today though

>> No.1454203

Awe I just realized it's only you and me in here, maybe even you left by now though. Yeah I learned early on that /lit/ pretty much has no idea who Zelazny is and wouldn't know good fantasy if it bit them on the ass and was name Martin. Keep this going though and we can have a nice long winded discussion

>> No.1454270

>>1454203
When I was a kid there was a swathe of '70s and '80s sci-fi/fantasy authors whose stuff filled the shelves of my crappy local library. I used to studiously ignore their Prog Rock album cover art and mostly went instead for the Tolkien, D&D and Pratchett novels.

Names like Zelazny, Pierre What's-His-Face, Terry Brooks, That Other Terry, Moorcock, most of Eddings, McCaffrey, I just avoided and have never gone back to, despite hearing good things about some of them.

Partly as a result of its youth-oriented origins, I think the fantasy genre's fandom tends to have a ridiculously short memory.

>> No.1454292

>>1454191
I agree with you to an extent about the magic, but I did think the idea of using the Logrus forces to draw things to you and manipulate things was a nice Chaosian mirror of using the Pattern to modify everything and shift yourself through Shadow. Julia and the other Shadowtards having magical ability, the broken Pattern, etc, were a little unnecessary (they didn't even serve the plot well; I could imagine the books working as well without those elements).

Too bad the guy died... I really want to know what happens after the events of the Merlin books.

>> No.1454297

>>1454270

Dang man, just go grab some Piers Anthony, and you'll make up for all of the lost time. With infinite terribleness.

>> No.1454339

I liked Piers Anthony when I was a kid ._.

>> No.1454421

>>1454292
it doesn't tell the continued story of Merlin and them, but the dawn of amber series is pretty good. It was started by Zelazny but finished by another author when Zelazny either died or became too sick to write. It's about Oberon and dworkin and such. The series is incomplete but if you have a hunger for amber like I did it's s nice piece if continuity. It also gives a nice feel when you see the powers that dworkin and oberon posess and in the Merlin cycle you see what chaosites can do, you really get the feel of how the amberites limited themselves and their abilities by trying to be separate from chaos

>> No.1454438

Oh, and I found it really lame that at the end of the Merlin cycle you just find out that Dara had Corwin holed up in some fucking cage or something in her back yard for like forty years. Felt like a major cop out

>> No.1454861

>>1454421
>>1454438

I was wondering about those books. They have horrible reviews, but so does the Merlin cycle. I'm gonna check them out.

Also Dara keeping Corwin in the Pit was super lame but Merlin utterly pwning Mandor/Dara right around the time of that revelation made up for it.

Mandor being an anagram of Random, and Random being the name of a person, bothered me throughout the series

>> No.1455076

>>1454339

Everyone did. It's the 13 year old fantasy nerd's rite of passage.