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def_not_fae's review against another edition
4.0
You can tell its an older book based on how the author refers to women and stuff which is kinda yucky but everything else i loved. I love the dumb play on words and the different play on "talents" with magic
cameronkobesauthor's review against another edition
3.0
It's entertaining and funny, and the plot is quite clever. I also liked the way the magic in Xanth worked. It was a bit heavy on exposition for a while, but that's not too bad.
What was too bad was that there was a really disgusting tread toward treating women as primarily sex objects for the male characters. For the first few times I was willing to say that this was Bink (the protagonist) being used as a comic foil because the character was fairly stupid for a while, but then characters were joking about rape, and there was a lot in the book along those lines. The misogyny of the book ruined what would have otherwise been an excellent story. I don't care that it was written in the 1970s. That's no excuse, and I don't see very many other writers of that decades being so gratuitous.
What was too bad was that there was a really disgusting tread toward treating women as primarily sex objects for the male characters. For the first few times I was willing to say that this was Bink (the protagonist) being used as a comic foil because the character was fairly stupid for a while, but then characters were joking about rape, and there was a lot in the book along those lines. The misogyny of the book ruined what would have otherwise been an excellent story. I don't care that it was written in the 1970s. That's no excuse, and I don't see very many other writers of that decades being so gratuitous.
hebeshebewebe's review against another edition
The sexiest/misogynistic overtones got to be too much for me, and also the writing style is not very good. Too much focus on world building and no focus on character building or plot
zianeu's review against another edition
3.0
It's been so long since I read this, but I still believe that the first Xanth books were the most solid. This one was far more serious than they would later become, but was nevertheless a solid fantasy story and set up the world well.
bekab20's review against another edition
5.0
love the writing style of this author :) and the bizarre magic that he brings to his books.
maggienack's review against another edition
1.0
I read this in middle or high school and wanted to re-read it. It is so unbearably sexist that I couldn't enjoy it. Most of the female characters are amazingly beautiful so that Bink is constantly thinking about their sexiness even in life or death situations. Sexiness is the most important thing about them. Otherwise they are ugly hags.
Although there is some creative world building, a lot of the writing is clunky and dull.
Although there is some creative world building, a lot of the writing is clunky and dull.
stosh_reads's review against another edition
A great beginning to an imaginative series.