The fantasy world of "Amber" created by the American writer Roger Zelazny, has now its own tarot deck,
depicting a number of the characters of this imaginative world and attempting to create an Amberesque
atmosphere. It is not the first time, this non-existing family and it's realm have been portrayed in
a tarot deck. In fact, several were made over the years, but all in rather limited editions. Only very
few reached beyond the circles of Amber-fans. The present edition is, however, commercially available
in France. This basically American phenomenon has now also reached Europe.
I am not the best suited to write about the deck; my knowledge of the Amber-world and its inhabitants is
rather negligible. What I can do is to look at it as a tarot deck like all other decks and make my
judgment on that basis. I understand, that one of the important points of critique expressed by Amber
fans is, that only the court cards depict members of the Amber family; regarding the major arcana, the
creators have stayed with traditional tarot symbolism even though the atmosphere of the environments are
kept throughout the deck. Additionally, the creators of the deck have not stuck exactly to the descriptions
given in Zelazny's texts. This appears to be very annoying to the fanatic fandom, to whom Zelazny's works
are like holy books, whose teachings should not be deviated from. For a fanatic Amber fan this is, of
course, a disaster, but for all others it might prove to be an advantage.
The set comes in a large plastic cassette, which unfortunately is rather fragile, at least when exposed to
degrees below the freezing-point, which easily can be the case, when airmailed. Of the two packs I have
seen, both have been splintered. Inside the box there are two sections, one for the 78 card deck and one
for the accompanying book, written by Francois Nedelec. It describes, in a rather strained fictitious
style, the author's passion for the world of Amber, and how the deck came into being.
The images for the 78 cards plus a title card are the creations of the painter F. Magnin. They are rather
somber in the overall tinting which, however, has not disturbed the richness of details, that can be
found in the major arcana and court cards. Magnin leads us into landscapes inhabited by numerous creatures
of uncertain origin (besides human or manlike characters, of course). There are deep woods and open
valleys, foaming sea and calm rivers. The castles and buildings depict scenery from the high society
of the middle ages, and so does the rich clothing of the people (even if this, perhaps, is more a
theatrical conception of how it could have been). The deck is well printed, allowing the detailed
illustrations and the color settings to come to their right. I don't dare think of what a mediocre
printer could have made out of this.
Since we are often told, that the world of Amber is so full of characters, situations and events, it is
sort of puzzle to me, that the number cards are entirely without illustrations; they can not even be
called decorated. A chance to illustrate a lot more of the Amber legend, was lost here.
The key to a particular trait of the deck, is its subtitle "Le Jeu de Marelle". A "Marelle" is one of
the patterns used for the children's game of Hopscotch, which again originates in patterns created to
symbolically illustrate the structure of the Universe. Such patterns were often used for divinatory
purposes: to decide the will of the Gods. One certain such pattern permeates this deck, often immediately
recognizable, like in the coin suit, but also often integrated in the design, so it takes a closer look to
unearth it. The inclusion of the Marelle can, perhaps, be interpreted as is "The Amber Tarot" intended to
be a model of the world, at the same time as it is a divinatory tool or just a game.
The fantasy world of "Amber" created by the American writer Roger Zelazny, has now its own tarot deck,
depicting a number of the characters of this imaginative world and attempting to create an Amberesque
atmosphere. It is not the first time, this non-existing family and it's realm have been portrayed in
a tarot deck. In fact, several were made over the years, but all in rather limited editions. Only very
few reached beyond the circles of Amber-fans. The present edition is, however, commercially available
in France. This basically American phenomenon has now also reached Europe.
I am not the best suited to write about the deck; my knowledge of the Amber-world and its inhabitants is
rather negligible. What I can do is to look at it as a tarot deck like all other decks and make my
judgment on that basis. I understand, that one of the important points of critique expressed by Amber
fans is, that only the court cards depict members of the Amber family; regarding the major arcana, the
creators have stayed with traditional tarot symbolism even though the atmosphere of the environments are
kept throughout the deck. Additionally, the creators of the deck have not stuck exactly to the descriptions
given in Zelazny's texts. This appears to be very annoying to the fanatic fandom, to whom Zelazny's works
are like holy books, whose teachings should not be deviated from. For a fanatic Amber fan this is, of
course, a disaster, but for all others it might prove to be an advantage.
The set comes in a large plastic cassette, which unfortunately is rather fragile, at least when exposed to
degrees below the freezing-point, which easily can be the case, when airmailed. Of the two packs I have
seen, both have been splintered. Inside the box there are two sections, one for the 78 card deck and one
for the accompanying book, written by Francois Nedelec. It describes, in a rather strained fictitious
style, the author's passion for the world of Amber, and how the deck came into being.
The images for the 78 cards plus a title card are the creations of the painter F. Magnin. They are rather
somber in the overall tinting which, however, has not disturbed the richness of details, that can be
found in the major arcana and court cards. Magnin leads us into landscapes inhabited by numerous creatures
of uncertain origin (besides human or manlike characters, of course). There are deep woods and open
valleys, foaming sea and calm rivers. The castles and buildings depict scenery from the high society
of the middle ages, and so does the rich clothing of the people (even if this, perhaps, is more a
theatrical conception of how it could have been). The deck is well printed, allowing the detailed
illustrations and the color settings to come to their right. I don't dare think of what a mediocre
printer could have made out of this.