Rating: 
Summary: Not quite there
Review: "Bearing an Hourglass" is the second volume of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, dealing with the Incarnation of Time. The series began successfully with "On a Pale Horse", but this instalment is a little more cautious in approach, and suffers somewhat from sequel syndrome.Like several other characters from the Incarnations series, Norton is just an ordinary man who unexpectedly has the mantle of Chronos (Time) thrust upon him. He must learn to fulfil the duties of his office and deal with its peculiarities- such as living backwards in time! The temporal quirks and paradoxes that Norton must explore create some added interest in the storyline. Overall, however, the plot lacks the verve and interest of the first book, wandering from the path in places and losing direction. As a whole, the series is definitely worth reading, and "Bearing an Hourglass" is worth reading as a part of the series. As a stand-alone volume, however, it doesn't quite satisfy. Read it in context: the complex interlinking plots of the seven books that make up the Incarnations series are partially explained by this book, but it remains one of the weaker links in the series. 6 stars out of 10
Rating: 
Summary: Not A Great Follow Up
Review: "Bearing an Hourglass" is the second volume of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, dealing with the Incarnation of Time. The series began successfully with "On a Pale Horse", but this instalment is a little more cautious in approach, and suffers somewhat from sequel syndrome. Like several other characters from the Incarnations series, Norton is just an ordinary man who unexpectedly has the mantle of Chronos (Time) thrust upon him. He must learn to fulfil the duties of his office and deal with its peculiarities- such as living backwards in time! The temporal quirks and paradoxes that Norton must explore create some added interest in the storyline. Overall, however, the plot lacks the verve and interest of the first book, wandering from the path in places and losing direction. As a whole, the series is definitely worth reading, and "Bearing an Hourglass" is worth reading as a part of the series. As a stand-alone volume, however, it doesn't quite satisfy. Read it in context: the complex interlinking plots of the seven books that make up the Incarnations series are partially explained by this book, but it remains one of the weaker links in the series. 6 stars out of 10
Rating:
Summary: Not quite there
Review: "Bearing an Hourglass" is the second volume of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, dealing with the Incarnation of Time. The series began successfully with "On a Pale Horse", but this instalment is a little more cautious in approach, and suffers somewhat from sequel syndrome. Like several other characters from the Incarnations series, Norton is just an ordinary man who unexpectedly has the mantle of Chronos (Time) thrust upon him. He must learn to fulfil the duties of his office and deal with its peculiarities- such as living backwards in time! The temporal quirks and paradoxes that Norton must explore create some added interest in the storyline. Overall, however, the plot lacks the verve and interest of the first book, wandering from the path in places and losing direction. As a whole, the series is definitely worth reading, and "Bearing an Hourglass" is worth reading as a part of the series. As a stand-alone volume, however, it doesn't quite satisfy. Read it in context: the complex interlinking plots of the seven books that make up the Incarnations series are partially explained by this book, but it remains one of the weaker links in the series. 6 stars out of 10
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome.
Review: "Bearing An Hourglass" is, frankly, one of the best books I have ever read. Piers Anthony is a wonderful writer, continuing the series that began with "On A Pale Horse" (my personal favourite). "Hourglass" caused me to actually pause and think, which is something to be treasured when provoked by any means (I began to read Stephen King while blundering my way through the fourth grade). I took to slowly absorbing all the book has to offer, and still have not made my way entirely through everything. My favourite thought to turn over in my mind is this: Who initiated the relationship between Clotho (otherwise known as Niobe) and Chronos (Norton)? I shall leave you to mull it over for yourself...this question stole quite a few hours of sleep from me!
Rating:
Summary: A tremendous comedown. . .
Review: . . .from the first "Incarnations of Immortality" novel. "Bearing an Hourglass" deals with the character of Time. While the introductory couple of chapters set the stage rather well, the remainder of the novel fails in its promise. Norton, in his role as Chronos, traveling backward and forward through time, encounters numerous attempts to dissuade him in his purpose -- to fight against Satan and the forces of evil. However, the "encounters" don't seem realistic (even for a fantasy novel). The freshness of the first novel is almost totally absent, as is the depth of character development. When I first read this volume some 8-10 years ago, I found it one of the weaker efforts of the series. A recent re-reading has not disabused me of this notion. Worth a read as part of the series -- but standing alone, it is a grave disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: A tremendous comedown. . .
Review: . . .from the first "Incarnations of Immortality" novel. "Bearing an Hourglass" deals with the character of Time. While the introductory couple of chapters set the stage rather well, the remainder of the novel fails in its promise. Norton, in his role as Chronos, traveling backward and forward through time, encounters numerous attempts to dissuade him in his purpose -- to fight against Satan and the forces of evil. However, the "encounters" don't seem realistic (even for a fantasy novel). The freshness of the first novel is almost totally absent, as is the depth of character development. When I first read this volume some 8-10 years ago, I found it one of the weaker efforts of the series. A recent re-reading has not disabused me of this notion. Worth a read as part of the series -- but standing alone, it is a grave disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: A tremendous comedown. . .
Review: . . .from the first "Incarnations of Immortality" novel. "Bearing an Hourglass" deals with the character of Time. While the introductory couple of chapters set the stage rather well, the remainder of the novel fails in its promise. Norton, in his role as Chronos, traveling backward and forward through time, encounters numerous attempts to dissuade him in his purpose -- to fight against Satan and the forces of evil. However, the "encounters" don't seem realistic (even for a fantasy novel). The freshness of the first novel is almost totally absent, as is the depth of character development. When I first read this volume some 8-10 years ago, I found it one of the weaker efforts of the series. A recent re-reading has not disabused me of this notion. Worth a read as part of the series -- but standing alone, it is a grave disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Sequel
Review: After falling in love with the first book of this series, On a Pale Horse, I was very excited to pick up this book and continue in the adventures. Sorry to say, I was very disappointed by this book. For one thing, it took a quarter of the book just to get the hero of this book, Norton, to assume the office of Time. At least half of this book was spent in what Norton believed to be another world having experiences that had very, very little to do with the story. It did show a little bit of Norton's character, but it was a bothersome distraction from the real story. This means that the real meat of the story was only told in 25% of the book which, to me, is just a waste of time. This book was really confusing and I felt that Piers Anthony could have done a better job of explaining of the office of Chronos, the Incarnation of Time. I felt I understood Death's office very well from the first book but this book did not really show how Chronos worked in his office. The only power he demonstrated did not demonstrate the responsibilities of his office. I will probably pick up the other books because other reviews here seem to indicate that this is the most confusing and disliked book of the series. I would recommend this book if you are going to read the entire series... but I wonder if the rest of this series could be told without this story.
Rating:
Summary: A Disappointing Sequel
Review: After falling in love with the first book of this series, On a Pale Horse, I was very excited to pick up this book and continue in the adventures. Sorry to say, I was very disappointed by this book. For one thing, it took a quarter of the book just to get the hero of this book, Norton, to assume the office of Time. At least half of this book was spent in what Norton believed to be another world having experiences that had very, very little to do with the story. It did show a little bit of Norton's character, but it was a bothersome distraction from the real story. This means that the real meat of the story was only told in 25% of the book which, to me, is just a waste of time. This book was really confusing and I felt that Piers Anthony could have done a better job of explaining of the office of Chronos, the Incarnation of Time. I felt I understood Death's office very well from the first book but this book did not really show how Chronos worked in his office. The only power he demonstrated did not demonstrate the responsibilities of his office. I will probably pick up the other books because other reviews here seem to indicate that this is the most confusing and disliked book of the series. I would recommend this book if you are going to read the entire series... but I wonder if the rest of this series could be told without this story.
Rating:
Summary: Weakest book in a great series
Review: As usual, nice characters, fun plots, unusual ideas (as well as the normal easily-tuned-out preachiness). But, this one wanders too much (irrelevant adventures here and there) and also seems to get time confused.
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