very good book! im looking forward to the next one its written in the same style as the chronicles of amber.
my only real problem with this book is i dont like the way use of logrus is described- it seems much quicker and easier than in ther merlin saga (then again, it may have changed in the millenium). logrus seems more like wormholes than tendrils imho, and is described as 'shortcuts' between places. also, the number of typos is anoying.
first, new details of amber cosmology: The logrus is a sort of pattern, one that exists within people. the first lord of chaos made the logrus from his blood. the courts are maybe 10,000 years old, maybe older. the logrus exists both inside and outside of reality.
the courts of chaos are surounded by infinite shadow. prior to the creation of the logrus, no-one know shadows existed.
Trump requires a power, such as logrus, operating behind it for it to work. if the power behind it is blocked, then so is the trump.
Dworkin is weak- his inner pattern is malformed. his family is minor, unimportant, and weak. his brother died trying to assay the logrus. oberon will never be able to walk the logrus- his pattern is too malformed.
the jewel of judgement is a ruby that dworkin has placed a copy of the pattern within oberon into. there is no mention of how/where he got it (yet)
*spoiler warning!*
here is a brief summary: ---------------------- it starts a year previous, with a dream. in it, obere (oberon) sees two men disembowled upon an alter, within a tower of skulls and bones. there is a dragon(?), lord Zon, who calls for the sons of dwrokin to be brought to him.
we find obere is the son of a widow- dworkin helped to raise him. his mother died of plauge. his world(Ilerium) was attacked by hell-creatures, and dworkin rescued him before he could be killed.
they travel shadow- in a manner that seems more like pattern than how logrus is described in the merlin saga. the come to a place called Juniper- there is the castle where prince dworkin and his children live, surounded by their army, of some 200,000 men
after a lot of character development, and oberon learning about his familiy and the larger reality, dworkin has oberon use the Jewel of judgement- a ruby he 'aquired' somewhere, and has put oberons pattern into. then the hell-creatures seige juniper. logrus and trump will not work, and they despair. trump is usualy powered by logrus. they make jewel-pattern trumps, and escape to shadow. Dworkin, Oberon, and Aber will trump to the courts of chaos.
in this book, we see a total of 4 sons of dworkin die. (2 in the prolouge) there is also a prophecy: nine princes of chaos, all torn asunder; six princesses of chaos, where do they wander? fly falcon, stout hart, and unicorn brave; between the shadows, to escape your grave. -----------------
The new family tree: Dworkin, prince of chaos. (aprox age of 200) Dworkin's brother (dead) Darr. Oberon. Freda. Aber (tump artist). Alanar(dead), Mattus(dead), Taine(prisoner), Davin(dies), locke(dies). Pella, Blaise, Fenn, Isadora, Conner, Titus, Leona, syara. (all have logrus except for oberon). there were others not mentioned who were killed, number unknown. Locke was from an aranged marriage with a lady of chaos. all others from women in shadow. also, there is no mention of the fate of the child of the daughter of the king of chaos (Uthor), impregnated by dworkin 40 years prior (hence the people trying to kill them). <i></i>
|