No comments about Chaos Mode.

5 comments about Castle Roogna.

1. This is the third book in Piers Anthony's Xanth series. The book takes place 12 years after the events in The Source of Magic. Bink's son is twelve years old, and has a Magician Class talent. Dor can talk to inanimate objects (they audibly speak to him). Dor is the heir apparent to the throne of Xanth, but he still has to deal with the same issues that any 12 year old might have to deal with. In his case, loneliness. King Trent, in hopes to help mature Dor, sends him on a quest to The Good Magician Humphrey to discover a way to reanimate the Zombie Jonathon. Millie the Ghost, no longer a ghost loves Jonathon, but Jonathon is still a zombie. Humphrey knows of a way to get an elixir to heal Jonathon, but it can only be acquired from the Zombie Master, a Magician who lived 800 years earlier.

   The Good Magician gives Dor a spell to put him into a tapestry that shows the events of that time period. In this way, Dor occupies the body of a Mundane warrior during the 4th Wave of Mundane Invasion. The King at the time is the legendary King Roogna. In Dor's quest for the elixir he encounters the Magicians of the time and gets involved in the very civil conflict between King Roogna and the Magician Murphy.

   This book is one of the better Xanth novels (i.e. one of the first Xanth novels) and while it gives part of the history of the land (always important), it also introduces characters who will later become important players in the series (Dor, Iris, Murphy, Vadne).




2. I think Castle Roogna is one of the best Xanth novels I have read. I couldnt put it down and was finished in only two days. Not only does it have adventure and thrills it also teaches us a little something about friendship and wisdom.



3. I wrote in my review of a spell for chameleon that I didn't like the Bink name. Now we have more of the same old stuff about weird names. Dor? Roogna? What ever happened to Dave or Mike. Other than that the book was pretty good. It tells of a young prince's adventures in a tapestry. How this can happen in a tapestry is beyond me. Magic I guess. The main character he meets up with is a smart talking spider. He has many adventures and comes of age while helping to save the kingdom. This book impressively deals with many adolescent problems and is very exciting. This novel makes you remember what it was like back when you were growing up. I know I will never look at spiders the same way again. And dcn't be so quick to kill those flee's in your hair. This book is head and shoulders (no pun intended) above the rest of the fantasy genra.



4. Castle Roogna, the third in the Xanth books, is one of the last of the readable Xanth books in the series. From this point out, the series decays into a mudge of eeping nymphs with luscious flesh and awful puns.
   
   I remember as a pre-teenager being captivated by a Spell for Chameleon and becoming an addicted Xanth reader. It was interesting to pick this book up again as an adult and realize that while my opinion of Anthony eventually declined, the first three books in the series are still pretty readable.
   
   Xanth in the first three books is a really edgy place. People are often quite cold and their motivations obscure. Dor feels very real as a character, bearing his burdens of expectations and confusion as he struggles his way into the adult world.
   
   The silly puns themselves are at a minimum in this book, with the exception of a couple of real groaners. (Gerrymander, oy!) The nice thing is that since the puns are not omnipresent they are almost funny when they do appear and do not spoil the read as a whole.
   
   The first three books are still recommended for pre-teenagers. I am sure that they will enjoy them-- be a little aware that Anthony indulges in some fairly dubious gender stereotyping, so if you are very sensitive to that sort of thing you might want to read them first before you give these books as a present.



5. I tried to read this book. I got about 120 pages into it and decided I couldn't finish. There are those who think it's funny and clever, but I thought it was silly.
   
   This is the 2nd time I've tried to read Piers Anthony. I guess he just isn't for me.

No comments about Bearing an Hourglass (Recorded Books).

5 comments about Fractal Mode (Bookcassette(r) Edition).

1. Perhaps slightly better than Virtual Mode, but not by much. Again, I recommend this for juveniles and not adults. It seemed to me that the book was really a series of short stories strung together. There is the initial conflict with the despots of Nona's world but Anthony gets away from that quickly but returns to it in the end to wrap things up. Darius is really a minor character in this book which is surprising. The sexual references are getting really old by now. Anthony's description of fractals is hard to follow, and I was a math major! An illustration in a future edition would benefit the reader in showing the layout of the Fractal Mode. On to Chaos Mode which will finish up this series. If there is another book in this series, I plan to steer clear of it.



2. I think that people looking for a book that they can just chill with, litrally switch their brain off and read are going to hate this book. It has references to maths, explanations of magic, totally-twisty landscapes, in depth character profiles and a totally confusing multi-reality storyline. Oh, and some sexual references too, which might wake some up. This is the second book of the series that touched me, I love it and could recommend it (and have) to anyone. Read it, read them all! I await the arrival of my Chaos Mode book.. and whats this I hear about another!



3. This book is very interesting, covering a variety of topics from child abuse to in-depth discussion of fractals, love to culture, society to magic. Piers shows an acute knowledge of the scientific aspects of what he writes about. The book seemed to focus a little too much on helping Nona, and not enough about the MAIN characters, but this didn't detract from the book too much. The settings are varied, as always with Anthony, as are the characters. Anthony provides much insight to what Colene is thinking, which I think is the most interesting part of the book-- to see how she reacts mentally to things like stress, Darius, her parents, etc. There are heartwarming moments, and some interesting happenings back at good old normal Earth. Many different things happen, settings change quickly, minor characters come and go, but the plot runs smoothly enough and what the gang learns along the way is interesting and their adventures are still fun, sometimes amusing--they get stuck in one really odd situation in Nona's reality! If you read Virtual Mode and are interested in how Colene and Darius' relationship will grow and change, and how Nona plays into their scheme, and if Colene and Darius will EVER settle down back in Darius' home reality...this is a good book for you.



4. Like the first book in this series "Virtual Mode", this is another wonderful trip into an area never gone to before in a novel and a unique way of getting there. As a writer, Mr. Anthony never ceases to amaze me! He always entertains while educating you at the same time.



5. This is the second novel of the mode series, and it is much worse than the first! The same cast of characters return here: Darius, Provos, Colene, and Seqiro, and a new one is added, Nona. The story features Nona predominently.
   The mathematical concepts Anthony uses in Fractal Mode--the Mandelbrot Set and the Julia Set--are not very well explained and do not lend themselves well to the imagination. The Fractal universe's construction was very confusing and it felt like an inept math professor was trying to shove their erroneous agenda down my throat. For those interested in fractals, check out the Mandelbrot Set, which is actually fairly simple to understand in math terms. In literature, not so much.
   The rest of the story is awful. There are sections wherein the main characters are forced to breed with underground people. There are still further sections which seem to obsess over the female form. In this novel, Anthony mentions a woman followed by a "her sexy way", "in the manner of her sex", and similar ilk EVERY SINGLE TIME. I have no problem with the female form; gratuitous explanations of it in this book, however, are simply ridiculous.
   The two-dimensional characters plod along on their relatively plotless adventure through a fractal universe where the BAD MALE MAGICIANS OF THE ANIMUS are oppressing the SERF MAGICIANS and only the FEMALE MAGICIAN OF THE ANIMA can bring order to the world. Huh?
   The worst part of this is probably the writing. There are many times when Anthony's characters discuss a complex solution to a problem, how to implement it, and prepare to. Then there is a short sentence say "they did it." No explanation, no detail, nothing. In addition to that, the dialogue really makes you want to retch sometimes with how plainly stupid it is. There are also large, superfluous portions of the novel dedicated to side stories with almost nothing to do with the overall story. I can only hope that books three and four are better than this one. Anthony can do much better.

No comments about Being a Green Mother.

5 comments about Virtual Mode (Bookcassette(r) Edition).

1. I sympathize with the reviewer who said that the first few pages of _Virtual Mode_ turned them off of the book. I was given this novel as a gift when I was about eleven or so; I, too, read the opening passage and was disturbed into putting the book away, not touching it again for another year. Yet once I really began to read it, I found myself drawn into a grim reality where even the wonders of magic cannot compensate for the horrors of the human psyche.

   I adore the protagonists: Colene, the mentally and emotionally twisted young woman whose attitudes and perceptions have been skewed almost beyond recognition; Darius, a man whose rigid sense of honor threatens to strangle his chances of happiness; Seqiro, Prima, and all the rest. Their conflicts and challenges may not be the stuff of epic fantasy, but they're interesting and can give one food for thought. Most moving of all, at least for me, was the exploration of Colene's emotions, history, and motivations. Anthony doesn't whitewash her situation: she's a deeply disturbed individual, and one who has cause to be that way.

   I must admit, though, that as much as I love this book, I couldn't recommend that children--or possibly adolescents--read it without reservations. The folk who've said that it's full of sex are right; further, there's blood, vulgarity, remembered rape, and a host of other such things. While they add to the power of the story, they might (or might not) be considered inappropriate for younger readers. I doubt my mother would have gotten it for me when she did had she known what it was really about... but then, I didn't have any problems understanding it and certainly wasn't traumatized by it.

   It's also true that the heroine is awfully young for all of the sexual situations she gets into, and that one could see the portrayal of women as sexist if one really wanted to do so. I personally read and enjoyed the story without worrying about such things, but I think that anyone who says _Virtual Mode_ shows sexism just may have a point. (Anthony *has* begun to disturb me in recent years with his fixation on the sexiness of very, very young women, but that's a subject better reserved for a Xanth review.) If such things offend you, you may wish to give this a skip.

   Otherwise, I can say with enthusiasm that I feel _Virtual Mode_ to be a wonderful novel, one whose story and characters have stayed with me for years. Readers who enjoyed Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series may find this one especially appealing, as its resemblance to that saga seems much more pronounced than any to the perpetually punny Xanth.




2. As a longtime fan of Piers Anthony, I wasn't overly impressed with this book, or the remainder of the series (although I haven't read it all yet, and I do intend to finish it). I didn't feel drawn into the characters, and the story itself didn't enthrall me. However, this may be mainly because I am not the target audience for this series; judging by other reader reviews I have read, adolescent females feel a very strong bond to the lead character, and the book seems to touch thier emotions on a very personal level. I feel this is one of Anthony's strengths, the ability to write very specifically to his audience, and reach them completely, even if this lowers the appeal for others. If you are not an adolescent female, or have not been one, this may not be the book for you. However, it may provide some insight into what motivates and interests today's female youth.



3. I was completely unprepared for the depth of the main character in this book. Mr. Anthony writes as if he knows what it is really like to be this character. The adventures in the book are thrilling and they keep you interested. The writing assumes that the reader is intelligent and remains fascinating and page-turning from beginning to end.



4. I was disturbed by the portrait of the young self-injuring woman and her sexual behavior, not because she was depressed and sexually active, but of the way it was described. First off, many self-injurers (cutters) are NOT suicidal. They may be depressed and angry and abused, but cutting can be a way to hold on, not let go.
   
   Secondly, no girl who has just been raped would "smile" and permit a couple other guys to rape her. I'm not saying she would or wouldn't resist, but she certainly wouldn't act as if the boys had just done something mildly offensive. Does the whole thought of rape turn the author on so he can honestly not imagine a girl enjoying it or at least pretend to? It seems so.
   
   Also, I found the character of Colene rather bizarre. In one scene, she's writing to her imaginary horsie, the next she's performing a striptease and slicing up her arm. If a girl really had all those sexual experiences, she'd be too jaded to believe in imaginarry horses. Take it from a former young horse lover. No girl that extensively sexually abused/raped would care one way or another about imaginary horses - unless perhaps she was very young.



5. I really liked this story. Of course, a book like this is not about to end. That's what makes it so interesting. The adventure of Colene exploring to find her true love and then they finally meet eachother after all of the different worlds that they crossed. I can't wait to read the rest. I ordered the rest of the mode series. I plan to read them all and then I'll start reading his xanth series. I can't wait to find out what goes on next.

No comments about Wielding a Red Sword.

No comments about On a Pale Horse.

No comments about And Eternity (Incarnations of Immortality, 7).

5 comments about A Spell For Chameleon.

1. This was one of my favorite series of books. Wonderfully entertaining, I often read the books in less than a day.



2. I recently stumbled across a free pile of paperbacks from Piers Anthony's Xanth series. Being the optimist that I am ("Sure, I have space for fourteen books as well as time to read them"), I gathered them in my arms and took them home with me. I'd read most of them before, when I was in middle school, and I had fond, if hokey, memories.
   
   Xanth is a land of magic where every person has one unique talent, ranging from the useful--converting lead into gold--to the less than--creating the odor of soured milk. Magical creatures are inspired by shameless puns, such as night mares, horses that deliver bad dreams, and nickelpedes, dimepedes and quarterpedes that dwarf the centipedes we're familiar with. A sort of lazy quest is at the heart of each book, serving mostly as an excuse for meeting interesting people and prompting silly jokes. In short, they Xanth novels are nice, mindless reading, and I was looking forward to indulging.
   
   Re-reading the first three chapters of the initial book, A Spell for Chameleon, it became clear that all was not as I'd remembered. Sure, the writing was a bit labored, with clunky phrasing and overdone narration, but that was to be expected. Thirteen-year-old me had more pressing concerns than literary naturalism.
   
   What really surprised me about the book was how casually misogynistic it was. Each of Anthony's female characters is ogled as she's introduced. Sabrina, the narrator Bink's girlfriend, is presented with, "Bink looked at the girl beside him as she stepped through a slanting sunbeam. He was no plant, but he too had needs, and even the most casual inspection of her made him aware of this."
   
   Later, a female centaur--a women's torso on a horse's body!--is objectified after rescuing the narrator. Her "plush pillows" provide a cushion for him to rest on after an attack; later, as she jumps a ravine with him on her back, he's forced to grab her breasts to avoid falling.
   
   Upon arriving in a new village, Bink is thrust into the midst of a rape hearing, where a judge seemingly plucked from a Lifetime movie declares, "I presume she would have fled him at the outset, had she disliked him--and that he would not have forced her if she trusted him. In a small community like this, people get to know each other very well, and there are few actual surprises. This is not conclusive, but it strongly suggests she had no strong aversion to contact with him, and may have tempted him with consequence she later regretted. I would probably, were this case to come up in formal court, find the man not guilty of the charge, by virtue of reasonable doubt."
   
   Afterward, Bink is guided out of town by "the most voluptuous, striking black-haired beauty he had ever seen, a diamond in the mud of this region." Wary of false accusations after the trial, he wonders about the wisdom of traveling alone with her, but the bailiff reassures him by saying, "Don't worry about it, son. Wynne don't lie, and she doesn't change her mind. You behave yourself, difficult as that may be, and there'll be no trouble." This comes immediately after he jokes about not being able to blame Bink if he did want to rape her--wink wink, nod nod.
   
   They set out on their journey, but the objectification continues. "She could have made some farmer a marvelous showpiece," Bink observes. "There seemed to be no part of her body that wasn't perfectly molded." Later, her tells her, "'The Magician [an Oz-like figure she looks to for help] charges a year's service. You--would not want to pay.' The Good Magician was male, and Wynne had only one obvious coin. No one would be interested in her mind."
   
   And, that's where I stopped reading.
   
   What's most disturbing about the attitudes being transmitted (well, beyond the Equus redux) is that this is a series designed to appeal to children. As I remember, the books are slightly bawdy, but never graphic; the language is clean, the violence moderate. You can find the Xanth series in the juvenile section of any public library. And while the books once seemed to speak of the joys of unfettered imagination, they now serve (at least the first) as relics testifying to the denigration of women that once sat unquestioned in our public discourse. That's an awkward legacy, and, sadly for those who once enjoyed the books, it's one that doesn't age well.



3. Ok, this book is not so bad by itself.
   Obviously written for a younger crowd with its juvenile puns and predictable plot.
   
   The low rating it gets though is becasue it is like the first spot of mold in a bathroom.
   
   While not bad by itself it has spawned the Xanth series. A seemingly never ending procession of books with EXACTLY THE SAME STORY.
   
   The only thing new we see in the procession is the puns.
   Oh my lord the puns.
   
   Read this one, enjoy it. Maybe even read a few more from the series. But save your money o the whole line if books. You will never see anything you haven't seen before as you keep reading book after midless book.
   
   I swear Asprin just has a basic outline of action and he goes in and just changes the settings and names, makes three new trials and works off that.



4. I thouroughly enjoyed this book. It was silly, but I found it amusing. It had a terrific ending. This book isn't for everyone, especially those who are looking for serious fantasy, but if you like the humorous, silly and light, then you will enjoy this book. Please take the time to read the first couple of pages, then if you find it to be something that you would enjoy, then buy the book. It is a quick and fun read, very humourous, and full of silliness. Xanth, in my opinion, is a great creation and great for comic relief. As stated before, this book is a quick read, and is good if you are looking for a break from more serious reading.



5. This is the little gem that kicked off the Xanth series. Parallel to our world, Xanth is your basic magic land full of all the wit and pun of which Lewis Carol never dreamed. It is a fully realized world full of sunny charm and wonderfully developed characters. And the citizens of this fair land are all in possession of one kind of magical ability or another. Except for one young man. His journey leads him to Chameleon, a girl whose looks and intelligence change with the moon. They are an odd pair, the kind of which the great, quirky romances are made. It is clear that Anthony loves all his characters, but he still manages to keep the storyline as sharp and engaging as them. Awesome fantasy.