Much like the other Merlin Amber books, Sign of Chaos was a fun read but not as captivating as the original series.

The plot has started to meander a bit, and the characters introduced aren't as interesting as those in the original series. I like Merlin, but most of the characters he interacts with just aren't very fun.

The world is also a little diluted. In the original series, magic and walking the Pattern was a big deal and mysterious. Here, too many characters can do magic and walk the Pattern like it's no big deal, and everyone's got Trumps. It makes it feel a little less special.

It's still a good read, because everything Zelazny wrote is excellent, but in the context of the larger series Sign of Chaos is underwhelming.