He seeks his stepbrother Mandor, who thinks that their half-brother Jurt may be trying to kill Merlin in order to take the throne of Chaos.
Merlin and Mandor return to Amber, and then along with Jasra they wrest the Keep of the Four worlds from Jurt and the sorcerer, Mask.
They learn that Jurt has (at least partially) turned himself into a living Trump, as Brand did, and that the sorcerer Mask is in fact Merlin's ex-girlfriend Julia.
H. J. Kirchoff of The Globe and Mail wrote that Zelazny "serves up his usual mixture of fast action and slick dialogue, and blends in enough mystery, magic, intrigue and love interest to keep the kettle simmering.
"[2] Drew Bittner of the Asbury Park Press called the novel "well written" and wrote: "It's worth buying the next book just to see how Zelazny will tie up all the threads into a whole tapestry.