A truly never-ending story... (Xanth Series - Piers Anthony in general)

Member Name: pangalactic

Product:	Xanth Series - Piers Anthony in general
Date:	27/04/03 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Memorable characters, All are still in publication, Original sense of humour

Disadvantages: Lost the plot towards the middle but are now back on form, May be hard to get hold of earlier books even though they are still available, Some jokes just aren't funny - this is very rare, however

So what can be said about a seemingly never-ending series of books that (last time I checked) contained 27 novels, with plans for one a year indefinately?

The books are set in the magical land of Xanth, a peninsula that bears striking resemblences with Florida. The flora and fauna that inhabit the land are truly original, and many of them come from what would normally be awfully bad puns but, when placed into this world and dressed up with Piers Anthony's great skill with words they blend seamlessley into the flow of the story, although at times the reader is forced to groan when a truly awful pun jumps out and slaps you across the face.

All of the people in Xanth posses magical talents, some being very strong and powerful (magician level talents) and some being rather weak and pointless (the spot-on-the-wall variety). The first book (A Spell For Chameleon) presents us with the character of Bink, a young man with no apparent magical talent. The current king has passed the law that anybody without a magical talent by the age of 25 will be banished from Xanth, and so Bink sets out to the Good Magician Humphrey in search of his talent.

Throughout his quest we see the dangers of Xanth (and the groan-inducing sense of humour possessed by its creator), and only seemingly lucky coincedences let Bink survive his trek. The language and style of writing keeps the reader hooked all the way through the book and, although predictable in places, it is a gripping read meanign that you won't want to put it down, as is evident in the majority of the Xanth books.

Some critics have commented that, after so many books, the ideas are running dry, becoming stale, that the books are simply the same thing rewritten with new characters, new titles and new covers. Well partially that is true - 3 or 4 of the books around number 16 (Demons Don't Dream) got a little stale, as though Mr Anthony had somewhat lost the thread of where he was goi
ng with the books. But his inspiration appears to be back with a vengeance, as the last few books have been back on par with the original trilogy (Yes, it was planned to be just a trilogy. Douglas Adams had nothing on him).

It is possible to trace the family trees of all the characters encountered in Xanth (in fact, one was compiled by Piers Anthony and can be seen on his website - http://www.hipiers.com). All of the characters link back to each other in some way, and even the characters from the first books feature in later ones (although less and less frequently).

The original books were in the same vein as Terry Pratchet's immensely popular Discworld series, being insane in places and not afraid to go for the cheap laugh. However they have gradually got more and more serious as he began to use fewer puns etc. suggested by readers (although they will still undoubtedly cause much mre than a chuckle in places) and this seems to have added to the gripping nature of the books.

The current list of titles is;

1 A Spell for Chameleon
2 The Source of Magic
3 Castle Roogna
4 Centaur Aisle
5 Ogre, Ogre
6 Night Mare
7 Dragon on a Pedestal
8 Crewel Lye
9 Golem in the Gears
10 Vale of the Vole Avon
11 Heaven Cent Avon
12 Man from Mundania
13 Isle of View
14 Question Quest Morrow
15 The Color of Her Panties
16 Demons Don't Dream
17 Harpy Thyme
18 Geis of the Gargoyle
19 Roc and a Hard Place
20 Yon Ill Wind
21 Faun & Games
22 Zombie Lover
23 Xone of Contention
24 The Dastard
25 Swell Foop
26 Up in a Heaval
27 Cube Route

Having been in publication since 1977, and with more titles planned, it seems that nothing is going to stand in the way of this mighty series. The fact that all of the books are still in publication is excellent news for anybody who decides to start reading them now
.

We wait for more.

Summary: