Hand of Oberon (Roger Zelazny, 1976)

The plot thickens! We end where we left of: turns out that Amber is the home of the original Pattern, which is badly damaged, and we need to fix it.

I think I start to understand why I find Chronicles so particular, yet I can’t put it away. The volumes here are not distinct parts with an an beginning and an end. It’s closer to modern-day TV, where you get an interesting hook at the beginning, the middle is ok-ish, but the end makes you hungry for the next episode. As much as I hate that binge-watching formula, I have nothing against it here. Fantasy books rarely make anyone rich, but a man’s got to eat. The length of each volume here also doesn’t make it any worse, as they all about 200 pages long. Brandon Sanderson’s signature is longer than that.

Story wise, Hand of Oberon is more of the same: scheming of Corwin’s family and deepening the world. The world is not redefined again, but we’re once again getting something surprising. However, since it’s the 4th book, it comes a bit predictable¹. While I was not expecting the Avalon not to be the real Avalon in the Sign of the Unicorn, here the surprise came both, less unexpected and a bit and less important. But we will see in the next book.

All in all, while I had loads of fun, Hand of Oberon is only the 4th book of the series. If you’ve read it until this point, you’ll have a blast one more time. I surely had! Now, this one of the first fantasy series I’ve read but, I am surprised by the stability of quality. While Zelazny has made some changes to the formula since Nine Princess…, they were not significant enough to have any impact on my joy. I like the later volumes more than the first two, mostly due to the slower pace, but I have the same level of satisfaction.

I’ve got one last chapter of Corwin’s story and I can’t wait!