Blood of Amber

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

Blood of Amber is the seventh 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.

Narrator Wil Wheaton, who won the 2012 Audie Award for his engaging performance of Fuzzy Nation, brings this classic series to a stunning close by giving voice to Merlin, Corwin’s son, in the final five books of the series.

Pursued by a fiendish enemy, Merle must battle through an intricate web of vengeance and murder that threatens more than the San Francisco Bay area. For Merle Corey of California is also Merlin, son of Corwin, vanished Prince of Amber; and the forces, seeking to destroy the royal house, have unleashed sorceries that can strike anywhere, especially at the very heart of Amber.

©1986 The Amber Corporation (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Zelazny greatest work

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

Well maybe not he's greatest work but a great little read. A great continuation of the Amber story.

What did you like best about this story?

The amber universe

Which scene was your favorite?

The whole think

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

Takes me to my happy place :)

Any additional comments?

Not all Zelazny book work in audio form but this one work great. The way he writes the Amber books makes it easy to to follow the audio.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Love Zelazny as writer, but Wheaton FTW

What made the experience of listening to Blood of Amber the most enjoyable?

I have both the random house Mr. Zelazny narrated version AND the audible frontiers one with Mr. Wil Wheaton. The SFX that random house put in the background are extremely distracting and at points I had to turn it off. Seriously a high pitch screech for a LARGE portion of a book drove me to buy a 'different version' (this one) and it is far far superior. I don't blame Mr Zelazny for this but Random Houses Audio wing.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Merle Corey - main protaganist is a deeper character than his father Corwin was in the novels.

Which character – as performed by Wil Wheaton – was your favorite?

Merle - really I need 15 words to give a one word answer? Kind of silly if you ask me.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I've read and reread the series and have listened multiple times to the RH version, I use these for a long (28 mile one way) commute in Silicon Valley.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amber was my gateway to science fiction

Where does Blood of Amber rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

If I were forced to rank "Blood of Amber" on a scale of one to ten, I would say it is a solid six. The difficulty I have with it is the length. I enjoy a more comprehensive listen, and would easily rank the series a Ten of Ten where all the Amber books combined into as single reading.

Have you listened to any of Wil Wheaton’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I found Wil Wheaton's performance very easy to listen too. I have read the books in the past and Wheaton's vocal flavoring of the characters was in line with my own internal imaginings, which made the performance very entertaining for me.

Any additional comments?

I listen to audiobooks regularly. I have a special place in my heart for Roger Zelazny as he was the first science fiction author I ever read. I tore into his stories of Amber with a great amount of zeal as a young man. The premise of shaping reality by mere force of will through infinite possibility was so enticing to me. The series backdrop is so well thought out that it allows for anything to happen, any plot to evolve any twist to take root. Roger Zelazny masterfully takes advantage of this in all of his Amber books. The story elements of family relations, politics, the romance of combat by blade, cunning and force of intellect. The underlying themes of balance in all things, Chaos and Order, Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, these books are all simply outstanding.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great

Zelazny is one of the greats. This is the third or fourth book that I have purchesed had Wil Wheaten narrating. It is the first one that seems to have been forced and not to the usual caliber.

the story is a wreck

The second Amber series started weak, but it became even worth in this book: more contrived mystery, more powerful magic artifacts and creatures, more stupid behavior from protagonist. What I like about original Amber series is a self-consistent and logic world and a good characters. This series has none of it - it turned into generic fantasy, with hordes of powerful wizards, tons of magic artifacts and other fantasy bull crap.

Good continuation of the Amber novels.

Good story and like the movement but on its own not enough core plot. more of a pass through book as opposed to a solid novel unto it self.

The Plot Thickens

Don't start reading with this book! Go back and start with the Trumps of Doom (the first in this second series) or ALL THE WAY back to the beginning of the first Chronicles of Amber, Nine Princes in Amber. (Though if you do the latter, I'll have to recommend reading it in print. The audiobook narrator is ... in a word ... awful. I'm still hoping Audible will pay Wil Wheaton to go back and re-record the first series!)

Merlin is in some ways a more interesting character than Corwin, though his somewhat forced naïveté is off-putting. (As I mentioned in my review of the last book, just hold on a bit longer. It starts getting better in book 3, and books 4 and 5 are real fun.) In this book we get a few good bits:

• More insights into Logrus magic (my favorite parts)
• New Amberites are uncovered
• The political landscape and plot are revealed

Oddly, a huge amount of the book is just the author recapping earlier events and telling you stuff through the medium of conversations: Merle and Luke, Merle and Caine's wife (or is she?), Merle and a hermit above the Keep of the Four Winds. It feels like a weak gumshoe novel in a lot of ways - investigative interviews punctuated by someone getting beat up.

Too short

I really have wanted to delve into the Amber books after beginning them years ago. But they are over before you know it or have a chance to relate to the characters. An omnibus offering would be welcome. But these are worth neither the price nor the credit. I keep buying them, wanting the rest of the story, and being frustrated at how little I got.

I love the entire series!!!

The entire, series is completely and utterly had me in inthralled. I can't stop listening. I can not put it down. I love it.

Classic

I have been a fan for years of the amber chronicles. Mr wheaton really brings them to life.