Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 1

This morning we return, once again, to Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. We pick up the story at the beginning of the third novel in the series, Sign of the Unicorn. We also move from the first to the second volume of my Doubleday set. Though the cover is green instead of yellow, Boris Vallejo's depiction of a shirtless Corwin in tight jeans and a cape fighting two giant cats remains. I assume this is his encounter with the hellcats from The Guns of Avalon.

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend reading the book first. It's short, I promise.

The story so far

Corwin is a near-immortal member—one of nine brothers and four sisters—of the royal family of the realm of Amber, the real world of which our world and all other possible universes are mere shadows. Amberites have the ability to move in Shadows by altering reality. This power comes from walking the Pattern, a magic labyrinth in the palace of Amber. They can also communicate with one another using magical tarot trump cards bearing their images.

Oberon, the ruler of Amber, has disappeared. Corwin and his brother Eric both vied to fill this power vacuum and claim the throne. A duel between them resulted in Eric beating Corwin badly, giving him amnesia, then abandoning him on Earth in the 16th century. In the present, a car "accident" orchestrated by Eric left Corwin sedated in hospital. However, he escaped from the hospital. With the help of his brother Random, he travelled to Amber and regained his memories and powers by walking a duplicate Pattern in the undersea city of Rebma.

Corwin allied with his brother Bleys to raise an army, march on Amber, and overthrow Eric. However, Eric's forces obliterated Corwin's troops. Only Corwin himself survived the battle and was taken prisoner. He was released long enough to see Eric's coronation, then Eric burned out his eyes and threw him back in prison. He pronounced a death curse on Eric, but in doing so, he inadvertently opened up a dark rift that allowed malevolent creatures access to Amber.

After three years, he regained his sight and escaped the dungeon with the help of Dworkin, the mad hunchback who designed the Pattern and Trumps. He travelled to a Shadow called Lorraine, which was ruled by an old enemy named Ganelon. They became allies after Corwin helped him defeat the inhabitants of Lorraine's own rift. Apparently, the death curse has opened up a "black road" running throughout Shadow and into Amber. Together, Corwin and Ganelon travelled to another Shadow, Avalon, ruled by Corwin's eldest brother Benedict. He also met a young woman named Dara, Benedict's great-granddaughter. She had limited control over Shadow, and wanted to go to Amber to walk the Pattern.

Gunpowder will not ignite in Amber, but Corwin once discovered that jeweller's rouge will. He obtained rouge in Avalon and firearms on Earth, along with special ammunition propelled with rouge. He and Ganelon raised another army and again marched on Amber. When they arrived, dark creatures from the black road were besieging the palace. Corwin helped defeat them, but Eric died in the battle. Corwin also discovered that Dara has followed them to Amber, but when he tried to tell Benedict, he was surprised to learn Benedict had no such relative. Dara is an imposter. She walked the Pattern and transformed into something inhuman. She declared that Amber would be destroyed and disappeared. Corwin realized that he must travel to the other end of the black road to stop her.

That is a long introduction to a short chapter…

Sign of the Unicorn

One week later, Corwin is now the presumed ruler of Amber. Unfortunately, he learns his brother Caine is dead: apparently he was murdered by a Shadow creature. It is the same kind of deformed, near-human thing that chased Random from L.A. to New York (see Chapter 4 of Nine Princes in Amber). Corwin meets secretly with Random to get some answers.

This is an explosive beginning to the third novel of the Amber series. Although I read The Chronicles of Amber once before, that was in 1990, and my memories of it basically ended with the previous novel. So now I'm genuinely drawn into this story as though it was completely new to me.

Caine is dead. He was one of Eric's allies, so—as Corwin and Random discuss—there's really no way for Corwin to come out of this looking good. That he intended to kill Eric is widely known, though he was spared having to do the deed himself. Nonetheless, perhaps it makes sense to someone that Corwin might do a purge of his enemies to consolidate his own power.

Caine and Corwin both received notes, purporting to be from each other, asking for a meeting at a particular place and time. It seems to me Corwin is being framed by the third party who sent the notes. Someone has already tried to frame him for the murders of Benedict's retainers, in The Guns of Avalon. (Which has yet to be resolved between Corwin and Benedict satisfactorily, in my opinion.) It stands to reason that the same party is responsible for both framings. But who is that? My money is on Dara, or some associate of hers from the black road or the Courts of Chaos (whatever those are), for reasons yet unknown. Why those things were chasing Random, back at the beginning, might also shed some light on the circumstances, but as of yet he hasn't given Corwin any answers.

For those keeping score: of the original nine princes of Amber, Eric and Caine are dead, Bleys is presumed dead, and Brand is missing. That leaves Corwin, Random, Benedict, Julian, and Gérard accounted for. Benedict is neutral, Random is allied with Corwin, and Julian and Gérard were allied with Eric. I guess we'll soon see how they all line up now that Eric is out of the picture. Corwin has four sisters, too, but they haven't been heard from since the first novel.

This chapter is a set-up, obviously, and there's not much to this story yet. We'll see whether the action picks up in chapter 2, on Sunday.