“Okay,” Bill nodded. — Only I have a strange feeling … Maybe I’ll never see you again. You know, I feel like a minor actor in a melodrama, who languishes behind the scenes, not really knowing what is happening on stage.
“I understand perfectly,” I said. — My own role sometimes causes a burning desire to strangle the author of this play. Try to look at things differently: mysterious stories rarely turn out to be what you imagine them to be. As a rule, everything turns out to be simple and vulgar, and when the truth is revealed, only motives remain — there is nowhere more primitive. Guessing and being in illusions is sometimes much more pleasant.
R. Zelazny, “The Sign of the Unicorn”
“The Sign of the Unicorn” is the third and most “detective” book of the cult cycle The Chronicles of Amber.
It’s only been a week since Eric’s death. Corwin plunges headlong into the concerns of Amber as regent … When the sudden murder of Cain and the story of Random about the events leading up to his meeting with Corwin in the shadow of the Earth, make all brothers and sisters get together for the first time. However, it soon becomes clear that the obsession with the throne is a double-edged sword that inflates psychological tension to the limit and becomes deadly when the heirs, even with the best intentions, gather in the same room.
Well, the resolution of history will surpass anything Corwin ever knew about the true nature of the Amber Kingdom.
This is a novel of stories-memories, a novel of reflections, mysteries and unexpected revelations. Zelazny is a master of the art of dialogue. Reading quarrels between relatives is a pleasure, together with the main character I tried to guess who from the family was more mired in intrigue than others.
Regis
«The Sign of the Unicorn» was a success. A fascinating plot, well-designed characters, more and more hints and riddles. Zelazny succeeded in revealing the events of previous novels in a new way and paving the way for subsequent ones. The incomparable work of the master.
Alorn
© 1974, by Roger Zelazny
Publisher: «Glagol» dubbing studio, 2017
Translation: Nadezhda Andreevna Sosnovskaya
Reader: Dmitry Orgin
Editing: Grigory Sokovikov
Proofreader: Lyubov Germanovna Karetnikova
Cover: Anna Kolesnichenko
…