Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
20th out of 52 books
—
75 voters
Sign of Chaos (The Chronicles of Amber #8)
Following the cliffhanger ending of Blood of Amber, Merlin is stranded in surrealistic Alice in Wonderland-esque bar where the Mad Hatter serves cocktails. Managing to escape, Merlin meets new family members--one of whom is intent on killing him. As events escalates, Merlin finds himself surrounded by his worst enemies including his ex-girlfriend--back from the dead.
Mass Market Paperback, 217 pages
Published
January 1st 1991
by Avon Books
(first published September 1987)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
3,000)
Merlin continues on his quest to find out who has been trying to kill him for years and why. Along the way, we find out more of his backstory, in particular the bits involving his half brothers Jurt and Mandor. More illegitimate spawn of the Amber family pop up, as does Merlin's mysterious body-swapping aide. What do all of these things have to do with the Keep of Four Worlds?
I'm over halfway through the second Chronicle of Amber and I have to say I'm not as captivated by it as I was the first f...more
I'm over halfway through the second Chronicle of Amber and I have to say I'm not as captivated by it as I was the first f...more
4 likes · like · see review
view 2 comments
They just get worse and worse and worse. The only explanation I can come up with is that Zelazny fancied himself a storyteller rather than an author, so that it makes sense to:
-Introduce new major characters for no reason
-Slow down for stupid detail every single wrong time
-Make up stupid rationales for everything so that he can have stupid stuff happen the way he imagines it would be cool to have happen even though nothing makes sense
-Always have everyone refuse to explain to anyone else what is...more
-Introduce new major characters for no reason
-Slow down for stupid detail every single wrong time
-Make up stupid rationales for everything so that he can have stupid stuff happen the way he imagines it would be cool to have happen even though nothing makes sense
-Always have everyone refuse to explain to anyone else what is...more
The story of Merlin, son of Corwin from the first 5 Amber novels, continues. I really should just cut-and-paste one of my three previous reviews of the Amber novels here and be done with it. Most characters carry over from the previous novel and that left me completely baffled at the end of this one. I'll try not to give away any spoilers, but stop now if you don't want to hear anything. At the end there is a huge climatic scene where a certain individual's identity is revealed. The character sa...more
German edition - German review:
Der Roman beginnt mit einer Hommage an Lewis Carroll, in dessen Alice-Romanen Luke und Merlin zunächst gefangen sind, bevor es mit den Konflikten um den Hort der vier Welten, den rätselhaften Zauberer mit der Maske, Geistrad, Amber und die Höfe des Chaos weitergeht. Nach einigen diplomatischen Verwicklungen, in deren Verlauf neue Verwandte ins Spiel kommen, kommt es zum Kampf um den Hort der vier Welten und die Identität von Maske wird überraschend enthüllt...
Ein e...more
Not as strong as it's predecessor, but still a cut above most current fantasy adventure. Why can't people write like this anymore? Lovely prose, stories that rocket along, mysteries, magic, adventure, and all under 300 pages. If Zelazny wrote this now, they would have published the whole series as one 1000 page book or a trilogy at least. The shorter format keeps things tight, events swarm on events, and economy (and beauty) of prose is the watchword.
Two excellent sequences here--Luke and Dalt'...more
Two excellent sequences here--Luke and Dalt'...more
I read this book in practically one day. While not as good as the previous book, it's still pretty nice. I found myself starting each chapter hoping that Corwin would show up.
One thing I don't like is that all the characters are starting to be to powerful to my taste, compared to the first five books. Mandor is too powerful, I think. I love the interactions with Fiona and hearing about Corwin's pattern, and wish there were more of them.
The book ended with an unexpected revelation, and I can't...more
One thing I don't like is that all the characters are starting to be to powerful to my taste, compared to the first five books. Mandor is too powerful, I think. I love the interactions with Fiona and hearing about Corwin's pattern, and wish there were more of them.
The book ended with an unexpected revelation, and I can't...more
Merlin is still a bit of a putz.
There were a number of times in this novel where I was thinking "No, you idiot, don't trust that person and tell them all your plans...oh, great, you already did it. And they took advantage of you. Way to go." But in a way, it's pretty cool that, despite the similarities due to the first-person narrative, Merlin is quite a different character than his father was/is(I'm convinced Corwin is still alive out there). He acts quite a bit differently, and reacts to thing...more
There were a number of times in this novel where I was thinking "No, you idiot, don't trust that person and tell them all your plans...oh, great, you already did it. And they took advantage of you. Way to go." But in a way, it's pretty cool that, despite the similarities due to the first-person narrative, Merlin is quite a different character than his father was/is(I'm convinced Corwin is still alive out there). He acts quite a bit differently, and reacts to thing...more
The tension is definitely mounting and a lot of interesting developments occurred in this one. The abridged version still suffered from the "help I'm lost" syndrome, requiring me to listen hard and go back sometimes. Some of the things that happened felt a bit cliche and/or over the top... But otherwise the intrigue is flowing heavily (this is like a fantasy soap opera at times) and we are building toward the inevitable climactic conflict between the protagonist and the bad guys...
Like the previous books in this serious I really enjoyed this book, and as it's more than half-way through the 'Merlin' cycle it was nice to see that all the things that had been layed out over the course of the previous two books, and this one, were coming to fruition. More involvement with the Courts of Chaos, a greater exploration of the Worlds of Shadows and a 'big reveal' at the end that actually was a 'Dun-dun-DUUUUN' moment. Not much more to say really, if you liked the previous ones, it'...more
Just like the novel before it, this one couldn't hold my attention. That may be because I somewhat rushed through the novel. However, I found it somewhat tedious and cumbersome. I was only entertained for about the first half of the novel. Wonderland was pretty fascinating. I will praise that I did enjoy the cliffhanger ending, but I'm not quite compelled to rush to the next book.
the Masked one turns out to look like Merlin's old girlfriend Julia, who was attacked and killed right at the beginning of Trumps of Doom. I can't speculate, simply hold on for the ride that Zelazny insists on us riding to read his books. Oh, we now have a self aware AI that Merlin created that is able to manipulate Shadow too. Add another confusing factor.
Finished "Sign of Chaos" by Roger Zelazny. This one took us from the White Rabbit and other acid-induced sights to the Keep of the Four Worlds. Of all the books, this seems the least complete. Interesting things happened, yes, but mostly seemed to be transitioning the story to move forward.
I wholeheartedly recommend all the books from the Amber Chronicles. Once you read the first novel you'll stop only after you'll have read them all. I've re-read this book and the whole series at least three-times. Even after all these years I still rate it as one of the best series I've ever read.
Никогда особенно не интересовался книгами в стиле фэнтези, во многом по совету друзей решил прочитать "Хроники Амбера". Времени совсем не жалко, читается легко и почти за один раз.
Рекомендую для чтения в метро \ автобусе \ трамвае \ троллейбусе по дороге на учебу \ работу. Интересно!
Рекомендую для чтения в метро \ автобусе \ трамвае \ троллейбусе по дороге на учебу \ работу. Интересно!
A quick easy read. Lots of dialog (which I liked). Not a lot of pages.
The story starts off continuing with Merle trapped in an Alice In Wonderland setting, and leaves us in almost as confusing a setting, resolving very little in between.
More new threads/plots started, but no real answers. It's reminding me a lot of the middle seasons of 'Lost'.
Also now there are way too many characters to keep track of, and it's getting predicatable that everyone is related in one way or another, usually from so...more
The story starts off continuing with Merle trapped in an Alice In Wonderland setting, and leaves us in almost as confusing a setting, resolving very little in between.
More new threads/plots started, but no real answers. It's reminding me a lot of the middle seasons of 'Lost'.
Also now there are way too many characters to keep track of, and it's getting predicatable that everyone is related in one way or another, usually from so...more
These novels of Amber go from cliffhanger to cliffhanger. In this installment, Merlin starts out in Wonderland and ends up in a collapsing world. in between, he battles with magicians and forms unlikely alliances. Fun reading.
Interesting ending. Not entirely unexpected but the timing and method was a surprise. I also enjoy that the reader never really knows who the good guys and bad guys are with these books, there is always doubt and suspense.
At this point in the series I'm almost simply reading just to see what happens next without particularly enjoying the books. Luckily the books are short and make good filler between reading other more interesting books.
Just chewing these up on a long trip. At times the plot is vapid. It reads like a serial with canned cliffhangers. But there are some redeeming qualities.
This book is where the 2nd Amber series begins to pick up steam and starts to carry the reader along on the ride, after the first two books tended to plod a bit.
Thus far, the first three of the second series have been very much in the vein of the original - I guess it must be number four they get weird from.
The Merlin/Amber plot thickens with more questions raised than answered
Still worth a read, but the Merlin series is not as good as the first three. my favorite of the Merlin series.
nothing new to say. Very consistent with the previous Amber books.
This is where the Merlin stories start to fizzle out, unfortunately.
favorite because of Mandor, you have to love Mandor.
Amber continues to hold me in thrall.
Sep 26, 2012
Howard
added it
2
Some say the second Amer Series focusing on Merlin was not as good as the original. I tend to disagree. I liked the second series for different reasons than the first. Corwin was more of a fighter, Merlin a magic-user. I enjoyed Zelazny's detailed descriptions of how Merlin cast spells. I enjoyed the humor in the second series more than in the first. Following the convoluted plot and intrigues and mystery was also very entertaining.
3.5 to 4 stars
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
Roger Zelazny made his name with a group of novellas which demonstrated just how intense an emotional charge could be generated by the stock imagery of sf; the most famous of these is 'A Rose for Ecclesiastes' in which a poet struggles to convince dying and sterile Martians that life is worth continuing. Zelazny continued to write excellent short stories throughout his career, which share the inve...more
More about Roger Zelazny...
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
