Piers Antony

[Netted]

A series by Peirs Antony was recommended to me recently, the 'incarnations of immortality' I've read the first couple, and though the concept is quite intrieging (book one: man off the street becomes the personification of 'Death' , book two: man off the street becomes 'time' ect ect) the actual pliotlines surrounding the lead charecter are quite hack-neyed (sp?), and seem to move quite slowly. Has anyone else read these, and does the series get any better? If i could find the ruddy books in any chartiy shop/boot sale I'd read em, but since I'm gonna have to pay full wack (ok, only £8 per book, but I'm a student... thats a weeks food!) I'm trying to work out if they're actually worth it or not? Not a hint of them in any of the 3 libraries i use or in anyones book collections either (I no longer see the bloke who recommended them... he tried to steal my girfriends wallet at a houseparty, the scum) Any thoughts?

 

[GOLLUM]

Sorry never read these. Being a long standing fan and reader of fantasy I'm not a big fan of Piers Anthony, although I quite liked the Xanth books I read.

 

[littlemissattitude]

I really liked the series when I read it, but that was maybe fifteen years ago or a bit more and I was just getting into fantasy after a long and fruitful (and still continuing) relationship with science fiction. I'm not sure I would enjoy them now. I'd say that if you can manage to turn them up from the library, they are probably worth the time to read them. I wouldn't spend money on them, though.

 

[Rosemary]

I have read a number of his books, unfortunately Incarnations of Immortality Series not being one of them. However I am sure the series is about religion where the devil is a better person than God.

 

[Foxbat]

I've never read these but I quite like some of Piers Anthony's stuff. Another that you may want to consider reading (and along similar lines in a way) is the Tarot trilogy. Although I found this set a wee bit confusing, I still felt it worth the read. Overall, I'm always left with the feeling that Mr Anthony gets some good ideas but never seems to develop them properly.

 

[Fay Re Nuff]

um... yes...
hope that helps

 

[jenna]

well this is my fave series of all time, so maybe i'm a bit biased! it's hard for me to say that you should keep at them, because we may have completely different tastes. in my opinion though the third and fourth books are better than the first two, the fifth one drops off a bit, then the sixth is brilliant, and the seventh almost as good as the sixth. if you enjoyed the first two i'd say stick with it, because you'll probably like the rest.
if you have a look on Ebay you could probably find them a bit cheaper than 8 pounds a book.

oh, and Piers is writing another book in this series, about the Incarnation of Night, which should be out in the near future (and which i've been salivating over for aaaaages!)

 

[chrispenycate]

Here goes: totally personal opinion, doesn't nesessarily have any relevance to anyone else.

I found the "White horse" (presumably called Binky, though this isn't specified) one of the better ones, and enjoyed "Green Mother". The final book is a tack on, just to tie up some loose ends (and preach in) and "Evil"'s pretty unconvincing, leaving War and Time as nulls.

Still, it holds together as a series better than some of his others.

As I've said, you could find things completely different.

Still, apart from "Eternity", which should be read last (or not at all) the order of the books is non critical, so you can wait till they turn up at car boot sales, or inthe second hand shops…

 

[Rahl Windsong]

Sorry never read these. Being a long standing fan and reader of fantasy I'm not a big fan of Piers Anthony, although I quite liked the Xanth books I read.

Yes I liked the Xanth books for a nice lite read but like Gollum I would not recommend Piers Anthony. Gollum, have you read Cube Route? I think its his latest in the Xanth series and I thought it was quite good.

Rahl

 

[Tau Zero]

I've read this series and enjoyed it quite a bit. But if you found it wanting after the first two books, you should probably stay away fom them. The rest of the books are pretty much in the same vein. In fact, i found the first one to be one to be one of the best of the series.

 

[BAYLOR]

I read the first 5 Xanth novel and though I liked them , I lost interest them . Cthon , Pthor and Ghost are the three books by him that I liked best of all. Overall, I find Anthony to be a very good writer.

 

[KGeo777]

I read the first.

 

[BAYLOR]

I read the first.

It is overall, a very good fantasy series

 

[Vince W]

I read the first three, maybe four, but lost interest. His Bio of a Space Tyrant series was okay though, to a 13-year-old.

 

[hitmouse]

I read this series ( Incarnations of Immortality) as a teenager, in the early 90s and quite enjoyed it, though I felt it struggled towards the end. Reread the first book a few years ago and found it to be disappointing hack-work.

 

[Bick]

Split Infinity was his best series, I think. I did read On a Pale Horse though and liked it. Never read many Xanth, though I may address that at some point.

Can a moderator correct the spelling of his name in the title of the thread? Looks a bit odd having two spelling errors in a thread on him.

 

[hitmouse]

Xanth was a clever joke which was quite fun for a few books, but I felt he didn’t know when to stop.

 

[BAYLOR]

Xanth was a clever joke which was quite fun for a few books, but I felt he didn’t know when to stop.

Would recommend Cthon. and Pthor . Quite different from his usual stuff.

 

[Bick]

Does it bother anyone else that the author's name is misspelled (both forename and surname!) in the thread title and original post? Or is just me?

 

[Rodders]

I only ever read Fractal Node. I remember enjoying it, but not enough to read more.