1978
Rating: ★ ★ ★ – –
SPOILER ALERT (for the four earlier installments of the Chronicles of Amber)
It’s time once again for another Cliff’s Notes version of the latest adventures of Corwin, Prince of Amber, his hero’s quest to save his homeland and his family, and his own personal quest to find satisfaction within his unsettled heart.
The Courts of Chaos is the fifth book in Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber series. It is an important installment because it is the final episode of the first half of the Amber saga; it is the resolution of much of what the first four novels had been leading up to.
Most of the book is taken up by the war between Amber and the Courts of Chaos—the final, open phase of a heated, bloody, intense, magic-strewn conflict that has been building for a long time. But the book also at last resolves the question of Amber’s royal line of succession, and allows Corwin to reconcile with his estranged family.
It also lays the groundwork for the next installment in the series, The Trumps of Doom, which nicely reboots the Amber franchise and starts it off again in a fresh new direction.
It’s also the only book for which I’ve ever seen this preface in the Wikipedia entry:
This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise.
Which makes me realize I’ve got to abbreviate if I don’t want to be too long and excessively detailed. Something that is all too possible to do with Zelazny. So, with no further ado…
The Courts of Chaos begins with the bombshell that ended the previous book: the revelation that Corwin’s ally and friend Ganelon was his father, Oberon, the king of Amber, all along. As Corwin and the rest of his siblings adjust to this information, Oberon offers Corwin the kingship as his chosen successor, but Corwin—surprising himself as well as us—realizes that, after everything he’s done to get the throne, he doesn’t want it.
And, in another surprise announcement, Dara reveals that she has a son by Corwin—Merlin—who therefore has royal relations in both Amber and the Courts of Chaos. This puts Merlin in a key strategic position (and will prove to be important in the next installment of the Chronicles, The Trumps of Doom).
Meanwhile, the war between Amber and the Courts rages intensely. It continues to do so for most of the rest of this book, even as Corwin dips in and out of the fray.
Complicating the war is the fact that Oberon and Dworkin, Oberon’s father, have both gone a little bit nutty and are trying to destroy the Pattern, which would thereby destroy both Amber and the Courts of Chaos. This puts some of the forces of the Courts (e.g. Dara) into an odd and edgy alliance with the forces of Amber (e.g. Corwin).
Fiona admits that she had previously been allied with Oberon and Dworkin, but isn’t any longer because she realizes they are crazy. Corwin steals the Jewel of Judgement from them and tries to walk the Pattern, with the goal of defeating them by repairing it. But Oberon thwarts him, and commands him to go to the heart of the Courts of Chaos instead, which he does, for some reason—via one of Zelazny’s trademark trippy hellrides. Along the way, Brand tries to kill him, twice, and so does an army of hostile dwarf men, and he is also temporarily blocked by a violent supernatural storm.
Corwin also has a few pretty funny encounters with surreal—or perhaps, rather, absurdist—creatures in the shadowlands, including a sentient tree, a giant sunk up to his neck in a mire who is totally depressed and just wants the world to end, and an evil crow-type bird who engages Corwin in a twisted conversation about the futility of striving and the pointlessness of the human ego.
Corwin, who is anything but existentialist, eventually hauls himself out of these conversations, eats the evil crow-bird, and finally uses the Jewel of Judgement to draw a brand-new Pattern. He is buffeted intensely all the while on all sides, psychologically and physically, but does complete it—thus putting a near-fatal kink into Oberon, Dworkin, and Brand’s plans to destroy everything.
This would be a tremendous victory except that, of course, just as Corwin finishes the Pattern, Brand appears in the middle of it, steals the Jewel, vows to destroy both Patterns, and vanishes into the ether.
At this point, Corwin uses his new Pattern to teleport himself back into the war at the Courts of Chaos. He sees most of his Amber siblings fighting the good fight against the forces of the Courts, and Brand at the center of it all, fighting everyone. Eventually, Random, Bleys, and Fiona corner Brand on a ledge, as Brand holds Dierdre hostage. Corwin uses his attunement to make the Jewel of Judgement super hot so that it burns Brand, who is wearing it, and he and Dierdre both topple over the ledge, falling (theoretically) to their deaths.
And, with this, and the creation of the new Pattern, Corwin has essentially defeated all the forces that want to destroy Amber. But he has killed Dierdre in the process, which totally bums him out. His family gathers to comfort him, and then the unicorn arrives from the battlefield to present the Jewel of Judgement to Oberon’s second choice of successor: Corwin’s brother Random.
So, in a way, all is happy and resolved. At least for now. Corwin is reconciled with his remaining family, and everyone agrees that Random is a great choice for king. But Corwin is exhausted, disillusioned, and needs a retreat. We get the feeling it may be a while before he is ready to be his old sarcastic, resilient, lusty self again.
Luckily for him, Zelazny gives him a break in the next part of the Amber series, letting someone else—a very able someone else—shoulder the burden of the plot and all of the assassination attempts for a while.
