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Amber: The Merlin Cycle
Series · 5 books · 1985-1991

Books in series

Trumps of Doom book cover
#1

Trumps of Doom

1985

Alternate cover for ISBN 0380896354 / 9780380896356 Merle Corey is a brilliant young computer designer in San Francisco, but, he is also Merlin, son of Corwin, vanished prince of Amber, and heir to his father's wonderous powers. And, someone is determined to kill him. Now he will begin a desperate race through Shadow, not only to escape the mysterious force that threatens his life, but to protect the deadly secret that could destroy both his worlds.
Blood of Amber book cover
#2

Blood of Amber

1986

Alternate cover for ISBN 0380896362 / 9780380896363 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.
Sign of Chaos book cover
#3

Sign of Chaos

1987

Merlin finds himself in a marvelous bar drinking with Luke, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter. He can’t help but feel that perhaps this isn’t . . . Normal. When the Jabberwock appears Merlin’s head clears just enough to realize that he’s caught in Luke’s LSD-inspired hallucination. When a Fire Angel, one of the most powerful, magical killing beasts in existence, arrives to kill him he realizes that he has to do something quick or both he and Luke are finished. The Jabberwock becomes an unlikely ally in his battle with the Fire Angel. And this is only the beginning of Merlin’s magical adventures in Sign of Chaos. \\\\ 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. \\\\ Method in their madness... Merle Corey, son of the great Prince Corwin of Amber, has been pursued through Shadow by unknown enemies and left trapped in an Alice in Wonderland world - a bar with the Mad Hatter serving and the Cheshire Cat grinning malevolently. In a dramatic escape from a monstrous Jabberwock, Merle embarks upon a fantastic adventure, leading him back to the court of Amber and finally to a confrontation at the Keep of Four Worlds. And here he learns the strange secrets of the Courts of Chaos and their role in his destiny... “A storyteller without peer. He created worlds as colorful and exotic and memorable as any our genre has ever seen.” —George R.R. Martin “. . . his performance was never anything other than dazzling.” —Robert Silverberg “Roger Zelazny’s work excited me. It was intoxicating and delightful and unique. And it was smart.” —Neil Gaiman Roger Zelazny was a science fiction and fantasy writer, a six-time Hugo Award winner, and a three-time Nebula Award Winner. He published more than forty novels in his lifetime. His first novel This Immortal, serialized in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction under the title ...And Call Me Conrad, won the Hugo Award for best novel. Lord of Light, his third novel, also won the Hugo award and was nominated for the Nebula award. He died at age 58 from colon cancer. Zelazny was posthumously inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2010.
Knight of Shadows book cover
#4

Knight of Shadows

1989

Alternate cover for ISBN 0380755017 / 9780380755011 Melvin Corey must choose between an alliance with the Pattern of Amber or the Logrus of Chaos, in a tale of a sometimes murderous family of wizards and their alternate worlds.
Prince of Chaos book cover
#5

Prince of Chaos

1991

Alternate cover for ISBN 0380755025 / 9780380755028 Treacheries, trickeries, assassination attempts and bloody family intrigues have finally manoeuvred Merlin, aka Merle Corey, into the Courts of Chaos - where he is third in line to occupy the throne, thanks to a series of conventionally fatal "accidents" engineered by his mother Dara and uncle Mandor. But Merlin's journey to the ultimate rule will not be easy. For dark enchantments still await him. There is murderous discord between Amber and Chaos to be silenced. And a captive royal father, long believed dead, must first be freed from a villain's magic before a beleaguered Prince can deem his triumph complete.

Author

Roger Zelazny
Roger Zelazny
Author · 78 books

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. Most of his novels deal, one way or another, with tricksters and mythology, often with rogues who become gods, like Sam in Lord of Light, who reinvents Buddhism as a vehicle for political subversion on a colony planet. The fantasy sequence The Amber Chronicles, which started with Nine Princes in Amber, deals with the ruling family of a Platonic realm at the metaphysical heart of things, who can slide, trickster-like through realities, and their wars with each other and the related ruling house of Chaos. Zelazny never entirely fulfilled his early promise—who could?—but he and his work were much loved, and a potent influence on such younger writers as George R. R. Martin and Neil Gaiman. He won the Nebula award three times (out of 14 nominations) and the Hugo award six times (out of 14 nominations). His papers are housed at the Albin O. Khun Library of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger\_Ze...

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Amber: The Merlin Cycle