Released
two years after Nine Princes in Amber,
1972's The Guns of Avalon
(which is a stellar
title, by the way) picks up where the first book left off. Corwin, recently
escaped from brutal captivity in the dungeons of Amber, travels
through shadow worlds to find his lost domain, Avalon. Or at least
something close enough to it. Corwing needs two things to conquer
Amber: an army, and guns that will work in Amber's magical
environment.
He
arrives in the land of Lorraine, a medieval kingdom close to Avalon
and once ruled by a shadow of Corwin (just go with it, it can get
complicated). He rescues a version of Lancelot from weird cat demons,
and then finds a castle run by Ganelon, a man who used to be one of
Corwin's chief lieutenants in Avalon until he betrayed his lord and
was exiled. Recovering his strength in Lorraine, he meets and forms a
relationship with a woman named Lorraine, earns Ganelon's trust, and
helps lead their armies against hideous demons who are pouring out of
an expanding zone of Chaos. This is Corwin's fault, because of the
heavy curse he laid on his brother Eric in the first book.
Lorraine
(the realm) is saved, but Lorraine (the woman) is lost, and Corwin
avenges her in a brief but moving scene, then he and Ganelon travel
to Avalon, only to find Corwin's long-lost and presumed dead brother
Benedict acting as its protector against a Chaos incursion. The
brothers are cordial, but Benedict wants no upheaval in Amber, so
Corwin watches what he says around him. Corwin also meets Dara, a
beautiful young woman who identifies herself as Benedict's
granddaughter who takes an intimate interest in Corwin.
Corwin
gets his army and his arsenal, and travels back to Amber, only to
find it under siege from the forces of Chaos.
The
book starts out extremely strong by dialing things back to Corwin
getting involved in a smaller-scale conflict. It helps his conscience
grow more and gives the reader glimpses into his more tyrannical
past. Ganelon did him wrong, but his punishment was enormously petty.
The doomed relationship with the camp follower/seer Lorraine is also
touching, and Corwin swinging his silver sword Grayswandir against
weird goat-headed demons never gets old.
Then
it slows down a lot after the reunion with Benedict. Dara is
interesting and mysterious, but its mostly talking, then Corwin
walking through shadows until he gets to a couple places he needs to
go. Shadow walking is cool, but it doesn't need to be described in
detail every single time.
Then
it picks right back up again when Corwin and Ganelon leave Avalon and
are chased by a righteously furious Benedict. Benedict is the Master
of Arms of Amber, and even with an amputated hand, he's still the
best swordsman in the family and Corwin is absolutely terrified of
having to fight him. From there, its a rocket ride to the finish,
where Corwin's feud with Eric takes an abrupt turn and Dara turns out
to be more than just a granddaughter.
The
prose remains solid, but I felt the middle of the book dragged itself
down. However, the beginning and ending are as strong as anything in
Nine Princes, maybe
even more so with the climax. If you've read the first book, I
recommend the second.
1 comment:
"The Guns Of Avalon" is my favorite of the Amber novels. The rest of the series tends to bog down even more in the two things you mention, descriptions of shadow walking and talking heads, as well as big chucks of "the story so far" exposition.
"Sign Of The Unicorn", "Hand Of Oberon" and "Courts of Chaos", in my opinion, could have been edited together into one book without losing much in the way of story.
I still love the series and revisit it regularly (and I'll admit that I love the Merlin books, too, although they fall into the same pattern). Still there are parts in the latter books in both series that I tend to skip when rereading.
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