WIELDING A RED SWORD
by Piers Anthony
Book Four of Anthony's "Incarnations of Immortality" following With a Tangled Skein (1985). Young, stammering Hindu prince Mym is cheated of his love, the beautiful Orb, by paternal manipulation; he falls for princess Rapture but is balked of her too; so, offered the opportunity to become Mars, the immortal Incarnation of War, he accepts—and at once Satan begins to tempt him. Mym is offered a beautiful concubine, the Satanic construct Lila, but rejects her; Lila tells Mym where he might find a suitable, mortal companion, the beautiful Ligeia—but it's all part of a Satanic plot to trap Mym in Hell while Satan stirs up all sorts of bellicose problems on Earth. Mym, accordingly, threatens to allow Armageddon to occur on Earth unless Satan desists; and, since there is currently more good than evil on Earth, God would win His contest with Satan—so Satan backs off. A technically solid installment, then, creamy-smooth and agreeable if more than a trifle bland.