Rach's Reading Club 2024

God of the Tarot

For my first July book, I chose a strange but enjoyable science fiction book called God of the Tarot by Piers Anthony.

It takes place in the future when a new form of transporter has made it possible to travel to other planets and establish colonies. The catch is that this machine uses an inordinate amount of energy causing Earth to regress to an almost medieval level.

On another planet, called Tarot, there are several colonies which have been founded by different religious groups. People have begun experiencing visions or messages from God, which seem to be based on characters in the Tarot deck. So, one church on Earth dispatches a hero named Brother Paul to Tarot for the purpose of investigating this phenomenon and determining which is the true God.

Brother Paul is an interesting character. He is a monk, but he apparently has a past. Among other things, he is proficient in Judo and can actually kick ass in a few scenes.

The other thing about this book is that it was clearly written with a study of the Tarot dec in mind. Each chapter is named after a different card and there is an Appendix in the back of the book explaining what each of the cards means.

At the end of the book, we learn a great deal more about Brother Paul's life before the regression. We don't actually learn who the God is. Maybe you have to read the next book to get that.