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A review by sammyg_whiz
On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
3.0
I will start off by saying I had read this book in my teens and LOVED it. Compared to other things I was reading at the time, this book was thought provoking in terms of life/death/morality. I decided to read it again now 20+ years later in a fit of pandemic nostalgia, a comfort read. Well, not so much.
**Warning: Spoilers Below**
So we meet our main character Zane who we understand is flawed, but okay that usually makes the characters more interesting. He is down on his luck and seeks out magical assistance to improve his lot. He ends up giving up his chance at a love match (guided by a love stone) for the chance at wealth via another magical stone. It turns out he was deceived about the quality of the wealth stone and in a fit of despair planned to end his own life. Instead he ends up shooting Death and has to take over his office. His handling of the office and what he learns is the main part of the plot moving things along.
Then we get to the part where he meets Luna. She is the daughter of a powerful magician who decided that in an effort to save his own hide from hell, he's basically going to hand her off to Death/Zane like some sort of concubine. Um...okay? Magician and Death have dinner, Luna walks in naked, as you do, and Death is unimpressed because he's still hung up on the love interest he missed out on. She finally puts on clothes, he's slightly more impressed but in a very Mr. Darcy, "she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me" sort of way. Death turns down the bargain with the daughter, the Magician's soul is collected and he goes on his way.
The interesting parts of the book deal more with the way Death collects the souls often showing them a great deal of kindness and mercy and the one's he decides not to collect, giving them a second chance to make better choices. This is apparently not the way it had been done by the previous office holders and so a bit scandalous. Death also has a bad ass horse that can turn into a car or a boat and sometimes they chat about the job.
So back to Luna. She becomes an important part of the story though in a way that honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. On one hand the other Incarnations are saying she's instrumental in the fight against evil in 20 years. On the other hand, she's marked for a more speedy demise because the Devil doesn't play fair. The entire time Death suddenly become more and more attracted to her, but not for any real deep reason, but because she seems more desirable when she uses stones or wears her hair a certain way.
The whole development of this relationship was weird and honestly off-putting. They have dates and conversations about why their souls are likely destined for the bad place. One of the reasons for Luna is that she basically gave herself to a succubus in order to gain access to dark magic in an attempt to save her father. Okay fine. But our lovely Death has a problem with this because omg this woman I kind of find attractive had sex *gasp* with a demon! It's the typical Madonna/whore complex. It's only when she reveals a little later that it was mental, not physical that he's somewhat okay with it. She really doesn't have much of a personality. She keeps bringing up that her dad must have wanted to get them together for a reason but never actively seeks out the reason why. She seems content to sit back and let Zane do all the worrying and bumbling around for them both. She even tells him on more than one occasion when he expresses his growing affections, that she's not in love with him.
Then we get to the big showdown with the Devil who has been showing up in somewhat cartoonish ways throughout the book tempting souls and trying to thwart Zane's efforts. The Devil has kidnapped Luna and is trying to get her soul to change from being in balance or going to heaven, to instead go to hell and join his merry band of misfits. She is suddenly all about Zane and she won't betray him. Zane on the other hand is like they pulled out the nipple zappers! I don't want them torturing you, just tell them what they want! *sigh* What have you been fighting for all this time? Really? So he goes on his horse to challenge the Devil and ends up winning on a technicality. The Devil retreats and Zane and Luna live happily ever after at least until the next book.
I honestly feel like this was one of those books that were great and innovative for it's time, but didn't really age well. I give it 3 stars because of the fact that I remember loving it as a younger reader and the parts where he actually discusses morality are kind of interesting, but I could have really left this book in the past.
**Warning: Spoilers Below**
So we meet our main character Zane who we understand is flawed, but okay that usually makes the characters more interesting. He is down on his luck and seeks out magical assistance to improve his lot. He ends up giving up his chance at a love match (guided by a love stone) for the chance at wealth via another magical stone. It turns out he was deceived about the quality of the wealth stone and in a fit of despair planned to end his own life. Instead he ends up shooting Death and has to take over his office. His handling of the office and what he learns is the main part of the plot moving things along.
Then we get to the part where he meets Luna. She is the daughter of a powerful magician who decided that in an effort to save his own hide from hell, he's basically going to hand her off to Death/Zane like some sort of concubine. Um...okay? Magician and Death have dinner, Luna walks in naked, as you do, and Death is unimpressed because he's still hung up on the love interest he missed out on. She finally puts on clothes, he's slightly more impressed but in a very Mr. Darcy, "she is tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt me" sort of way. Death turns down the bargain with the daughter, the Magician's soul is collected and he goes on his way.
The interesting parts of the book deal more with the way Death collects the souls often showing them a great deal of kindness and mercy and the one's he decides not to collect, giving them a second chance to make better choices. This is apparently not the way it had been done by the previous office holders and so a bit scandalous. Death also has a bad ass horse that can turn into a car or a boat and sometimes they chat about the job.
So back to Luna. She becomes an important part of the story though in a way that honestly doesn't make a lot of sense. On one hand the other Incarnations are saying she's instrumental in the fight against evil in 20 years. On the other hand, she's marked for a more speedy demise because the Devil doesn't play fair. The entire time Death suddenly become more and more attracted to her, but not for any real deep reason, but because she seems more desirable when she uses stones or wears her hair a certain way.
The whole development of this relationship was weird and honestly off-putting. They have dates and conversations about why their souls are likely destined for the bad place. One of the reasons for Luna is that she basically gave herself to a succubus in order to gain access to dark magic in an attempt to save her father. Okay fine. But our lovely Death has a problem with this because omg this woman I kind of find attractive had sex *gasp* with a demon! It's the typical Madonna/whore complex. It's only when she reveals a little later that it was mental, not physical that he's somewhat okay with it. She really doesn't have much of a personality. She keeps bringing up that her dad must have wanted to get them together for a reason but never actively seeks out the reason why. She seems content to sit back and let Zane do all the worrying and bumbling around for them both. She even tells him on more than one occasion when he expresses his growing affections, that she's not in love with him.
Then we get to the big showdown with the Devil who has been showing up in somewhat cartoonish ways throughout the book tempting souls and trying to thwart Zane's efforts. The Devil has kidnapped Luna and is trying to get her soul to change from being in balance or going to heaven, to instead go to hell and join his merry band of misfits. She is suddenly all about Zane and she won't betray him. Zane on the other hand is like they pulled out the nipple zappers! I don't want them torturing you, just tell them what they want! *sigh* What have you been fighting for all this time? Really? So he goes on his horse to challenge the Devil and ends up winning on a technicality. The Devil retreats and Zane and Luna live happily ever after at least until the next book.
I honestly feel like this was one of those books that were great and innovative for it's time, but didn't really age well. I give it 3 stars because of the fact that I remember loving it as a younger reader and the parts where he actually discusses morality are kind of interesting, but I could have really left this book in the past.