The Dawn of Amber by John Gregory Betancourt

[lightreads]

Fiction. Authorized prequel to Roger Zelazny's Amber double-quintet. Like a mediocre fanfiction writer, Betancourt opts for regurgitation and repetition rather than innovation, with painful results. I got through a fourth of this, found its plot precisely matches the trajectory of Zelazny's first Amber
book only with different names, and dropped it in disgust. Note for future reference: imitation is cheap, and good derivative fiction requires some actual derivation.