No comments about Being an Hourglass [UNABRIDGED CD] (Audiobook) (Incarnations of Immortality series, Book 2).

No comments about For Love of Evil [UNABRIDGED CD] (Audiobook) (Book 6, Incarnations of Immortality series).

No comments about Bearing an Hourglass.

No comments about With a Tangled Skein [UNABRIDGED CD] (Audiobook) (Book 3, Incarnations of Immortality series).

No comments about For the Love of Evil.

5 comments about Chaos Mode.

1. I have a version of Chaos Mode in which Mr. Anthony describes his reasons for discontinuing the mode series. Apparently, he got a lot of letters of complaint from parents stating that the relationship between Colene and Darius was innapropriate and too graphic. This may have caused the publisher to decide not to continue the series or maybe (and from the letter it sounds this way) Mr. Anthony was offended by all the criticism and decided to discontinue his work as a result of it. In any case, if you're interested I can scan and post the letter somewhere. Just thought you all might like to know.



2. Anthony spends too much time in this book setting up scenery and action and although the characters interact, I don't get the sense that they care too much either way. Colene's science teacher introduction was good, but I can't understand why AFTER she was [forced to make love] she got a crush and started flirting with the teacher. And it was INCREDIBLY convenient that the one thing she remembers in biology has to do with Burgess. An ok read, but didn't make me jump out of my seat.



3. I just finished reading this book last night. I love the Xanth series and I enjoyed the first two books in this series. However, this book is not as good in my mind as the first two. The author spends quite a bit of time repeating what happened in the first two books. It is a series, it would be expected that people would have read them in order and know what was going on. Perhaps there was a long time between the 2nd and 3rd? I didn't check on this so am not sure. There were some very good parts and I did enjoy the interactions between the characters but it did get annoying to keep seeing Colene referred to as a "vessel of dolor". At least use different words once in a while. And it seemed like Colene's parents gave in to her relationship with Darius very easily. I know they were afraid of losing her again and Seqiro helped mentally, but she is only 14 and he is much older. All in all, it was good but seemed rushed. I would still recommend the series and am eagerly waiting to see what happens in DoOon Mode.



4. This is the third book in the "Virtual Mode" series and although I loved the first two, I really didn't like this one as much. Others might though.



5. I have enjoyed his books for a while, and I couldn't wait till the next book came out! Too bad it ended after only four volumes. A fun, light read if you enjoy witty fantasy/sci-fi.

1 comments about And Eternity [UNABRIDGED CD] (Audiobook) (Book 7, Incarnations of Immortality series).

1. Through my local library, I was able to listen to ALL Of the books in this series on CD. I enjoyed the series immensely. I won't comment on the content of the novels; it should suffice to say that that they are giddy, thought-provoking reads. I will, however, comment on the audio treatment of them, because that is the kind of opinion I'd look for while reading reviews of the recorded book.
   
   The first four books were narrated by George Guidall, who did an outstanding job of bringing out the humanity in all characters; even his renditions of female voices is *right on*. Barbara Caruso took over beginning with book 5 "Being a Green Mother." While I had no problem with her voice, she added a more "royal" affect when incarnations spoke. This becomes increasingly annoying and inconsistent by book 7 ("And Eternity")when every incarnation sounds like he/she has a stick up their arse. It sounds like Caruso channels Orson Wells every single time an incarnation has anything to say, completely contrasting the narration performances in the previous audio books. The narration overall is adequate with that one little quirk that detracted from my overall enjoyment of the series.

5 comments about Virtual Mode.

1. I sympathize with the reviewer who said that the first few pages of _Virtual Mode_ turned them off of the book. I was given this novel as a gift when I was about eleven or so; I, too, read the opening passage and was disturbed into putting the book away, not touching it again for another year. Yet once I really began to read it, I found myself drawn into a grim reality where even the wonders of magic cannot compensate for the horrors of the human psyche.

   I adore the protagonists: Colene, the mentally and emotionally twisted young woman whose attitudes and perceptions have been skewed almost beyond recognition; Darius, a man whose rigid sense of honor threatens to strangle his chances of happiness; Seqiro, Prima, and all the rest. Their conflicts and challenges may not be the stuff of epic fantasy, but they're interesting and can give one food for thought. Most moving of all, at least for me, was the exploration of Colene's emotions, history, and motivations. Anthony doesn't whitewash her situation: she's a deeply disturbed individual, and one who has cause to be that way.

   I must admit, though, that as much as I love this book, I couldn't recommend that children--or possibly adolescents--read it without reservations. The folk who've said that it's full of sex are right; further, there's blood, vulgarity, remembered rape, and a host of other such things. While they add to the power of the story, they might (or might not) be considered inappropriate for younger readers. I doubt my mother would have gotten it for me when she did had she known what it was really about... but then, I didn't have any problems understanding it and certainly wasn't traumatized by it.

   It's also true that the heroine is awfully young for all of the sexual situations she gets into, and that one could see the portrayal of women as sexist if one really wanted to do so. I personally read and enjoyed the story without worrying about such things, but I think that anyone who says _Virtual Mode_ shows sexism just may have a point. (Anthony *has* begun to disturb me in recent years with his fixation on the sexiness of very, very young women, but that's a subject better reserved for a Xanth review.) If such things offend you, you may wish to give this a skip.

   Otherwise, I can say with enthusiasm that I feel _Virtual Mode_ to be a wonderful novel, one whose story and characters have stayed with me for years. Readers who enjoyed Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series may find this one especially appealing, as its resemblance to that saga seems much more pronounced than any to the perpetually punny Xanth.




2. As a longtime fan of Piers Anthony, I wasn't overly impressed with this book, or the remainder of the series (although I haven't read it all yet, and I do intend to finish it). I didn't feel drawn into the characters, and the story itself didn't enthrall me. However, this may be mainly because I am not the target audience for this series; judging by other reader reviews I have read, adolescent females feel a very strong bond to the lead character, and the book seems to touch thier emotions on a very personal level. I feel this is one of Anthony's strengths, the ability to write very specifically to his audience, and reach them completely, even if this lowers the appeal for others. If you are not an adolescent female, or have not been one, this may not be the book for you. However, it may provide some insight into what motivates and interests today's female youth.



3. I was completely unprepared for the depth of the main character in this book. Mr. Anthony writes as if he knows what it is really like to be this character. The adventures in the book are thrilling and they keep you interested. The writing assumes that the reader is intelligent and remains fascinating and page-turning from beginning to end.



4. I was disturbed by the portrait of the young self-injuring woman and her sexual behavior, not because she was depressed and sexually active, but of the way it was described. First off, many self-injurers (cutters) are NOT suicidal. They may be depressed and angry and abused, but cutting can be a way to hold on, not let go.
   
   Secondly, no girl who has just been raped would "smile" and permit a couple other guys to rape her. I'm not saying she would or wouldn't resist, but she certainly wouldn't act as if the boys had just done something mildly offensive. Does the whole thought of rape turn the author on so he can honestly not imagine a girl enjoying it or at least pretend to? It seems so.
   
   Also, I found the character of Colene rather bizarre. In one scene, she's writing to her imaginary horsie, the next she's performing a striptease and slicing up her arm. If a girl really had all those sexual experiences, she'd be too jaded to believe in imaginarry horses. Take it from a former young horse lover. No girl that extensively sexually abused/raped would care one way or another about imaginary horses - unless perhaps she was very young.



5. I really liked this story. Of course, a book like this is not about to end. That's what makes it so interesting. The adventure of Colene exploring to find her true love and then they finally meet eachother after all of the different worlds that they crossed. I can't wait to read the rest. I ordered the rest of the mode series. I plan to read them all and then I'll start reading his xanth series. I can't wait to find out what goes on next.

5 comments about Fractal Mode.

1. Perhaps slightly better than Virtual Mode, but not by much. Again, I recommend this for juveniles and not adults. It seemed to me that the book was really a series of short stories strung together. There is the initial conflict with the despots of Nona's world but Anthony gets away from that quickly but returns to it in the end to wrap things up. Darius is really a minor character in this book which is surprising. The sexual references are getting really old by now. Anthony's description of fractals is hard to follow, and I was a math major! An illustration in a future edition would benefit the reader in showing the layout of the Fractal Mode. On to Chaos Mode which will finish up this series. If there is another book in this series, I plan to steer clear of it.



2. I think that people looking for a book that they can just chill with, litrally switch their brain off and read are going to hate this book. It has references to maths, explanations of magic, totally-twisty landscapes, in depth character profiles and a totally confusing multi-reality storyline. Oh, and some sexual references too, which might wake some up. This is the second book of the series that touched me, I love it and could recommend it (and have) to anyone. Read it, read them all! I await the arrival of my Chaos Mode book.. and whats this I hear about another!



3. This book is very interesting, covering a variety of topics from child abuse to in-depth discussion of fractals, love to culture, society to magic. Piers shows an acute knowledge of the scientific aspects of what he writes about. The book seemed to focus a little too much on helping Nona, and not enough about the MAIN characters, but this didn't detract from the book too much. The settings are varied, as always with Anthony, as are the characters. Anthony provides much insight to what Colene is thinking, which I think is the most interesting part of the book-- to see how she reacts mentally to things like stress, Darius, her parents, etc. There are heartwarming moments, and some interesting happenings back at good old normal Earth. Many different things happen, settings change quickly, minor characters come and go, but the plot runs smoothly enough and what the gang learns along the way is interesting and their adventures are still fun, sometimes amusing--they get stuck in one really odd situation in Nona's reality! If you read Virtual Mode and are interested in how Colene and Darius' relationship will grow and change, and how Nona plays into their scheme, and if Colene and Darius will EVER settle down back in Darius' home reality...this is a good book for you.



4. Like the first book in this series "Virtual Mode", this is another wonderful trip into an area never gone to before in a novel and a unique way of getting there. As a writer, Mr. Anthony never ceases to amaze me! He always entertains while educating you at the same time.



5. This is the second novel of the mode series, and it is much worse than the first! The same cast of characters return here: Darius, Provos, Colene, and Seqiro, and a new one is added, Nona. The story features Nona predominently.
   The mathematical concepts Anthony uses in Fractal Mode--the Mandelbrot Set and the Julia Set--are not very well explained and do not lend themselves well to the imagination. The Fractal universe's construction was very confusing and it felt like an inept math professor was trying to shove their erroneous agenda down my throat. For those interested in fractals, check out the Mandelbrot Set, which is actually fairly simple to understand in math terms. In literature, not so much.
   The rest of the story is awful. There are sections wherein the main characters are forced to breed with underground people. There are still further sections which seem to obsess over the female form. In this novel, Anthony mentions a woman followed by a "her sexy way", "in the manner of her sex", and similar ilk EVERY SINGLE TIME. I have no problem with the female form; gratuitous explanations of it in this book, however, are simply ridiculous.
   The two-dimensional characters plod along on their relatively plotless adventure through a fractal universe where the BAD MALE MAGICIANS OF THE ANIMUS are oppressing the SERF MAGICIANS and only the FEMALE MAGICIAN OF THE ANIMA can bring order to the world. Huh?
   The worst part of this is probably the writing. There are many times when Anthony's characters discuss a complex solution to a problem, how to implement it, and prepare to. Then there is a short sentence say "they did it." No explanation, no detail, nothing. In addition to that, the dialogue really makes you want to retch sometimes with how plainly stupid it is. There are also large, superfluous portions of the novel dedicated to side stories with almost nothing to do with the overall story. I can only hope that books three and four are better than this one. Anthony can do much better.

5 comments about DoOon Mode.

1. As an Anthony fan for 19 years I was deeply dissappointed in this book. It was not as well crafted as previous books in the series and the characters and plot lacked cohesion. I particularly disliked the inclusion of the rape and child abuse scenes - they added nothing to the plot and could have been handled better.



2. We get a conclusion, but it is unsatisfactory. I feel that the last few pages was hurried and not planned as good as they could have been.
   But I guess that any finish is better than none.
   Since I have read all the other books by Piers Anthony I know that he can do better.
   Read the book. But dont expect too much.



3. Theirs would be an ideal romance if it were not for a variety of issues- Colene is a teen ager and Darius and adult, Darius, as king must marry a woman he can draw joy from- and Colene is locked in melancholia, and there's an insane emperor who wants to destroy them. Other than that, Colene and Darius have a perfect love. However, now they have a few more allies in overcoming these obstacles. Clones of themselves banded together with human/animal beings who are part of the emperor's game will help them try to beat the odds, along with the friends who have gone with the couple through the modes of reality on their quest. In this exciting, quirky and strangely hopeful novel, once more Piers Anthony makes use of the greatest magic of all- love, to defeat unimaginable evil.
   
   Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.



4. There is a kind of book, I particularly dislike. In it the main character is pretty, sexy, intelligent, resourceful, etc., etc., as well as sexually appealing to every single character of the opposite sex regardless of how inappropriate this is. The character may have a single flaw - but nothing that interferes with the pretty, sexy, intelligence. The author goes to exhaustive pains to make this clear to the reader.
   
   This is such a book. We learn over and over and over that the character has a sexy body (she's 14) and is pretty. Why? Who knows? Maybe the author was in love with her himself. We get descriptions of the character's body ad nauseam. In very little time, I longed to throw the book across the room.
   
   There isn't much action, just traveling from different Modes, but nothing really serious in the way of danger. The heroine deals with some painful memories by reliving them, and the way they are described seemed unnecessarily graphic. If you ask me, the writer wasn't sure whether he was writing a porn novel or a sci-fi/fantasy book.
   
   The other characters have little distinguishing traits (except that they are Good or Evil, but always, always in love with the protagonist). The resolution with the parents and the protagonist was too good to be true and really read like a bad fantasy scene in a teen's imagination.
   
   Over all, I found myself thinking: Who cares? Repeatedly.
   
   Skip this one. Please.



5. It was good to finally find closure to this series, though it seems as if this last book was a little stale compared to the other three. Also, the child molestation descriptions were far too gratuitus and gave creepy detailed dialog between the children and the man performing the acts...