General Information

Title: Guns of Avalon
Author: Roger Zelazny
Original Publication Date: 1972
ISBN: 0380809060 (single volume of ten books)
Cover Price: $22.95 US for the complete series
Buy from: Amazon.com or Amazon.ca

Premise

Corwin once again makes a bid for the crown of Amber, but this time, he comes in better prepared.

High Point

The "I fear Benedict" speech.

Low Point

Not cluing in sooner. There's one comment made in the first meeting that sticks out like a sore thumb to me, and yet Corwin never noticed it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't telling a child not to do some obscure thing they'd probably never have thought of the best way to make sure they actually do it?

The Scores

The originality of this sequel suffers from being essentially the same sweeping plot as we had in the first book. Corwin wants the crown that Eric has, and he recruits an army (the same army!) along with allies to help him win it. I give it 4 out of 6.

The imagery used to describe locations is the same quality as we had before. The figurative language has been toned down a notch, and it's missed. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story is still entertaining, despite being so similar to the first novel. The cliff hanger ending in this book didn't work, in my opinion; Corwin takes far too long to get suspicious, and the reader was waiting for those events well before we see them. I give it 4 out of 6.

The characterization is again well done in secondary characters, particularly with Ganelon and Benedict. We still don't see a lot of depth in our hero, despite his opportunities for character growth. (Then again, he's a few centuries old; how much out there will still make him grow? Lack of growth can be forgiven, but not lack of depth.) Still, he comes across as shallow, and that's not something we want in a hero. I give it 4 out of 6.

The emotional response this produced was good, but still a bit hampered by the overly long wait before revealing the "shocking" ending. I give it 4 out of 6.

The editing was fairly well done. In terms of the way the story takes place, it's extremely well done. In terms of spelling and punctuation, I only noticed two errors. (The strings "wtih" and "possisbly" appear a few pages apart in chapter eight.) I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it's still a good read, and it's a good transition from the introductory novel to the action that really comes into play in the next few novels. I strongly recommend this, and the rest of the series. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Guns of Avalon receives 31 out of 42.

Additional Notes and Comments

I'll probably review The Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos (if not all ten books in the series) before moving on to other book reviews. If you see anything on this list that you'd like me to review when those are done, let me know.