Shade of the Tree

Piers Anthony

I usually enjoy Piers Anthony's work. Shade of the Tree is mediocre (if I'm being kind). It is not the normal fantasy story setting that he often uses.

This is a ghost story. Josh Pinson was recently widowed by a brutal murder of his wife. His uncle left him property, so he took his son, daughter, two dogs, and two fish and moved from the city to the middle of Florida. He was looking forward to getting away from the city and its memories. He immediately was drawn to the new house that was being built under a huge oak tree.

He quickly discovered his uncle died under unusual cirumstances. The animals reacted strangely to the shed on the property. Josh felt strange when he looked in the shed as well. The neighbors stopped by and started recounting all the unfortunate incidents that had taken place around and beneath the tree. He learned about ghosts both seen and heard. Josh was a sensible man, though, and didn't believe in ghosts.

I am not a ghost story fan. I usually do not pick them up on purpose. At first I hoped it would change, but it did not. Piers Anthony is a good enough writer that my interest was held. Also, it is not a gory story. The worst is a rooster being killed unexpectedly. I appreciate that.

Otherwise, I did not care for the book. It was slow in the beginning. It finally picked up and held my interest. I wanted to know what was going on. Then we got to the end. I was quite disappointed. All the ends were nicely tied together. I just didn't like it. While an inventive ending, it seemed asinine to me.

I, of course, am only one person. Other people have different opinions.