Rating: Summary: Typically witty and adventurous "incarnation" volume Review: I enjoyed the first "Incarnation" story "On a Pale Horse" very much, and hoped the rest of the books would hold up as well. The rest of the series follow pretty much the same format, but each tells the story of a different aspect of humanity and life: Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature and Evil. The stories vary in the way that the protagonists deal with adversity using the powers of their respective roles as these incarnations.Bearing an Hourglass starts out in the usual story about the life of the protagonist, in this case a wanderer who doesn't think he'll ever settle down. The critical moment is when they are faced with the prospect of immortality in exchange for service to all of humanity, and in this case, the lead character is faced with saving his love from a sorrowful death in exchange for becoming the incarnation of time, Chronos. The story takes many twists as Satan tries to take advantage of the new Chronos's lack of experience, as Satan tries deception after deception to prevent Chronos from foiling the doings of Evil. I enjoyed the story very much, and would recommend the whole series to anyone familiar with Anthony's other work. It's also a good introduction to Anthony, though I would also recommend the 2 "Adept" series. Both "Incarnations" and "Adept" blend magic/fantasy and technology in interesting ways to create universes that stand out from typical sci-fi or fantasy.
Rating: Summary: bearing an hour glass Review: I have actually read all the Incranation books by Pierse Anthony, and loved them all. But The Green Mother, I feel was the best. I definately recommend reading them all. they can change your views about the world and everything around you.
Rating: Summary: Pretty good; could be better Review: I have read all 5 of the Incarnations of Immortality twice each. The series is an amazing one and Piers Anthony is an amazing author. But although all the books were good, this one is the least good. (I won't say worst because Piers Anthony can never be the "worst") His life before he became an Incarnation was interesting but once he became Time, the book went downhill. Sning, his magic snake ring was like a gimmik used throughout the book to get Norton out of every situation. It made it way too easy! And the all too familiar sci-fi and fantasy movie realities that Satan created for him took up chapters and left me bored. Adventures in other books in the series were much more original and imaginative! The only really good part was the chapters where he had to save the senator by turning back time for the world. After that, the book was a bit of a let-down. His final balking of Satan was a bit pathetic, compared to the others in the series. But it was still a good book and only when compared to the other Incarnations of Immortality was it bad. I would have given the book 3 1/2 stars but I can't do that so I'm rounding up for the amazing Piers Anthony: 4 STARS, while the other Incarnation books get 5, (or a perfect 10 if that was an option). Piers Anthony ROCKS!!!
Rating: Summary: Piers Anthony has done it again! Review: I just recently started reading the Incarnations series, and 'Hourglass' is my favorite so far. (Of course, I've only read 'Hourglass' and 'Pale Horse'.) The only thing that disappointed/surprised me was the quality of the humor parts as compared to the quality of the serious parts. As with 'Pale Horse', IMHO, the serious parts were genius, but most Xanth fans would probably find the humor lacking something (And I'm not talking about puns here, although there aren't any I've noticed in 'Incarnations'.) The only other negative thing I could say about this is that some of Anthony's character names seem a little...well, dull to me. (Bink? Norton? Orb? They just don't seem to fit a main character--or even a lesser one--that well.) The other concepts are _very_ well thought-out and/or imaginative, though, such as Chronos's abilities and talisman.
Rating: Summary: Great Series/Weakest Book Review: I love Piers Anthony's writing. This is the series I started out with, when first exploring his talents. While the series itself is fasinating and thought provoking, this book was the least of the seven. It seemed to have less focus than the usual great story by Mr. Anthony. It wasn't a bad book, just not as good as the others. However, I reccommend reading it, along with the other 6 in order. Everything comes together in the end in this series.
Rating: Summary: Bearing an Hour Glass Review: I personally loved the book, but reading some of these other reviews, I would have to agree with many of the negitive comments, but would like to put in a word for the book. I think that Piers Anthony has many great origional ideas, but does not take them really far. Second, True there may be, in some people's opinion a lack of climax. I think this just allows for inspiration of creativity and allows for the reader to easly think of how the story could be very different, or ideas could have gone other directions. Piers Anthony does not write soap operas. He writes from a personality perspective of the normal 'sci-fi geek' type. If you like to overalalyze the hidden philosophical meanings behind 'Star Trek', I would definatly recommend this book.
Rating: Summary: Not As Good As Death But Still Awesome Piers Anthony Review: I struggled throught this second book at first, mostly because i missed reading about Zane. After a while, though, i got over it and actually really enjoyed this one too. The only thing i didn't like was that they spent too much time in the "alternate reality" setting that satan sent Norton to. Other than that, i loved the beginning prior to him taking office with the ghost. I also liked the idea of chronos living backward. Drawkcab was the funniest chapter in a book i have ever read. If you have already read Death then read this for sure. if not, why the hell haven't you read death yet?
Rating: Summary: Very enjoyable, an excellent addition to the series. Review: I thought the book was an excellent story addition to "On A Pale Horse" I have only read the first two books and I think that the series is turning out to be a good one. I especially like the way the two books tie events together so it seems like we are seeing the same period of time from the many people who were involved in it. I would recommend this book to everyone
Rating: Summary: Piers Anthony Does It Again! Review: I'd been dreading this book since after I finished "On A Pale Horse," because it was sure to be a confusing story. Not only does it deal with Chronos (the Incarnation of Time), his attaining the role and his adventures that ensue, but everything occurs backwards! Talk about confusing! However, Piers Anthony pulls it all off seamlessly! Incredible concept, outrageous plots, and unforgettable characters make this book a must have for Anthony fans and/or intelligent minds.
Rating: Summary: Not even as good as Anthony can be Review: I've been going through this phase of re-reading books that I first read when I was younger, and like many pre-teens I had been an avid reader of Piers Anthony. It's interesting that I find now what I also found true then-- namely, that the first Piers Anthony book in any given series is always the best, with the following books becoming increasingly sillier and sillier. The first book in the incarnations of immortality series had some clever and original ideas, but past that it lapsed into the besetting Anthony sins of pre-adolescent boy fantasy and deeply goofy plot.
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