Prequels Ep. 11: Debacle

The concluding 1 hour episode covering the remainder of the Amber Short Stories.

In this final 2 part coda to the series, we'll dive into the 7 short stories set in the Amber universe.

In this final episode, we'll cover the 4th, final, and potentially worst book in the Amber prequel series, which ended unceremoniously in 2005, following the tragic death of the publisher Byron Preiss.

We cover the remainder of To Rule in Amber.

This hour-long episode covers the first half of the 3rd book in the prequel trilogy: To Rule In Amber. Oberon gathers up some carpenters, hires an architect, and starts building Amber. King Author of Chaos easily waltzes an army through Shadow. And there's a big reveal of the true identity of Lord Zon.

We'll cover the remainder of Chaos & Amber in this episode. Oberon agrees to a betrothal so he can get a party thrown for him. They kill the sub-boss, Aber turns on Dworkin, and we finally make it to the Primal Pattern. The plot is entirely lame while also running counter to the Amber creation myth as we know it.

We'll cover the bulk of Chaos & Amber in this episode, which amounts to very little action, and a ton of waiting around. Oberon and Aber talk about things, Dworkin is still missing in the Courts of Chaos, and Oberon is saved from a succubus. The origin story of Amber is made more convoluted, and the writing generally fails dramatically to live up to franchise.

In this episode we'll breeze through the first half of the 2nd prequel book, Chaos and Amber. It's slow-going, adolescent writing, doing little to excite either a general reader or an Amber fan. Betancourt seems somewhat lost himself, as whole scenarios are repeated from Dawn of Amber, and little of interest moves the action forward.

We'll wrap up Dawn of Amber in this extended episode.

We move through to the end of chapter 9, with a lot of superficial exposition and nonsense, as Dawn of Amber tries too hard to be an Amber book, without any of the cleverness, and without anything much happening. Dworkin shows Oberon his electric chair gadget he made that can detect Pattern DNA.