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A review by roxanamalinachirila
On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony
2.0
Creative, but didactic. Occasionally funny, but often just boring. The plot drags on, although it sometimes moves in jolts.
I think the worst part is that it starts off sounding so *neat*: Zane walks into a shop full of magic stones and can't afford any of them. You truly feel the atmosphere, the way magic works, the way this universe functions.
And then, later on, after wanting to kill himself and ending up as Death, it seems to lose some of its charm. The discovery of his office is exciting at first, but you're starting to feel like Piers Anthony is preaching in supposedly fictional prose (but what he's saying didn't really interest me). There are a few disjointed episodes of dying that I can understand the purpose of, but which didn't really catch me.
I initially cared about the romantic plot with Luna, possibly because she seemed to promise so much as a character. By the end, however, she'd ended up as the damsel in distress falling in love with the main character without much else going on for her.
And the ending was the biggest disappointment and the reason the rating is at 2 stars, not 3: it's the cheesiest thing ever.
George Guidall's audio version is pretty neat, however, making what I feel is the best of not very good prose.
I think the worst part is that it starts off sounding so *neat*: Zane walks into a shop full of magic stones and can't afford any of them. You truly feel the atmosphere, the way magic works, the way this universe functions.
And then, later on, after wanting to kill himself and ending up as Death, it seems to lose some of its charm. The discovery of his office is exciting at first, but you're starting to feel like Piers Anthony is preaching in supposedly fictional prose (but what he's saying didn't really interest me). There are a few disjointed episodes of dying that I can understand the purpose of, but which didn't really catch me.
I initially cared about the romantic plot with Luna, possibly because she seemed to promise so much as a character. By the end, however, she'd ended up as the damsel in distress falling in love with the main character without much else going on for her.
And the ending was the biggest disappointment and the reason the rating is at 2 stars, not 3: it's the cheesiest thing ever.
George Guidall's audio version is pretty neat, however, making what I feel is the best of not very good prose.