We are halfway through the Corwin’s saga, and Zelazny decides to step up the game. Sign of the Unicorn is much slower than the previous ones, which is a welcome change. But it also marks the point when Roger finally convinced me that he understands the word he creates.
After the battle with his brother, Corwin is faced with a murder of a yet another brother. This does not lead to a run through the Shadows to buy nukes as I would have expected. In fact, most of this volume is spent talking. We have a mystery, the family secrets are coming out. It’s a wholly different experience than what we’ve had before.
We’ve got intrigue, we’ve got drama, we’ve got betrayal. We even learn who stands behind Corwin’s accident, which happened before the start of Nine Princess.
This may the best book of Chronicles of Amber yet because Zelazny seems to address most of the downsides the earlier books had. Characters became actual persons now, with motivation and aspirations. In fact, the world building is sidestepping for character building, and I, for one, am fully for this.
As a result, the stakes are also different. We assumed that all of the Black Road problems resulted from Corwin’s curse, but now we learn that there are multiple layers below that. In fact, a lot of what we thought we knew turns out to be wrong.
The only downside I see, at leat at this point, is that everyone important is either Corwin’s relative or acquaintance. I get that if you got your position of power purely from the family, the same family will be the centre of your life, but come on!. I want to get to know someone else!
So, volume three of Chronicles of Amber looks more of a correction from the author, than a direct continuation.