The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Basically, so far every book in the series makes a turn that renders what you thought you knew to be wrong and making everything appear in a new light. There are some clues here to what is going on, but you need to be paying careful attention to pick them up. Otherwise, you will get that complete turn on the next book.
Corwin has come to realize that he really does not want the throne of Amber, but he does feel some responsibility for setting things right. Part of it comes from the curse he placed on Amber previously, which he thinks may haver caused, or at contributed to, the black road and the corruption of the Pattern. When he, Ganelon, and Random go to the original Pattern, they see objects at the center which Ganelon retrieves, and they prove to be a dagger and a Trump, which Random realizes depicts his son Martin. The Trump was stabbed by the dagger, and they realize that it was drawn by Brand, who must have used it lure Martin there and stab him, with his blood causing the corruption of the Pattern and the Black Road. So now it completely clear that Brand is the enemy they neeed to defeat.
Corwin can see what needs to happen, but he requires the Jewel, which he had hidden in the Earth shadow. But when he gets there he discovers that Brand got there ahead of him. But Brand needs to walk the Pattern with the Jewel before he can be completely attuned to it. So the main objective now is make sure Brand cannot do that. They place guards at all of the Pattern sites, and Corwin first has a crack at Brand. He is succeeding when Brand is able to “teleport” away in some fashion. Then Benedict confronts him in Tir-na Nog’th, and despite being immobilized by Brand, his metal arm (which came from Tir-na Nog’th) moves of its own volition the wrest the Jewel from Brand.
This is another good chapter in the overall 10-book cycle that is Amber, but like all of them it does not stand alone. You have to read all of them, in order, to get the full effect, and if you cannot commit to that you probably should not even start. If you can make that commitment, though, it is worth your investment as Zelazny is a very good writer.
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