On a Pale Horse: by Piers Anthony

Background

On a Pale Horse is the first book in the (currently) eight book ‘Incarnations of Immortality’ series by Piers Anthony, The first seven books each focus on one of seven main supernatural "offices" of Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil, and Good, in a fictional reality and history that runs parallel to ours, with the exception that society has advanced both magic and modern technology in equal measures. 

The series covers the adventures and struggles of a group of humans, called "Incarnations", who hold these supernatural positions for a period of time.

Synopsis

When Zane, a bit of a looser in life, shoots Death, he learns, too late, that he would have to take the place of the grim reaper, speeding over the world riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others, and weighing there worth, deciding on haven or hell for there souls … or even purgatory.  

Then sooner than he would have thought possible, Zane found himself being drawn to Satan's plot. Already the Prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved...unless he could discover the only way out....

Review

Let me start from the off and say that the best thing about this book is the main character, Zane/Death, the book quickly batters Zane down the starts the rebuild, in the process a fully believable 3-D character is formed that as a reader I rooted for and empathised with.

I am not putting the rest of the book down; I am just saying the main character was superbly formed.

As a whole the story kept me hooked and I read the book over a couple of weekends, so not fully a ‘couldn’t put down’ read but quite close.  The story unfolds at a reasonable pace with a consistent direction and a smattering of humour; I also found the parallel universe where the action takes place very well contrived.  

What I would warn though is if you are looking for something similar to ‘Mort by Terry Pratchett’ this is not it – ‘On a Pale Horse’ is a much more sophisticated read.

Towards the end of the book I found my self drifting for a chapter or so, where I thought the book lost some of its pace and enjoyment, but that was more a transient moment rather that the complete book and the story soon recovers to deliver an excellent climax.

A well written good read :)

Rating

I give this book 7.5 out of 10. I’d say this is a series that I may go back to and read the others.

WW