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.

16 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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.

10 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

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 personne a trouvé cela utile

loved it

there are no troubles like family troubles. and there is no family like Corwin family.

Corwin now has the throne and more troubles then you can shake a stick at.

Lazy storytelling

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

Brilliant narration of a masterpiece!

The voice acting is stellar! The narration was so well done that it gave distinct images in my mind to all of the individual characters. So well voiced is the story it could have been told by the Prince of Bards in a Court of Kings and Queens - maybe even in the Court of Amber itself! I have loved the story of the Amber series, particularly the Corwin chronicles, since I first read it as a teen. The stories are powerful and imaginative and have such beautiful writing. Some passages are of such lyrical beauty that they made me smile to hear them read aloud. These books hold such scope of magic that they bring about in the reader - at least in me! - the feeling of possibilities that could exist in mundane, simple things. Zelazny weaves his own beautiful magic with his writing, while the story takes on a splendid life of its own. I think the book stretches the mind of the reader, and asks the reader to join in the magic of stretching the possible in our own imagination - to bring beauty to the simple mundane things of reality in our own life - the magic of a rainbow, the sparkle of the stars, the majestic sweep of green fields, the scent of the fresh salt- tanged air of the sea, and asks us to infuse our own world with reachable magic and beauty. After all, it could be possible, why not?! (To quote Prince Corwin.) Recommend highly! Spectacular magical adventures await you!

good

good continuation of the saga, fun watching the story grow. this is all I have to say.

Super original great storytelling

The brilliant Zelazny does it again in this episode if the Amber saga. On to the next

A true masterpiece

If you have never read any Zelanzy then you are depriving yourself of enjoyment of true art. No one has ever written with the style and prose that makes images out of words quite like him. Listening to these masterpieces is just as enjoyable and the pictures come to life in my mind’s eye just as readily. These chronicles are a must read of any true aficionado of excellent prose. Juliani definitely brings voice to these written works. Enjoy. For you may never know true art like this again.