This is another old school classic that I read in my early twenties. I was fascinated by the thought that these characters we hear so much about in all kinds of places could be you or I. I thought that these books were well written and clever. I loved how one could even accidentally become death just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time ... and like it or not you are stuck until someone kills you. I also liked how this novel and character linked into the other books and there was interaction between the books and characters throughout the series.
"You clearly identify with the main character Zane, a photographer about to commit suicide, instead kills the incarnation of Death (a.k.a., Thanatos) and then assumes the office of psychopomp Death. Zane is without a job or money and then he is cheated out of a chance from Romance he decides to end it all. As Zane readies himself to end his life, he sees the apparition of Death (Thanatos) moving in on him. Frightened, he aims at Death and shoots inadvertently shooting Thanatos right between his eyes. He is then visited by an incarnation of Fate; a woman who introduces herself and who insists that Zane must now assume the position of the man he has killed, since whoever kills Death must become the new Death. In the course of learning the job, he discovers that his coming into the office of Death was not accidental, but was manipulated by a powerful magician. The magician, who has done a great deal of research, feels that Zane is the best candidate for the Incarnation of Death to fall in love with Luna and thus want to protect her. The only way for the magician Kaftan to meet with Death without Satan's knowledge is to die with his soul in balance. The magician chooses to sacrifice his own life in order to introduce Zane to Luna and explain to Zane the circumstances which brought him into the office of Death."
"One minor issue with the continuity of the series is that, throughout the rest of the novels, the official title for the Incarnation of Death is Thanatos and everyone recognizes this, both Incarnations, dead souls, supernatural beings, and mortals. However, in this first novel of the series, the title is simply Death, though Gaea (Nature) does call him Thanatos as her own pet name for him." I guess I could see hw this could cause a minor issue though I had no problem with this. I knew by the end of this book that Death was Thanatos and even found myself reading Death & thinking Thanatos and the other way around.
Well feel free to jump in and tell me what you thought about this book ...
(As it has been years since I read this book ... I sought out basic info from the web ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_a_Pale_Horse)
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