Describe Books In Favor Of On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality #1)
| Original Title: | On a Pale Horse |
| ISBN: | 0345338588 (ISBN13: 9780345338587) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Incarnations of Immortality #1 |
| Characters: | Parry, Luna Kaftan, Magician Kaftan, Zane (Incarnations of Immortality) |
Piers Anthony
Paperback | Pages: 325 pages Rating: 4.13 | 34564 Users | 1477 Reviews
Declare Containing Books On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality #1)
| Title | : | On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality #1) |
| Author | : | Piers Anthony |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 325 pages |
| Published | : | September 12th 1986 by Del Rey (first published October 1st 1983) |
| Categories | : | Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Science Fiction Fantasy |
Description Toward Books On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality #1)
4.0 stars. Piers Anthony is a MIND-NUMBING ENIGMA to me. He is capable of writing extremely thought-provoking, imaginative stories that are both original and speak to fundamental aspects of the human condition. The mystery is that he does so infrequently, despite being one of the most prolific authors in the speculative fiction. Wait....on second thought, maybe that is the answer. Quantity of production slamming right into the proverbial nuts of quality.
Well this first novel in the Incarnations of Immortality series is certainly one that resides in the relatively exclusive group of high quality Piers Anthony books. Along with Macroscope (which I need to re-read soon), it is my favorite of his novels and I found myself impressed by both the general concept of the story as well as his execution of it.
The Incarnations series is founded on the premise that humans assume the roles of 5 of the 7 major supernatural offices called "Incarnations" (i.e., Death, War, Fate, Time and Nature). The other 2 Incarnations, Good and Evil, are permanently held by the Big G and the man downstairs who are engaged in a perpetual fight for the souls of all mankind. All of this takes place in a world similar (though advanced) to ours, except that both science and magic exist side by side (e.g., flying cars and flying carpets, organ transplants and healing elixirs).
As you can guess based on the title, this first book in the series focuses on the Incarnation of Death...DUH!! Zane is a lonely, suicidal man who, while contemplating taking his own life, accidentally kills Death (I know, ironical). Zane is then tasked with assuming the role of Death. I know this may sound cheesy, but it is actually handled pretty well in the story and has some very humorous moments.
Death's role is to send the souls of the deceased to either heaven or hell (or purgatory) depending on the balance between the good and evil present in the soul at the time of death. (QUICK NOTE: yep...turns out a person's religion has NOTHING to do with it and heaven or hell is solely (no pun intended) a matter of doing more good than harm during your life.). Kinda comforting isn't it.
Anyway, good deeds are extremely light. In fact, they are lighter than air and actually float. On the otehr hand, evil deeds have substantial weight and weigh a soul down. So a good person's soul will float up towards heaven whereas a bad person’s will....you get the idea. Finally, when a soul is in extremely fine balance between good and evil, Death is the final arbiter of the soul’s final destination.
That's about all you need for set up. The rest of this very interesting novel involves Zane learning about how the universe is run and coming into conflict with Satan over the soul of a particular person. It seems their is an ancient prophecy that says that this individual will foil Satan’s plans for the world, so naturally ole horn head wants the person dead. In addition to being very entertaining, there are some very neat discussions about the nature of good and evil.
This is Piers Anthony at his best. Taking a “big picture” concept and making an entertaining yet thoughtful examination of it in the context of a terrific story. I have read the next two books in this series and while not as good as this one, they are generally entertaining with “flashes of brilliance.”
Highly Recommended!!
Rating Containing Books On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality #1)
Ratings: 4.13 From 34564 Users | 1477 ReviewsArticle Containing Books On a Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality #1)
4.0 stars. Piers Anthony is a MIND-NUMBING ENIGMA to me. He is capable of writing extremely thought-provoking, imaginative stories that are both original and speak to fundamental aspects of the human condition. The mystery is that he does so infrequently, despite being one of the most prolific authors in the speculative fiction. Wait....on second thought, maybe that is the answer. Quantity of production slamming right into the proverbial nuts of quality. Well this first novel in theA great exploration of death by an author who makes it fun and poignant.
At 4.5 stars, this is a solid book by Mr. Anthony. I actually enjoyed the Incarnations series more than the few Xanth books I read in the past. I originally read Incarnations book 3 and 5 (5 was the first I ever read, not knowing it was part of a series) so I was a bit 'spoiled' when I decided to buy the entire set. Still, this book was a highly enjoyable read, set in a world where science and magic are mixed together. Zane is a genuinely likable character, and his story is enjoyable.A
I think this is a case of it's not you it's me. This is a very popular book but everyone that I personally know that has read and loved it say they read it way back in the 80's or 90's. I wonder if they would still feel the same way if they read it for the first time today. I've just read too many outstanding fantasy novels this year so this book had big shoes to fill. Unfortunately it fell short. I'm not sure why but I went into this book expecting it to be funny. I was actually looking forward
On a Pale Horse is the best book Piers Anthony's ever written.Sadly, that's not saying much. Anthony has some very creative ideas, but his prose is mechanical at best and plainly clunky at worst.Even so, some of the ideas are worth the slog. The Incarnations of Immortality series, though it fades at the end as all of Anthony's series do, is a clever and occasionally inspired look at religion, spirituality, and morality. In different hands it might have been pure art (see also, Good Omens by
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.When the grim reaper shows up a few seconds early, Zane shoots him instead of using the gun on himself as hed planned. Now, instead of being dead, Zane is Death. He has to take over the office, riding around the world in his convertible pale horse collecting and measuring the souls of those whove committed equal amounts of good and evil during their lives those who are in balance. In his new guise (complete with all of the accoutrements: scythe, hooded
This was the book that got me into reading fiction many years ago, and inspired me to want to write. The reading happened straight away and I've not stopped since; the writing took a little longer to get started, and I see no sign of stopping that now either.So, reading for the second time many years later, much of the narrative feels a little dated in regard to social references and attitudes, but I enjoyed the story just as much as I did as a young man. Now I feel compelled to reread the rest
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