berch%lll-tis.arpa%lll-tis@sri-unix.UUCP (09/12/84)
From: berch%lll-tis.arpa@lll-tis (Michael C. Berch) Anthony, Piers. ON A PALE HORSE. (Ballantine/Del Rey, August 1984, pb, 325 pp., $2.95. ISBN 0-345-30518-3.) ``Book One of Incarnations of Immortality'' Summary: Below average for Anthony, but inoffensive reading. Review: Each of Piers Anthony's series has taken up a new set of elaborate symbols and social institutions. In the CLUSTER novels it was alien cultures and their symbolic `themes.' In the APPRENTICE ADEPT (Split Infinity etc.) it was the ritual games of Proton and the adepts of Phaze. In the XANTH novels Anthony has built a detailed system of personal and collective magic. ON A PALE HORSE introduces a new system where science and magic coexist (rather unconvincingly, I think: the APPRENTICE ADEPT books showed exactly why science and magic don't mix well; however, Anthony has chosen not to take his own advice). The kicker here is that the archetypical figures of Death, Fate, Nature, War, and Time are literal, and are incarnate; their offices are filled by humans who carry out their traditional duties (and have the benefit of certain powers and perquisites). The book's hero, Zane, becomes Death (as revealed on the back cover). Yes, there is a love interest. Yes, our hero must find a way to outfox the baddies while just beginning to learn the ropes of his new job. Yes, there are a number of unforgiveable puns. Yes, there are fights and chases in which our hero must defeat his enemies by quick thinking and intuition rather than brawn. Yes, there is a faithful steed that reveals useful information to our hero at crucial moments. Is this beginning to sound familiar? Yes. Unfortunately, after exploring numerous mature themes in books like CHTHON, the CLUSTER novels, and particularly the BATTLE CIRCLE series (Sos the Rope, etc.) Anthony has turned out a large number of inoffensive books with no real substance or flavor. I finished ON A PALE HORSE with a shrug rather than a moist eye or a smile. Oh, yes, there's supposed to be a message in here about ``death with dignity'' and death as a natural process, and I think that this is admirable. Unfortunately, the points are rather heavy-handed. Readers who follow Anthony's career will also enjoy the author's lengthy note at the end of the book, similar to that following VISCOUS CIRCLE. I somehow get the idea that Anthony knows he is not living up to the promise of his early writing, but is either a) unable to return to his forte, or b) enjoying life on the best-seller lists too much. Curiously, the BIO OF A SPACE TYRANT series, also unfinished, does not suffer from the same flaws as ON A PALE HORSE. I wish I could recommend ON A PALE HORSE more highly, having spent many happy hours with the CLUSTER and BATTLE CIRCLE books. Perhaps ``Book Two of Incarnations of Immortality'', BEARING AN HOURGLASS, now in hardcover, will provide that opportunity. Michael Berch berch@lll-tis.arpa ...ucbvax!lbl-csam!lll-tis!berch