F/SF

There was a bit too much travelling in this one. As a concept, the moving between worlds in Amber is nice, but the descriptions of it are mind-numbing. Fortunately, it can be spotted from afar: short sentences or descriptions, and lots of triple dots. I couldn't be bothered to read it, quite frankly. So I skipped those bits. The other parts were interesting enough, even though it got a bit annoying to get invested in a Shadow, only to move on without any connections to the people in it. ( )

Book 2 in the Amber Chronicles, this is another re-read of a book enjoyed years ago. In this, Corwin has escaped his ordeal as the prisoner of his brother Eric who has usurped the throne of Amber, the archetypal city on the real Earth, of which all other cities are a reflection (and all other worlds a reflection of that Earth, becoming increasingly less like the original the further away they are placed in the space-time continuum).

Corwin leaves, vowing to return and battle his brother Eric for the throne again, and to this end goes to a world called Lorraine which is similar to Avalon where he once ruled. He discovers that a dark circle has appeared there, in which hostile non-human creatures live, and that these creatures venture out to attack human beings and convert those who live in the vicinity into mindless slave warriors. The circle has been expanding in size for years, fought by King Uther who fell to its horned ruler in battle, and is now resisted by Ganelorn. Corwin initially conceals his indentity from Ganelorn, helped by the fact that he is underweight and looks much older than he did when Ganelorn knew him in the original Avalon, because Ganelorn rebelled against him there and was exiled to this world as a punishment. As time progresses, Corwin recovers his strength and health and eventually plays a decisive role in the battle against the dark circle.

This subplot forms only the first part of the novel because Corwin has ventured there to obtain a certain ingredient which can be used as a substitute for gunpowder in Amber, since normal gunpowder doesn't work there, and he wants to arm a new army with firearms. The rest of the story deals with the outcome of that, and his realisation that his curse in book 1 has resulted in a darkness cutting across all worlds in the form of a black road down which hideous creatures can travel straight into Amber. And he is about to make a fatal mistake which will worsen the situation for not only the inhabitants of Amber, but of all worlds.

As in the previous novel the role of women is problematic. Corwin has a briefly described relationship with a camp follower in the world of Lorraine, who is actually called Lorraine herself. She is an abused woman and although Corwin is superficially kinder to her than previous men, in the end he hits her when she reveals that she can see his father trying to contact him, and he then fails to save her from a previous abuser. Lorraine has precognitive abilities and seems resigned to her fate. Then Corwin is reunited with his brother Benedict and encounters a lively and feisty young woman, Dara, who is able to fence with him and who reveals she is Benedict's great grand-daughter. She shares the Amber family's traits of being able to walk through Shadow (travel between the worlds) and having greater than human strength. Sadly there is a downside which I won't spoil by revealing, but it does undercut the more positive portrayal of womanhood.

I enjoyed this story more than book 2 because the portrayal of the black road, the signs of conscience that Corwin occasionally shows, and the dynamics between him and his family members add more interest than the fairly skimpily and drabbly described battles that made up quite a lot of the first book.
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De personages zijn en blijven de zwakke plek. De vrouwen zijn totaal inwisselbaar en oninteressant. Maar de wereld en de plot zijn echt goed. Dus toch maar door in deel 3. ( )

Fun. ( )