Trumps of Doom

The Chronicles of Amber, Book 6

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Trumps of Doom is the sixth book of 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.

Trumps of Doom begins the Merlin Cycle, with Alessandro Juliani handing over his narration duties to customer favorite Wil Wheaton, who won the 2012 Audie Award for his engaging performance of Fuzzy Nation. Wheaton brings this classic series to a stunning close by giving voice to Merlin, Corwin’s son, for the final five audiobooks.

©1985 The Amber Corporation (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

A perfect book for narration

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

Roger Zelazney is king of the single character novel. With a rich background and a character you come to love through his own thoughts and ideas this book will get you rooting for Merlin every step of the way.

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

The best part about the book is the take on the first person narration as the only way the reader receives information. There is no other picture, not other point of view. This is what make the narration so perfect. The book is written as if Melin is telling a story and listening to it you can get a different enjoyment out of it. I think Wil Weaton really brings out the sarcasm and wry humor out of the book that isn't as poinient if you just read it. He has the perfect tone on the border where exasperation, contemplation and self depricating humor meet.

Another great book. Story is perfect.

Another great book. Story is perfect. Cant wait to hear the remaining books in this series.

excellent performance

What made the experience of listening to Trumps of Doom the most enjoyable?

I know it by heart of course, and I have the audio of the first five books that Roger Zelazny recorded (the tapes were discovered a few years ago). Nothing can match Roger's recordings in sentimental value and in accuracy, but that doesn't detract from Wheaton's performance.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Trumps of Doom?

Roger Zelazny was a poet so the structure of all his work is subtle and delightful. Best of all, he can never resist a good, horrible pun. One of the best is here in Merlin's second hellrun: "It was just one damned thing after another."

What didn’t you like about Wil Wheaton’s performance?

I thought it was splendid throughout. However there is one punch edit that was not removed!

Any additional comments?

Thank you very much for bringing us these performances. Please do some more of Zelazny's books. Someone could have a lot of fun with "A Dark Traveling," the one voiced by a kid in a magical family who is just figuring out that he's a werewolf. Whatever happened to "Lord of Light?" Was there a rights problem? I thought Victor Bevine's performance was one of the best I have ever heard.

Alessandro Juliani did a better job

I wish Alessandro Juliani narrated this book as he did in the first five. Wil is alright if you want someone to just read the book to you but Alessandro Juliani acts all the parts. Alessandro Juliani did a great job.

love this series

now listening to blood of amber, I really don''t
know what I will do when I have finished the whole lot, the characters are part of my life now. Narrated perfectly for the subtle humour in the books.

Great story, narrator needs more than one voice

Any additional comments?

Amazing story! The first set of Amber books were very well narrated. The narrator for trumps lacks any vocal variety, but is quite good for the second Merlin book. I guess he needed a warm up novel :-)

Excellent

I loved the amber stories when i first read them. Now Mr. Wheaton has brought them to life. A really good listen.

stale performance with flat characterization

while he tries to give each character their own voice they come out unrecognizable as individuals. coversations often become confusing as to who us saying what..

loved the narration

great book, loved the story. will did a great job w/o the narration. really enjoyed it..

Lesser Story Greater Narration

I love this series and have read it several times. I always come away feeling Zelazny just didn't have this story as "fleshed-out" as he did the first five books. It's nice revisiting old friends and finding out what happened after the first story ended. It's fun, but it doesn't have the impact of the first books. It feels like the "straight to video" follow up to a great major film. Still, it's better than 90% of what passes for speculative fiction these days.
I really have to break from the pack with people preferring Alessandro Juliani to Wheaton. My wife and I just listened to Nine Princes and we could not stop guffawing at his terrible (and inconsistent) southern accents and over-the-top inflections. He sounded like the old radio shows where all the cops are incredibly Irish and all the scientists are overwhelmingly German. My wife refused to listen to any more of the first five. Wheaton gives a far more nuanced and far less distracting performance. He doesn't try to turn each character into a caricature a la The Simpsons. Instead he changes tone and pacing slightly. It's more natural and yet it's still easy to follow the conversations. Wheaton does have one character (Luke) who's annoying to the ear but that's a small flaw. Overall, I would love to hear more by Wheaton and avoid anything by Juliani.
In sum, the recording is well worth your time. It's a bit short but still satisfying.