Sign of the Unicorn

The original 5 chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny are really two long books split in half, and a hasty wrap up novella. Sign of the Unicorn is not my favorite of the 5, yet it sets up my favorite Hand of Oberon. For me in the Merlin chronicles which follow the Amber series the 4th volume is my favorite.
This book has a lot of intrigue and narration of events that happened before the beginning of the first book. This subtly reinforces the daring and risky exposures of the first novel in which the protagonist has no memory of himself of this vibrant sci-fi or fantasy (hotly debates which genre) universe. There could be criticism that there is not much action or danger. However the mystery and who-dun-it element of the Amber chronicles push this landmark work of fiction onto the mystery shelf as well as fantasy or sci-fi. Original 70’s cover art WAY COOLER than later covers including this edition. Please keep the Zelazny titles flowing into the Kindle as I am enjoying re-buying and rereading my favorite author of all time!

This is a pivotal book in a five-part series that, in my opinion, is one of the best ever written. The series concerns Amber, the archtypical, immortal city from which all other cities take their shape. The hero, Corwin, is a prince trying to become king (since his father is missing and presumed dead). This book includes Corwin’s growth from “I wanna be king! I wanna, I wanna!” to learning a lot about the reality underlying Amber (which, itself, is supposed to be the reality underlying the universe). The only difficulty I have with this book is that it ends without a conclusion (and the following book, *The Hand of Oberon*, then begins in media res).

As with pretty much the rest of the series, you really need to read the whole thing to understand any of the books.

Since each of the books in Roger Zelazny’s the “Chronicles of Amber” series (both the Corwin and the Merlin sub-series) flows from one to the next without pause or summary, they really can’t be rated individually. This book, ”

Sign of the Unicorn (The Chronicles of Amber Book 3)

” is the mid-point in Corwin’s sub-series and is just as good as the previous books. My one significant complaint is that Random spends a good chunk of the first part of the book relaying what happened to him just before encountering Corwin in the first book. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I prefer Corwin’s voice. So, I’m rating the book at a Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

I’m starting to have less patience with this series. This particular installment has a heavy element of “whodunnit” but not much payoff here. This one doesn’t do much to advance the plot after “Guns of Avalon”, but more goes about trying to fill in some of the gaps and the unanswered questions from the previous ones, with set up the storylime about where things are going. I guess we’ll have to read the next two to find out, but this one doesn’t stand on its own quite as well as the others. Also some parts were a bit muddled, like where Corwin meets ‘ghost Benedict’ and comes away with his mechanical arm from some ghost-realm where he needs to clear out by sunrise. I was scratching my head a bit at that part.

The first five books in the Amber Chronicles are my favorite Fantasy series.

I have the first three in kindle format.

I really prefer to read books in kindle format for tgr following reasons.

1. I have my entire library of 1,800 + books in my iPhone this way if i have down time waiting for meetings, appointments at bus stop i am not bored very long. Take my phone our open the kindle app and start flipping psges.

2. I can change the font and the size of the font so it is easier to see the text.

3. I can increase or decrease the level of back lighting, and even the background color. I usually use Sepia (aged paper) or green.

In the last five years i havd easily read 540 books. I have read 42 books since January 1,2016.

I tell people that i read 90-125 books in a year and they think i am a speed reader or resd constantly.

I used to be a speed reader before my eyesight went so bad. You know thst E at thr top of the chart? For me even that is blurry. 30 years ago i made money as a professional photographer i used an SLR Minolta XG1 that i had to manually focus.

Back yo the Amber Chronicles.

I LOVE this series, and hope

The Hand Of Oberon
The Courts Of Chaos

will br released soon in Kindle format.

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