Book Review: Bearing An Hourglass

I finished this book by Piers Anthony a couple weeks ago but kept forgetting to write a review on it. This is the second book in the incarnation series. The first “On A Pale Horse” I reviewed back in July of this year. This book focuses on the aspect of Time and I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book. However, I’m about half way through the third book “With a Tangled Skein” and it is helping me (in retrospect) developer a deeper appreciation for this volume.


The story goes quite a bit down the road before Norton becomes the incarnation of time. I was beginning to wonder if it ever would. I enjoyed the prelude to Norton accepting his office but I’m not sure it was really needed and it now seems like filler. Also, the book twice left the world of these incarnations to become a short space and then short fantasy saga. It was very bewildering for me at the time but it came together at the end very well.

I’ve seen one review on Amazon that says this book is a connector between the first and third books. I would have to agree (although I haven’t finished the third book yet). There is a interesting concept in the book in which Norton lives time backwards (our future is his past and vice versa). This was an interesting mechanism but there was a section in the book in which it was more cumbersome that enlightening.

All in all, I recommend this book but I think you should have measured expectations.