Title: With a Tangled Skein
Author: Piers Anthony
ISBN: 0-345-31885-4
Publisher: Ballantine Books - A Del Rey Book
Rating: Excellent
Review By: Tiffany Martin

Book three of Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality explores the aspect of Fate in her three guises as Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.

When Niobe loses the man she loves in a plot by Satan that was to take her life instead, she vows to balk Satan wherever she can. When she is offered the opportunity to become as aspect of the Incarnation Fate, she accepts. As the "most beautiful woman of her generation", she becomes Clotho, the spinner of life's threads that weave the tapestry of life. After 38 years as that aspect, she steps down when she falls in love with her husband's cousin, Pacian.

When he passes away, Fate comes to her again and requests that she return as Lachesis, the measurer of life's threads. In this guise, she is able to thwart the Devil's ingenious plans to rob her granddaughter of being "the saviour of man".

The world that Anthony has created of magic and science co-existing makes you feel as if you were to step out of your house, you would see a magic carpet flying by. Or perhaps pegasus.
These books also cause you to stop and think - what if our final destinations really are weighed by the good and the bad we've done in this life?

This book is a very compelling read and ties in very well with the first two books - To Ride A Pale Horse and Bearing An Hourglass. I do suggest reading the first two books to follow the overall scheme of things, but it's not necessary as this book is a story in and of itself, but is also part of a larger story being told.