Customer Reviews

God of Tarot

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The Tarot books can be looked at as the little detour Piers Anthony took into the traditional territory of Zelazny and Philip K. Dick. More concerned with religion and symbolism than with swords and sorcery, God of Tarot is an odd digression in the overall Anthony body of work.

God of Tarot opens like the set-up for a Clifford D. Simak book: almost all of Earth has fled for the stars, fueled by the technology of matter transmission. Earth is left depopulated and stripped of all energy sources, with only the remnants left to keep the light burning.

Brother Paul is a monk of the Holy Order of Vision. His life is going as planned, until suddenly he is given a mission. God, or something like it, is apparently manifesting on a planet called Tarot. Paul is tasked with getting to the bottom of the animations and potentially making the decision as to whose God is the revealed God...

Anthony should be applauded for following a road that took him so far away from Xanth. The Tarot books show him to be a talented and creative writer, when he chooses to be. The ideas are crisp in God of Tarot, and generally very well written.

This said, it is a book with many flaws. It is very complicated to read and follow, and requires quite a bit of background understanding about Golden Dawn and Crowley to really get all of the references. There are moments where I felt like Anthony was more interested in displaying his knowledge than I felt like he was interested in the reader. Also, having discarded the bad puns and witty asides of Xanth, the fact that his plotting skills are very weak is more than evident in this book.

Anthony fans should read it for themselves and see if they find what they like about his other work. This series may well appeal to readers who never liked Xanth much, but do like Anthony as a writer. Parents should beware-- other Anthony books are very suitable for pre-teens and teenagers. This series is much different. There is a fair amount of very explicit sex and very adult situations which would be difficult for a younger reader to understand.

First thing's first: as other reviewers have said, this is no Xanth. Whereas the Xanth novels can be enjoyed on several levels and have an entertaining flow to them, the Tarot series essentially touches base with some of the most deep analysis I have seen in the genre.

I must admit a bias here: I received this novel when I was fourteen - the stereotypical age of questioning. This book and its alternative perspectives was fascinating to me and I credit this book with my ability to understand and recognize different levels of thinking. This is not a book one may read and forget. The truly thoughtful reader could easily spend one day in reading and another in thinking and analysis. I understand this is not everyone's cup of tea and, if you're looking for a pithy, but pleasant, reading experience, I apologetically point you elsewhere.

It is true that the tone of this series, aside from several witticisms, is a moderate departure from standard Anthony fare. Those expecting business as usual will be disappointed. However, those of you willing to journey with Brother Paul as he examines the possible truth of God (and who could decline?), will find a deep, fascinating saga. Overall, if you have an open mind and enjoy interpreting novels on a multitude of levels, I believe you will enjoy the Tarot series.

I once wrote an email to Piers Anthony telling him how disappointed I was with the horoscope part of Macroscope. He wrote back telling me that he did not believe that the speed of light could be broken but he writes about it anyway. He told me that IF astrology was real, here is how it might work. That surprised me. I never thought about it that way.

I read God of Tarot with a new optic and I was surprised to find that I actually liked it. Not that I am into Tarot but you don't need to be to enjoy this novel.

This is book one in the Tarot series, along with Faith Of Tarot and Vision of Tarot. If you are going to read the series, it's best to have all three beforehand, as they were meant as one story, divided into three books by the original publisher. As a stand-alone novel 'God of Tarot' completely fails, because on page 231 Anthony goes into a flashback lasting fifty pages until the end of the novel, giving the reader no real resolution that isn't a shock-joke-twist. This is where the 'scatological' adjective from my title comes in.

'Allegorical' comes into play whenever the Tarot get mentioned. Piers Anthony jumps through literary hoops, and really lets the reader know he did his research on the mythological background of the Tarot. I'd have enjoyed his images and layered meanings more, if they weren't told in a dry, info-dumping fashion. It's like Anthony interrupts the story for an essay on the Wand of Cups every five pages.

'Boring' is one adjective I don't usually apply to this author. The Tarot series is an early work though, and Anthony was still developing the balance between inserting important details into the story and the story itself. The 'Incarnations of Immortality' series doesn't have this problem, so Anthony did grow out of it.

The plot revolves brother Paul and his allegorical vision quest through [the] Tarot. Anthony starts interesting, but the middle novel gets bogged down in minutiae. Sex scenes/details are tossed at the reader to keep a high interest level, but I saw them as amateur window dressing.

My recommedation is try another series by Anthony (Incarnations, early Xanth, Bio of a Space Tyrant, or Apprentice Adept), this is an early work and it shows. I'd only read if you really like Piers Anthony and must own his every work, or if you are an expert in the Tarot and enjoy interpretation theory (not me).

On a mission for God.


Paul is a monk on an Earth that is now mostly depopulated and a bit on the primitive side. Everyone has nicked off thanks to the advent of matter tranmission. His order learns that god has appeared on the planet Tarot, and he gets to go and work out which flavour or variety of deity it might actually be.