Second in the series, this is a challenging book to follow, however a must read for those who bite in to the "Luna" saga. Do not miss the authors not..Show More »e at the end! On its own this book doesn't have the punch of On a Pale Horse, but is fill so many gaps needed to truly understand the strange view of Piers' Incarnations. Don't pass this one up, in will entertain as well as educate.

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Skein begins many years before the events of On a Pale Horse. As the story opens, Niobe, a headstrong and proud young Irish woman is betrothed to a bo..Show More »y five years her junior and none too pleased about it. But as her father points out, the marriage to Cedric Kaftan will benefit the family. The marriage proceeds and, as time passes, Niobe discovers that Cedric, despite seeming little more than a backwoods bumpkin, is a decent and hardworking young man with the astonishing ability to conjure an invisible but otherworldly musical accompaniment anytime he sings a song. Niobe gradually grows to love Cedric, who soon begins to share her own passion for protecting wetlands and decides to study to become a magician in order to further that goal. In time the couple welcome their son, Cedric Junior, into the world. Not long after, however, the outside world intrudes on their happiness when plans are made to drain the wetlands and build a housing development. While fighting alongside the other residents to halt this project, Cedric is unexpectedly shot to death, prompting Niobe to seek the aid of the Incarnations to try to save him. She soon learns, however, that Cedric's death had less to do with his attempts to halt development of the wetlands than with Niobe herself. She in fact was the intended target of the bullet, a fact which reminds Niobe of disturbing visions she would have when she and Cedric made love. Niobe learns that she is destined to foil Satan, Incarnation of Evil, and it was for that reason that he tried to have her killed. Cedric, it transpired, somehow learned of this and resolved to switch places with Niobe. With that knowledge, Niobe readily accepts the Incarnations' invitation for her to become one of the three aspects of Fate, resolving not to allow Cedric to have died in vain.
All in all this is an excellent read and it explains the origins of some characters and events mentioned in On a Pale Horse and Bearing an Hourglass. George Gidall as usual does a fine job with the narration. Recorded Books, I've noticed, generally tends to pick excellent narrators for the titles they put their hands to.

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As great a story as Pale Horse, but completely different! Funny, bittersweet, and brilliant!

This book was I believe originally intended to be the last book in the series, and indeed it could easily serve as the conclusion to an excellent set ..Show More »of novels. This book is slower than the others, but interesting most of the time. Towards the end I lost some interest but the ending made the entire book worth reading many times over. In my opinion the book would have been better if some details were removed and the process leading up to the end quickened, but other than that I have no complaints.

The story of Orb is a good one, though considerably different from the stories of the other incarnations. What makes this story truly good, maybe great, is its implications for the series as a whole. I will definitely be picking up the final volume.

The humanity of the incarnations is what makes them endearing, and in this book the humanity of Satan himself is shown for the first time, casting all his previous actions in a new light of not quite sympathy, but rather mild pity and remorse. In every book it is remarked that each incarnation must come to terms with Satan in his or her own way, and in this book Satan seems to come to terms with himself.

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Well, if you have read the other 5 books in the series I probably don't need to say anything for you to want to get this book. One observation though,..Show More » the story starts at around 1200 AD. I really would love to get into a debate about this book but anything I say would probably be a spoiler so I will refrain. Not the best in the series but definitely a 5 star by any reference. Another plus is that the narration is very well done (imho) and the audio quality is (thankfully) very good.
Enjoy!

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