Thoughts on "Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber"

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(The following assumes you have passing knowledge of The Chronicles of Amber. If not, go brush up.)

Despite the crying of other Amber-fans that it's riddled with inaccuracies, I ended up getting a copy of Roger Zelazny's Visual Guide to Castle Amber mainly for the illustrations of the castle, and more importantly, the Trumps.

The more equivocal of the reviewers on Amazon soothed that it's "one artists take on what he thinks the castle and Trumps look like," and it certainly is at that. It was brought home to me that Zelazny was rather spartan in his descriptions of the characters (thoughtfully reproduced in the Guide), so I can't blame the illustrator for liberties taken when there's a dearth of information to begin with.

So, to the stuff I like best: the nitty-gritty of the Trump illustrations.

On Benedict: I don't remember Zelazny saying that he has a thing for Japanese culture and weapons, but then again, it's been a while since I've read the Corwin chronicles. Due to the illustrators choice with Corwin (more on that later), this Benedict looks a bit more stocky than the "tall and dour, thin; thin of body, thin of face" that Zelazny describes him as. Other than that, the illustrators guess is as good as mine.

On Bleys: Since he's so often described as being boisterous and fun loving, I've always imagined him having a more round figure, but still strong, in the cartoonists "Good-hearted brute" frame category. The illustrator makes him more standard in size.

On Brand: He looks good, like Brand ought to look, in my opinion. I've always imagined a Three Musketeers era Jeremy Brett as a good fit for Brand: a slightly twitchy, young looking bi-polar mad genius. Tell me you don't see it, Amber fans!

On Caine: Perfect, except: Mutton-chops, Mr. Illustrator? Really?

On Corwin: One word, OMGWTFTIMOTHYDALTON. Given that Corwin is never really described in full except for eye color and hair color, I can see why one could easily fit whatever actor they think might work. But the illustrator so transparently used Dalton's likeness that I wonder if he even tried to come up with something on his own. Dalton's face looks a bit too lantern-jawed for my taste as Corwin, but to each their own.

On Dalt: One ugly mother, no complaints there.

On Dara: Pitch-perfect! The hair, the build, the face, it all works. It almost looks like a slighter version of Angelina Jolie, though given that the book was made in '88, I doubt she was in promonance then.

On Dierdre: I tended to get the Princesses mixed up, due to Zelazny's penchant for wonderfully detailed descriptions that are also nearly impenetrable. For the longest time I thought Flora was Brunette and Dierdre was blond (What? Dierdre sounds like a blond name to me...), but more on that later. The illustration is fine and dandy.

On Eric: I always thought Eric had a more solid and square frame, as a counterpoint to (my perception of) Corwin's more slight build. But this Eric looks regular, still big and tough enough to be a threat to Corwin, but I suppose "big" and "tough" should be reserved for Gerard.

On Fiona: Damn, that's one foxy looking lady. I never really got that Fiona was a redhead, though I'm sure it was mentioned a number of times. To me, she was always "that lady that disappeared whenever shit hit the fan," making her very, very obnoxious (a point the Guide makes as well) as she usually was in possesion of the answers as to why fecal matter made contact with spinning blades in the first place.

On Flora: Due to the rather fanciful description of her at the beginning of Nine Princes in Amber, I didn't figure out that she was blond until halfway through the series. The Wiki editors describe her as the "typical dumb blond," although blessed with all the magical and mental prowess of an Amberite. The illustration looks fine.

On Gerard: It may just be me, but this Gerard looks entirely too merry. I know Zelazny wrote that he's laughing in his Trump picture, but he looks too harmless, not the powerhouse that subdued both Benedict and Corwin.

On Julian: I've always imagined Julian as having a young face, maybe because he's one of the youngest of the Princes to begin with. The illustrator went the opposite way, giving him a lined face, aquiline nose, and forked beard. Very Snape-like. Zelazny's description is once again somewhat vague on the facial details aside from the fact that he looks rather "evil," but I can imagine a sort of Sephrioth-like quality could work as well.

On Llewella: All I remember is that she has Green hair and keeps to herself. The illustration looks fine to me.

On Luke: Pretty good, actually. My only beef is that in the description they make no mention that he's Rinaldo, Brand's son, even though the Guide was written when a good number of the Merlin Chronicles were already out (The Luke/Rinaldo connection was revealed at the end of the first freaking book of second set of Amber novels), and Dalt is mentioned as an Amberite by way of an illegitimate liason by Oberon. Consistancy, please!

On Mandor: Perfect again, though I imagined he would look a lot younger. As a general rule, I always imagined the Amberites and Chaosians having exceptionally long youth as well as age, and that only the oldest of the siblings (Benedict, Eric, and [crap!] Corwin, I guess) would start to show it. Mandor, despite his age, seemed to suggest youthfulness in appearance, if not in words and deeds.

On Martin: I find it interesting that the illustrator chose to show Martin in his Earth-Punk getup, rather than the more traditional Amber clothes that he wears earlier on in the series. You know, when Brand created his freakin' Trump!

On Merlin: Can you say "carbon copy"? Dalton's face makes another appearance, though now he's dressed in an earth business suit. Look, I know he looks like his dad, but this isn't generation xerox, here!

On Random: Not bad at all. Random being another character who's facial features are very vague, I think the illustrator did a good job on this one.

On Vialle: Oh, that's right, she did get immortalized in a Trump. She...looks fine?

On Oberon: Kingly and forbidding. I also dig the giant two handed sword. For some bizzare reason, when I started reading the books I began picturing Oberon with that crazy antler-crown that King Balor wore in Hellboy II. Probably because I associate the name "Oberon" more closely with the fairy king of Shakespeare. Good illustration.

On Dworkin: Not bad, looks like a mad, hunchbacked version of Oberon, which makes sense.


I should actually go and read the text that makes up the majority of this guide. I'm off!


Enough, More Later.
- James

Your Daily "Wha-?"

Upon the suggestion of a number of friends, I've started to read Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey, and for the most part it's not bad. It suffers a bit from some clunky world-building exposition, of the "Our Heroine is attending school! Let's listen in on what she's being taught" method. To be sure, the history of the Ersatz Europe where the French have become the pinnacle of civilization is definitely interesting, it's just that the story tends to jerk back and forth between narrative and exposition.

But the one thing that made me do a double take was the following: When we come to an explanation of one of the "13 Houses of Sluts" as a waggish friend once put it (who's a avid fan, let me assure you), the way they choose their recruits is as follows. "'It begins with the lesson of the spiced candies, of course; you know this? No? We do it with children of six. An adept explains that the pleasure of the taste is due to the touch of pain the spice provokes. Those who understand, we keep; others will have their marques [debts] sold.'"

This, by the way, is Valerian House, known for it's S&M bent (which Our Heroine is biologically inclined towards, don't ask, just read the book). Let me get this straight, you keep six-year-olds to be inducted into a life of masochism because of their penchant for spicy effin' food? Just because someone doesn't mind a burrito that bites back a bit is not a good indicator that they would enjoy being scourged for shits and giggles! What the Hell!

Once again, though, the book isn't that bad. It's rather heavy on the scheming and intrigue, and as of the moment, fuzzy logic.


Enough, More Later.
- James