The Heat of the Night

So, if I'm remembering correctly, the last time I read Under a Velvet Cloak by Piers Anthony, it would have been 2009ish. I know I was living in Missouri, and that I got it froom the Glenstone Library branch, but....

Anyway, this is/was the final Incarnations of Immortality book he wrote, dealing with the incarnation of Night, Nox. And frankly, my memory of the major plot points wasn't that great, so it was a bit like reading it for the first time.

We start in roughly 500AD England, in the time of Arthur. We get a peek at Jolie from what they refer to as T1 (Timeline 1, the one where the rest of the series takes place) entering T2 and meeting the "ugly sister", Kerena. Jolie doesn't really possess Kerena as much as she rides her, only stepping in when T1 diverges from T2, since Orlene has seen that all the other timelines end in destruction of the universe. As such, trying to get the timelines to correct by following the path that worked previously leads to Jolie witnessing the rise of Kerena as she joins a traveling magician to learn to use her "Sight". Morley vanishes, so Kerena begins a quest to find him, leading to working in a brothel, then working for Morgan Le Fey. Mogan sends Kerena to seduce Sir Gawain so that he may not touch the Grail. She succeeds, but not until falling for him.

Anyway, After dropping Gawain off in Camelot, Morgan teaches Kerena the last trick, to find Morley. Which she does, in Scotland, where he's a Vampire named Vorley. The woman who turned him, turns Kerena as well, right before Kerena realizes she's knocked up with Gawain's bastard. Who in turn has a curse attached to him, which as we see later down the line, is upon his descendants as well. Kerena seeks out the Incarnations, who all rebuff her. She swears revenge, and eventually figures out how to become Nox. (Along the way, she meets Lilith, Molly Malone, and a whole host of other minor characters who play roles in the series.)

And then, as Nox, and with her "Sight", she learns to travel the timelines that branch off T2, meeting Niobe, who's name she gives to Gabriel  Along the way, she's romanced by an Efreet, whom we later learn a heck of a lot more about than what we ever wanted to know. (This is not to say his story isn't interesting, but....)

So, basically, the entire book lays out the underpinnings of the previous 7 books, showing that Nox herself set up the entire series, as well as getting really involved in the ideas of alternate timelines, and the idea that the universe is a big tree with three major branches, one totally science based, one totally magic based, and one where they compete, and how to keep the tree from dying.

Which is really interesting, but gets bogged down occasionally under the whole "Women must pretend they don't enjoy carnal relations to keep men interested", mixed in with rape being a major factor in a few relationships.

Really, though, worth reading for completeness.