On a Pale Horse

     On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony is a high urban fantasy story, the first in a series, that explores the investiture of a new aspect of Death, and the underlying conspiracy that occasioned it.

     First and foremost, On a Pale Horse is an older book and does show it age in regards to its female characters, reducing them primarily to plot devices and eye-candy. Luna, our female lead, is not the most egregious example of this, as she is permitted both a personality and to engage in complex thoughts and emotions, but the criticism remains and will affect many reader’s ability to enjoy the story.

     That being said, the books greatest strength is its exploration of its concept: that of an individual being invested with the powers and obligations of Death. Much of the story is devoted to this, both the exploration of the fantastical elements and how they influence and exist in the world, but also more on the psychological side as well. The story functions as a soft meditation on death, and peoples relationship with it, particularly our main character’s. None of the meditation delves overly deeply, or engages in particularly convoluted concepts or situations, but it does fill out the character story and adds layers that assist the story in rising above a simple action adventure. The fantasy exploration of Death is fun, with sufficient mystery, slow discovery, and a light sprinkling of power moments to create an engaging narrative.

     The fantasy elements as a whole are strong for On a Pale Horse, with magic in general abounding in myriad ways and concepts. The fantasy in this book in genuinely ‘high’ and is fun simply to explore, particularly since it avoids restricting itself to the paradigms of medieval/war fantasy or school fantasy.

     The characterization is generally serviceable for the book; we have only one real character in Zane  (our lead) and the rest exist to serve their function in the story. Zane is relatively rewarding as he explores his new role and gradually grows into competence with it, he has darker themes to his character that add depth and some meat to his past decisions. However, he still is mostly subject to the author’s narrative, with the primary decisions he makes being those the plot necessitates.

     The plot itself is strong, but won’t be to everyone’s taste. The first half of the story is devoted to the exploration of it concept and dropping hints as to an underlying conspiracy, which then evolves into the core conflict in the latter half.  The core conflict and mystery elements are fun, rewarding, and decently clever.

     All in all, if one can ignore some of the book’s more edited themes, On a Pale Horse is a fun, high urban fantasy exploration of its concept.