Bearing An Hourglass (Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2) [Mass Market Paperback]

Piers Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 12, 1985 | Series: Book Two of Incarnations of Immortality (Book 2)

When life seemed pointless to Norton, he accepted the position as the Incarnation of Time, even though it meant living backward from present to past. The other seemingly all-powerful incantations of Immortality--Death, Fate, War, and Nature--made him welcome. Even Satan greeted him with gifts. But he soon discovered that the gifts were cunning traps and he had become enmeshed in a complex scheme of the Evil One to destroy all that was good....

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

When life seemed pointless to Norton, he accepted the position as the Incarnation of Time, even though it meant living backward from present to past. The other seemingly all-powerful incantations of Immortality--Death, Fate, War, and Nature--made him welcome. Even Satan greeted him with gifts. But he soon discovered that the gifts were cunning traps and he had become enmeshed in a complex scheme of the Evil One to destroy all that was good....

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 372 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (September 12, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345313151
• ISBN-13: 978-0345313157
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1.1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors, and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. His Xanth novels have been read and loved by millions of readers around the world, and he daily receives hundreds of letters from his devoted fans.In addition to the Xanth series, Anthony is the author of many other best-selling works. Piers Anthony lives in Inverness, Florida.

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#85 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

#85 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite there October 26, 2001

By "foxechick"

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"Bearing an Hourglass" is the second volume of Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series, dealing with the Incarnation of Time. The series began successfully with "On a Pale Horse", but this instalment is a little more cautious in approach, and suffers somewhat from sequel syndrome.

Like several other characters from the Incarnations series, Norton is just an ordinary man who unexpectedly has the mantle of Chronos (Time) thrust upon him. He must learn to fulfil the duties of his office and deal with its peculiarities- such as living backwards in time!

The temporal quirks and paradoxes that Norton must explore create some added interest in the storyline. Overall, however, the plot lacks the verve and interest of the first book, wandering from the path in places and losing direction.

As a whole, the series is definitely worth reading, and "Bearing an Hourglass" is worth reading as a part of the series. As a stand-alone volume, however, it doesn't quite satisfy. Read it in context: the complex interlinking plots of the seven books that make up the Incarnations series are partially explained by this book, but it remains one of the weaker links in the series.

6 stars out of 10

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Typically witty and adventurous "incarnation" volume November 17, 2003

By Henry K. Cookson Jr.

Format:Mass Market Paperback

I enjoyed the first "Incarnation" story "On a Pale Horse" very much, and hoped the rest of the books would hold up as well. The rest of the series follow pretty much the same format, but each tells the story of a different aspect of humanity and life: Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature and Evil. The stories vary in the way that the protagonists deal with adversity using the powers of their respective roles as these incarnations.

Bearing an Hourglass starts out in the usual story about the life of the protagonist, in this case a wanderer who doesn't think he'll ever settle down. The critical moment is when they are faced with the prospect of immortality in exchange for service to all of humanity, and in this case, the lead character is faced with saving his love from a sorrowful death in exchange for becoming the incarnation of time, Chronos.

The story takes many twists as Satan tries to take advantage of the new Chronos's lack of experience, as Satan tries deception after deception to prevent Chronos from foiling the doings of Evil.

I enjoyed the story very much, and would recommend the whole series to anyone familiar with Anthony's other work. It's also a good introduction to Anthony, though I would also recommend the 2 "Adept" series. Both "Incarnations" and "Adept" blend magic/fantasy and technology in interesting ways to create universes that stand out from typical sci-fi or fantasy.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not even as good as Anthony can be February 11, 2001

By frumiousb TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:School & Library Binding

I've been going through this phase of re-reading books that I first read when I was younger, and like many pre-teens I had been an avid reader of Piers Anthony. It's interesting that I find now what I also found true then-- namely, that the first Piers Anthony book in any given series is always the best, with the following books becoming increasingly sillier and sillier. The first book in the incarnations of immortality series had some clever and original ideas, but past that it lapsed into the besetting Anthony sins of pre-adolescent boy fantasy and deeply goofy plot.