This is about Orb, Luna's aunt (raised sister), who falls in love with Mym and has had dreams about the future her father was forewarned about.Orb travels, searching for the Llano. She carries the magic of music, just like her father. Through her journeys, she meets with various Gypsies, teaching some and learning their overall language. She finds a passion for helping others, including Mym with his stutter. I feel that I learn a bit of history too - although, with this being a fantastical/alternate world, I'm not sure what's true to our actual world.I like how airplanes are labeled as "scientific" (vs. the flying carpet).I absolutely love when Luna meets Death and asks if he condemns her for having sex and a child out of wedlock:"No. I killed my own mother, and Luna deceived her father. We understand these things. But the definitions of good and evil were set up before our time, and they are the ones that prevail. It is not necessary for Incarnations to agree with the prevailing rules; it is only necessary for us to implement them." - page 93Oh geez, a succubus named Jezebel. I like how Jonah the fish works, and that he's so willing to help the group. He doesn't always come at command. While the reasons are usually unknown, the friends find strength in themselves and each other when they don't rely on Jonah so much. The fish is able to lead them to the Llano in his own way.Natasha - Nat - is an interesting man who helps Orb. "Nat" sounds familiar though from the previous books.The Geometric part with conic sections made me grin. When Orb started singing in the Llano region, that was pretty much one of the only things I could understand, until Mym came. the magic Orb invoked was odd and confusing.Because Orb didn't become Gaea until less than 100 pages were left, I was less interested in this.But the end made up for it.WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!
Piers Anthony's Being a Green Mother is the fifth book in his Incarnations of Immortality series. It starts out well. Orb Kaftan is on the search for the song behind the magic of the universe, also called the Llano. Along the way she meets gypsies, joins a circus, and later fronts a headlining band. At the forefront of her mind is a prophecy told to her in childhood, that she would one day marry Satan. And then Anthony has to ruin it with his usual “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” sermon. By this point in the series I was already tired of it, and Green Mother certainly didn’t help things.My favorite character is the blind Gypsy girl Orb meets, named Tinka. Fictional Gypsies have always fascinated me. Actually, take that back, I met a real life Gypsy, one who had been living in the States for several years, but had only settled down in an apartment within the last two. True to the stereotype, she was great at telling stories, but I digress. Tinka, already struggling with her lack of sight, isn’t all that great to look at either, and her father Nicolai, fears she’ll never be married. That’s where Orb comes in. You see, Nicolai and the other Gypsies Orb meets might have the key to learning the Llano, but to even start the conversation, Orb has to earn her place by teaching Tinka to dance. Other notable characters were the members of Orb’s band The Living Sludge. They’re addicted to “Spelled H”, which is an even more addicting drug than heroin, thanks to magic. Jonah, the whale who swallowed his namesake, also proves to be unpredictable. My biggest pet peeve with this book is the end, but I won’t mention that here, in case you still want to read it. Yes, I know, it sets up the remainder of the series, but I felt cheated after seeing Orb’s strong character come to such a situation.
What do You think about Being A Green Mother (1988)?
I'd really been looking forward to reading this book as part of this series. I'd enjoyed the female perspective of Fate, and after being not overly thrilled with War, I thought Gaea would be fun to read. It was and it wasn't. I liked it, I really did. Orb is an okay character. She's the Luna's aunt and Niobe's daughter and Mym's ex-lover and Orlene's mother, and I really do like when books tie together like this. It's fun reading and finding the connections, especially in this series. There were
—Amanda
Quest. World faces doom. (view spoiler)[ World ends. Earth quakes, tides tsunami, winds hurricane, everyone dies. (hide spoiler)]
—An Odd1
This follows Orb, the daughter of Fate (yes her) and while I enjoyed her fiery spirit and some of her adventures along the way, it took until the last 3 Chapters until she starts meeting any of the Incarnations and becoming the Green Mother. So I think the title is misleading. It should be: Becoming a Green Mother, rather than BEING a Green mother, because she actually spends very little time BEING a Green Mother... and when she does become nature, Chaos ensues... LITERALLY! And what she must do to fix it is rather shocking. And then, and only then, after everything is fixed does she commit herself to her office and work on BEING a green mother... in the last sentence!All that aside, one accept that flaw of the story because once again, Anthony does an excellent job in entertaining. These books are an easy read, fairly easy to follow (though it can be confusing with Chronos living backwards and all) and although the writing seems simplistic at time, the sparse descriptions allow the reader to conjure up images on his/her own. Can't wait to see what the next one has in store.
—Melissa
