Fans of the late Roger Zelazny"s popular Amber series should flock to this workmanlike, authorized prequel, the first of a projected trilogy, by Betancourt (Infection and three other Star Trek novels). Readers familiar with the heroes Corwin and Merlin from the earlier books will soon catch on that Betancourt"s protagonist, the Conan-like Oberon (aka Obere), will one day be their father. In the realm of Chaos, Obere is as handy with his sword as with his sweethearts, serving the king of an outlying world. He is innocent of the magic that rules in his universe until he discovers he is not an orphan but has a nearly 200-year-old father, Dworkin, with vast magical abilities and many progeny from a wide assortment of mothers. Not all these siblings are loving, Obere finds. Betancourt captures the fantastic nature of the original and peppers his story with Amber-familiar terms such as Logrus, that mystical gift which enables its holders to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks and travel...