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assur191's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
phunkypbj's review
4.0
If I could, I'd give this 3 1/2 stars. I thought it was better than the second book in the series, but not quite as good as the first. I liked the expansion the world (universe?) view gets at the very end of the book and find some of the fringe physics ideas going on very interesting about human perception and the edge of reality etc... I also enjoyed the "whodunnit" mystery element, which suprised me because I don't usually go for mysteries.
abdiel47's review
4.0
The 70s were that last great era for pulp fiction. Short punchy books with authors desperate to create the most imaginative visions ever.
Sign of the Unicorn is less an action packed careening story, and more of a whodunit. It's the turning point of the series where secrets start to be revealed and the author creates wonderful images, the likes of which haven't been seen in fantasy fiction for decades.
Sign of the Unicorn is less an action packed careening story, and more of a whodunit. It's the turning point of the series where secrets start to be revealed and the author creates wonderful images, the likes of which haven't been seen in fantasy fiction for decades.
haramis's review against another edition
5.0
I first read the Amber books 16 years ago. I remembered the first book well enough, but somehow this one was mostly gone, which is too bad because it's pretty great. I suppose that's what I get for reading them back to back then.
The book starts with a wrap-up from [b:The Guns of Avalon|62012|The Guns of Avalon (Amber Chronicles, #2)|Roger Zelazny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1280215210s/62012.jpg|1105543], but then moves into a tense stand-off between the various family members, followed by transitioning into some really crazy reveals. Now that I've been reminded of the end, I of course remember, but it's nice to still have that jaw-dropping moment all over again and to have yet another layer pulled back. Fantastic book.
The book starts with a wrap-up from [b:The Guns of Avalon|62012|The Guns of Avalon (Amber Chronicles, #2)|Roger Zelazny|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1280215210s/62012.jpg|1105543], but then moves into a tense stand-off between the various family members, followed by transitioning into some really crazy reveals. Now that I've been reminded of the end, I of course remember, but it's nice to still have that jaw-dropping moment all over again and to have yet another layer pulled back. Fantastic book.
ianbanks's review
4.0
This should feel like a breather as we catch up with Corwin's siblings and find out what happened while he was laid up in Shadow all those years. Turns out that there was a lot of plotting in his absence and it's only continuing. I've always felt that this is the point of the series where it starts to get far too plotty and talky but it's still a good fun read, even with the layered pages of chat and conjecture.
mardukzero's review
4.0
The plot gets rolling again in this one!
[b:The Guns of Avalon|62012|The Guns of Avalon (The Chronicles of Amber #2)|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1368213721s/62012.jpg|1105543], while having an awesome name, was a decent book that mostly served as setup for the plot that this one takes off with. The intrigue and mystery in this volume was a bit of a shift, but worked well. At times, it felt like a direct predecessor to [a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1400640324p2/10746.jpg]'s Dresden Files. The worldbuilding continues, and the stakes are escalated.
The end was a cliffhanger that I was not expecting. Have to start the next one right away!
[b:The Guns of Avalon|62012|The Guns of Avalon (The Chronicles of Amber #2)|Roger Zelazny|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1368213721s/62012.jpg|1105543], while having an awesome name, was a decent book that mostly served as setup for the plot that this one takes off with. The intrigue and mystery in this volume was a bit of a shift, but worked well. At times, it felt like a direct predecessor to [a:Jim Butcher|10746|Jim Butcher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1400640324p2/10746.jpg]'s Dresden Files. The worldbuilding continues, and the stakes are escalated.
The end was a cliffhanger that I was not expecting. Have to start the next one right away!
arkron's review
3.0
Just a couple of pages in and already one murdered Amberite. The usual suspects are the remaining royal family but they had the help of shadow beings.
It seems to be quite different from the previous books with much less action density. Random tells his story which seems to be this book's psychedelic episode with all it's shadow weaving and circulating stones. Some magic (wielding a storm) and politics (view spoiler).
I absolutely didn't understand the chapter with Tir'Na'Nogh (?sp). Maybe I was too tired or it was just too psychedelic, I don't know, but I simply didn't get it. And I don't know why Tir'Na'Nogh - the Irish mythological otherworld - was referenced, here.
We get much more background story of Random and Corwin. I like the eponymous beast!
Besides of that one chapter it was a nice read with lots of interactions between the Amberite princes and astonishingly few action. As such it is an interesting deviation from the previous stories.
I noted a couple of nice citations:
"... but I can't spare any more brothers at the moment." Sums up the juggling between internal politics and external needs of defending Amber.
"While sex heads a great number of lists, we all have other things we like to do in between." I had to ROFL there.
And once again nice literaric references interleaved with morbidity: "... and be playing football with the head while composing a footnote to Clausewitz."
3.5 stars - rounded down to 3 because of the confusing chapter.
It seems to be quite different from the previous books with much less action density. Random tells his story which seems to be this book's psychedelic episode with all it's shadow weaving and circulating stones. Some magic (wielding a storm) and politics (view spoiler).
I absolutely didn't understand the chapter with Tir'Na'Nogh (?sp). Maybe I was too tired or it was just too psychedelic, I don't know, but I simply didn't get it. And I don't know why Tir'Na'Nogh - the Irish mythological otherworld - was referenced, here.
We get much more background story of Random and Corwin. I like the eponymous beast!
Besides of that one chapter it was a nice read with lots of interactions between the Amberite princes and astonishingly few action. As such it is an interesting deviation from the previous stories.
I noted a couple of nice citations:
"... but I can't spare any more brothers at the moment." Sums up the juggling between internal politics and external needs of defending Amber.
"While sex heads a great number of lists, we all have other things we like to do in between." I had to ROFL there.
And once again nice literaric references interleaved with morbidity: "... and be playing football with the head while composing a footnote to Clausewitz."
3.5 stars - rounded down to 3 because of the confusing chapter.
tarabyt3's review
3.0
All right, it's starting to get interesting now. Still hating Corwin's complete dismissiveness of the women in the story, but the plot finally seems to be gaining some momentum.