Nine Princes in Amber

The Chronicles of Amber, Book 1

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Nine Princes in Amber is the first of the 10 books that are The Chronicles of Amber; an epic fantasy series written by six-time Hugo Award winning and three-time Nebula Award winning author, Roger Zelazny.

The ten books that make up the series are told in two story arcs: The Corwin Cycle and the Merlin Cycle.

The Audible audio rendition of this classic sci-fi/fantasy series is kicked off by 2012 Audie Award nominee, Alessandro Juliani, who reads the first five books that make up the Corwin Cycle and whose narration vividly brings the world of Amber to life.

Amber is the one real world, of which all others including our own Earth are but Shadows. Amber burns in Corwin's blood. Exiled on Shadow Earth for centuries, the prince is about to return to Amber to make a mad and desperate rush upon the throne.

From Arden to the Pattern deep in Castle Amber which defines the very structure of Reality, Corwin must contend with the powers of his eight immortal brothers, all Princes of Amber. His savage path is blocked and guarded by eerie structures beyond imagining impossible realities forged by demonic assassins and staggering Forces that challenge the might of Corwin's superhuman fury.

©1970 Roger Zelazny (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Great Remake

I love this story. I have the original on cassette. they did a great job with this version.

finally time to read this masterpiece

it is perfect. Im glad that Ive saves theese books for one of the last classical peaces of this genre.

Superb Reading

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. It was a great yarn in the 70's, but unlike many similar books, is STILL a great story today. I suspect all outstanding fantasy has this feature, vis Tolkien?

What other book might you compare Nine Princes in Amber to and why?

A cross between Lord Fouls Bane, some Robert Jordan, much GRRM, David (but not Leigh) Eddings and ... who knows. Based on my own reading, to say this series is unique would not be an exaggeration

Which scene was your favorite?

No one scene. Partly because he got right into the story and kept it moving - eg, towards the end of Book 1, RZ covered 3 years in 3 or 4 sentences. Later, several months are handled in a short paragraph. This means every chapter had something fairly major happening. I prefer story 'movement' to say, deep deeeeep characterisation (not to say this was poor - the opposite in fact). If he can use 10 words, he doesn't use 12.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No. However before Chapter 1 had ended, I thought 'Wow!' because the reading was so good. I have heard 30-40 spoken stories as an adult (many on Audible), and some readers are very good. Mr Juliani however is the best I have heard.

Any additional comments?

Alessandro Juliani's reading deserves extra comment. Roger Zelanzy wrote many sentences as if they were throw-away lines, and Mr Juliani gives the exact intonation to make them impact the way they were written. I suspect this is harder than it sounds, but he gets it spot on, every time, and some are so well done they raise an irrepressible smile. His wide vocalisation skills put him in the top tier of readers.I will now use Mr Juliani as the benchmark against which other readers are marked. If readers are ever marked in the future, I nominate it be done on a scale of 1 to 100, and the unit of measure be the Juliani.

Great book, middling performance- Better available

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the BOOK to any friend, but after listening to both, I recommend instead the reading performed by the original author, Roger Zelazny, which is sadly not available on Audible. It can be had on Speaking-Volumes, however

A Memorable Tale

I enjoyed revisiting the first of the Amber novels I once read as a teen again. Prince Corwin's story deserved to be made into an audiobook. I thought the performance was mostly well done with one notable exception: Corwin's brother, Random, should not have been made to sound like a pipsqueak. No Prince of Amber should sound like that.

fun beginning to the series.

this is the first book in the princes of Amber series, and is well worth attending to. it has Adventure in combat and swordplay, and a tiny sprinkling of magic. Have fun with it. My only detractor on this one, is it a little bit short.

A Decent Book, but a Bit Archaic

I gave this book three stars, which isn't quite fair. I would have given it three and a half stars if I could. It just wasn't a four star listen to me, but it wasn't a three star either. The story was good if not a little odd. I liked the clever plot motifs that were used, they were if anything unique. I also liked the action scenes, their portrayal was very different than I am use to. They were drawn with an almost detached skill, told with an elegant prose, that is hard to dislike. I also liked the characters which were multi faceted and complex. The problem with this book was the writing itself. It was not bad writing but it was archaic. The entire book in fact was archaic. The way it was written and told was very alien to me and it kind of put me off. I would put this novel under the category of not aging well. It just doesn't live up to some of the great books that we read today. The final small issue I had with this book was its length. It was so short I had a hard time spending a credit on it. The narrator did a good if unremarkable job. As a whole, this book really didn't do much for me, it just didn't leave much of an impression, but it wasn't a bad book.

Great production of classic SF.

First of a ten book series. Well worth devouring, beginning to end like a wolf.

I give a thumbs up. 5 stars

was great. loved this book loving the series. downloaded. next book. roger zelazny, books are wonderful.

great story

I love this story. I read the full series as a teenager. the narration of the story could be much better. I particularly didn't care for the narrator.