The Chronicles of Amber


The Chronicles of Amber is a series of fantasy novels by American writer Roger Zelazny. The main series consists of two story arcs, each five novels in length. Additionally, there are a number of Amber short stories and other works. While Zelazny's will expressly forbade sequels by other authors, four posthumous prequels authorized by Zelazny's family were authored by John Gregory Betancourt.

Genesis

In the prologue to the DC Comics adaptation of Nine Princes in Amber, Zelazny describes how the initial inspiration for the Amber series came from two abstract sources: the surreal, shifting sensation of an experience he had walking through Baltimore, and his longstanding fascination with decks of cards, particularly Tarot.
As he wandered Baltimore's unfamiliar streets, each turn seemed to reveal a different place, mood, or time — this experience became the seed of the concept of "walking through Shadow," a central mechanism in the Amber universe by which characters move through infinite alternate realities. At the same time, Zelazny had been intrigued by the symbolic and narrative possibilities of cards — an interest that evolved into the powerful, mystical Trump deck used by the royal family of Amber to communicate and travel across realms.
Zelazny likened the writing of the first novel to a Shadow walk itself: he discovered the world of Amber bit by bit, not inventing it wholesale but uncovering it as if it already existed, hidden just beyond the veil of ordinary perception.

Premise

The Amber stories take place in two contrasting "true" worlds, Amber and Chaos, and in shadow worlds that lie between the two. These shadows, including Earth, are parallel worlds that exist in — and were created from — the tension between the opposing magical forces of Amber and Chaos. The Courts of Chaos are situated at the very edge of an abyss. Members of the royal family of Amber, after walking in a Pattern that is central to Amber, can travel freely through the Shadows. While traveling between Shadows, they can alter reality or create a new reality by choosing which elements of which Shadows to keep or add, and which to subtract, eventually arriving at their chosen destination. Nobles of the Courts of Chaos who have traversed the Logrus are similarly able to travel through Shadows.
An alternate method of travel is via sets of cards, patterned after a Tarot deck. Known as Trumps, the Major Arcana are depictions of the royal family and they can contact, and travel to, another family member instantly if the other party is willing. Trumps can also depict specific places.

The Chronicles

Ten Amber novels were written by Roger Zelazny. The series of books was published over the years from 1970 to 1991. Portions of the first novel, Nine Princes in Amber, had previously been published in Kallikanzaros. The novels Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos first appeared in abridged, serialized versions in Galaxy Science Fiction. The Guns of Avalon and five later "Merlin Cycle" Amber novels were not serialized or excerpted.
Several Chronicles of Amber omnibus volumes have also been published, collecting the five novels of the original "Corwin Cycle" in one volume, the five novels of the "Merlin Cycle" in another volume, and later all ten novels in a single volume.

The Corwin cycle

The first five novels are narrated in the first person by Corwin, a prince of Amber, as he describes his adventures and life upon re-encountering his family after a loss of memory and an absence of centuries.

''Nine Princes in Amber'' (1970)

''The Guns of Avalon'' (1972)

''Sign of the Unicorn'' (1975)

''The Hand of Oberon'' (1976)

''The Courts of Chaos'' (1978)

The Merlin Cycle

The next five novels focus on Merlin, Corwin's son. These stories are held by some fans to be less of a fantasy classic than the first five due to the difference in writing style, direction and setting. One criticism of the sequence is that it revolved around the dealing with and acquisition of ever more powerful artifacts and entities, in a kind of technological/magical arms race.

''Trumps of Doom'' (1985)

Trumps of Doom won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1985.

''Blood of Amber'' (1986)

Blood of Amber was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1987.

''Sign of Chaos'' (1987)

Sign of Chaos was nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1988.

''Knight of Shadows'' (1989)

''Prince of Chaos'' (1991)

Short stories

For the limited 1985 edition of Trumps of Doom, Zelazny wrote a prologue that details Merlin's passage through the Logrus. After completing the Merlin Cycle, Zelazny wrote five Amber short stories, in which he began to tease the threads of the story into a new configuration. Zelazny died shortly after completing the last of these short stories, which were collected in Manna from Heaven, along with the Trumps of Doom prologue and sixteen unrelated stories.
An unfinished sixth story, "A Secret of Amber", was an informal collaboration co-written in alternating sections by Zelazny and Ed Greenwood over a period of years. It was published in Amberzine in 2005, then included in The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volume 6: The Road to Amber, published by NESFA Press in 2009.
Readers have speculated about the correct internal order of the stories. Zelazny has said that the correct order for the stories is the order in which they were written:
  • "A Secret of Amber"
  • "The Salesman's Tale"
  • "Blue Horse, Dancing Mountains"
  • "The Shroudling and the Guisel"
  • "Coming to a Cord"
  • "Hall of Mirrors"
The latter five stories tell a linked tale from several viewpoints. Zelazny had planned to write more, and to eventually publish a collection of Amber short stories.
In 2020 Amber Limited released the short stories as a collection, titled "Seven Tales in Amber", with an introduction written by Warren Lapine.

''Dawn of Amber'' series

Several years after Zelazny's death, his estate authorized a new series of Amber novels, and John Gregory Betancourt was selected as the writer. Betancourt's Dawn of Amber series, which took its name from the title of the first volume, is a prequel to Zelazny's work, taking place centuries or millennia before Nine Princes in Amber. It is told from the point of view of Corwin's father Oberon, and like Zelazny's novels, the series was narrated in first person.
Four novels, out of five that had been planned, were published by ibooks:
  • The Dawn of Amber
  • Chaos and Amber
  • To Rule in Amber
  • Shadows of Amber
Having ended the fourth book on a cliffhanger, Betancourt never wrote the planned and scheduled fifth volume, Sword of Chaos. After Byron Preiss, the owner of ibooks, died, the publishing company filed for bankruptcy, and Betancourt announced in February 2006 that the series had been canceled. After a meeting with the publisher's new owner, Betancourt had brief hopes of renewed interest in the series from ibooks, but in August 2007 he announced his conclusion that the project was dead.
Betancourt stated that one of his primary motivations for agreeing to write the new books was to keep Zelazny's books and stories alive and in print, and to prevent them from fading into obscurity. He cited Robert E. Howard's Conan, Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes as examples of how later authors had successfully continued and extended the stories of iconic characters long after their creators had died. In response to concerns that the Dawn of Amber series seemed to contradict some ideas or rules of the Amber universe as stated in Zelazny's original ten books, Betancourt stated in an interview that some of those contradictions would not prove valid by the end of his series.
The decision by Zelazny's literary executor to authorize a continuation of the Amber series was criticized by several acquaintances of Zelazny, including writers George R. R. Martin, Walter Jon Williams, and Neil Gaiman. They asserted that Zelazny had been quite averse to the idea of a "shared" Amber setting, and that he had clearly stated he did not want any others writing Amber stories. Gaiman wrote:
The series received a critical response from some Zelazny fans, who responded negatively to Betancourt's writing style and perceived lack of characterization, and considered his work to be fan fiction. The focus on Oberon also disappointed those who, after reading Zelazny's Merlin cycle and Amber short stories, believed that Zelazny had instead been planning another series of books to wrap up matters that he had left hanging. Zelazny's short stories, while tying up some of the loose ends, at the same time had opened doors to potential new stories going forward in the Amber universe, rather than a prequel.

Audio editions and other adaptations

Audiobooks

did audio versions of Roger Zelazny reading the novels, and produced them with sound effects. Sunset was bought out by Americana Publishing in 2002.
  1. Nine Princes in Amber
  2. The Guns of Avalon
  3. Sign of the Unicorn
  4. The Hand of Oberon
  5. The Courts of Chaos
  6. Trumps of Doom
  7. Blood of Amber
  8. Sign of Chaos
  9. Knight of Shadows
  10. Prince of Chaos
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped also created unabridged recorded versions of The Chronicles of Amber novels, including a 1979 recording of Nine Princes in Amber, read by Michael Moodie, and a later recording of Prince of Chaos, read by John Stratton.
Unabridged recordings created for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind included a 2001 recording of Nine Princes in Amber read by Richard Nazarewich.
In 2012, Audible released brand new recordings of The Chronicles of Amber, with Alessandro Juliani reading the first five books and Wil Wheaton reading the last five books.