On a Pale Horse

core novel 1983 Incarnations of Immortality

Record

First published	1983
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	4.13 (41,931 ratings, collected 2026-08-30)
Page count	325
First-edition ISBN	9780345309242
Internal chronology	1

Synopsis

On a Pale Horse opens the seven-book series with Zane, a struggling, down-on-his-luck photographer who attempts suicide with an enchanted crossbow, only to accidentally shoot and kill Death itself at the moment of the act. Bound by the office's own rules, Zane is compelled to take up Death's mantle, moving into Death's floating castle in Purgatory and learning to collect the souls of mortals whose fates hang in the balance between Heaven and Hell. As the newest Incarnation, he must navigate the customs and politics of Fate, Time, War, Nature and the other Incarnations of Immortality, all while Satan works to manipulate him.

Where it sits

• Universe: Incarnations of Immortality
• Series: Incarnations of Immortality core; position 1 of 7 in the series' recorded order
• Author: Piers Anthony

Notes

• From the series record (Incarnations of Immortality): The original seven-book run, one novel per Incarnation (Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil, Good), published together as a complete cycle 1983-1990.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

• Publication order, within the series Incarnations of Immortality: position 1 of 7: next Bearing an Hourglass (1984)
• Internal chronology, within Incarnations of Immortality: position 1 of 8: next Bearing an Hourglass (1984)

Sources

• Wikipedia: Incarnations of Immortality
• bookseriesinorder.com: Incarnations of Immortality
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_a_Pale_Horse

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