On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony

Rating: 5.0

What it's about:
When Zane shot Death, he learned, too late, that he would have to assume his place, speeding over the world riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others. Sooner than he would have thought possible, Zane found himself being drawn to Satan's plot. Already the Prince of Evil was forging a trap in which Zane must act to destroy Luna, the woman he loved...unless he could discover the only way out....
The first novel of the INCARNATIONS OF IMMORATLITY series. - from Barnes&Noble.com

My thoughts:
On a Pale Horse is like no other book I've read. It is mostly open dialogue. Most books have have a balance of sorts between open dialogue, internal dialogue like thoughts and feelings, and descriptives of people and places. On a Pale Horse is mostly the former. It gets where it wants to go through conversations and discussions.

This novel is all about death and what it means to die. After Zane kills the Grim Reaper, he must replace him as the incarnation of Death. Now Zane's job is to go around the world on his pale horse Mortis, taking the souls of dying people who are balanced between good and evil. He then has to read the soul to figure out if it's good enough for Heaven or if it is too corrupt and must suffer eternity in Hell. If you are an atheist and don't believe in an afterlife (like the author Piers Anthony) then upon death you just cease to exist. Along the way, Zane meets with all kinds of dying people in all kinds of circumstances. Through discussions between Zane and his "clients", some pretty profound subject matter is considered. Take for instance Zane's discussion with the atheist. Zane asked the atheist if he is afraid of dying knowing that he will cease to exist. Here is the atheist's response: "I have no terror of the nonexistence before I was conceived; why should I fear the nonexistence after I die?" Other issues Zane has to weigh are incest, human euthanasia, suicide and more. Zane learns that to die is not something to be feared. It can be a beautiful end of pain and suffering. Throughout the novel, Death meets the other Incarnations: Time, Fate, War and Nature. He also meets Satan and takes an interesting tour of Hell. On a Pale Horse is not always deep conversation, it has it's funny moments too. The (sometimes) beautiful Luna brings romance to the story as well.

For a book concerning itself with the afterlife, On a Pale Horse does not concern itself with religion of any kind. It deals solely with morality and mortality. If you are interested in ethics and ethos then I highly recommend On a Pale Horse. It's the first Piers Anthony book I've read but I guarantee it won't be the last!