I read the first half, 5 novels, which forms a complete cycle in itself. I think this is the worst writing I’ve read in my life, and I’ve read some pretty trashy fantasy in my time (eg. Elric). It also contains remarkably little fantasy invention, the one thing that can save fantasy from bad writing. We get a host of characters that are completely uninteresting and unconvincing. It all seems like something that was written by someone in a desperate hurry making it up as he went along. The worst aspect is the way the language flits back and forth between contemporary American English and Trashy Fantasy Archaic English. Zelazny couldn’t even be bothered to remember which his characters spoke, making it obvious he didn’t care about his characters either.

Pity. I enjoyed A Night in the Lonesome October a lot.