Loved this whole series.
This book may be a slight step down from book 4 but still deserves 5 stars.
Always tricky to get the climax, resolution, etc right without it being a letdown.

Did provide an answer to a couple of questions that had been hanging around since book 3 that I was worried would just get ignored. And still managed to surprise me with a few of the turns.
In the end, there probably wasn't as much action as expected, given that this was the whole dealing with the forces of chaos at the end of the black road. Concentrated more on resolving the story, and I finished the book quite satisfied with the whole series.

I have heard the next 5 books centred on Merlin, son of Corwin are not at the same standard, but I will move on to them right now while I'm on a roll.
Also have 1 or 2 of the Betancourt(?) written series (prequels?) but will see how I am going.
( )

Good final installment of the first pentalogy. ( )

With this slender volume, the five book first Amber series comes to a close. Oberon, the king, and father of the narrator, Corwin, and his siblings, plans to repair the damaged pattern on which Amber and the universe of parallel worlds is based, aware that he is likely to die in the process. Corwin declines to take the throne after him, having matured over the series and found that, without the rivalry with his now deceased brother Eric, the attractions of ruling have paled. The backup plan if Oberon fails is to send Corwin the Jewel of Judgement. Corwin has to embark on yet another ride through Shadow, to stay ahead of the storm that represents the unraveling of all reality apart from the Courts of Chaos, the enemy with which brother Brand has conspired. And Brand is doing his best to attack Corwin and get the Jewel.

As ever, it's an interesting read and if the prospect of yet another Hellride through a changing landscape is rather déjà vu, this one has some elements from northern myth, with a form of Yggdrasil, the world tree, and a bird inspired by the god Odin's raven Hunin (Thought) who has a philosophical bent of a rather nihilistic nature. The main issue I found, as in other volumes, was telling some of Corwin's siblings apart - for me, few of them have any real characterisation, for example, I struggled to remember that Flora was the sister Corwin went to when he started to regain his memory in book 1.

The book builds to the final confrontation with Chaos and Brand, and has a slightly anti climactic ending, but the questions posed earlier in the series are answered, and the scene is set for the next five volumes, which centre around Corwin's son. An undemanding read though it was nice to see it through to the conclusion to find out what happened. ( )

Het is een passende afsluiting van die eerste 5 boeken. Zelazny heeft een zwaar interessante wereld neergezet. Als hij nu ook nog wat emoties in de boeken had weten te stoppen dan waren de boeken onmogelijk weg te leggen geweest. ( )

This wasnt that great but it wasnt the worst. Good pocketbook to mindlessly read for sure.