Tenth book of the series that commenced in 1970 with Nine Princes in Amber and proceeded to Knight of Shadows (1989), wherein wizard Merle Corey remains central to the power struggle between the two opposing, sentient poles of magic, Amber's Pattern and the Courts of Chaos's Logrus. As the King of Chaos, Swayvill, finally dies, Merle is third in succession to the throne. By then the two who precede Merle die in mysterious circumstances, and it emerges that Merle's mother Dara and brother Mander are conspiring to ensorcell Merle and place him on the throne of Chaos as their puppet. Usefully, Merle makes friends with a number of former foes, then discovers that his long-lost father Corwin is still alive, as Dara's prisoner. Meanwhile, since the Pattern is slightly stronger than the Logrus, the Logrus kidnaps and conceals Coral, keeper of the powerful Jewel of Judgment. Glum, talky, and threadbare. Even more depressing, Zelanzy seems to be clearing the way for yet more additions to this already absurdly and pointlessly overextended series.
Pub Date: Nov. 19, 1991
ISBN: 0-688-08727-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1991
BOOK TO SCREEN
The sequel to To Save the Sun (1992) shares the previous book's large-canvas premise as the Empire of the Hundred Worlds pursues a generation-spanning project to save Earth's dying sun. Despite the hard-science backdrop, much of the plot concerns Lord Jephthah, a mysterious demagogue who preaches hatred of the alien Sarpan. Now the discovery of still another new race on a distant planet sends the finest minds of the Empire to study it — as does Jephthah, who seeks new evidence to discredit the Emperor, followed by Imperial agents hoping to catch Jephthah. Many of the central characters from the previous volume — long-lived through life-extension technology or cryogenic sleep — make return appearances. In an interesting, but insufficiently developed subplot, an Australian aborigine leader named Billy Woorunmarra attempts to reconnect his far-flung people with their traditions. Well-paced, if sometimes melodramatic; overall an improvement over its predecessor.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1994
ISBN: 0812523822
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1994
A shelf-cracking sequel to The Great and Secret Show (1989) that begs the question: Is this sort of hermetic dross really worth the felling of defenseless forests? It's back to the shores of Quiddity, the undulant dream sea that separates worldly Cosm (a.k.a. the Helter Incendo, where we Sapas Humana live) from the trippy Metacosm (home of fabulous beings with names like Noah and King Texas), for a restaging of the epic struggle for the Art, major magic that was last coveted by the infinitely wicked Kissoon, who sponsored the previous battle to control this transcendental force. Itinerant biker chick Tesla Bombeck leads the way to Everville, a sleepy small town in Oregon about to be savaged by the passage of the Iad Uroboros—a mindless, evil juggernaut bent to Kissoon's will—through a rip in the veil between Cosm and Metacosm. Determined to thwart Kissoon, Bombeck enlists the aid of several cronies, among them Catholic gumshoe Harry D'Amour, a tattooed student of necromancy; computer archivist Nathan Grillo, guardian of the novel's paranormal Internet; and Phoebe Cobb, an Everville resident whose lover, Joe Flicker, has fled to Quiddity. A vast array of freaks and oddities—moody ghosts, supernatural impresarios, serpents molded from feces—crops up as everyone lurches toward the apocalypse at Everville's crossroads (there's even a vigilante marching band). Flogging his readers with one limp cliffhanger after another and concocting increasingly more baroque pseudo-religious explanations for each new image of wonder or shock that floats, flies, drifts, swims, or slithers into view—while relinquishing a lot of the sex and gore that have enlivened other efforts—Barker gasses on to a feeble climax before abandoning the story to its doleful collapse. The man should have his pens and paper taken away before he can get to thinking about a trilogy. Everville? Never mind.
Pub Date: Oct. 27, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-017716-0
Page Count: 704
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
