Download Audio Books from Audible.

Customer reviews

5 star		62%
4 star		26%
3 star		8%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star		4%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Mike M

I gave up

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

I read the Chronicles of Amber years ago, both the 5 Corwin books and the 5 Merlin books. I remembered being blown away by the first 5, and less than enthused by the latter 5.

I guess I'm older and crankier now. The first 5 are still great works. The latter 5, well...suck.

I'd forgotten that the Merlin series is based entirely on his naivety to move the story along. On inexplicable bad decisions, and the convenient "oh we're not as hostile as first made out" responses of the "villains" which accommodated those terrible decisions.

But, I gutted it out. Until this one. At which point I found myself wanting to just skip through multiple pages at a time just to get it over with. At which point I figured...why bother? And put it down.

He'd been struggling with the plot up until this point. Then...he entirely gave up on it and put out this filler book. It reads like a sub-adventure in the life of Merlin. It has nothing to do with the three books that came before it. At least, that was the case 55% of the way in, at which point I just couldn't be bothered anymore.

Do yourselves a favor. Read the first 5 Amber novels and then ignore the second 5.

illiandantic

3-1/2 Stars

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2020

Verified Purchase

Roger Zelazny's 1989 novel " Chronicles of Amber, Book 09: Knight of Shadows " is the 4th book in the Merlin sub-series of the Chronicles of Amber. Finally, Merlin has started acting like a player instead of a passive idiot. He still makes mistakes, but at least he's thinking and choosing. Also, in this entry in the series, Zelazny throws in a bit of a twist regarding the Pattern and the Logrus. So, overall, a pretty good book. If I could, I'd rate it at 3-1/2 stars. But, since I'm limited to integers, I'm going with a Good 3 stars out of 5.

K. Tinsley

ZELAZNY GETS 5 STARS, E-VERSION HORRIBLE

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

It’s too bad such a great book and author get treated so horribly in this e translation. There are so many mis spelled and incorrect words it’s embarrassing. It’s obvious no one proofread or edited this before it was put out. At least no one with anything more than a kindergarten education. ZELAZNY has such great writing and many subtle nuances that cannot be appreciated or understood if the words are incorrect, missing or misspelled. He and we deserve better than this.

sparky

Very disappointed in misleading information on condition of book.

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

I was not able to read this book because of the horrible condition I received it in.
I’m only adding this photo to 1. Let people know this is what used/ very good condition looks like.
2. I was unable to upload a photo to my comments to the company whom sold this book to me.
3. I personally would not gift this book to anyone, let alone donated in the condition it’s in.

TMPNOVA

The penultimate Amber novel

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

I just ordered the Kindle version of this novel; a long time coming. This is the weakest of all ten great Amber books, but it serves as a bridge to the brilliant Prince of Chaos.

A. Stevko

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2016

Verified Purchase

If you like Zelazny, you'll love the continuing exploits of Merlin, son of Corwin.

C. Russell

Good book

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

Good book, took longer than it should have to arrive.

Jeffrey DanielsTop Contributor: BBQ Styles

You want answers? A lot of come in this book.

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2020

And what answers they are!

Zelazny has been keeping this a secret, even from the readers (really, there wasn't much foreshadowing, but it can be forgiven...it's not a detective novel).

Turns out, Merlin vs. Mask or Courts of Chaos vs. Amber are the undercard. The true battle is with the abstract powers of the universe, given form in the Sign of the Logrus (for Chaos) and the Pattern (Order).

Both have been vying since time immemorial for a heads up on the other. Since Chaos came first, it prefers a return to the original state. Order, of course, thinks it's time to extend its sphere of influence.

And the tool both of them wish to use in their aims is our no longer unwitting protagonist Merlin, son of Corwin.

So, with the preliminaries out of the way, the two most powerful forces in existence will attempt first to cajole, then to coerce and, failing that, will simply rip apart reality to gain their ends.

Merlin, like any sane being of reality, rejects the notion that either Chaos or Order should be in control. In some ways, the naivete that Zelazny has been writing him with now serves him as a buffer against a more self-interested choice.

The battle between the forces allows Zelazny to bring back characters from the earliest books of the series, with "constructs" from the Logrus and "pattern ghosts" from the Pattern. Here we get some unique insights into the history of reality and find it is not at all as was originally set forth in the early Amber books.

Of course, there's still Mask and Jurt (Merlin's murderous brother) to contend with. And demons and hunchbacks and best friends turned assassin turned best friends again.

It makes for entertaining reading and a solid lead in to the final book in the series.

Customer reviews

Review this product

Reviews with images

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries