The Hand of Oberon

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani

Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

The Hand of Oberon is the fourth 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.

The Audible audio rendition of this classic sci-fi/fantasy series is started 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.

Returning to Shadow Earth to investigate a threat against his life, Corwin discovers that the Jewel of Judgment has been stolen by his traitorous brother, Brand, who plans to use the enigmatic gem to reshape the universe.

©1976 Roger Zelazny (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Good story, too expensive

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The Amber Chronicles are fast-moving and much of the character development happens through what characters do and say, not with interior monologs. This makes it fast-paced and engaging.

After this book I switched over to reading a paper 10-book volume of the whole thing because I just couldn't rationalize continuing to spend so much on each individual section. The paper ten-volume tome was the about same price as a single audio book. Too bad, because I liked the narrator. There should be a bundle discount or something.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Death is the only limit to the road you travel

To round out my commitment to a friend, I'll read the first five (The Corwin Cycle). I just can't see myself finishing all 10. I'm just not a fantasy guy I guess. I've been waiting for a book in this series to signal to ME what others get. 'The Hand of Oberon', book four, is NOT that signal. I'm doubting any can be heard by me. The dialogue doesn't work for me, the narrative seems forced. It is like dancing with a woman significantly taller (theoretical) or shorter than me. The timing is off. There is no match. And, if I found one, I might set myself on fire.

8 of 10 people found this review helpful

The reader makes the book far more immersive.

This guy makes the books completely immersive with solid voice acting. I hope you're paying him well, because he seriously raises the bar on what to expect or desire from a book reading.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

3.5 stars

The Hand of Oberon, the fourth book in Roger Zelazny’s CHRONICLES OF AMBER, continues exactly where the previous book, Sign of the Unicorn, left off. The story was originally serialized in Galaxy Science Fiction and later printed in approximately 180-page installments. Each, therefore, is short and ends at some dramatic moment. These days, we’d probably be annoyed with an author who did this (why buy 10 books when you could just buy two?). For those of you who feel this way, there is an omnibus edition of THE CHRONICLES OF AMBER — I read it years ago — but it’s a bit unwieldy. If you want to listen to the excellent audio versions narrated by Alessandro Juliani, as I’m doing, you’ll need to buy them separately. The ten-book series is divided into two five-book arcs, THE CORWIN CYCLE and THE MERLIN CYCLE, so you’re really only committing to five books if you start the series. You can just read THE CORWIN CYCLE (which I think is better) and decide later if you want to move on to the second arc.

In The Hand of Oberon, Corwin has just discovered that the pattern in Amber is not the first pattern. There is a primal pattern, which means that Amber is actually just the first shadow world. The primal pattern has been damaged because someone has spilled royal blood on it. This is allowing the forces of Chaos to enter Amber. Who has done this? Why? And who was the sacrifice? Most importantly, how can the pattern be fixed and is Corwin willing to do what it takes to save Amber from the forces of Chaos? And can he do it before one of his siblings ruins everything?

As with the previous book, there’s a lot of revelation here about Corwin’s family, Dworkin the mage, the Jewel of Judgment, and the metaphysics of Amber, Chaos, and Shadow. Corwin also discovers that he has another disgruntled relative that he didn’t know about before. I’m still disappointed that we’re told how much Corwin loves Amber, but we, as readers, can’t empathize because all we know of Amber is Corwin’s horrible family. I want to love Amber, too, but Zelazny doesn’t really give me a reason to love it.

The Hand of Oberon moves very fast and ends with another big twist. This twist completely astonishes Corwin, but the reader may see it coming. Corwin does seem just a little dense occasionally, but he’s so harried in this installment that I’m willing to cut him some slack and assume he had no time to sit and think. Most readers will want to have the next book, The Courts of Chaos, on hand.

Pay attention to the dungeon scene. Roger Zelazny makes a cameo appearance as a novel-writing guard named Roger.

6 of 11 people found this review helpful

wow wow wow

great book wow reccomend it for 100% and great reading skills of Alexander Juliani. .

Pieces fall together

Very short review: this is the best in the series so far as a lot is explained. It's still quite a lot of hocus-pocus magic bit Zelazny's writing and Allesandro's voice make it very believable. This is very good story-writing and brings my mind to Stephen King, a master storyteller though his endings are always poorly written. I do hope Zelazny does a better job with his ending and has a great finale in store for me in the last book. This storytelling is what I miss in another book I read: the Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss. Equally stuffed with over-the-top magic but poorly written and with some twists that make my ears bleed (not eyes as I listen to books rather than reading them).

good read

enjoyed the performance very much. well written and well read. I am looking forward to the next.

my favorite series, well read

This Series of books has been my favorite since my early teen years. It was very well read and performed

kept me on edgr

waited the whole book waiting for Corwin to figure out what I learned early in the book. Love this series.

Preparation for the final battle!

Don't start here! Go back and read the first book, Nine Princes in Amber. This is not the kind of series you can start in the middle. All the books are short reads though! So they go down like delicious, addictive popcorn. I still don't like the narrator for these. Any way we can get Wil Wheaton (who reads the second series and is very good) read these too!? Please Audible? Please? I promise to buy them all again.

In this installment, the players who have made a mess out of Amber politics and Corwin's life come into focus and everything moves toward a final resolution.

Best one yet

The story really gets going in this book. Everyone is slightly less selfish, the storyline is still winding and unfolding, looking back to years in the past, but everyone is almost on the same side here, fighting for amber - as they should be!

Machine Gun Fast

This is the 4th I've listened to from this series - I read them when they were first released and I have recently discovered the whole set in one paperback hidden away on a bookshelf.

Adored them when I read them but listening to them much much older I find them very staccato very short sentences fast paced and occasionally odd chapter breaks. I'm not sure if it's the narrator or the books. Maybe I need to read them again myself.

Will of course listen to the next but maybe I need a break

great book great saga

i really don't have 20 words to say i am not a literary critic but a mere book reading geek and ask i can say the Amber saga is brilliant and i can only recommend it

Back to its original Brilliance

Story – 5/5

After a not-quite-as-enjoyable 3rd book, this 4th book is back to the brilliance of the first 2. Lots of complex and intriguing world building and character developments – but told in a simple, concise manner which makes it really easy to follow. It is clever and witty, which had me laughing out loud on a few occasions.

The ending was brilliant as well – and made me want to delve straight into book 5 to find out the rest of the Corwin story of Amber. I cannot recommend this series enough for Sci-fi/fantasy fans. Zelazny has created something original and imaginative, which has no doubt influenced a lot of modern novelists today.


Performance – 5/5

No long stories told by Random this time, therefore no annoying parts. Back to a 5 star performance from Alessandro Juliani. His style enhances the humour and fast paced story very well. I will definitely be looking out for him going forward.


Overall – 5/5

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.