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kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve been meaning to read Piers Anthony’s Xanth series for decades now…and…I am enjoying it. At least once I’ve gotten at least 1/3 of the way in to the story. The writing feels so juvenile but Anthony has such a unique way of presenting and upending our view of our own culture and its attendant myths and fairy tales.
rageofachilles's review against another edition
3.0
On par with the first book and much better than the second book, The Source of Magic.
twstdtink's review against another edition
3.0
A witty, light-hearted and fanciful story set in the magical world of Xanth. I can see why so many people love this series. They're a bit chaotic for me. The characters plunge from one weird misadventure into the next, rapidly, and I find my ADD kicks in and suddenly I'm thinking about what each of these strange creatures looks like and the logistics of zombie moat monsters (wouldn't they dissolve?).
jscarpa14's review against another edition
4.0
Dor is so, so much better a character than his father Bink. He was precisely what the series needed to keep my interest. While the book is definitely still a product of his time with the sexist and condescending attitudes of that time, it's easier to ignore that with the twelve-year-old narrator who doesn't spend all of his time obsessing about women. Granted there are definitely inappropriate moments that feel a bit skeezy like a twelve-year-old watching a nymph and faun orgy. And he has a lot of inappropriate sexual thoughts about women but there's a lot more going on between those moments.
In this story, not every scene involved a female character or thoughts about a female character, or conversations about a female character in the way that the previous novel did, and honestly anything to do with female characters is where Anthony goes wrong with the series. There are longer bouts of action and a larger focus on friendship than anything else. The world of Xanth is as magical as it ever was and having Dor as a narrator really allows you the chance as a reader to experience that magic in a way his father Bink never did. Additionally, though still sexist, he's not even half as sexist, or dirty old man obsessed, as his absent father. And yeah that needs to be mentioned, Bink and Chameleon have mostly left the raising of their child to Millie the maid, and the monarchs making them even less likable as characters than they were in their own stories.
Dor comes to the realization that women are people too with abilities that should be acknowledged and respected. Between books 2 and 3 this series moves forward by leaps and bounds in its treatment and attitudes toward women. It definitely still has a long way to go, but it's not an effort to keep listening because you're drowning in sexist rhetoric. It's comfortable back into the product of its time and the focus turns less to women and more to the actual story. Like always, in addition to creating amazingly inventive worlds like Xanth, Anthony puts forth an intriguing story. This particular story even adds an element of urgency the previous novels in the series simply did not possess. I was on the edge of my seat listening to Dor's story, wanting to know what happened next. There are parts of this that I guessed fairly early on, but it was nice to have that confirmed. I would have greatly appreciated a final conversation between Dor and Jonathan to bring the story full circle but overall I definitely enjoyed this ending.
Dor grew tremendously as a character in this story and the series overall is finally starting to remind me of why I adored it so much as a teenager. I'm really enjoying this trip down memory lane and reentering the world of Xanth. Again I do add the qualifier that you have to go into this noting when it was published and remembering it's a product of it's time, but if you can do that, I'd definitely recommend it.
In this story, not every scene involved a female character or thoughts about a female character, or conversations about a female character in the way that the previous novel did, and honestly anything to do with female characters is where Anthony goes wrong with the series. There are longer bouts of action and a larger focus on friendship than anything else. The world of Xanth is as magical as it ever was and having Dor as a narrator really allows you the chance as a reader to experience that magic in a way his father Bink never did. Additionally, though still sexist, he's not even half as sexist, or dirty old man obsessed, as his absent father. And yeah that needs to be mentioned, Bink and Chameleon have mostly left the raising of their child to Millie the maid, and the monarchs making them even less likable as characters than they were in their own stories.
Dor comes to the realization that women are people too with abilities that should be acknowledged and respected. Between books 2 and 3 this series moves forward by leaps and bounds in its treatment and attitudes toward women. It definitely still has a long way to go, but it's not an effort to keep listening because you're drowning in sexist rhetoric. It's comfortable back into the product of its time and the focus turns less to women and more to the actual story. Like always, in addition to creating amazingly inventive worlds like Xanth, Anthony puts forth an intriguing story. This particular story even adds an element of urgency the previous novels in the series simply did not possess. I was on the edge of my seat listening to Dor's story, wanting to know what happened next. There are parts of this that I guessed fairly early on, but it was nice to have that confirmed. I would have greatly appreciated a final conversation between Dor and Jonathan to bring the story full circle but overall I definitely enjoyed this ending.
Dor grew tremendously as a character in this story and the series overall is finally starting to remind me of why I adored it so much as a teenager. I'm really enjoying this trip down memory lane and reentering the world of Xanth. Again I do add the qualifier that you have to go into this noting when it was published and remembering it's a product of it's time, but if you can do that, I'd definitely recommend it.
kindlereads's review against another edition
4.0
Great addition although a little male centric in the plot line. But a good story all the way around.
leannaaker's review against another edition
3.0
We meet Dor in this book, son of Bink and Chameleon. Dor travels back in time through a tapestry to obtain a restoring elixir to help Millie's true love, Jonathon the zombie, become human again. A lot of previous things come together in this book, like the reason the Gap is forgotten, etc.
A fun read to get lost in!!
A fun read to get lost in!!
usbsticky's review against another edition
5.0
Spoilers ahead:
The 3rd Xanth book in the series. This one follows Dor, the son of Bink. In this book Dor is sent 800 years back into the past for a quest. His nanny Millie is a resurrected ghost and her paramour is a zombie named Jonathan. Dor is sent back in time to find an elixir for Jonathan and the only person who can do that is the Zombie Master magician who lived 800 years ago. He is sent back via a moving tapestry in the king's castle and the spell accidentally sends a jumping spider back with Dor. The jumping spider Jumper is an adult of his species and becomes a teaching companion as well as a bodyguard for him.
One of the first people that Dor meets is 17 year old Millie who is on her way to Castle Roogna to find a job. At Castle Roogna Dor finds that Roogna and the Magician Murphy are in a deadly contest to see who is to be king. Roogna is only temporary king at this point and the contest is that if he succeeds in finishing building Castle Roogna before year end he will be the permanent king while Murphy uses his Murphy's law to try and stop him. Murphy has caused the upcoming war between the harpies and goblins to come to a head at the location of Castle Roogna.
Roogna sends Dor and his friends to the Zombie Master for help in the war and to find the elixir. Once at Zombie Master's castle, they are attacked by Mundanes. Dor helps defends the castle and defeats them. Meanwhile Zombie Master falls in love with Millie and she persuades him to go help Roogna.
Back at Castle Roogna they defend against the hordes of goblins and the harpies with Zombie Master's help. Eventually Dor leads the fighting masses away with a magic flute to the Gap chasm and detonates a forget spell so that both forces forget why they are fighting and leave.
Roogna seems to have won. However neo-Sorceress Vadne desires the Zombie Master as a husband and topically changes Millie into a book. She refuses to tell where Millie is hidden and is banished into stasis at the Brain Coral's cave through the magic ring. Zombie Master commits himself to helping Roogna so Roogna wins but commits suicide and becomes a zombie.
That is the outline of the plot. The plot is a pretty good one and entertaining but the heart of the book are the characters and the interaction and dialog between them. That's what really makes this book stand out. I've read this book about 20 times since it's publication and it's always been the people who make this book good.
Dor is just a 12 year old kid but he grows up quickly in this world, helped by Jumper's mature observations. Piers Anthony has used all of the first 3 books of Xanth to make commentary of all kinds, from growing up to politics to relationships. A lot of the relationship commentary is mature and not really suitable for kids but over their heads anyway. It's all sexist to feminist readers because of the time it was written and who it was written for and no, the book was not written for them anymore than romance novels are written for 12 year old boys.
There's a few situations I found to be acute like the interaction between Dor and the nymphs where Piers Anthony makes the observation that eternal youth was gained by forgetting experience. It's these little vignettes that made the book for me and there are a few of them sprinkled throughout the book. The setting, even the plot is just the shell. The good stuff is inside and people who dnf the book because of the setting are missing out.
I found this book better than the first 2. Better than the first one because the first one took many pages to explain the setting. The second one because a lot of it was mumble jumble about Bink doing the right thing. This one was more pure entertainment, a beneficiary of the first two books because all of the setting was already done (and also thank goodness not as punny which got to be old). There's a bit of mumble jumble here about doing the right thing too but less cringy like the Zombie master doing the right thing for Millie and King Roogna. Overall the book flowed faster and I liked the characters better.
The 3rd Xanth book in the series. This one follows Dor, the son of Bink. In this book Dor is sent 800 years back into the past for a quest. His nanny Millie is a resurrected ghost and her paramour is a zombie named Jonathan. Dor is sent back in time to find an elixir for Jonathan and the only person who can do that is the Zombie Master magician who lived 800 years ago. He is sent back via a moving tapestry in the king's castle and the spell accidentally sends a jumping spider back with Dor. The jumping spider Jumper is an adult of his species and becomes a teaching companion as well as a bodyguard for him.
One of the first people that Dor meets is 17 year old Millie who is on her way to Castle Roogna to find a job. At Castle Roogna Dor finds that Roogna and the Magician Murphy are in a deadly contest to see who is to be king. Roogna is only temporary king at this point and the contest is that if he succeeds in finishing building Castle Roogna before year end he will be the permanent king while Murphy uses his Murphy's law to try and stop him. Murphy has caused the upcoming war between the harpies and goblins to come to a head at the location of Castle Roogna.
Roogna sends Dor and his friends to the Zombie Master for help in the war and to find the elixir. Once at Zombie Master's castle, they are attacked by Mundanes. Dor helps defends the castle and defeats them. Meanwhile Zombie Master falls in love with Millie and she persuades him to go help Roogna.
Back at Castle Roogna they defend against the hordes of goblins and the harpies with Zombie Master's help. Eventually Dor leads the fighting masses away with a magic flute to the Gap chasm and detonates a forget spell so that both forces forget why they are fighting and leave.
Roogna seems to have won. However neo-Sorceress Vadne desires the Zombie Master as a husband and topically changes Millie into a book. She refuses to tell where Millie is hidden and is banished into stasis at the Brain Coral's cave through the magic ring. Zombie Master commits himself to helping Roogna so Roogna wins but commits suicide and becomes a zombie.
That is the outline of the plot. The plot is a pretty good one and entertaining but the heart of the book are the characters and the interaction and dialog between them. That's what really makes this book stand out. I've read this book about 20 times since it's publication and it's always been the people who make this book good.
Dor is just a 12 year old kid but he grows up quickly in this world, helped by Jumper's mature observations. Piers Anthony has used all of the first 3 books of Xanth to make commentary of all kinds, from growing up to politics to relationships. A lot of the relationship commentary is mature and not really suitable for kids but over their heads anyway. It's all sexist to feminist readers because of the time it was written and who it was written for and no, the book was not written for them anymore than romance novels are written for 12 year old boys.
There's a few situations I found to be acute like the interaction between Dor and the nymphs where Piers Anthony makes the observation that eternal youth was gained by forgetting experience. It's these little vignettes that made the book for me and there are a few of them sprinkled throughout the book. The setting, even the plot is just the shell. The good stuff is inside and people who dnf the book because of the setting are missing out.
I found this book better than the first 2. Better than the first one because the first one took many pages to explain the setting. The second one because a lot of it was mumble jumble about Bink doing the right thing. This one was more pure entertainment, a beneficiary of the first two books because all of the setting was already done (and also thank goodness not as punny which got to be old). There's a bit of mumble jumble here about doing the right thing too but less cringy like the Zombie master doing the right thing for Millie and King Roogna. Overall the book flowed faster and I liked the characters better.
sunshinemagik's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0