leannaaker's review
3.0
The first in the Xanth series. This is a fast fantasy read that you can get yourself lost in for a few hours. Though it is sometimes claimed to be a teen series (based on the vocab level, etc.), there are adult themes (sexual, ethical, etc.) that make this very enjoyable at the adult level as well. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others who like fantasy, Piers Anthony, or getting lost in a book. :-)
sillypunk's review against another edition
What a pile of misogynistic shit. What a terrible book. Children should not read this book because it's so awful: http://blogendorff.ghost.io/book-review-a-spell-for-chameleon/
_sarah_reads_'s review against another edition
1.0
I found some aspects of this book problematic (Trent's desire to maintain the "purity" of the human race, the way women were portrayed) but I wondered if I was imposing a modern perspective on a several-decades-old text. But then I googled the author and I see that he is even more problematic than I could have guessed. So I didn't like the book and now I don't feel bad for not liking the book.
shane's review against another edition
3.0
The first time I read this it annoyed me so much that I literally slammed it down on the table and snorted imperiously at it(and then gave it a 1 star rating), but for some reason I felt the need to try again and on the whole, am glad I did in the end. I still found the endless reviews with their endless gushing over it to be a little misleading though. It's not that it's a bad book but rather that I have a real dislike for this fairy-story kind of writing, you know, there's a king and an evil magician and a good magician and a young lad that's put-upon and outcast and ends up being the great saviour(if not the new king, almost!). When I invest time in a novel I really like it to show me something new. Having said that, I did enjoy it in the end although the characters still seemed a bit one-dimensional even as I reached the end. I will now read the next one which I really never expected to be saying, but I suppose I'd be asking for too much to hope that it'll be a little more gritty and a little less fairy-story. Still, there's always hope.
Not bad, just not as great as most of the reviews would have you believe.
Not bad, just not as great as most of the reviews would have you believe.
bewitchedsunflower's review against another edition
4.0
Man oh man what can I even say about the trip this book took me on? Because of its age and style it took me a couple chapters to fully get into it. I found myself both super impressed at the cleverness of all the characters and inwardly groaning at the commentary toward women. A lot of the statements would simply not be acceptable by today's standards. I inwardly groaned a lot up to the very last page. But I also thoroughly enjoyed every single adventure and I loved how resilient Bink was. He was both flawed and untouchable which works beautifully for a protagonist. And the unlikely friendships he made along the way were so rewarding! Perhaps I'll be continuing this series in the future.
kandicez's review against another edition
3.0
Please don't take the three star rating to mean I didn't enjoy this book. I did. I made the mistake of skimming a few reviews before I dove in and wish I had not. Most of the bad negative reviews pointed out Anthony's chauvinist writing and ideals as the reason for their dislike. I was watching for that which may have interfered a bit with my experience of the actual story.
This book read like a long Dungeons and Dragon campaign. Bink, our main character, lives in a magical world called Xanth. Everyone in Xanth has some magical ability, be it small and basically useless, or big and wondrous. Poor Bink, alas, seems to have none. This first volume, of what I have discovered is a long series, is all about Bink's adventures exploring Xanth, magic, Mundania (what the Xanth call the regular world) and his inner self.
Anthony write a lot of offensive and sexist scenes. That being said, Bink is a young man, and often young men are offensive and sexist. When I read a book, I try to keep the author and their work separate. I had no problem doing that because everything I might find offensive in life was attributed to Bink or other characters. Even if Anthony made an announcement that he feels women are valueless without beauty, or that victim blaming is just, that wouldn't change my experience with the story. It's FICTION. It didn't actually happen. It won't actually happen.
The narrative itself was entertaining, exciting and comical. I think where Anthony lost the two stars was the ending. I don't want to spoil anything, but Bink travels the whole book with one opinion of another character that is simply wrong. It's an opinion that has been presented to him as fact, so there is some leeway for judgement, but when a person proves, over and over again that they are not evil, at some point you must decide to believe they are not. Actions are supposed to speak louder than words, and that may be my real problem with the narrative. "Show, don't tell" is the number one rule of fiction. Anthony showed and showed and showed, and yet allowed Bink to be blind to the facts until the final pages. I found that frustrating.
What the literal f***?
I refuse to research this, but if he had a wife (or wives) and or daughters, I bet his home life was exponentially harder after the publication of this book! I hope so at least.
This book read like a long Dungeons and Dragon campaign. Bink, our main character, lives in a magical world called Xanth. Everyone in Xanth has some magical ability, be it small and basically useless, or big and wondrous. Poor Bink, alas, seems to have none. This first volume, of what I have discovered is a long series, is all about Bink's adventures exploring Xanth, magic, Mundania (what the Xanth call the regular world) and his inner self.
Anthony write a lot of offensive and sexist scenes. That being said, Bink is a young man, and often young men are offensive and sexist. When I read a book, I try to keep the author and their work separate. I had no problem doing that because everything I might find offensive in life was attributed to Bink or other characters. Even if Anthony made an announcement that he feels women are valueless without beauty, or that victim blaming is just, that wouldn't change my experience with the story. It's FICTION. It didn't actually happen. It won't actually happen.
The narrative itself was entertaining, exciting and comical. I think where Anthony lost the two stars was the ending. I don't want to spoil anything, but Bink travels the whole book with one opinion of another character that is simply wrong. It's an opinion that has been presented to him as fact, so there is some leeway for judgement, but when a person proves, over and over again that they are not evil, at some point you must decide to believe they are not. Actions are supposed to speak louder than words, and that may be my real problem with the narrative. "Show, don't tell" is the number one rule of fiction. Anthony showed and showed and showed, and yet allowed Bink to be blind to the facts until the final pages. I found that frustrating.
Spoiler
As a final observation, one thing many, many found offensive was the "curse" one character had to endure. A woman's menstrual cycle is (for the most part) a 28 day thing. One character was waxing and waning beautiful/stupid and ugly/smart in waves with her cycle. The more beautiful she became, the less she could think. The inverse was also true. Anthony?What the literal f***?
I refuse to research this, but if he had a wife (or wives) and or daughters, I bet his home life was exponentially harder after the publication of this book! I hope so at least.
eener's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
So relieved to see I'm not the only one who hated this with a passion. Bigoted drivel, just throw it in the garbage and spare future generations from the misery of encountering this in print. Proof of evil publishers that anyone let this go to market. I want to write a letter to my local public library to have all of this author's books trashed. Piers Anthony seems like a completely horrible person to create so many deeply disgusting characters etc. and I hate that anyone thought his hateful voice was worthy of giving a platform to
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Body horror, Bullying, Body shaming, and Rape
wormys_queue's review against another edition
3.0
This was a reread of a book I quite enjoyed way back then when I was a young guy devouring everything fantasy that i could find in our local library. And stumbling about that Piers Anthony still releases new Xanth books (and also reading some of the less than positive reviews) made me curious enough to return to the world in which everything is magical and/or has magical skills. Unless you're a young man named Bink who seems to have no magical ability at all and is therefore being exiled from a land that has no tolerance for mundanity. Only to involuntarily return with an evil magician in tow hell-bent on conquering Xanth, forcing Bink to defend the land that expelled him against that wizard, all the time having to contemplate if that's even the right thing to do and if that magician really is evil. On his journey, he meets a girl that changes with the moon, from beautiful but dumb as hell, through average in every respect to highly intelligent but ugly. There are also centaurs and all other kinds of mythological creatures, an old castle inhabited by ghosts and protected by zombies, love springs, carnivorous plants, mermaids, invisible giants and even stranger things. In the end, Bink will have learned a lot about himself, including that he actually has a magician-kaliber kind of magical talent.
And I'm happy to say that I still could enjoy the book for what it is, a satirical approach to fantasy with a lot of puns and even more ideas on how to make small things ooze magic. Is there sexism in this book first published in 1973? From a 2022 mindset, of course there is. Is it as bad as some reviewers make it out to be? Hardly, I've watched and read much worse things in globally successful movies and tv series in recent years and I'm also aware of the little fact, that this book was written in a time when sexism was the norm, not the exception and when judgments were made whom the often critizised rape trial in the book pales in comparison against. Also, we see the world through the eyes of a young man who, age notwithstanding, basically still is in puberty, and in a lot of respects still behaves in a much more mature way than you normally would give guys in that stage credit for. I'm not saying that parts of the book can't make readers with modern sensibilities feel uncomfortable, but throughout the book, our hero Bink doesn't act on his baser impulses and in the end has learned that true love depends on more than just a pretty face and a voluptuous body, so it's certainly not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be.
And of course, it is also no great literature. In the end, it's a fun little romp into a new magical world, that doesn't take itself too seriously and still touches on some serious topics (What's the difference between good and evil? What is the worth of loyality? What is love?), only without hitting you with the proverbial hammer on your head to get the message across. I'm not sure if I want to read through the whole series (again), when there is so much fantasy out there I've never read. But as light-hearted, entertaining fantasy, it still works for me, so who knows if I won't give it another try.
And I'm happy to say that I still could enjoy the book for what it is, a satirical approach to fantasy with a lot of puns and even more ideas on how to make small things ooze magic. Is there sexism in this book first published in 1973? From a 2022 mindset, of course there is. Is it as bad as some reviewers make it out to be? Hardly, I've watched and read much worse things in globally successful movies and tv series in recent years and I'm also aware of the little fact, that this book was written in a time when sexism was the norm, not the exception and when judgments were made whom the often critizised rape trial in the book pales in comparison against. Also, we see the world through the eyes of a young man who, age notwithstanding, basically still is in puberty, and in a lot of respects still behaves in a much more mature way than you normally would give guys in that stage credit for. I'm not saying that parts of the book can't make readers with modern sensibilities feel uncomfortable, but throughout the book, our hero Bink doesn't act on his baser impulses and in the end has learned that true love depends on more than just a pretty face and a voluptuous body, so it's certainly not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be.
And of course, it is also no great literature. In the end, it's a fun little romp into a new magical world, that doesn't take itself too seriously and still touches on some serious topics (What's the difference between good and evil? What is the worth of loyality? What is love?), only without hitting you with the proverbial hammer on your head to get the message across. I'm not sure if I want to read through the whole series (again), when there is so much fantasy out there I've never read. But as light-hearted, entertaining fantasy, it still works for me, so who knows if I won't give it another try.