Castle Roogna
Book: by Piers Anthony
Book Three. A coming-of-age story based on a pretty effective metaphor: a small boy abruptly transformed into a hulking barbarian has to learn to navigate a fucked-up sexist world. It captured the emotional experience of hitting puberty in 1979 really well. (male)
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Dragon on a Pedestal
Book: by Piers Anthony
The gap dragon and Humphrey the Magician are doused with water from the fountain of youth and become infants. (male Ar)
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Faun & Games
Book: by Piers Anthony
Piers Anthony's most exceptional Xanth adventure ever reveals wondrous new worlds of mirth and magic! The miraculous and mirth-filled land of Xanth holds many marvels. But now an extraordinary new aspect of this remarkable realm unfolds as young Forrest Faun's quest takes him to a tiny planet hidden in the heart of Xanth. There, with a delightful "day mare" as his constant companion, Forrest will find more marvels then he ever dreamed of. (Ar/aP)
-- Jeffr_2bya
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Harpy Thyme
Book: by Piers Anthony
With this fairly predictable but nevertheless amusing tale, Anthony ( Alien Plot ) returns to the magical world of Xanth, a place where "appearance counts for most of reality" and nearly everyone has some magical talent, even if it is only the ability to change the color of popcorn. In this installment, Gloha, the only goblin-harpy crossbreed in Xanth, attempts to find a male goblin-harpy to mate with and thus become a member of the Adult Conspiracy. After seeking advice from the Good Magician Humfrey from whom she receives a non-commital answer, she embarks on her quest alone, eventually joining up with a rejuvenated magician, a sultry demoness, a walking skeleton and a formerly invisible giant, among others. The magician Trent finally solves her quest by effecting a transformation. Trent surely could have come up with this solution at the beginning of the tale, but then Gloha would never have learned the meaning of true love nor would Anthony have been able to string out all his puns and jokes (he tells of a painter in the Mundane world who killed himself; named Van Go, he was one of the few there who actually believed in Trent). Fans of the author's trademark humor will relish this latest jaunt through the wacky world of Xanth; (Ar/aP)
-- Jeffr_2bya
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Question Quest (Xanth 14)
Book: by Piers Anthony (10/30/1991)
Being grown up is a drag . . . or so thinks Lacuna, one of the mischievous Castle Zombie twins. So she makes the Good Magician Grey an offer he can't refuse. Thirsty for a taste of the Elixir of Youth, she'll help him outwit the evil Com-Pewter if he'll send her to Hell (in a handbasket, no less) to find Humphrey, the missing sorcerer. And while there, she'll learn the True History of Xanth (simplified) and help rescue a blushing Rose from the demon X(A/N) . . . with the help of a gorgon or two.
-- Jeffr_2bya
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Swell Foop
Book: by Piers Anthony
"Do you think the puns will ever run out?" a character asks early in Anthony's 26th funny Xanth adventure. "If they do, Xanth will dissolve into chaos... It is mostly made of puns," another character sagely replies. And so it goes. This fantasy confection is full of puns, clever mathematical and grammatical lessons and some gratuitous sexual innuendo. Cynthia Centaur and her companions must find the Six Rings of Xanth (Fire, Earth, Idea, Water, Air and Void) in order to rescue the Demon Earth from the thrall of the Swell Foop. These rings are the only artifacts capable of locating the Foop. When they are stacked and aligned, a person who sights through them will be able to see the Foop if the stack is pointing the right way, and if that person is destined to use it. The rings also control the six known Regions of Xanth. The ring bearers, who include Jaylin, a Mundanian human girl, as well as five Xanth creatures, must use their creativity and sense of humor to find Demon Earth, or else the gravity needed in Xanth and Earth will disappear forever. Diehard Xanth fans will rejoice at this fast-paced romp, but even they might get a bit tired of the incessant panty humor. (Ar/aP)
-- Jeffr_2bya
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Zombie Lover
Book: by Piers Anthony
A brassy 15-year-old, Breanna, stars in this cheeky new installment. Xanth (Faun & Games, 1997, etc.) is a quirky magical realm where everything is taken literally. Since she spent most of her life in Mundania, Breanna knows all about stork-summoning, but she needs help to escape the unwelcome attentions of King Xeth of the Zombies, who stirs up his grisly minions to try to make her his queen. Anthony combines Breanna's tale with a sweeter one, that of Jenny Elf's love for handsome werewolf Prince Jeremy. He also revives several engaging characters from earlier novels to spice up the girls' adventures. His punny goings-on, liberally salted with reader-submitted howlers like a barrister/bare aster flower, zip and zoom around his traditional themes: be considerate of other people's feelings, apologize for temper tantrums, learn how to be tolerant even of zombies who shed gobbets of decaying flesh. Xanth devotees should be delighted; others may scratch their heads. (Ar/aP)
-- Jeffr_2bya
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Apprentice Adept
Book: by Piers Anthony (04/01/2011)
Wunderkinds Flach and Nepe age a decade between chapters. A good chunk of the cast is hiding out in a hidden underground stronghold, magically gimmicked to speed-up time twenty-fold.
-- Jeffr_2bya
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Bearing An Hourglass
Book by Piers Anthony
The second of eight books in the Incarnations of Immortality series. When life seemed pointless to Norton, he accepted the position
as the Incarnation of Time, even though it meant living backward from present to past ....
- TBTC