The Guns of Avalon

The Guns of Avalon is the second book in the Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny. Though it is the second volume in the series, it makes an excellent introduction to the material. Its combination of wild imagination, poetic prose, hard-boiled attitude, wry wit, lovably machievellian characters, and intense action make it one of the most thrilling novels ever written.

Corwin of Amber has escaped the dungeons of Amber, where he was imprisoned by his hated brother Eric, who has seized the throne. All of Corwin's siblings believe that guns can never be brought to the medieval world of Amber, as all gunpowers seem inert there. But Corwin has secret knowledge: in the shadow world of Avalon, where he once ruled, there exists a jeweler's rouge that will function as gunpowder in Amber. Corwin plans to raise a legion of shadow soldiers, and arm them with automatic rifles from the shadow world Earth.

Corwin sets out through the endless worlds of shadow in search of Avalon. (A land described in Arthurian legend.) As Corwin nears Avalon, he passes through a land called Lorraine. As it is metaphysically near to Avalon, some aspects of it are similar. (It is a medieval kingdom, once ruled by a shadow version of Corwin, and more recently by a king named Uther.) Corwin comes across a wounded man, whom he recogizes as a parallel version of Lance (Lancelot), a knight of Avalon. Corwin carries Lance back to a nearby fortress, the Keep of Ganelon. Along the way, Corwin slays two giant hellcats.

Corwin meets with Ganelon, whom he also knows, though Ganelon does not recognize him. Ganelon had once been Corwin's right-hand man in Avalon, until Ganelon betrayed him, for which crime Corwin banished him into an unfamiliar shadow -- this one, apparently -- and left him to die. But Ganelon did not die, and, as he tells Corwin, he rose from leading an outlaw band to become leader of all the forces of Lorraine fighting against a strange evil: a dark circle of toadstools from which demonic creatures and soulless men emerge, and which is constantly expanding. Corwin begins to suspect that this unnatural disturbance is somehow tied up with the blood curse he pronounced against Amber (at the end of the previous volume), and agrees to stay and aid the soldiers of Lorraine.

While in Lorraine, training soldiers and recuperating from his imprisonment, Corwin meets a local woman, also named Lorraine. He invites her back to his tower chamber. She is curious about his apparently supernatural strength, and makes him promise to trounce Melkin, her abusive boyfriend. During their conversation, Corwin senses that someone is trying to speak to him by means of the trumps -- magical tarot cards. He blocks the attempt. Lorraine, who knows a bit of witchcraft, describes seeing a vision of a man whom Corwin recognizes as his father. She also reveals that her daughter -- whom she had conceived by witchcraft -- was the first person to die in the dark circle. Soon, a winged demon from the circle arrives at the window to challenge Corwin, but Corwin is able to dispatch it, using his silver sword, Grayswandir.

Corwin, Ganelon, and Lance lead an army against the dark circle. On the top floor of a tower, Corwin slays the enemy leader, a goat-headed creature. The enemy is revealed to come from the Courts of Chaos, a place far, far from Amber, beyond where the shadows cease to follow ordinary rules of reality. Though he is a hero, the men now fear Corwin, having learned that he is somehow the same as the shadow Corwin that once ruled Lorraine; that shadow Corwin is remembered as a demonic tyrant. Lorraine runs off with Melkin. Corwin pursues them, only to find that Melkin has murdered and robbed Lorraine. Corwin kills Melkin in revenge.

Ganelon joins Corwin, and together they journey on toward Avalon. They encounter a young deserter, who tells them that the forces of Avalon, led by a man known as the Protector, have recently been battling a horde of demonic, cave-dwelling hellmaids -- a force of evil somehow linked to the dark circle in Lorraine. Corwin and Ganelon journey on and meet the Protector, who turns out to be Corwin's long-lost brother Benedict, the most formidable swordsman and military strategist anywhere. Benedict's forces have defeated the hellmaids, but he has lost his arm in the battle. Benedict greets Corwin cordially, but refuses to support his claim to the throne. Benedict also reveals that their father, King Oberon, did not abdicate, as Corwin had believed, but simply vanished.

Benedict sends Corwin and Ganelon on to his country house. There, Corwin meets a young girl named Dara, who claims to be Benedict's great-granddaughter. She is anxious to learn more about the Pattern of Amber, a glowing design traced on the floor in the basement of Castle Amber. Walking the Pattern gives the royalty of Amber the ability the walk in shadow. Corwin trades information with her, and learns that Benedict has been visited there by brothers Julian, Gerard, and Brand. In Avalon, Corwin arranges to purchase vast quantities of jeweler's rouge, then journeys through shadow to a parallel Earth, where he harvests diamonds from an African coast that has never seen human habitation, in order to pay for everything. When he returns to Benedict's house, he encounters Ganelon, who tells him that several fresh human bodies are buried in the garden. Corwin is reluctant to get involved. Later, Dara finds him, and they have sex.

Corwin sets off into shadow with a wagon full of jeweler's rouge. He and Ganelon notice a strange phonomenon: a black road, similar to the dark circle in Lorraine, cuts through shadow, apparently stretching from Amber to Chaos. The grass along the black road encircles the ankles of Ganelon, and Corwin has to free him. Corwin is able to destroy a section of the black road by focusing his mind on the Pattern of Amber. Then Corwin receives a trump contact, which he assumes to be from Benedict. Corwin figures that Benedict is angry, having just discovered either that Corwin has been using Avalon to arm himself for an attempt on the throne (thus compromising Benedict's neutrality) or that he has slept with Dara. Corwin tries to escape further into shadow, but Benedict catches him. Benedict accuses Corwin of being a murderer, which flabbergasts Corwin, but Benedict is in no mood to listen, and they duel. Corwin is able to survive only by tricking Benedict into moving into a patch of the strange grass. Once Benedict is restrained, Corwin is able to knock him unconscious, and summon Gerard via trump to care for him.

Corwin journeys to Earth, and arranges to have an assembly line set up to produce the special guns he needs to assault Amber. While that is happening, he visits his old house in New York, where he finds a message to him from Eric, pleading for peace. Corwin rejects this. He recruits his army, strange red creatures from a shadow where he is worshiped as a god, and trains them in the use of firearms. Then he leads them through shadow to attack Amber. However, upon reaching Amber, Corwin discovers that his brothers are engaged in a desperate battle against wyvern riders from the Courts of Chaos. He finds Dara wandering about the battlefield, and orders some men to guard her. Then Corwin decides to abandon his own assault and to aid the forces of Amber.

Dara, having disposed of her guards, rides past Corwin on horseback, toward Amber. Corwin, suddenly apprehensive, contacts his brother Random via trump, and has Random teleport him into Amber. They hurry down to the chamber of the Pattern, to find that Dara is already walking it. As she walks, she shifts into all manner of strange and grotesque shapes. Finally, she completes the pattern. She announces to Corwin that "Amber will be destroyed," and then vanishes.


Preceded by: Series:
Followed by:
Nine Princes in Amber The Chronicles of Amber Sign of the Unicorn
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