Bearing an Hourglass

Out of all the Incarnations, the office of Time seems to be the most baffling one, since Chronos has to live backwards in time. But having power over spacetime (and being able to travel anywhere within) seems to be a more than adequate compensation for having to live backward and seeing everyone move forward. It seems that Mr. Anthony had a LOT of fun writing this book, playing around with the ideas of paradox, time travel, alternate realities, terrene and contraterrene worlds, space travel, and the like. It gets especially heady towards the end, such as the conversation between Chronos and Bemme, or Chronos traveling to the end of time and back and his realization/understanding of time and Satan's lies.

Overall a solid book with a lot show more of philosophical/scientific ideas with more seriousness than 'On a Pale Horse', this book is definitely one of the better in the series. Two thumbs up! show less

This isn't my favorite in the series, it definitely suffers from second in a series syndrome. However, it's a definite must to read because if you skip it you'll miss seeing how the incarnations and their stories are intertwined. There are multiple things in the series you'll miss out on if you don't read this one. Which is why even though it's not a favorite I still give it a 3-star rating. Just remember when these were written there weren't many strong women in the Fantasy genre.

What if death, time, fate, war, nature, evil and good were not mere concepts but offices held by actual people, like any other occupation?

Norton is the man who became Time. Grieving for a love lost and spending his time aimlessly wandering, he accepts the opportunity to become the immortal incarnation of Time. This means living his life backwards with respect to the rest of the world, and assisting Fate in navigating and repairing the great tapestry of life. Norton discovers that it also means extricating himself from the devious traps laid by The Father of Lies himself.

I first read Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality series in high school and thought they were superb. I’m now reading them again and, while I still find the premise show more of Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Good and Evil being mere offices fascinating, the more experienced reader in me is viewing them with a more critical eye. Entirely too much time is spent on Norton’s “visits” to the sci-fi/fantasy realms, and not nearly enough on his experiences while learning his new office. In addition, almost every character in the book is a two-dimensional stereotype, which grows wearisome. show less

Piers Anthony is such a misogynist prick, but he sometimes wrote fun stories. I'd never gotten around to reading the eighth in this series (I didn't even know there was an eighth until maybe five years ago...) and I wanted a light diversion so I can clear my head and focus on a book I'm reviewing. This is a light diversion. His writing always seems pretty shallow, in part due to his approach and methods, and yet with this particular series, he seems to have at least some forethought of how he expected the original five, then seven (and I'll reserve judgment on eight until I eventually read it) books were going to fit together. It's still shallow, but at least there is an overall plan.

4.5

*Book source ~ Home library

One day when Norton is out camping he meets a ghost, Gawain. Gawain is from a noble family with a long lineage, but he died slaying a dragon (well, he thought it was a dragon) before he could marry and father an heir. So his parents arranged a ghost marriage for him and he’s wandering the Earth looking for a suitable man to get his wife pregnant. It is this meeting that changes Norton’s life in a really big way though he doesn’t know it yet.

Book 2 in one of my favorite series is actually my least favorite book because of the Time thing. When Norton becomes Chronos he starts living his life backwards. This is the part where I get lost and no matter how many different times it’s explained by various show more people throughout the book, I still don’t get it or precisely how the hourglass works. I didn’t get it the other times I read it and I had hoped, now that I’m older, I might understand it, but nope. Ah, well. Except for that fact, I did enjoy the story. I love Norton/Chronos. He’s a great character and so well-detailed he feels like a real person. Sning is my next favorite character. I’d love to have a ring like him!

When Satan’s plan is foiled by Death in Book 1, he tries his shenanigans with the new Chronos. Chronos shouldn’t have been so gullible, but who isn't a bit unsure in a new job? And being Chronos was way more than just any ol’ job. Whew! Anyway, despite the whole Time and paradox thing I once again enjoyed Norton’s story very much. show less

Piers Anthony is probably one of the Best Science Fiction/Fantasy authors of the 20th and 21st century. In this series I found On a White Horse and For Love of Evil (this is my second go around this series, except for book 8, Under a Velvet Cloak, which is kinda why I am re-reading the series, to bone up before reading that) are better stories, this is yet another Anthony feat. It does go into Norton's side trips a lot, but they also are explorations on how he learns to use his office. Kind of made me a bit sad, as Chronos is the one incarnation that seems to have a set term in office as well as one that has no mortal retirement, and his love life is quite curtailed. But I think Anthony first thought of a post incarnation life in later show more books. To understand Anthony's creations, you have to realize how he writes. As he writes one book, he annotates thoughts on other potential books in the sidelines. So, all future books (including from differing series) grow as each new book comes out. There was quite a bit of thought in this book and how Chronos' weird existence worked in "real life". That might make this book a bit too cerebral for some, but those areas can be cataloged and take as "Trek Talk" without too much loss to the story. Finally, to address Razinha's negative comment. Anthony stories do cast ladies in more traditional terms then much modern representations, but I would equate Anthony's representations of females as more akin to 2017's Wonder Woman then and denigration thereof. They are, at once, very feminine but still very powerful. With a Tangled Skein, Being a Green Mother and one other in this series alone focus on that feminine strength. Luna is certainly a powerful character seen both in this book and Pale Horse. In fact, this book notes that the most powerful incarnation, might just be the Green Mother. So, in fact, I credit Anthony for being ahead of his time, this series having been written in the 1980s. show less

While I was completely in love with _On a Pale Horse_ I was very much in meh with _Bearing an Hourglass_. Chronos was not as strong as a character, and I cared little about his plot. I know that he was necessary to defeat Satan's ploy this time around, and likely will be again, but I didn't feel drawn to him. I didn't really care if he succeeded.

The character of Sning was by far the most interesting, even though he can only squeeze his responses to Chronos. A character who can only answer in ones, twos and threes - he was the most interesting of the characters. What does that say?

The writing is just as enjoyable in terms of the prose, and there were moments of brilliance in the planning of the story, but for the most part, I was show more unintrigued. Anthony's exploration of the other Incarnations still have a pull for me, so I will continue with the series, but I am not nearly as gung-ho about them. show less