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Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. Thriller. HTML:Here in a fourth complete-in-itself novel of the Incarnations of Immortality, Piers Anthony again combines fascinating magic with a gripping, complex struggle between good and evil. Mym was a dutiful son, but his father the Rajah interfered in his love life once too often. Rather than wed without love, he took up the Red Sword, symbol of office of the Incarnation of War. At first he thought his efforts could ameliorate some of the suffering caused by Earth's constant petty wars. But he found that behind all his involvement were the clever traps of Satan. When seeming mischance placed him in Hell, Mym organized a great rebellion among the Damned. And Satan seemed to capitulate. But free again, Mym learned that Satan had been busy stirring up riots and war. Now it seemed things had gone too far and Satan must surely win. There was only one desperate chance. . . .… (more)
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This book really takes the series in a giant nose dive towards terrible land for a few reasons. Reason one: the formula is growing stale and the books have gone away from explaining the nuances of the "office" and have become more a fantasy love story. Reason two: Piers Anthony sucks at writing female characters. The women are all portrayed as flat, generic, gender stereotyped automatons that do not strike me as interesting in any way, shape or form. It is going to be a real struggle to finish the series after this train wreck.
Characters: If there was anyone I was supposed to be interested in, I failed to notice. There's very little characterization
Style: Average prose. Nothing to get excited about, nothing to be irritated by. The usual awkward dialogue, and too much description.
Plus: The story touches some tricky matters of ethics and morality.
Minus: Show, don't tell. That saying exists for a reason. All Anthony does is tell.
Summary: The low point for the series. So much potential, and all of it wasted.
The basic universe premise is a somewhat
Although most of the series is set in the West, this one bizarrely is Indian in origin. Mym is a dutiful son of a Rajah, and then denied the women he loves, turns into a berserker rage which triggers his ascension to Mars. Here however Satan arranges for a new love, to also be denied to him. Mars's quest for revenge might allow Satan the space he needs.
The whole western ethos set in India doesn't really work, and his portrayals of many of the women, can be offensive to modern ears - lots of servitude and being unable to cope on their own. This is an issue with some parts of the Indian caste system today, but it isn't made obvious enough that it's inappropriate. I also didn't lie the very protracted beginning and set-up along with the tedious introductions to each Incarnation, leaving the final resolution with Satan exceptionally rushed.
That said it's a fast fun read, a clever world still just about hanging together - the first in the series is probably the best though. As usual Satan gets all the best lines, and it is worth thinking about what he says - knowing it to fundamentally true, but also distortingly false. Not as good as I remembered it, but enjoyable flick through read.
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Mym, an Indian prince, defies his father's plans for an arranged marriage, instead joining a traveling circus. He meets Orb, who teaches him to overcome his own handicap of a terrible stutter through song. He is soon
It's kind of awful. But first, the good bits:
1. This book was totally the reason I bought a translation of The Book of Five Rings at age 12, and that is a profound and fascinating work that I still deeply value.
2. ...ummm. Apparently there is no 2.
As usual, the book opens with a lengthy analysis of how attractive the protagonist is to women of all kids. Verdict: irresistible. Nevertheless, he is only attracted to the pure and virginal woman, who promptly spreads her legs for him because he's so awesome. However, she turns out to be nothing more than a minor plot device and promptly disappears offscreen so she can be the longed-for Lost Love for a chapter or two, until...
Mym gets shipped off to the Honeymoon Castle at the behest of his father (who murders women callously to prove a point, namely, that women are worthless interchangeable tokens and the fact that Mym feels bad about this is Weak and Unmanly.) Now, the Honeymoon Castle is actually an interesting device - it's set up so that a) people residing there can hear each other's thoughts and b) they are forced to interact to eat, sleep, or bathe, presumably so proximity will make them fall in love. This of course leads to numerous descriptions of Mym's arranged bride's physical assets, and the various scary things that chase her into his arms whenever they try to rebel firmly establish that while she is intelligent, she is entirely spineless. This is held up as an ideal - in fact, it's why she's a better match than the Blessed Virgin in the opening sequence, because independence is a negative trait in a woman.
Look, it only goes downhill from there, and frankly I'm tired of responding to this appalling crap. On a Pale Horse at least had the redeeming aspect of some relatively serious thoughts about the nature of end-of-life care - this has some lukewarm apologia for War that it's clear the author himself doesn't even really believe. So there's no moral core, and the book is entirely about Mars finding a suitably tractable (and royal, don't forget for a second that he's a prince) mate AND concubine, because obviously his royal prerogative requires both. I'm not even going to get into the confusingly terrible characterization of modern-day India as Generic Fantasy Kingdom #248, Where Everyone Has Long Descriptors Instead of Names.
Skip it. Just... skip it.
Mym is a Prince who stutters. Since he has an older brother who will inherit the throne he finally runs away to join a traveling circus. He starts out doing menial labor, but soon works up to being one of the main attractions as Mym the Mime. He and Orb Kaftan, the
Oh, boy. How utterly frustrating for Mym. First he deals with a severe stutter all his life and then he’s denied the woman he loves and a life he’s happy living. He’s forced into a marriage agreement he doesn’t want and then when the political winds change he’s forced on yet another woman. When the Red Sword comes to him giving him the option to become Mars, well, who can blame him for taking it? I wouldn’t. His dad should have just let him marry Orb. But in taking the sword his trials haven’t ended. Not by a long shot. Now, he has to stay a step ahead of Satan and as the newbie Incarnation he’s at a disadvantage as Satan is going to do what he can to get around Mym and fulfill his evil plans. Will Mym have what it takes to defeat the Father of Lies? All I’ll say is it’s an excellent journey and the final act is sheer brilliance.
This is a truly fun story that is well worth the read. I think that my future readings will have to go on hold as there are four more books in this series...and I want to read them all!
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