Whatever one's view of [J.R.R. Tolkien's] The Lord of the Rings there can be no doubt that it has done dreadful things to the young imagination. There are simply too many long, level-paced pseudo-epics, three-part sometimes, about these days, ranging from chivalric to post-cataclysmic settings. The will to epic has even affected the work of one of the most talented science fiction writers, Roger Zelazny, who used to do such wonderful things with myth. The Hand of Oberon … is as well written as ever, but it is part of his tiresome Amber epic, and much too much space is devoted to recapping or describing complicated intrigues which are simply not good to read about. This is largely a waste of his splendid imagination, and let's hope that Amber finishes soon.

Alex De Jonge, "Spring SF: 'The Hand of Oberon'," in The Spectator (© 1978 by The Spectator; reprinted...