A fantasy that will mainly satisfy dedicated Xanth aficionados.
Anthony (Well-Tempered Clavicle, 2011, etc.) serves up the 36th entry in his pun-packed Xanth fantasy series.
The series, set in the fictional realm of Xanth, a place full of magic, crude humor and wordplay, has had an admirable longevity; its first installment, A Spell for Chameleon, was published some 35 years ago. This time around, Bryce, a sickly 80-year-old widower, is magically transported to Xanth, where he is given the body of a 21-year-old and the power to see briefly into the future. He is told by Princess Dawn that Demons have made a bet involving him, and as a result, Bryce must compete with other suitors for the hand of Princess Harmony, a teenage girl whom he is compelled by magic to desire. Among those that assist him in his dangerous quest are a talking German short-haired pointer dog named Rachel and a 19-year-old young woman named Mindy. He comes to discover that in Xanth, all is not what it seems. The novel stands alone quite well and doesn’t require readers to be experts in the Xanth mythos to understand the basic story. However, newcomers should be warned that Anthony’s work is not for everyone. A very high tolerance for puns and bad jokes is required; at one point, for example, the characters encounter the Pie Rats of the Carry Bean. Some readers may also find the overall plotline—an old man in a young man’s body forced to pursue a 16-year-old girl—rather questionable, as well as the constant mentions of women’s panties. On top of it all, Anthony’s prose, and especially his dialogue, can be clunky and artless at times. That said, he does have his devoted fans, and he thanks a few of them personally, in the closing Author’s Note, for puns and ideas that they submitted.
A fantasy that will mainly satisfy dedicated Xanth aficionados.Pub Date: Dec. 24, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7653-3135-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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