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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 2254827" data-attributes="member: 8158">If I had to pick my three favorite writers, Roger Zelazny would definitely make that list. The first five books of the Amber series are possibly my favorite books of all time. But boy did the second Amber series suck. Corwin was a brilliant, resourceful character I could empathize with. A hero's hero. Merlin was a shrugging schmuck who depended on his spells, magic items, and super-powers to get out of trouble (i.e. he was much more like a D&D character than his father). When locked in a cave where he can't use magic, he just sits there like a helpless jerk until someone lets him out. It was almost as if the reader was not supposed to like Merlin very much.  Now, I didn't discover Zelazny until after he died about ten years ago. Did he ever express exactly what he was trying to accomplish with the second series? Was it one of those Douglas Adams things where your publisher pesters you for a sequel until you finally cave in with a lackluster, inferior effort?</blockquote>