The Incarnations of Immortality series

books:

	• And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality) Piers Anthony, Piers A. Jacob Eos, 1991 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 54 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Hmm

This book isn't the best of the series. While all the other Incarnations books were brilliant (my personal favorites were Time, Fate, and especially Evil), this book falls flat of its predecessors. Orlene is supposed to be the main character, but Jolie, Satan's mistress, plays a bigger role. This book did not feel very well-thought out, with Nox wanting Gaw-Two (and what she did to Orlene in the beginning). This in itself doesn't make sense (especially when Piers Anthony said he was done with the series, only to write a book about Nox over a decade later) If Jolie and Gaw-Two were cut from the plot and Orlene played a more integral role, this book would be more coherent.

Vita wasn't a terrible character, but it would have been better if Orlene was the only one with Vita, because jolie played too much of a role, eclipsing Orlene in significance.

Like the other books, this has a lot of philosophy and religious discussion, but unlike the other books, the characters aren't as much enjoyable. And when Orlene finally assumes the Office, what of the former Incarnation? He didn't give up his office willingly, so there's no mention of what became of him.

If you read the next book, Under a Velvet Cloak, the thing with Nox and Gaw-Two make more sense, but that doesn't mean that it made sense overall. THAT book was really shoddy and lackluster, and this book could have been handled more tightly. Overall, this book deserves some stars for Orlene's interactions with the other Incarnations and the discussions that come forth, but really, it's the other Incarnations that redeem this book, not Jolie or Orlene. 3.5/5 stars for a entertaining but ultimately disappointing read.

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The Incarnations of Immortality series

To sum up the entire Incarnations series: good premise; poor delivery.

The basic concept is great; have normal mortal people become temporary immortals in order to fulfill the job duties of each "office" (death, time, fate, war, nature, good, evil). The offices are unknown to ordinary people; they don't even know they exist. Piers Anthony does an excellent job of establishing the mechanics of how such a bureaucracy operates, and how the different offices interact with and affect one another. Each book has its share of wit and humor, and is interesting and thought provoking in its own unique way.

These are the strengths of the Incarnations books; now for the one weakness. Every book in this series suffers from what I call the "Piers Anthony Puppeteer Effect" - an anomaly where all the main characters are basically Piers Anthony himself disguised by a background story. I must admit I have not read any other books by Piers Anthony, so maybe this is true for all his books, and maybe some people like this type of characterization. I just found it hard to believe that characters of such widely varying ages, sexes, cultures, countries, ethnic backgrounds, time periods (modern to medieval), etc, all have the same thought processes, outlooks, speech patterns, etc. In other words, the characters behave too much alike to be believable.

For example, in this book (And Eternity), we are introduced to a teenaged girl named Vita. She is a drug addict and prostitute in a desperate situation, yet she thinks and acts in a far too sophisticated manner. As the story unfolds, Vita "shares" her body with two ghosts: Orlene, a modern-day mature woman; and Jolie, a medieval peasant from France. Because all three share basically the same perspective, there is really no way to distinguish between them, other than by remembering that Vita is sort of a nymphomaniac, Orlene is on a quest after killing herself, and Jolie is the "responsible one."

Basically, you can substitute any mortal officeholder for another in any of the books and the story wouldn't change significantly, because all the characters are just puppets through which Piers Anthony speaks. And all of them use the word "balk." Couldn't ONE, just ONE character in any of the books use the word stop?... prevent?... block?... ANYTHING else besides balk? As I read through the series it got to the point where I would groan out loud every time any character used the word balk. It became very distracting, and actually led to my discovery of the "puppeteer effect." Maybe a drinking game for every time the word balk is used?

So, overall, I give the series 3 stars - the average of 5 stars for concept, 1 for the one-dimensional characters.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In Pursuit of the Ultimate Good

After an overwhelming succession of tragedies, life has finally, mercifully ended for Orlene, once-mortal daughter of Gaea.

Joined in Afterlife by Jolie -- her protector and the sometime consort of Satan himself -- together they seek out a third: Vita, a very contemporary mortal with troubles, attractions, and an unsettling moral code uniquely her own.

An extraordinary triumvirate, they embark on a great quest to reawaken the Incarnation of Good in a world where evil reigns -- facing challenges that will test the very fiber of their beings with trials as numerous, as mysterious, and as devastating as the Incarnations themselves.

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