The Courts of Chaos

The Chronicles of Amber, Book 5

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani

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 Satisfying Conclusion

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. (See my review of Nine Princes.)

The balance of Chaos and Order (Amber) is at risk as Oberon attempts to repair the pattern and Corwin rides to the Courts of Chaos to aid in the final battle. Along the way, though he is caught up in a reality storm. What will he do to keep Chaos from refashioning all of the shadow realms and reality itself?

AMBER

The first five books have withstood the test of time.
The saga of Amber reads/listens just as well as it did in the '70s when I first read them. This series is worth the time.

Over Priced.

Great series. Pick up all 10 for 20$ total. But on audible they are 10$ a book… Way over priced, they are only 5-6 hours long each. So a 20$ paper back that contains all 10 books are about 100$ on here. Book 5 stars, audible pricing 0 stars

Excellent as always

A long time favourite series read many times, book narration was excellent bringing book to life

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

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.

easy listening

I loved it. The narrator is so good. I can actually distinguish the characters by the voices that he gives to each one. Each character has a very distinguishable voice. I really enjoyed listening to the first five books with him narrating

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.

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.

Book 5 of 10 or the first half

Book 5 of 10 or the first half of the series are complete in themselves. Very nicely brings to full circle the first 5 books.