The Guns of Avalon

Originally posted at FanLit.

Warning, from me: If you haven’t read Nine Princes in Amber yet, don’t read this review.

Another warning, from Corwin: “Never trust a relative. It is far worse than trusting strangers.”

Corwin has escaped from his brother’s prison and he’s ready for revenge. He doesn’t have the manpower that Eric has, so he needs a technological advantage. Traditional firearms don’t work in Amber, but Corwin once noticed that a jewelers’ rouge from the shadow world of Avalon, where he used to rule, is combustible in Amber. So here’s his plan: get some money (pretty easy to do when you can create your own worlds), purchase a huge amount of jeweler’s rouge, and commission some custom-made firearms that use show more the rouge to shoot silver bullets (he’s not sure other metals will work). Oh, and raise an army. No problem!

The problem is that Eric may no longer be the biggest threat in Amber. Because of Corwin’s curse, Amber is being assailed by the forces of Chaos. The evil is also manifest in the shadow worlds that Corwin is trying to exploit and he must frequently stop and deal with the nasty creatures it serves up. Along the way Corwin meets old friends and enemies, makes new friends and enemies, and does at least one more impetuous thing that will come back to bite him later.

In The Guns of Avalon (1972), Corwin, who had gained our sympathies in Nine Princes in Amber because of how he was treated by Eric, becomes something of an anti-hero. Because of his rash actions, beautiful Amber has been invaded by horror. Corwin realizes that he has caused much destruction, he knows he has wrought evil, and he tells himself that he hopes to destroy more evil than he creates. The reader begins to wonder, however, if Corwin is blinded by hate for his brother. Is Corwin’s claim to the throne legitimate enough to justify all the death and terror that he’s caused? We’re certainly not convinced that Corwin would be a better King than Eric is. Corwin is a rather ambiguous hero.

Still, it’s hard not to root for Amber, if not for Corwin himself. Roger Zelazny has created a magical world that we’re eager to explore, preferably in a time of peace. We haven’t had much chance to do so yet since we’ve only seen it from Corwin’s perspective, and that means that for most of the time we’ve been in Amber, we’ve been in the dungeon. At the end The Guns of Avalon Zelazny leaves us with many questions unanswered and two major twists. You’ll want to have the next book, Sign of the Unicorn, ready to go.

I’m listening to Alessandro Juliani narrate Audible Frontiers’ version of The Guns of Avalon. He’s doing a great job, though I did not like the Southern drawl that he chose for two of the major characters (they call it “Ambuh”). It didn’t seem appropriate. With so many characters, I think he feels that he must give each a distinctive voice, so to do that he’s using unlikely accents or vocal properties (e.g., hoarseness or high pitch) to make them unique. I think that’s a mistake, but other than that, his reading is very good. show less

Now I had to find a place, a place resembling another place -- one which no longer existed. I located the path. I took it.

In [b:Nine Princes in Amber|92121|Nine Princes in Amber (The Chronicles of Amber #1)|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1416090973s/92121.jpg|1383240], Corwin attacked his brother Eric in Amber. He lost and was blinded and thrown in prison. Conveniently, Princes of Amber have a remarkable ability to heal. On top of that, Dworkin (who created the Trumps and knows more about the Pattern than probably anyone) just so happens to be locked up as well and pops into his cell.. One thing leads to another, and Corwin is free. Of course he wants to take another crack at the throne. How though?

Well, it turns out show more that once upon a time some hundreds of years ago (it's a bit unclear just how long the Princes of Amber can live), Corwin ruled in a Shadow named Avalon. [^1] And when he did, he made a potentially world changing discovery: Avalon had a gunpowder equivalent that works in Amber. Somehow or another though, Corwin's Avalon fell, but that's fine. Just find another Shadow of Avalon that's close enough. And bump into none other than Lancelot, because it's just that sort of story.

Along the way, he bumps into a supposed grand-niece, who can apparently walk the Pattern as Corwin and his siblings can, which is interesting. There is certainly more to that story that I'm sure we'll see later.

When we finally get back to Amber, there's a problem. Dark forces traveling on a Black Road that crosses from Shadow to Shadow are attacking. Corwin has to make a choice: use the opportunity to dethrone Eric and get his revenge or lose the element of surprise and use his guns to defend his home.

Overall, it's a pretty crazy book. It doesn't have quite the sense of wonder and discovery that Nine Princes had and I'm not really a fan of it leaning quite so heavily on Autherian mythology, but I personally like the story more. Corwin knows what's going on now, which makes for a rather more active (even if still not particularly likable) protagonist.

Good enough to read onwards. That's for sure.

[^1]: Yes. It's that Avalon. show less

A reread. Corwin of Amber has escaped from a dungeon and suddenly remembers he knows the secret ingredient to make a superweapon that will win him the throne and get revenge on his brothers. I bet he wishes he'd remembered that sooner. When I read this book in middle school, I didn't know the title was a pun about The Guns of Navarone.

Zelazny heldur áfram að þróa hliðstæða heima Amber ættarinnar. Jörðin er einungis skuggi af hinum raunverulega heimi og Amber ættin er sú eina sem getur flakkað á milli þeirra og raunar skapað þá að vild. En valdabarátta innan ættarinnar ógnar tilveru heimanna og raunar virðast allir sitja á svikráðum við hvern annan. Skemmtilega snúið plott.

Corwin's quest continues his struggle for the throne of Amber, focusing on gathering allies: shadow-world soldiers with modern weapons while avenging Lorraine's murder, uncovering more serious threats as the fabric of reality weakens, hinting at sinister forces beyond Amber, and dealing with his treacherous family and exploring the mystical Pattern.

I'm rereading these for the first time in thirty years out of respect for Roger Zelazny, who wrote back to me when I was 14 and asked him a bunch of questions about the Amber books. This one is like the first, so if you liked Nine Princes in Amber, this will keep you interested. Now I find that Zelazny sometimes loads on the data too heavily: characters sometimes speak in what sound like geometry proofs ("I told Dara that Brand would not support Caine unless Benedict was allied with Flora, unless Flora and Eric were somehow aligned and waiting for Julian to make his play," etc.). But it moves quickly and I'll pick up number three soon. Like all the Amber books, this ends with a cliffhanger.

The Guns of Avalon is a worthy sequel to Nine Princes in Amber. In fact, it surpasses the original in a variety of ways. Guns of Avalon takes place immediately following the events of the original. Corwin has escaped imprisonment, and ventures to the mythical shadow realm of Avalon where he once ruled. On the way to rebuilding his new army (cat-men, with automatic weapons), Corwin discovers a new threat that may force him to put aside his vendetta.

This book worked so much better than the first. A lot of the complaints people have had about the first novel (awkward phrasing, annoying characters, over-description) are nowhere to be found. Zelazny found his footing so well, that it made me realize even more how inadequate the first book show more was, where originally I had a much more positive view of Nine Princes. This book takes a brilliant concept and fulfills its promise in all but a few ways.

What problems the book had centered on a particularly long stretch of over-description where Corwin struggles to escape from some deadly menace in a series of broken sentences that Zelazny no doubt believed would indicate the frantic nature of the situation. It did not. I ended up skipping this section. The book also describes far too much of what happened in the first novel. It seems the author didn't expect that his readers had read Nine Princes.

Nevertheless, if you stayed through the first one and were relatively satisfied, read this book. It is a great ride that leads to a shocking twist. show less