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 Story. Too Short.

To reiterating what others have said, although this is a fantastic story, spending $14.85 (book + tax) per book for the ten 4hrs 40min books in the series is straight up audiobook robbery. Either offer the series for sale in a couple omnibuses or one complete book. Otherwise, this superb author will continue losing listeners, like Europeans to the black plague.

Story: 5-stars
Narration: 5-stars
Cost: 1-star

I grew up listening to the original

Alessandro does a pretty good reviling this classic, I grew listening to the original read by Roger Zelazny. Hopefully Ya'll would be kind enough to offer a bundle or omnibus of the Corwin and Merlin storylines.

An Old Favorite From Long Ago...

I remember somehow stumbling across Roger Zelazny's Nine Princes series years ago and reading the first book, and I think part of the second. They were great books, and sadly I'd quite forgotten about them because of, well, life.

When I ran across them again here on Audible, I just couldn't resist.

The only thing better than reading the book is listening to Alessandro "Lt. Gaeta" Juliani perform them. OMG. I've never ever listened to someone reading a book that I enjoyed this much since listening to Douglas Adams read his own Hitchhiker's Guide series.

Alessandro simply breathes new life into these books. It's *absolutely* worth the listen.

addictive

loved it, can't wait to hear more in this series. highly recommend this book series

A good start :)

As the summary says, this is the first of a 10 book series, and it kicks things off well.

Narration first. Mr. Juliani has an excellent reading voice, and managed the feminine voices without much trouble. There were sections when it seemed like the reading was on 1.5x speed, but for the most part the tempo was just about right. I'll be more likely to pick up something with him reading.

I have had a number of people recommend Zelazny to me as a Science Fiction author, and as someone who's more into the new Sci Fi than the older works, I was hesitant to give him a go. As I've matured, my reading tastes have changed to prefer character development, especially internal growth, to broad social commentary, which is what I was expecting given the people who were recommending Mr. Zelazny's work.

While this was neither social commentary, nor quite about character development, it was still a good story. The hero of the story starts off with no clue who he is, and as he uncovers more about his past, the story sucks you into a larger scale plot.

It wasn't the story type that I typically like, and yet I like it anyhow, which I find to be the mark of a good storyteller.

Good storyline but….

The storyline has potential, it’s a great concept, but it’s written very matter of factly. Not much storytelling or painting a mental picture. Very much….this happened, then this happened…and so on.

Great story and performance!

The Book of Amber series is such a hidden gem! I highly recommend all the books in it!

Solid hero with amnesia meets dues ex machina

If you could sum up Nine Princes in Amber in three words, what would they be?

cliche, enjoyable, romp

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most interesting: the universe of Amber is wonderful to take a wander through. Sort of a Platonic Ideal with shadows through which a certain privileged family may travel.

Least interesting: the way stumbling blindly through the story still seems to keep turning out all right.

What about Alessandro Juliani’s performance did you like?

Very likable Corwin/Corey. Very similar to the voice in my head when I first read the book.

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

Not really, chuckle occasionally but no serious belly laughs.

Any additional comments?

Start of a decent series and lays the foundation for an excellent role-playing game if you're into that sort of thing.

New again

If you could sum up Nine Princes in Amber in three words, what would they be?

treachery
mystical
exciting

What did you like best about this story?

The though of manipulating "shadows" is a great story idea

What does Alessandro Juliani bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His meter and delivery with his own voices makes this book come to life with an edge I had not realized when I read the series 30+ years ago.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Walk the pattern

Any additional comments?

Listening made this book new again. Thank you!

Fabulous story Horrible narration

What three words best describe Alessandro Juliani’s voice?

Ferret on speed

Any additional comments?

I ablsolutely loved this story. I had read it (in Text) over 20 years ago. So i was really looking forward to having it in my audio library.Talk about a let down. I don't know who chose Juliani as the narrator but for a story told in the first person it was quite a mistake. Maybe i'm off here...maybe this is the fault of the director & not the narrator, but the dialog was stilted & chopped. on several occasions i was confinced this book was recorded on tape and accidentally sped up during much of the dialog.For the rest of this series, I will stick to re-reading these in text.