Customer Reviews

Wielding a Red Sword (Book Four of Incarnations of Immortality)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was intrigued by the premise of the first book and have been hooked on this series ever since. And, it just keeps getting better!!!

Piers Anthony does a wonderful job developing his characters and in this book, Mym and Orb are no exception. We got an introduction to Orb in the prior book and it was wonderful to have her come back briefly in the beginning. Mym, however, is a new character. From the beginning, it is hard to imagine a pampered, stuttering prince becoming Mars... but Anthony does a good job of convincingly making it happen.

The only thing I did not like about this book was that the character development was a large part of the book and I had to keep asking myself, "Okay, so, when are they going to have Mym assume the office of War?" But after assuming the office, it gets very good.

Mym is a lot like Zane (Death) from the first book as he assumed the office... not afraid to go against the status quo. War is also like Death in that War does not bring on war (much like Death does not bring on death) but instead facilitates and manages it.

My favorite part of the book is when Mym finds himself in Hell and to get out of Hell he builds and army and attacks the forces of Satan. I thought this was very creative and a lot of fun. It was also wonderful to see War balk Satan twice in this book.

If you've liked the rest of the series, I would encourage you to continue reading it with this wonderful addition.

This book wasn't bad by any means, but it lacked the awesome plot themes of "On a Pale Horse" or the intrigue of "With a Tangled Skein." The story was mildly interesting, the office was rather boring, but the characters were (as usual) well developed and deep. If you like this volume, you'll love the rest of the series. Read it only if you are really interested in the series.

i must say that i read this book out of desire to complete the series. mars is an interesting character. but it is rather disappointing story actually.

it begins with mar's life as an escaped prince then drifting to the women he becomes involved with. the style of writing was rather dull and plodding to me. *sigh*

the plot picks up in the second half of the book when satan enters the scene again. i found little of the ironical homour i enjoyed in his other books but overall the book was neither here nor there, neither good nor bad.
if you plan to read this series, begin with thanatos' story in the book 'on a pale horse'. now that was a excellent book...

I loved this book best of 'em all. I'm absolutly crazy about weapons, especially swords, so even the name was exiting. I'm eleven and flying through this series a book a week. If you like this series, read Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny. If I were Mars, I would slay all who oppose this book. And to let you know, Mym's former snake-ring now belong to Norton/Chronos and goes by Sning. It was awsome and very detailed. Who would have ever thought a Prince for Mars, I mean a PRINCE to be the incarnation of WAR. Anthony is a genius for writing the series. Even Xanth doesn't compare. I advise this for anyone who CAN identify GOOD si-fies.

My first thoughts about this book was oh regular Anthony material. But this book is one of the best. If you read one book in this series read this one 3rd. 1st. On a Pale Horse 2nd. Being a Green Mother. If your an Anthony fan and haven't touched this series drop Xanth for a week and read this!

I don't know what it is, but in this series, it seems that a weak title follows a strong one. Just like "Bearing an Hourglass" didn't come up to the level of "On a Pale Horse", so "Wielding a Red Sword" does not come up to the level of "With a Tangled Skein".

The basic premise of this novel seems more concerned with finding a permenant love interest for the main character than it does with exploring the role/nature of the Incarnation of War. Also expanded upon are the concepts of the "lesser incarnations"; a plot device which is (probably) necessary to explain the "Four Horsemen" which traditionally accompany War, but introduces a weakness in the integrity of the series as a whole.

Two interesting conventions are either exapanded upon or introduced. The first is the "tying together" of the various characters, hinted at in the first couple of books, but emphasized strongly in this volume. Now we know some of what happened to Orb, introduced in the previous volume as the daughter of Niobe. It certainly appears that Anthony intends to unite all the Incarnations in one family (or love) realationship. The other is the idea of an Incarnation defeating Satan by threatening to bring down the entire world. In the previous three novels, the title character's showdown with Satan never approached this level.

I enjoyed this book -- and enjoy this series -- but this is one of the weaker titles.

I was drawn to the book cover when I picked up this book. I began to read it and an hour had passed before I realized I had not sat down! I checked out the book and did not put it down til I read it all. Then I found that this was but one book in a series! I've read them all except the 7th book. Its been over 10 years since I read IOI but I remember this as being my introduction to the series. Not all of them are good reads but I think this one was one of the best.

I read this series a long time ago and decided to reread them. the quality of the paperback(s) seem to be just fine. Buying them all in hardcover was going to be way out of my budget so these will do nicely I think.

Not the best in this series, but still very good at 4/5 stars. Some books in this series were bound to be better than others but it's all good, and this book does not disappoint even if it's a bit repetitive in some parts. However, the philosophical discussions between Mars and Satan are to be considered and thought about, since they raised some excellent points (and I became more appreciative of this book after reading 'For Love of Evil')

I like the plots of each of the Incarnations of Immortality books, and this one is no exception, but by this point in the series the formulaic nature of each plot is becoming apparent:

1. Protagonist falls in love.
2. Protagonist and love are separated by circumstance (arranged by Satan).
3. Loss of love leads protagonist to become an Incarnation.
4. Protagonist meets second love, forgets about the first.
5. Satan tempts protagonist, gullible protagonist walks right into his trap.
6. Satan sets up an impending disaster on earth.
7. Other Incarnation(s) show the protagonist how to use his/her power.
8. Protagonist uses unique power to make a desperate but successful bid to stop Satan.

Despite this general structure, the details do make for an interesting story, full of intrigue and plot twists. Piers Anthony has a particular talent for character development, and each character's unique background, personality, and talents contribute to that character's role in the story and to the overall movement of the plot. Often details that seem to have no consequence in the beginning of the story come back to hit the characters full in the face later.

Nevertheless, the limited amount of variation between books puts a limit on the length of this series. Will I have the patience to make it through?