The Courts of Chaos

The Chronicles of Amber, Book 5

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani

Length: 4 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

The Courts of Chaos is the fifth 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.

In book five, 2012 Audie Award nominee Alessandro Juliani completes his reading of the Corwin Cycle, expertly narrating the first five novels of the series and bringing the world of Amber to life.

As the first cycle is brought to a close, Corwin finds his world dissolving around him when his father Oberon, disguised as Corwin's friend, steals the Jewel of Judgment so that he may defeat the evil Brand.

©1978 Roger Zelazny (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

The dancer and the dance.

"Sometimes it's damned hard to tell the dancer from the dance."
- Roger Zelazny, Coruts of Chaos

So, this isn't the bottom of the first five books in the 'Chronicles of Amber'. Actually, of the five books that make up the Corwin cycle (Books 1-5), it might be my favorite (so 3.5 ✷?). I haven't been impressed by the five enough to rush soon into the Merlin cycle (Books 6-10). I'll probably get there. I own all ten (The Great Book of Amber), but other books from other favorite authors remain unread and unless there is a sign, symbol, or signal somewhere that suggest that these later books will suddenly jump higher in my esteem, I'm finished for 2017 with Zelazny.

The Courts of Chaos did produce a couple items I did enjoy, sort of:

1. A Zen, futilitarianst crow saying such things as: "You see, we are hatched and we drift on the surface of events. Sometimes, we feel like we actually influence things, and this gives rise to striving. This is a big mistake, because it creates desires and builds up a false ego when just being should be enough." Da FA?

2. Courtly dancers, treading to the slow measures of invisible musicians, that appear to be an allusion to the painting Dance to the Music of Time by Nicolas Poussin: "They dance to celebrate your passage. They are not mortals but the spirits of Time. They began this foolish show when you entered the valley." Um, OK?

Anyway, the things I just gently mocked above are also probably WHY I give this an extra 1/2 ✷. That might make sense, or may not. I'm not going to strive to hard to explain.

Fizzled out

Now I recall why I have no memory of this final installment to an otherwise memorable series: this could have been condensed to10 pages and been appended to The Hand of Oberon. Literally nothing revealed or added to further the story. I still have my original copies of all 5 books! So much great material: trumps, shadow, Amber, Pattern, political intrigue, twists and turns.

Save your money, when done with Oberon, just ask, and I will tell you in under a minute how it ends!

Narrator was great!

Corwin's psychedelic hellride

Originally posted at FanLit.

The Courts of Chaos is the very short last installment of the CORWIN CYCLE of THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER and the fifth volume of the entire series. If you haven’t read the previous books, you’ve got no business here — go away. I don’t want to ruin it for you. Go read the first book, Nine Princes in Amber, and continue on from there.

OK. So Oberon is back and we learn that he’s been manipulating events all along. Now he’s on the throne, which is fine with Corwin because after Eric’s death he’s decided he doesn’t want to sit there anyway. Corwin’s concern is with repairing the pattern that Brand destroyed when he let the forces of Chaos into Amber. To heal the land, someone must sacrifice himself and Corwin is willing, but Oberon insists on making the decisions. He wants Corwin to take the Jewel of Judgment through Shadow so it will be ready to help them during the battle with Chaos. Meanwhile, Oberon intends to fix the pattern himself.

Corwin’s psychedelic hellride through Shadow is long and sometimes tedious as Corwin vividly describes the surreal landscape, reminisces about the past, and becomes introspective as he ponders how he, and his relationship with his family members, has changed. After the constant plot twists in the last few books, some readers may be glad for the leisurely pace, but I eventually became bored with metallic trees and zebra-stripe skies. Short but welcome action segments occur when Corwin encounters murderous leprechauns, a gallant knight, a seductive woman, a talking tree, a philosophical raven, and a treacherous jackal. When he finally reaches the Courts of Chaos, the last battle with a nebulous enemy ensues. Compared to all that’s gone on before, these final scenes are a bit anticlimactic and even start to feel like a bad soap opera when the unicorn shows up to crown the next ruler and a sibling who’s supposed to be dead reappears.

I didn’t enjoy The Courts of Chaos as much as I enjoyed the earlier AMBER novels, mainly because of the long surreal hellride, but it’s a short book that concludes Corwin’s story, so it’s kind of a must-read for anyone who’s read this far in this immensely popular old SFF series. As with previous AMBER novels, Roger Zelazny throws several literary and mythological allusions into this installment. The next five AMBER books make up the MERLIN CYCLE which is narrated by Corwin’s son Merlin. I read them many years ago and only recall that they weren’t as good as the CORWIN CYCLE. I’m not sure if I’ll read them again, though I probably will if I see them on sale at Audible. These have been very nice productions.

great series

the use of falsetto for female voices is not recommended. but this is done in many books. has to be a better way.

The best of the first five

Kinda reminds me of someone I once knew. I love the whole series and wish someone had the wherewithal to make movies based upon them.

I still love it.

my first exposure to zelazny was these stories in the science fiction book club 2 volume edition. I think over the years ,I bought that set 3 times. not a easy one to get back after people borrowed it.

Corwin must win through to chaos. or. he must make a new pattern.

Lazy storytelling

This story is confusing and told lazily. I couldn't concentrate on the boring and discombobulating story. Not recommended.

Unpredictable and profound - Masterful Narration

The ending here is an unpredictable one. In a way less tried and true to a typical story ending and more messy, with mixed up threads, and 3 dimensional characters, and a convoluted ending, more like real life, Corwin is a hero with feet of clay and he comes to realize his own flaws, which is not where fantasy stories usually end up! He has glimpses of greatness, occasionally, and in the end, maybe that's enough, for both him, and the story, and the reader. All of these books are so well written, and the concepts in these books stand the test of time. The narrator of all five of the Corwin chronicles is a master narrator - truly adding to the enjoyment of the book double-fold. I have previously read them all in book form. This narrator makes the characters and the story come alive and adds depth and nuance which enrich the experience. Highly recommend, both the Amber series and this narrator.

Always a favorite

Have always loved the books. Audible provided the freedom to listen and work on projects simultaneously

simply amazing.

great series. The way everything comes together is beautiful.

The best narrator of all time. His work blew my mind along with the story and really it come alive for me

I loved it!

Story – 5/5

A great ending to the Corwin cycle of books. A very imaginative, complex and absorbing world was created here, and is not like anything I have come across before. This book is action packed, fast paced and full of brilliant conclusions to the overall story arc of saving Amber.

It was enough of an ending for me not to rush into the latter 5 books in the series (which are based on Corwin’s son; Merlin), but I will definitely be returning to complete the series very soon.

The stories may seem very short, and therefore not worth the credits, but I personally found them worth it. You will probably make your own decision on it, but if you are on the fence like I was, give the first one a try – you can always return it if you didn’t feel it was worth it.


Performance – 5/5

These are an extremely well narrated series of books, and you can tell a lot of effort has gone into it to create the best experience for the listener. The first person voice suited Corwin’s character perfectly and the other characters all had distinctive and suitably acted voices too. Alessandro’s fast reading style added to the pace and excitement of the story very nicely.


Overall – 5/5

Good oldie

Finally we get to the crux of things here and you realise that the other books have been about character growth rather than action

FANTASTIC FANTASY

I can only reiterate my review of Nine Princes in Amber. This is part of a quintology and, I feel, needs to be read or heard as one book as the story arc starts with Book 1 and finishes with Book 5. I read this book and also the subsequent four books years ago and was totally enthralled by them. I've been waiting a long time to get them on audio. The story is still brilliant but feel the performance could be improved upon. Alessandro Juliani does a good job but I feel audio books would really benefit from having a narrator and a different actors for the different characters. There is a limit to what one person can do by way of changing voices and it is sometimes difficult for a male to replicate a female voice and vice versa. However, having said the above, I really enjoyed the experience of Nine Princes in Amber and the subsequent four books of the quintology in audio.