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.

good but not QUITE good enough for $130

I love the Zelazny Amber series and Wil Wheaton does a great job of brining it to live as Merlin.
The only catch is, while this series is excellent, it's just two expensive - 10 volumes as $12-$15 (members) and 6 hours each is an astronomical price, and there is no bulk discount. I bought the first 6, but will read the rest on paper in the library and save my credits for longer books.

Favorite Series - Good Narration - Great Storyline

I have read this series several times over the past 20+ years and never tire of it. Zelazny is imaginative and spices the dialog with just the right amount of reflective commentary and occasional humor. The only lulls in the story are the infrequent, but detailed, descriptions of passing through shadow. While this might be great for someone who jumps into the middle of the series and only reads one book, I didn't benefit from its repetition. They give the reader/listener a good feeling for what Zelazny was visualizing. But, for those who are progressing through the series, these periods of "shadow manipulation" dialog become a down-draft when you'd rather be soaring.

Regarding narration, I prefer Alessandro Juliani's performance to Wil Wheaton's. This is not to say Wheaton's performance detracts from the story; not at all. It's the comparison to Juliani's performance for the Corwin Chronicles that elicits my opinion. Juliani has a good command of voice specialization and identification for each character and manages these identities extremely well. Once you make the connection of the voice to the character you no longer need Corwin said, or Julian said, or Random said. Wheaton's voice is rich and easy to listen to; it's just not what I was used to after the Corwin Chronicles and Juliani' versatility.

I'm 60 now and I plan on listening to this series several more times before I pack it in. Over the years, when asked what I like to read and what my favorite books are, this series is always part of my response.

If you like fantasy, action and a good story-line you will find this series a pleasant escape from the more mundane activities of daily life.

Great story, terrible narration

I love Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles. Alessandro Juliani's narration of the first 5 books is great, but when the torch passed to Wil Wheaton for the 6th book, Wil dropped it. Hard.

Inconsistent audio quality disrupts the experience regularly, and Wil can't be bothered to act at all, and it becomes hard to track who says what during the story's dialogue since Wil talks to himself with only one voice and tone.

Please bring back Alessandro!

stop at the 5th book

this is a new story arc with the last series main character's son as the main character. The story is frustrating and will Wheaton does an awful job at narrating. stop at the 5th book

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.

April 30'th starts the new direction.

Would you consider the audio edition of Trumps of Doom to be better than the print version?

I cannot consider any audio version of a book that I've read multiple times as better... a new way of hearing it in my head, yes, Better?

What other book might you compare Trumps of Doom to and why?

Anything in the Amber Chronicles stands out as a thing on it's own. A unique and above all CONSISTANT system of magics, answers that get more questions brought up... It's addicting.

What about Wil Wheaton’s performance did you like?

Wil Wheaton brings to life Merlin, the son of Corwin of Amber. He brings the wry humor of the character in subtle ways. I manage to loose Wil and find Merlin within the performance.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

I'd have two separate choices.

1) "April Thirtieth will never be the same."

or

2) "Pick a card, any card."

Any additional comments?

The Amber Chronicles have been one of my favorite series for a LONG time. In the beginning we know just as much as the main character. By book five we have followed Cowrin through a long journey of change and discovery. Questions are raised, answered....and more questions come from the answers.
In this, the sixth book of the series we meet Merlin the son of Corwin of Amber, and Dara of Chaos. Merlin, it turns out, seems to have inherited his father's knack for troubles.
Who is behind the yearly attempts on his life? What is going on with his Ghost Wheel project? As he solves one problem another rises to take it's place... The Courts of Chaos, the Palace of Amber... Poles of reality of which everything else is but a reflection and shadow..between them lies the life of Merlin.

Terrible Narrator

I loved the beginning of this series. The story was engaging and original. I was looking forward to enjoying the rest of these books when the narrator changed. I enjoy Wil as an actor but his narration was terrible. I couldn't make it past the first hour of the recording. There was no change in voice for different characters and everything was over-emphasized. I'll have to enjoy the rest of these as eBooks.

Performance So-So

While I love the Amber Chronicles, this performance is middling. The Corwin cycle was great. The performer, Juliani, performed: different voices, different accents, really drew me in even though I knew the story. The Merlin cycle just seems to be Wheaton reading aloud. While it gets the job done for an audio book, it's not a performance. His pronunciation of Gerard drives me nuts (JAIR-ard instead of jur-ARD) and there's one punch-in that is jarring if only a few seconds.

Boring and long winded until the last chapter

What a disappointment. The narrator just doesn't bring the characters to life or retain any of their old personality. The story is extremely slow and I found myself waiting for an actual plot until literally the last couple of minutes. I listened to the whole thing sped up to get through it quicker.
It shows promise for upcoming books but it just felt like an entire book of filler.

Enjoyable story, underwhelming performance.

What did you like most about Trumps of Doom?

The change of character perspective, and new magical/fantasy elements introduced.

What other book might you compare Trumps of Doom to, and why?

The five books which came before it in the Amber Chronicles. Some Michael Moorcock, perhaps some of the Elric saga.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Wil Wheaton?

I was disappointed with this performance after listening to the first five books. My main complaint would be that the characters are hard to distinguish and sometimes this can get a little confusing.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

None that immediately spring to mind.

Any additional comments?

I felt this book could have been greatly improved by a more versatile narrator. It wasn't terrible, and I still enjoyed the book, but after listening to the first five narrated by Alessandro Juliani this was a let down only on performance.

Not very interesting

Dull characters and boring settings mixed with a very simple writing style. Skip this and read The Dresden Files instead.