Oberon's reign of benevolent dictatorship is history. Random's reign of benevolent neglect is fact. The people of Amber now rule themselves. The King and his family are influential and respected, but they now guide Amber's fate through persuasion, not compulsion.

And the King himself spends but a month or so each year in Amber, willingly exiling himself in a constant parade of visits and negotiations throughout Shadow. As his blood-kin and subjects will you show disdain for man and crown by spending more time in Amber than he? I thought not.

Of course there is plenty to concern oneself with in Shadow these days. Even centuries after the War, the Black Road still occasionally resurfaces to cause havoc. There are the problems of integrating the fiercely independent new Shadows of the Golden Circle, places of space-spanning magic and obsessively ritualized technology. And the far-flung traders who constantly expand Amber's influence have opened shadow roads to worlds bent on war, eager to plunder the riches of the Golden Circle.

For all their troubles, the people are happy under Random's rule. After millenia of vassalage and stasis, adhering to Oberon's sense of propriety, freedom and progress are a heady mixture. But is the son ever truly the match to the father? And is a free, joyous Amber strong enough to survive the oncoming storm?

It is a busy time to be a Scion of the Eternal City.