Blood of Amber [Hardcover]

Roger Zelazny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1986

Pursued by a fiendish enemy, Merle must battle through an intricate web of vengeance and murder that threatens more than the San Francisco Bay area. For Merle Corey of California is also Merlin, son of Corwin, vanished Prince of Amber; and the forces, seeking to destroy the royal house, have unleashed sorceries that can strike anywhere, especially at the very heart of Amber.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some fans of Zelazny's dense, brilliant writings from the '60s have been dismayed at the time and effort he has invested in his Amber series during the past 16 years. If these fantasy adventures are simple and formulaic compared with his best work, they have earned him a whole new audience by virtue of their elegance, humor, literacy, vivid action and lightly applied but complex background of tarot, alternate worlds, Olympian gods, and a magic so neat and clear that computers can learn it. In this seventh installment, the sorcerer Merlin of Amberaka Merle Corey of San Franciscolearns the identities of two would-be assassins but makes a truce with one to pursue the greater, more dangerous power beyond them. Once again, the limited plot is enlivened by Zelazny's irony, his bravura sequences (particularly a harbor visit that turns nasty in Death Alley) and his laconic sense of the incongruous (are magicians the ultimate surrealist artists?). Paperback rights to Avon; Science Fiction Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 215 pages
• Publisher: Arbor House Pub Co; 1st edition (September 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877958297
• ISBN-13: 978-0877958291
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,523,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic, May 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blood of Amber (Hardcover)

You asked for a great book and you got it! It's this one. (And the whole 10 books of the series). This book features Merlin, Lord of Chaos, and magician, who also happens to have a computer science degree from Berkeley. In this book, Merle is in the woods sleeping when he hears a threatening voice of an otherworldly creature that has appeared in the darkness that says "I am the enemy - the one you thought you would never come". Then there is a flashback while Merle remembers and philosophizes about several events in his life revolving around power. He then answers the voice in the woods, saying "It's about time". This is very Zelaznian humor which is one of the great features of these books. In addition, there is lots of great adventure. Zelazny really can write. His is an evolved writing form, far beyond his contemporaries.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blood of Amber is one of my favourite Amber books!, April 9, 1999

By 

Grant Anderson (Hamilton, New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blood of Amber (Chronicles of Amber: The Merlin Cycle, Book II) (Mass Market Paperback)

Not much body to this review, but I just thought I'd say that the Amber series is one of my favourites, and I really like this book in particular. Scrof, the Dweller on the Threshold, is hilarious!

4.0 out of 5 stars The plot thickens..., August 31, 2009

By 

Yolanda S. Bean (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Blood of Amber (Chronicles of Amber: The Merlin Cycle, Book II) (Mass Market Paperback)

This one was quite interesting, though the ending was a bit convoluted. Still, I am interested in these new/old problems rising against the House of Amber. Merlin is a good character, though I do prefer Corwin (will we ever find out what happened to him?!).