Nine Princes in Amber
core novel 1970 Chronicles of Amber
Record
| First published | 1970 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.04 (61,555 ratings, collected 2026-08-06) |
| Page count | 175 |
| First-edition ISBN | 0380014300 |
| First-edition date | 1970-05 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
Nine Princes in Amber follows a man who wakes with total amnesia in a secluded private hospital in New York, gradually recovering fragments of his identity and realizing he is being kept there against his will. As his memory returns, he learns he is actually Prince Corwin, one of the immortal, superhuman princes of Amber, the one true city of which Earth and every other world are merely shadow reflections. With his father Oberon missing and the throne currently held by his brother Eric, Corwin allies with another brother, Bleys, and works to recover his full power by walking the mystical Pattern hidden beneath Amber's dungeons. Once restored, he sets out to fight his way past Eric's armies and rival siblings to reclaim his place among the princes and press his own claim to the throne.
Where it sits
- Universe: Chronicles of Amber
- Series: The Chronicles of Amber (Corwin Cycle) core; position 1 of 5 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Roger Zelazny
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (Novel), 1971: finalist; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 15. Category recorded as generic "Novel" -- the Locus Awards did not yet have a separate "Best Fantasy Novel" category before 1980; sfadb's own historical listing preserves this era-appropriate category name (confirmed via sfadb.com/Roger_Zelazny, human-verification pass 2026-08-07).
- Mythopoeic Award (Fantasy), 1971: nominated
Notes
- No ISBN: the 1970 Doubleday first edition of Nine Princes in Amber was never assigned an ISBN; ISBNs did not become standard in the US book trade until the early-to-mid 1970s. A permanent bibliographic fact, not a research gap (manual ISFDB pass, 2026-08-10).
- From the series record (The Chronicles of Amber (Corwin Cycle)): Narrated by Corwin. Publication order = internal chronological order (OrderOfBooks.com).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Chronicles of Amber (Corwin Cycle): position 1 of 5: next The Guns of Avalon (1972)
- Internal chronology, within Chronicles of Amber: position 1 of 10: next The Guns of Avalon (1972)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Princes_in_Amber
- http://books.ofearna.us/zelazny.html
- https://www.isfdb.org
- https://www.sfadb.com/Roger_Zelazny
- The Mythopoeic Society, official Fantasy Award finalists list
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