The Hand of Oberon

The Chronicles of Amber, Book 4

By: Roger Zelazny

Narrated by: Alessandro Juliani

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.

great

and probably the best narrator there are so many characters in this story and Alessandro gives each one their own voice.

I love it

After wrapping up some of the mysteries from earlier in the series this book winds up wonderfully for the finale.

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.

very good book

there is a recap of the series, a summation of it by the narrator oh, so you don't have to read all the books before getting to this one. It's probably best though. Anyway this is one of the better Amber books in my opinion.

Exciting to the end.

Loved this book in the series. Especially the ending between Benedict and Brand and Corwin.

good read

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

5 star book

This book is a very exciting and fulfilling continuation of the Amber series. It has lots of action, surprises, and adventure. I would definitely recommend reading this book and it's series.

Great series

I remember reading Zelazny over 30 years ago. I always liked his works. I’m glad I’m listened to this.

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).