I have a feeling that this is one of those books that had it been published today would not receive nearly as many rave reviews as it does. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed the book, but I'd be lying if I said that it could stand next to some of the beautifully written and fully immersive stories that I have enjoyed by more contemporary authors without paling. 
 Despite being written in first person, I don't feel I know Corwin at all. Part of that is that he doesn't know himself at the beginning, but this is only worsened (view spoiler)[when he does recover his memories. As his memories come back to him, he begins by detailing events of his time on earth, but the more he recovers about Amber, the more vague he gets, until finally, we get this: "The currents subsided and more of my memories returned, memories of my life as a prince of Amber. . . . No, they are not yours for the asking..." It was jarring to be on the same page as the protagonist for the first half of the book, learning about this world along with him, only to be turned aside when he actually gets answers to things. (hide spoiler)] The "battle" scene later in the book was also strange as we're constantly given an update as to how many of the troops are remaining. It was like a score update at a sporting event. And don't get me started on how many times we're told about him going to sleep and then (shocking!) later waking up. 
 On the positive side, this is a thoroughly unique story that, faults and all, is still rather enjoyable, and I can't say that I've ever read anything else quite like it despite the fact that it is nearly 50 years old. The books in the series are all fairly short with this first book barely cracking 100 pages, leaving me with a feeling of just having read the first part and needing to continue onward. I'm hoping that there will be greater world building and some questions answered as I move further along.