Customer Reviews

Under a Velvet Cloak (Incarnations of Immortality, Book 8)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

When I saw an 8th book in the Incarnations of Immortality had been released, I was ecstatic. Piers is one of my top fave authors, and Incarnations is one of my favorite series of his.

That said, the 8th volume seems to have limped into existence. Primarily obsessed with sex (no surprise from Piers, yet still more so than ever before), it essentially adds a tiny bit of detail and back story to the series while recapping the events, or at least the origins of the events, of the previous 7 books.

It also explains the events of the previous 7 in a way that mutes the accomplishments of every prior protagonist as simply a manipulation of the latest.

Three stars overall if you're a superfan such as myself. Two at best if not. I'm not sad to have read it, but I'll be passing it on to another fan, not keeping it in my collection.

Under a Velvet Cloak tells the story of the girl who will eventually become Nox, The Incarnation of Night. It starts out in the Middle Ages, and goes all the way up to modern times. However it almost very quickly develops into a soft porn novel. Like the sixth book of the series, For Love of Evil, this book tells the events we are familiar with from Nox's point of view. We find out the origin of the taint on Gawain's family. All in all the book wasn't that bad but it could have been better.

The Incarnations of Immortality series was a favorite of mine years ago; not because its the most amazing writing, or sensibly put together, but I just really enjoyed the world and how the stories unfolded through them. When I happened across the mention of this book and the possibility to delve into the Incarnation of Night herself? I was excited. I mean, I didn't expect a lot from it, as the series tended to slightly decay in quality as progressive stories were released (with the controversial exception of For Love of Evil, which people either adore or hate). But, still.

I tried twice to read past the first chapter, and failed. That's saying something! But when a 13 year old girl uses a magical device on her genitals so she can accommodate any sized man-- I get this was taking place in the middle ages and brides were quite young, but come on. I'm not a prude-- I even (sorta) late-era Heinlein books, even when they go off the deep end. But if you have to have pedophilia, can it just be somewhat glossed over and not dwelled on entirely, please?

If you've read the other books in the series, you'll be aware of Anthony's attempt to tie the incarnations in to one family. This book suffers from the same plot contrivance. The central character is a ghost-possessed magician-turned-whore, sort-of-trained by a perfunctory Morgan-Le-Fey, who elects to become a vampire while pregnant, cursing her child to the nth generation in the process. Spurned (rudely) by the incarnations, she vows revenge. Conveniently, the vampire group has a library to rival that of Alexandria, there are helpful ghosts (Thanatos getting lax?) who get together in a circus and can travel through time (Chronos getting lax?) and between parallel dimensions, and cameos from Lilith and a completely new incarnation Erebus.
The plot hangs together - just - but would benefit from fleshing out with details: magicians and their training, vampires and their history, characters more rounded and their motivations more layered, the nature of the curse (tied in with Fate?). On A Pale Horse was still the peak of this series.

The book and story line were pretty good. There was WAY too much sex in the book; Therefore, the book is NOT appropriate for a child! I'm glad I'm 34...ha ha. Piers admits that the only reason he wrote this book was because a fan had too much time on his hands and did all the research for him. Seemed like Piers just added gobs of sex and a few plot points and produced an ok work. This book will not disappoint a Piers fan.

I have enjoyed countless Piers Anthony books in my day. I am a proud owner of the entire Xanth series, Modes series, and the other seven Incantations of Immortality books. When I discovered an eighth book, I was very excited, similar to many of my fellow reviewers.

My enthusiasm was swiftly thwarted, however, when I began the actual reading of the novel. I looked forward to being reunited with favorite characters (Zane, Orb, Luna, etc.) but not only were they barely present, they were in an entirely separate reality! It was difficult to see how Anthony was going to connect this story to any of the others, which he has made clear was his ultimate goal. He managed to, but it was by a thread.

Unfortunately, the sex was not nearly as thin as the plot. If you are easily offended, and I am not, this is NOT the book for you. If you are looking to complete the reading of this series, you still do not need to read this. If you are curious about the book that spawned so many negative reviews, PLEASE take it from me - GET IT AT A LIBRARY. Not only is it not offered in mass market paperback, I am not convinced that I would buy it having read it even for $7. I am glad that I read it, sort of. Just keep it away from the kids. Or your parents. Or anyone you want to keep innocent.

Those of you complaining about the sex had better not read the Chroma-Magic series, there it is even longer, more intrusive and totally plot destroying.

I think the main problem is there is no one left to tell Anthony "No". The story line was 500 AD... I don't think they had a sex-offender hot-line back then. I'm more concerned with the over-sexing of the most recent Xanth novels, because they *are* read by children. I was less bothered by too much sex as not enough of other things. Like polished dialogs, gripping plot lines, and fuller back-story.

Erebus was a cardboard stick figure, no character development at all. Ditto for Morgana La Fey. Actually, Gordon, the pedophile, had more character than either of them. The end plot was incredibly rushed.

Overall, I considered it worth the read, but, yes... Anthony of 20 years ago could write far better. I think if he was willing to try, he probably still could.

Well, what more is there to say? This book only benefits the author by cashing in on the Incarnations series. As the series reached a natural end (a new God--everything else would be anticlimactic) I did a double take when I discovered this Book Eight. I don't know how I got through it--it is NOTHING like the other novels in this series. In fact, I can barely see the thin threads that tie it in at all.

I agree with the other readers who were concerned about the sex. I'm no prude, but it was excessive and I am also not OK with his comfort with pedophilia. I also think some class could have been brought to the depictions of the sexual acts that might have been important - his terms for the female parts, for example....

Nox is the incarnation of night, which is associated with sex and secrets, so I'd have expected that to be explored, but not to the degree and the manner in the book.

I note that he describes his career as a best-selling author as "in the past" - Piers, you might ask yourself if perhaps your work has deteriorated?

What the title says. The seven books in the Incarnations series were tight and fun to read. I think I enjoyed books 5 and 6 the best, but all were good. The ratings for the previous seven books range from 4 to 4.75 out of 5 stars - not bad at all for a series (with the exception of 'And Eternity', which was a somewhat cliched ending to the other 6 books, but still better than this book)

Like many other authors who have been writing a long time (though not all) Mr. Anthony seems to be now writing for a easy buck. It's simple. Take something that's popular - book, movie, whatever, and milk it for all it's (bleep) worth. I've seen others do this. Anne Rice, Andrew Neiderman (ghostwriter of V.C. Andrews), Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson... etc. The author who manages to rise above their fame and popularity and continue to invest as much time and effort in their books as they had done in the beginning are to be admired.

The storytelling was not too shabby, but this was a unnecessary book, and did not have the shine or interest that the other books did. I found myself reading the book quickly just to get to the end. I thought that the Incarnation of Night was one and only, having never retired from her position unlike the seven Incarnations of Day. But this book contradicts what was previously said in previous books in the series. Unfortunately, this is not a retcon that worked out well.

I can't help but wonder what Mr. Anthony has planned for more Incarnation books. Personally, seven was the perfect number for me.

If you really want to read this book, either get it from the library, or wait for it to come out in mass market paperback.

Am I the only one bothered by the cover? It seems that the painter didn't put quite as much effort in his painting (bad book, bad cover, eh?) because the face doesn't seem right to me. Yeah I know, never judge a book by its cover. But in this case, you can.

Sorry, Mr. Anthony. Perhaps you should stop writing so many books, and concentrate on quality over quantity, because this book was definitely lacking in your usual flair.