Reviews

On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

jennyp0208's review against another edition

3.0

Anthony imagines classic mythology characters as jobs, filled by semi mortal men and women. This first book of the series places Zane, a man with nothing going hys way, into the role of Death just in time to battle with Satan.

I enjoy the world he has created, to a point. The Incantations with their many powers and restrictions fascinate me. But it's hard to overlook the blatant sexism. Maybe it's meant to show the decay of the world as Satan markets his "options", but it's unpleasant to read.

This is a re-read. I'm glad I revisited it, but I'm unlikely to continue the series.

cgwinters1981's review against another edition

4.0

I forced my partner to read "The Handmaid's Tale" after I read it, so he forced me to read this book. At first I didn't want to like it because of this. It also is in a weird fantasy/sci-fi world that I personally have avoided for most of my life. That being said I did enjoy this book. I found it a weird mixture of soap opera elements swirled up in this story of a man forced into his position as the new death. It was interesting to see the differing personalities of each of the incarnations and see how Anthony created them to be differing from the others that hold office. The underlying storyline was also fascinating because while it feels highly religious, a great reader can understand that this story is truly fantasy driven on our ideals of these various parts of life but they are pushed to fit into the world that Anthony wants to create (War, Time, Nature, Fat, Satan and God). I believe that was the most fascinating element to this particular book to me was Anthony's ability to world-build without it being so obvious that it smacked you in the face. I have read books that world-build by telling you every single aspect of where a character is, which gets the reader bogged down on minute details that could have been explained through the character. Anthony world-builds through description and the character (i.e. Zane often discusses information related to cars and magical carpets). This helps us to understand the world that the story is set within without having to be beat over the head with setting description. Also another element that was enjoyable was that characters had real emotions, even those in these varying offices. It did not feel that anyone's actions were unwarranted or unjust for what had been told about them. For example, Luna does not just jump into love with Zane instead it progresses in a more natural even tone. I highly recommend this particular book in this series. It is a great starting point and I am looking forward to starting the next book.

hiimkayte's review against another edition

2.0

Not my favorite. I wanted to read another Piers Anthony book to have something easy and fun. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that he used this book to try to discuss philosophy and social commentary. I love sci-fi and fantasy can do that, but this was too heavy handed and boring for me. Oh well, at least it was quick.

eososray's review against another edition

2.0

I thought the premise for this story was promising and the modernization of an old story was a fun idea. That said, the promise was never quite fulfilled and the fun was never quite enough.
When our sorta hero accidentally kills Death he has to take on the job and learn as he goes. He spends the vast majority of the book just being confused and trying to save his love interest. It just wasn't enough to stimulate the imagination or an interest in the rest of the series.

deltajuliet83's review against another edition

5.0

Starting a re-read of this series, it’s just as good as I remember.

idhrenniel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

sueotwell's review against another edition

5.0

This is not my normal read but hubby suggested it because I was looking for something different from my norm and he read this yrs ago. It was amazing and I really enjoyed the new look of Death!

hairysand's review

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

kphipps's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

charlibirb's review against another edition

4.0

A pretty unique world - I'm loving these stories. Very fun read.