Incarnations of Immortality, 4: Wielding a Red Sword

Rating:
Summary: Like "Hourglass", a weaker effort in this series. . .
Review: I don't know what it is, but in this series, it seems that a weak title follows a strong one. Just like "Bearing an Hourglass" didn't come up to the level of "On a Pale Horse", so "Wielding a Red Sword" does not come up to the level of "With a Tangled Skein".

The basic premise of this novel seems more concerned with finding a permenant love interest for the main character than it does with exploring the role/nature of the Incarnation of War. Also expanded upon are the concepts of the "lesser incarnations"; a plot device which is (probably) necessary to explain the "Four Horsemen" which traditionally accompany War, but introduces a weakness in the integrity of the series as a whole.

Two interesting conventions are either exapanded upon or introduced. The first is the "tying together" of the various characters, hinted at in the first couple of books, but emphasized strongly in this volume. Now we know some of what happened to Orb, introduced in the previous volume as the daughter of Niobe. It certainly appears that Anthony intends to unite all the Incarnations in one family (or love) realationship. The other is the idea of an Incarnation defeating Satan by threatening to bring down the entire world. In the previous three novels, the title character's showdown with Satan never approached this level.

I enjoyed this book -- and enjoy this series -- but this is one of the weaker titles.

Rating:
Summary: i think the first book was the best
Review: i must say that i read this book out of desire to complete the series. mars is an interesting character. but it is rather disappointing story actually.

it begins with mar's life as an escaped prince then drifting to the women he becomes involved with. the style of writing was rather dull and plodding to me. *sigh*

the plot picks up in the second half of the book when satan enters the scene again. i found little of the ironical homour i enjoyed in his other books but overall the book was neither here nor there, neither good nor bad.
if you plan to read this series, begin with thanatos' story in the book 'on a pale horse'. now that was a excellent book...

Rating:
Summary: War is Hell...Especially in the IOI series...
Review: I really liked this book. After reading the previous book, With A Tangled Skein, I needed a guy book. At this one has it all. You war, political incorrectness, and sexy women using thier guises to overwhelm men.

This book focuses on the Incarnation of War, Mars as he is referred to. The character that assumes this "office" is Mym..an outcast Prince in India. Considered "unacceptable" to rule because he has a stuttering problem, Mym stay behind the scenes and was trained in the ways of royalty. Especially in the art of war. Mym is a "Berserker". A special kind of warrior the when is bites on his lips and taste blood, anything living near him will be destroyed in the most horrific manner. Although a berserker, Mym is a noble and honorable man that dislikes violence and is seeking a women he that can love him for what he is.

He sneaks away from he Palace to lead a "normal" life. He joins a traveling road show and meets a beautiful singer named "orb", who is the daugter of Niobe, the incarnation of Fate from book 3. Orb will later become the Incarnation of Nature and play a key role in the war against Satan.

Mym falls in love with Orb but is forced to go back to his Prince duties when his brother, the heir apparent suddenly dies. Mym loses orb, falls for another girl...can't have her either and in a moment of rage is offered the Red Sword of of the Incarnation of War.

He accepts it and Satan and Him meet and later are at odds. Satan temps him with a delicious demoness name Lilah that ever man deep down would probably want..a sex-craved woman that can become any women he desires and do anything he craves. Lilah plays a major role in this book and you do not know who side she is on until the end.

This is the shortest of the IOI books and I enjoyed it. It ties in the events of the previous IOI books and really sets up the last 3 books.

Rating:
Summary: War is Hell...Especially in the IOI series...
Review: I really liked this book. After reading the previous book, With A Tangled Skein, I needed a guy book. This one has it all. You have war, political incorrectness, and sexy women using thier guises to overwhelm men.

This book focuses on the Incarnation of War, Mars as he is referred to. The character that assumes this "office" is Mym..an outcast Prince in India. Considered "unacceptable" to rule because he has a stuttering problem, Mym stay behind the scenes and was trained in the ways of royalty. Especially in the art of war. Mym is a "Berserker". A special kind of warrior the when is bites on his lips and taste blood, anything living near him will be destroyed in the most horrific manner. Although a berserker, Mym is a noble and honorable man that dislikes violence and is seeking a women he that can love him for what he is.

He sneaks away from he Palace to lead a "normal" life. He joins a traveling road show and meets a beautiful singer named "orb", who is the daugter of Niobe, the incarnation of Fate from book 3. Orb will later become the Incarnation of Nature and play a key role in the war against Satan.

Mym falls in love with Orb but is forced to go back to his Prince duties when his brother, the heir apparent suddenly dies. Mym loses orb, falls for another girl...can't have her either and in a moment of rage is offered the Red Sword of of the Incarnation of War.

He accepts it and Satan and Him meet and later are at odds. Satan temps him with a delicious demoness name Lilah that ever man deep down would probably want..a sex-craved woman that can become any women he desires and do anything he craves. Lilah plays a major role in this book and you do not know who side she is on until the end.

This is the shortest of the IOI books and I enjoyed it. It ties in the events of the previous IOI books and really sets up the last 3 books.

Rating:
Summary: My intro to IOI
Review: I was drawn to the book cover when I picked up this book. I began to read it and an hour had passed before I realized I had not sat down! I checked out the book and did not put it down til I read it all. Then I found that this was but one book in a series! I've read them all except the 7th book. Its been over 10 years since I read IOI but I remember this as being my introduction to the series. Not all of them are good reads but I think this one was one of the best.

Rating:
Summary: Series Keeps Getting Better
Review: I was intrigued by the premise of the first book and have been hooked on this series ever since. And, it just keeps getting better!!!

Piers Anthony does a wonderful job developing his characters and in this book, Mym and Orb are no exception. We got an introduction to Orb in the prior book and it was wonderful to have her come back briefly in the beginning. Mym, however, is a new character. From the beginning, it is hard to imagine a pampered, stuttering prince becoming Mars... but Anthony does a good job of convincingly making it happen.

The only thing I did not like about this book was that the character development was a large part of the book and I had to keep asking myself, "Okay, so, when are they going to have Mym assume the office of War?" But after assuming the office, it gets very good.

Mym is a lot like Zane (Death) from the first book as he assumed the office... not afraid to go against the status quo. War is also like Death in that War does not bring on war (much like Death does not bring on death) but instead facilitates and manages it.

My favorite part of the book is when Mym finds himself in Hell and to get out of Hell he builds and army and attacks the forces of Satan. I thought this was very creative and a lot of fun. It was also wonderful to see War balk Satan twice in this book.

If you've liked the rest of the series, I would encourage you to continue reading it with this wonderful addition.

Rating:
Summary: A very young Chronos who grabbed an hourglass on accident.
Review: Not only is this book one of the worst in this horrendous series, it makes it obvious that the book is geared toward young boys and male fantasies in general. I mean, the publishers are very smart; boys with surging hormones really don't need good prose or plot to be satisfied, just a lot of gratuitous sexual information.

For example, this book contains innumerable comments about beautiful breasts. Also, the two main characters in the beginning go to this house that basically has the ability to lower people's sexual inhibitions. Throughout the book, this is pretty much what Anthony talks about. No wonder young people like this book. If you're looking for quality though, look somewhere else.

Rating:
Summary: Does War Serve a Purpose?
Review: Piers Anthony, in his continuation of the "Incarnations of Immortality" series, tries to answer that question. Each book deals with an aspect of reality - death, time, fate, nature, war, evil, good - by having an ordinary person take, get stuck with, or slip into the job of being the Incarnation of that aspect of reality and having to run it.

The series tackles many philosophical issues, while the writing is in a light, whimsical style and the setting is a world very much like our own, except that magic has the same status and commonality as science.

"Wielding a Red Sword" is well-written, the characters are likeable, the plot is coherent, and it tackles one of the toughest topics in the series: war. Through various situations, the author tries to address the questions of what purposes does war serve, are any of those purposes valid under any conditions, and does any good come out of war ever?

Again, we have good, fun, reading, that is also thought-provoking. The story has enough twists and turns to make it interesting, along with the underlying philosophical questions addressed.

Rating:
Summary: While not my favorite, still a wonderful story
Review: The storyline in this book was very well written and had a very nice ending. The characters were strong and likeable. Overall I think the book was as good as possible for the main character, Mars, but not the best in the series in the least. I was never fully captivated by this novel. Many people like to question Piers' actual morals due to the content of some of his books. But I can't see it. Maybe I am blind or maybe I am just human and realize what most humans have on their mind most of the day. No matter how much they hold it back, lie about it or what not to seem proper in the eyes of the public it is still there. Piers doesn't hold it back what so ever. He tells it just like it is and I fully respect that. I am glad that he writes more about sexuality then he writes about cold blood killing. Notice that whenever someone is killed in his stories or if there is a war, Piers always shows the bad side of that war. He doesn't glorify violence like many like to do in the states now a days. Maybe with living in Europe I gained a few of their ways of thinking. Why down play a natural thing like sex as if it were evil, but glorify an evil thing like violence and war as if it were natural.