After I described Anathem to a friend, he suggested that I read the Chronicles of Amber (presumably because of the "multiple-worlds" hook). Over the past couple of weeks, I slogged through the first five books of the series, which form a self-contained plot arc.

I very much enjoyed the opening sequence, in which the protagonist awakes in a hospital with amnesia and cleverly puzzles his way out. But after that terrific opening, the series slogs through a series of repetitive "hell-rides" with a rather large cast of shallow characters and a few too many instances of adding new rules to the universe as the story progresses. It's clear that Zelazny did not have a story arc in mind from the beginning; he must have made it up as we went along.

I don't think I'll read the second five books in the series any time soon.