Kristoffer Hayward
Staff Writer

Death, time, war, nature, and fate come together as human incarnations in Piers Anthony’s underrated Incarnations of Immortality series.

Throughout the series, the incarnations manage the various details of humanity while dealing with a vile incarnation of evil.

The book series takes an episodic look at each incarnation in turn. The first, titled “On a Pale Horse” takes a look at the incarnation of death.

The book covers all the vestiges of the office ‘Death’ on top of easing the reader into a world where technology and magic compete among the mundane.

The protagonist is a sort of everyman named Zack, who seems to always be on luck’s bad side.

Zack is broke, jobless, loveless, in the bad part of town and has spent the last of his meager earnings on a lark.

Eventually, the poor guy lands himself in front of Death himself and has the chance to assume his position.

The series has been around for a good 30 years, though it seems to have passed under the radar compared to some titles like ‘A Game of Thrones’ or ‘Twilight.’

It offers a unique view to the magic versus technology argument, as well as giving an in-depth view on the world, all while a secret structure keeps the order.

A word of warning: Piers Anthony enjoys to toy with the idea of love and lust. Some potential readers might find the allusions and casual manner of lightly described nudity a little tasteless.

There’s also a good segment later about religion and a view that may offend some devout readers. There isn’t any malice in the story towards religion, only an interesting view that some might not agree with.

Overall, the series spans five original books, two expanded incarnations and a print to order not-quite incarnation. Don’t let the series pass without a look; it’s written so anyone can just stop the series whenever they feel satisfied.