Tarot

Tarot #1-3

by Piers Anthony

Omnibus. Contains God of Tarot , Faith of Tarot & Vision of Tarot .

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Religion, Science Fiction Fantasy, Space Opera

616 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

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 environmentalist and lives on a tree farm in Florida with his wife. They have two grown daughters.

Reviews

[Mary Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piers Anthony is best known for writing light fantasy novels popular with preteens. What most of his fans may not realize is that he is a great thinker, and one of the best philosophers I have ever read. I don’t care for his light fantasies. They have their moments and the word play is often fun, but usually they are quest novels with a thin plot and superficial characters.
Occasionally Anthony writes a major novel, and these are worth spending some time reading. “Tatum Mound” is one of the best historical novels ever written. I wish I could have assigned it to my classes. Unfortunately some scenes are pure pornography. This is also true in “Tarot.”
That does not mean Anthony’s longer books are not good. They are.
In “Tarot,” Anthony sets out to write about world religions. I highly recommend this novel is you are taking a class in comparative religions. He does an excellent job and explains things much better than the textbooks you will be assigned. Because there are so many different religions, he describes and compares divine philosophies.
Characters of different faiths, not all of them Christian, argue their viewpoints. Main characters enter animations where they can observe the founders of major religions. Siddhartha (Buddha), Jesus, Muhammad and Satan are all there. Though the book is not clear on the difference between the Pagan Horned God and Satan, it is still worth a read.
Anthony provides an explanation and a conclusion. This is a great chance to learn something about religious history and read an entertaining novel at the same time.

[5greenway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brother Paul is on a secret mission to a dangerous planet, in search of God - and he's got the horn...

(long-term Piers watchers may recognise the theme here)

Enjoyably mad. The usual, um, problematic content.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first read this book about 4 years ago and remember being totally blown away by it - I didn't have that same feeling now that I have read it again, but strangely feel as if I have taken something more from it this time.

Brother Paul is given a mission on the mysterious planet of TAROT. The colonists are all rigid religious fundamentalists of differing faiths, cults and schisms, barely tolerating living in the same place. But on Tarot, people get drawn into Animations, a vision or hallucination that still has the power to kill. Many of these Animations have a religious theme and so Paul's job is to discover what causes them and which of the many diverse Gods in responsible.

This can be a very confusing book as Paul jumps from one vision to the next, exploring his own faith and that of those around him. This is not a book for anyone close-minded about religion or with very strict beliefs, but for someone with an open-mind, it makes you think and challenges you to ponder your own faith. THIS IS NOT AN ANTI-RELIGION NOVEL, rather one that preaches tolerance and love, which we all need to spread a little of! And if none of this is really your thing, then it's a really good story to get your teeth into.

It kind of acts as a prequel to Anthony's Cluster series, which I will attempt to track down next to see how the concepts are expanded on. It also contains some interesting appendices and anyone interested in the real Tarot would find it a worthwhile read.I liked it - I hope you do too.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit that I'm very torn on this book. I found parts of it to be excellent. Other parts I found hard to read. That might be because Tarot is actual a series of books that were packaged as one. It is my understanding that the author originally wrote it as one but then the publisher requested it be split. Either way, it's hard to read as one book. I might have enjoyed it more over all reading it the way it was first published.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent book, if you're looking at a clearer idea of what Tarot is and the different styles as they relate to society.

[William O' · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really love this book, it's one of those that make you think about life and religion and how we think we know everything but all is based on someone's truth. Well worth a read or try the individual books nd see if you like it

[Gethin Down · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this an interesting premise poorly done.

[John Clair · Rating 3 out of 5]

An entertaining read with some questionable ideals/philosophy...and a deeply unsatisfactory ending.

[Ferio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Como calidad literaria, tiene más el prólogo del autor explicando la historia de cómo escribió el libro que la propia historia que, como pasa tantas veces en la ciencia-ficción, es poco más que una excusa hilvanada sobre unos hechos bastante interesantes que son los que el autor realmente quiere transmitir. Por lo demás, el libro se hace bastante largo, no terminas de ver en ningún momento hacia donde te está llevando o si tendrá algún sentido realmente el final, y además da la sensación de que no se puede quitar los pechos de la protagonista de la cabeza, lo cual no queda muy fino.

Ahora bien, como metáfora del sincretismo religioso puede llegar a valer un potosí a pesar de que le falten los primeros y mejores trozos históricos (empieza directamente con Jesús), pero existen mejores obras con menos pechos sobre este mismo tema (me viene a la cabeza "Las Ruinas de Palmira") y, por otro lado, tampoco necesitaba leer este libro para saber que somos obra de la manipulación genética extraterrestre.

Solo lo recomiendo si te interesa algún tema de los que he mencionado (Sincretismo, Panspermia, Pechos) y te sobra mucho verano; si no, seguro que puedes encontrar algo más distraído.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had read some of the Xanth novels before, so I thought this one might be good... wrong! It was one of the slowest books I've ever read. Completely plotless. Some dude goes to a planet called Tarot where the spirits(?) of tarot cards come to life, from what I remember--I read it about ten years ago. All I can remember happening is that he wanders around and encounters weird tarot-card-based stuff. Yawn.

[Sean Tikkun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this probably 20 years ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it then and needed to look it up to make sure my memory was serving me in the name and author. This and Isle of Woman are the two novels that made me re-evaluate Piers Anthony after popular success of the Xanth novels. As a young fantasy reader I took myself too seriously to read Xanth.

As a person who toyed with Tarot and learned a fair amount of comparative religion I found this book very engaging.

[Emma Page · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you want to see the reality of the mind of a white American man from the 1970s/1980s, this book is for you. It’s sexist, racist, homophobic and altogether highly problematic using language and slurs that are not publishable today. I bought this as a teenager as I liked fantasy and sci-fi. I’ve no idea if I realised its social issues at the time. Now forty years later, I am going to use it for kindling.

[Coquille Fleur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this before I really got into Tarot, way back in high school. It's an interesting premise that Anthony used to incorporate the Tarot deck into a novel like this. Unfortunately, the premise is the best part. This book (I read the one that had all 3 in one volume) was the first real fantasy novel I ever read.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

SF/Fantasy that mixes the many forms of Tarot and the many religions of earth as a Brother from a small sect searches for The One God on a remote colony with a small population many diverse religions and a strange ability to take a persons thoughts and create real seeming. Interesting, but at the same time confusing as the Brother is caught up in many scenarios that test his faith.

[Marc Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I once read a comic that said "They told you I like Piers Anthony?! Are you serious? Piers Anthony writes books for child molesters who don't read anything not involving child molesting". That may be true. I still think it's a good book. So there.

[Bridget Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Epic work of fantasy adventure that brings to life all the sybolism of the tarot suite through its characters search for meaning and truth.
It sheds light on how easy it is to fall prey to the symbolism of tarot and to get carried away in fantasy realms which do no justice in the real world!

[David Kuznick · Rating 3 out of 5]

As expected, loved this in high school, but just a bit more than OK now. Some great concepts, marred by some unsettling views of the author. Some real disturbing parts, that were not meant to be the disturbing parts!

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this back in 1990 and enjoyed it... reread it a few years later and was happy to see it held up... now i'm kind of excited to see that it's part of a series... hummmm...

[Cheli · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dear friend of mine LOVES this book and reads it at least once every 18 months or so. For me it was darker than I like and there was so much going on at times that it hurt my head.

[Tommy Burnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenominal

[Kristen Kellick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful, awful, awful.