Teen Cafe’

After blazing through the first two books of Incarnations of Immortality, On a Pale Horse and Bearing an Hourglass, I could not wait to read the third. The book began the same as the others, focusing on the mortal life of the Incarnation and moving in towards their time as an Immortal. Piers Anthony’s odd sense of humor is back once again, with a woman’s spin on it. The main character of this book, Fate, is composed of three women of different ages. While the book is based on Fate, it focuses mostly on Niobe (who becomes Clotho and Lachesis). Atropos is the third part of the three characters of Fate, and is not talked about as much as the other two, but still is an important part of the story. The book is once again drastically different than the first two books, making it all the more fun to read. Also, now that I know the jest of how the tales are told, I know what to expect.

This book does something very different, as it has the same character take on the role of different aspects of the same Incarnation. Niobe acts as Clotho, the youngest version of Fate, returns to her mortal life, and then later becomes the middle-aged Lachesis, another part of Fate. It was quite interesting to see an Incarnation return to his previous mortal life after being Immortal.

The story does fill in some family tree elements, as you learn that Niobe is the grandmother of Luna, who is the wife of Zane from On a Pale Horse and is the Fate who had relations with Norton from Bearing an Hourglass. It is also told that Niobe’s other daughter, Orb, will become an Incarnation herself and marry Satan. This story does indeed shed some light on things to come, but also creates many new mysteries. The book truly lives up to the greatness of the first two and does so in its own way.

Pros: Great story, does things the other stories did not do, keeping the series fresh, Explains things in the story that shed light on the relation of the characters

Cons: Does not explore such unique areas as the other two did

Overall: 8.5/10