When Corwin was imprisoned, he came up with a plan to wrest Amber from his brother Eric. Now, with old enemies and old friends in the wings, he may have his heart's desire if the forces of chaos don't take Amber first...

15 years later, this book is still pretty good. Corwin has an eye toward getting a load of guns to attack Amber with but first has to contend with an old enemy plus a brother he thought long dead and his great granddaughter. Or is she? This is more of a bridging volume than anything else. Sure, Corwin learns some things and there's bloodshed aplenty but it's mostly there to set the stage for the third book, Sign of the Unicorn.

As always, Zelazny writes like a poet with a chip on his shoulder. I wonder how much Corwin is a stand in for old Roger. Things have progressed quite a bit since the beginning of the first book and there are still three more to go in Corwin's story. I guess I'll keep wolfing them down in rapid succession. Four out of five stars.