And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality, #7)

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And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality #7)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 7,196 ratings · 112 reviews

In Pursuit of the Ultimate Good

After an overwhelming succession of tragedies, life has finally, mercifully ended for Orlene, once-mortal daughter of Gaea.

Joined in Afterlife by Jolie -- her protector and the sometime consort of Satan himself -- together they seek out a third: Vita, a very contemporary mortal with troubles, attractions, and an unsettling moral code uniquely...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published February 1st 1991 by Harper Voyager (first published January 1990)

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Dec 22, 2007 Kewpie rated it 1 of 5 stars

I used to love reading Piers Anthony. I started in the mid eighties, reading all of the Xanth, Blue Adept and Incarnations of Immortality series. Somewhere around book 14 of Xanth, I got sort of a creepy feeling reading his books. The stories seemed to focus more and more on panties and young teens discovering sex in a very childlike manner. The final Blue adept book made me uncomfortable for the same reasons.

However, this book blew me away. One of the characters in the book was a judge in his...more

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Oct 16, 2008 Nate rated it 1 of 5 stars

There were a few things to love about this book - the concept behind it, its thought-provoking nature at times, and several great scenes. The problem is that there were too many bad things - offensively bad things - to count. I say this as a lifelong Piers Anthony fan - I read with enthusiasm all the biographical Author's Notes from this series, and I remember him fondly as the famous author who responded to a letter from my sister in the mid-80s with a thoughtful critique of the short story she...more There were a few things to love about this book - the concept behind it, its thought-provoking nature at times, and several great scenes. The problem is that there were too many bad things - offensively bad things - to count. I say this as a lifelong Piers Anthony fan - I read with enthusiasm all the biographical Author's Notes from this series, and I remember him fondly as the famous author who responded to a letter from my sister in the mid-80s with a thoughtful critique of the short story she wrote and sent her personal advice on how to make it as a writer. The lost potential made me even angrier at the end of the book than I would have been if it had no redeeming qualities.

This book makes clear Piers Anthony's strange obsession with underage girls. There's something wrong when you write up the character of a middle-aged man who "falls in love" and repeatedly has sex with a 15-year old girl and have every other character try to justify this by saying "age is just a construct," and "they're really in love."

In Lolita, the story was at least presented without glorifying pedophilia - instead, it seemed designed to make you feel uncomfortable by following the point of view of a very flawed villainous figure and showing the damage that resulted from the violation of trust when a grown man pursued a sexual relationship with a young girl. Here, it is clear from the outset that the design is to try and convince you that there is nothing wrong with it.

He doesn't even try a "she may be 15, but she's much older in maturity" angle. The "good" main character says that he fantasizes about young girls, and what he likes about her is her immaturity. Anthony even takes pains to repeatedly highlight just how young the girl is. She starts about half her sentences with "Gee!", including sexual quotes that appear out of nowhere for absolutely no reason, like "Gee, I wish I could be having sex with [my 50-year-old boyfriend] right now!" The older man refers to her with pet names like "my juvenile delight."

Dialogue that was so over the top that it was funny (With lines along the lines of, "I must admit, although this tryst we have just completed has me spent, I will do my utmost to recuperate with haste in order to achieve a reiteration"), an awkward Evolution vs. Creationism debate (in which the 15-year-old runaway drug addict prostitute somehow knows enough about science to be the champion of Evolution), and repeated pointless sex scenes round out why this book could have been very good, but instead was a big disappointment.(less)

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Mar 13, 2011 Peter added it · review of another edition

Interesting theme: Piers Anthony, in his Incarnations of Immortality series, has done what no author has done before (or, at least not as well). He described some of the most difficult to explain aspects of our existance. Of course, he does that from his point of view, but it is very surprising, and, in the end, amazing, how much thought is put into each of the books.

Anthony has had difficulty coming up with appropriate event sequences in prior books, as is most apparent in the 3rd one, The Tang

...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Wes rated it 1 of 5 stars

One of the worst books I've ever read.

If you can get past the blatant sexism, the poor character delineations, and that the male lead of each of his books is probably Piers Anthony himself, then the Incarnations of Immortality probably isn't too bad.

But this book is bad in so many ways.

The premise is that our failings is all God's fault, so God needs to be replaced by someone who is flawed enough to care about Humanity. And somehow, only Satan, the arch-enemy of God, is the only one who can pick...more

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Nov 11, 2012 Delicious Strawberry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: piers-anthony

This book isn't the best of the series. While all the other Incarnations books were brilliant (my personal favorites were Time, Fate, and especially Evil), this book falls flat of its predecessors. Orlene is supposed to be the main character, but Jolie, Satan's mistress, plays a bigger role. This book did not feel very well-thought out, with Nox wanting Gaw-Two (and what she did to Orlene in the beginning). This in itself doesn't make sense (especially when Piers Anthony said he was done with th...more

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May 02, 2012 Matthew rated it 2 of 5 stars

As he got older, Piers Anthony's writing became much more like that of a dirty old man. The best I can describe it would be that he began to write trashy romance for teen boys with much less romance and a lot more of the trash.

It's been a long time since I read his books (just playing catch-up on my Goodreads account book reviews), but as I recall, he took some sort of a break from writing at some point after he wrote the original Xanth series. Somewhere around book 12-14 or so of the Xanth seri...more

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Jan 14, 2012 David Sarkies rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

This is the last of this series that I have read, though I note that Piers Anthony recently wrote an Eighth novel, which I suspect is about the incarnation of night. However I will not really consider this novel to be a part of the seven book series as it appears that this book brings the series to a reasonably conclusive end. I do believe that I have read this book, but it was such a long time ago that I am very vague of what happened (which is where Wikipedia comes in).
The ideas in this book...more This is the last of this series that I have read, though I note that Piers Anthony recently wrote an Eighth novel, which I suspect is about the incarnation of night. However I will not really consider this novel to be a part of the seven book series as it appears that this book brings the series to a reasonably conclusive end. I do believe that I have read this book, but it was such a long time ago that I am very vague of what happened (which is where Wikipedia comes in).
The ideas in this book seem to flow from the rest of the series, and as we come to this book we finally come to understand where Anthony is heading with this series. In the last book we go into Satan's mind to discover that while he was the incarnation of evil, he was not necessarily evil himself. In this book we deal with the incarnation of Good, that is God, however, like the last book, we learn that God is not necessarily good, but rather a pompous git that really does not care about anybody beyond his own self importance.
I guess the conclusions of this series mimic where we ourselves are at in our time. However there is a slight difference. It is not a new thing that humanity looks up at God and tells him to get lost. This has been happening since the fall. We have all created our own idea of what God is like and we refuse to actually attempt to get to know what the real God is like. I guess this book really just relects a mirror upon how we as a people view God.
The other aspect is that the UN, through debate and political maneuvering, depose God and then propose to elect a new, and better, God. As far as we are concerned, God is not doing his job, so needs to be replaced. This we consider that reality, and eternity, is just like another nation or corporation. If the goverrnment, or the board, is not doing their job, we turf them out and elect new ones. Once again, there is a blurring between what is good and evil, turning evil into good and good into evil; turning the protagonist into the antagonist, and vice versa.'
After considering the final book in this series, I am unlikely, actually highly unlikely, to ever return to them, and I guess my encounters with Piers Anthony will end with the Bio of a Space Tyrant series, which is the last series of his that I actually read.(less)

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Nov 09, 2010 Daimen Vauban rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Let me start with this. I had already resolved to give this novel no more than 2.5 stars. The fact that I have bestowed an additional half a star has to do with how well the book redeemed itself once reaching Chapter 12. Mind you, there are only 14 chapters. The first 11 chapters really feel more like an exploration of Mr. Anthony's views on sexuality and morality rather than a story of entertainment for its readers. It just did not mesh. There were certain points interspersed throughout the fir...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Kevin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

it took me 20 years to find a copy of this book... a virtual eternity. in the end, i found it a less than solid finish to a great fantasy series but still an enjoyable read from Anthony.

Orlene, Jolie, and a mortal girl named Vita (punch me in the metaphorical face, why doncha) must visit each Incarnation on a quest initiated by Nox -the eighth, eldest, and most mysterious Incarnation. in the end, a new Incarnation of Good (aka God) is installed and all is well with the world.

the story is a bit r...more it took me 20 years to find a copy of this book... a virtual eternity. in the end, i found it a less than solid finish to a great fantasy series but still an enjoyable read from Anthony.

Orlene, Jolie, and a mortal girl named Vita (punch me in the metaphorical face, why doncha) must visit each Incarnation on a quest initiated by Nox -the eighth, eldest, and most mysterious Incarnation. in the end, a new Incarnation of Good (aka God) is installed and all is well with the world.

the story is a bit rushed and no time is devoted to describing the job of the Incarnation of Good as there was in all the other books. i wanted to see Anthony's perspective on how that Office would acquit itself. we did with all the rest, why not with this one? did he want THE office to remain aloof and mysterious? beyond the reach of mortal comprehension? then he shouldn't fill that office with a mortal. frankly, i think he didn't know quite how to do it and so relegated himself to a review of the previous books as though doing a new year's recap of events or a nostalgic farewell to all the characters we have come to know and love.

new definitions of good and evil are dealt with, too, albeit in a clumsy manner. others have mentioned Anthony's increasing predilection for describing underage sex in other books of his but to actually read it was somewhat disturbing. while the concept that maturity based on age is an illusion and arbitrarily defined by individual cultures might have merit, Anthony does not do well demonstrating it in this book: the relationship he sets forth as his prime example is simply not believable and feels like an excuse for him to write some soft core of his liking.

he also tackles the evolution vs. creation debate and utterly loses on this one attempting to walk an egalitarian line between them saying that they both are valid while completely neglecting epistemological understandings of the concept of "evidence" and "belief." reading the author's notes at the end of the book, however, added to my confusion because he states plainly that he is firmly in the scientific camp with evolution and sings the praises of Richard Dawkins's The Blind Watchmaker.

apart from these philosophical and moralistic concerns, the book is entertaining and engaging and does provide a way to say goodbye to the series even if it is a bit lacklustre in its method.(less)

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Oct 22, 2009 Amanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I’m now almost done with the whole Incarnations of Immortality series. Had I read this several years ago, I would have been done, but Anthony snuck in one last book about the Incarnation of Night and so I still have that one to read.

I had been looking forward to “And Eternity,” but I was slightly disappointed in most of it. For me, it was kind of boring and the character of Vita was annoying. I understood her to be young and naïve and she was that, I just didn’t think she was good at being that...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Erika Bayler rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone with an open mind

Shelves: wonderfulness

This book is the final installment of a seven book series. I however, did not know it when I read it. Once I finished this amazing book, I was demanding more and that is when I realized it was part of a series. I enjoyed it so much that I went back and read all of the other six books and reread this one. It is truly an amazing series, just for the simple fact that it showed me that I wasn't alone on beliefs or ideas that I have.

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May 26, 2012 Justin rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommended to Justin by: Adrian

Shelves: fantasy, read-before-goodreads, abominations-unto-the-lord, read-in-1990s, read-in-2000s

So. I read this when I was about fifteen, and I learned that men who don't rape women are automatically noble creatures because it's really hard not to rape. Once I start taking testosterone I'll let you know if I get a sudden urge to go around raping people, but I'm going to go ahead and guess with "no".

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Jul 09, 2012 Carly rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012

I wish I had not paused to read another book between this one and book six, it messed up my grove, and may have influenced my rating.

This is the culmination of all the previous books. We learned from each of the previous incarnations that there are rules they must follow, even if they seem unfair or even wrong. All the incarnations wish to change them, but the only one with that power has not involved himself with mortals (or immortals) for...centuries at least: the incarnation as good, facilit...more

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May 18, 2013 Matt rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was the second time that Piers Anthony was going to end the Incarnations of Immortality series. The first ending was book 5, then he added two more books: the quite good For Love of Evil about Satan, and this one, about God.

The book follows the ghost Orlene as she goes on a quest to revive her dead ghost baby who had been kidnapped by Nox. Sound silly? Well, that’s because it is. In the process, there is some Incarnation politicking and a weird Lolita-like romance that seems creepily ratio...more

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Dec 25, 2011 Patrick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-series, reviewed

Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality was an engaging and fascinating series. From On a Pale Horse to, what I believe is the best, For Love of Evil, I was hooked on the series. And Eternity is the final conclusion of the series, ending with the ultimate Incarnation, the Incarnation of God. (Note: I’m not counting Under a Velvet Cloak here.) While the first five books were solid on their own right, For Love of Evil really gave an entirely new perspective on the whole series and worked nicel...more Piers Anthony’s Incarnations of Immortality was an engaging and fascinating series. From On a Pale Horse to, what I believe is the best, For Love of Evil, I was hooked on the series. And Eternity is the final conclusion of the series, ending with the ultimate Incarnation, the Incarnation of God. (Note: I’m not counting Under a Velvet Cloak here.) While the first five books were solid on their own right, For Love of Evil really gave an entirely new perspective on the whole series and worked nicely as a sequel to a series meant to be finished. However, And Eternity was a rather disappointing follow-up to a wonderful book and a less than exhilarating conclusion to an otherwise excellent series.

The book takes a somewhat different route than the first five. Rather than Orlene taking up the Office of Good and battling it out with Satan, it instead focuses on her trying to save her baby. For this, Nox requires some sort of item from each Incarnation, which leads to many trials for Orlene. In doing so, she teams up with Jolie, Parry/Satan’s old wife and Vita, the singer from book 5, Being a Green Mother, who is apparently now a whore on a drug known as Spelled H.

I know Piers Anthony is notorious for being somewhat immature, but he really takes it to a whole new level this time. Vita, being a whore, often shows her naughtier side, particularly with a much older judge. Like any Incarnations book, there are a lot of sex scenes, but none so uncomfortable or out of place than here including Nox changing Orlene into a man who attempts rape Jolie or the subtler moment where Jolie forgets to where clothing because she’s used to being a ghost. There are further scenes where Vita almost gets raped and/or threatened to get raped. While some may try to argue that since sex is just a natural part of life, it should be put into a novel without any reluctance, to me, Piers Anthony still has those strange fetishes he has yet to don.

While there are some interesting things that happen, the novel tends to stray quite a bit from actually talking about the Incarnation of Good. The book seems to go off in no real direction and lacks the emotional tension or epic scope of the last novels. There are some interesting parts, such as the debate between creationism and evolution. Like the last book, there is some definition about what defines good and evil. However, the book just seems to meander on in no precise direction and is too littered with sexual scenes that are seemingly intended for nothing more than fan service.

Incarnations of Immortality has quickly become one of my favorite series, but sadly, And Eternity is an extremely disappointing conclusion to what was an otherwise great series. I’d say read this one if you have to but otherwise, just stick to the first six. It works as an attempt to wrap everything up, but For Love of Evil does the same thing much better.
(less)

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Apr 20, 2012 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy-fiction

The ghost of Jolie, the ghost of Orlene, and a 14 year old drug addicted prostitute named Vita try to save Orlene's child, Gawain II. Nox the incarnation of night promises to help but needs some items of great power from all the other incarnations. In their journey they find that definitions of good and evil which are used to judge souls for heaven or hell are flawed, and the incarnation of good(God) has become obsessed with his own greatness and completely unresponsive to the outside world. Giv...more

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Oct 03, 2007 Jadon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciencefiction-altreality, fantasy

Replace God? Awesome idea. Kudos to you, Piers.

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Mar 20, 2013 Roger Boone rated it 2 of 5 stars

Loved the whole series, this one though; he just wandered around telling stupid stories until he found it within himself to tie some of them together and turn in his paper. I really think he lost inspiration at some point. There was an outline of a good story, but it was clear he had to just fill in the gaps with "stuff". He is a good writer, so the stuff turned out to be well worded and a little bit interesting; but still... The contrast was clear; real story; stuff about ample breasts and pret...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Robert Day rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Incarnations of Immortality books are pretty silly stuff really (in my opinion - naturally; you might well love them!). The bits at the ends of the books where the author writes how he wrote the books are more interesting and make me more sympathetic towards the series. Why did I read them then? Well, someone lent them to me and I'm just that combination of 'too polite to say no' and 'willing to try something different' to go for it.
I enjoyed the ones with a make protagonist more than those...more

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Jun 23, 2010 Trinity rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This is an interesting universe, which is what kept me reading through the whole series (though I understand there is an eighth story out now). Anthropomorphicizing these aspects of our culture can bring an added dimension to our understanding of them, and adds a human-ness to them at the same time. Who *is* God? And how did zie get to *be* God? Does zie ever make a mistake?

However, this book took some of the interpersonal and familial relationships between all the Incarnations to a fairly ridic...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Nick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: owned, audiobooks, 2011-challenge

The earthly incarnations of Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature and Evil have all been explained in the Incarnations of Immortality series and finally Piers Anthony tackles probably the most challenging aspect yet, that of Good. And Eternity focuses on a God that has become ambivalent to the mortal realm and has effectively become a non-existent incarnation. The determinations of what qualifies as sin have become outdated, but with no incarnation of Good available to realign the definitions of good a...more

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Sep 14, 2010 David Schick rated it 4 of 5 stars

The final book in the series (not technically, but for me it will be) that replaces all of the aspects of our world that people normally take for granted. As seems to be the case throughout this series, the actual change-in-office happened later and later in each book. This book has it finally happening within a page of two of the end.

To be honest, I was getting tired of these books recently. I was technically re-reading them, since I had read them all as a teenager, and maybe youth is necessar...more

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Apr 02, 2009 Omly rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was clearly designed to wrap up the series. This certainly is not a book to pick up this series with. Two ghosts (characters we have met previously in the series) help out a young mixed-racial, under-age prostitute. Due to the content there, multiple instances of attempted rape, physical and sexual violence, and more of Anthony's philosophizing about the uncontrollable sexual urges of men this is not a great choice for younger fantasy readers or those who just like to avoid that sort o...more

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Dec 29, 2012 Melody Wingfield rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was not up to the standards of the others. It seemed to veer off of the exposition of the office through character exploration done in the other books. After the incredible high of book 6 (my favorite), this was a let-down. Some of the ideas expressed tried to pull the book back on rail towards the God-destination, but it just didn't roll down the line with any speed or sense of direction or smoothness. Kinda wish I had stopped at Book 6, had a cigarette and called it damn good.

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Aug 11, 2010 Brett rated it 3 of 5 stars

Finished "And Eternity" by Piers Anthony, the last in the Incarnations of Immortality series. With 3 female lead characters, it couldn't take long (based on the rest of the series) for the topic of rape to come up. Anthony didn't disappoint. It started early and kept on throughout. Also, most Incarnations think a "taste for young flesh" is totally acceptable. The story was alright. It did have some long bunny trails.

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Mar 17, 2013 Katie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebooks, fantasy

After rereading this recently, I am kind of appalled at some of the subject matter that totally slipped by me the first time. The concept that men are pretty much just animals who just barely learn how to control themselves (dancing a very fine line, apparently) from constantly attacking and assaulting women is pretty gross. This is especially true when one of the main female characters gets turned into a man and has to deal with all the ~unchecked passions~.

There is the matter of a "very good...more

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Dec 14, 2009 J.W. Braun rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book, which was supposed to be the last in the Incarnations series, is a bit predictable, but a fine end. The idea of three minds working together in one body is fun and allows constant dialogue and discussion (which Anthony is great at writing) and also allows new readers, not so new readers, and people who know this series forward and backward to each have a character to identify with.

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Jul 04, 2011 Dusty rated it 5 of 5 stars

This series was delightful. Not only were the characters well rounded, but the story lines made me think in new ways. I completely enjoyed the author's views! I also was amazed that each book stood alone so well and were all designed so they could be read in any order with no loss of ideas or integrity to the story. Even in heaven there are shades of grey ... excellent.

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Jan 31, 2010 Linda Branham Greenwell rated it 5 of 5 stars

this book is the showdown between good and evil
The underlying plot revolves around the need to replace the God of non-interference (and non-action) and keeps hinting that different characters might become the next God, but who is finally chosen and the way he/she/it was chosen is great, and draws support and meaning from For Love of Evil.

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Jun 30, 2008 Debs rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who have read the rest of the series

Recommended to Debs by: I finally borrowed this from Ciaran!

Shelves: 2008, fantasy, science-fiction, series, borrowed

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Piers Anthony

Though he spent the first four years of his life in England, Piers never returned to live in his country of birth after moving to Spain and immigrated to America at age six. After graduating with a B.A. from Goddard College, he married one of his fellow students and and spent fifteen years in an assortment of professions before he began writing fiction full-time.

Piers is a self-proclaimed environm...more

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Books by Piers Anthony

On A Pale Horse (Incarnations of Immortality, #1)

Bearing An Hourglass (Incarnations of Immortality, #2)

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And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality #7)

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