Ah, punny titles. I wonder if he thinks of the titles first and then writes a book to match? Seems like it.This book features Princess Ivy again. I like Princess Ivy. Partly because she's a female character whose talent isn't somehow related to sex or appearance, thanks. (Though that would have been creepy since her first appearance as a protagonist was at three years old.) But she is mostly not the focus of this one; she watches the story of Jordan the Barbarian through a magic tapestry.I kinda liked that the narration style was a little different here--Anthony rendered much of it in first person. Overall one of the concepts bugged me--ghosts only exist in Xanth if they have unresolved issues to tie up, and it seems like at SOME point within the last four hundred years somebody might have asked this poor Jordan fellow what they could do to help him, right? It takes a curious five-year-old to find out what's keeping Jordan the Ghost from being released from ghosthood. In a flashback, we hear all about Jordan's unfortunate life: Jordan's talent of being able to heal from any injury allowed Anthony to write about him getting hacked apart a LOT, which was really disgusting--don't read this if you're squeamish. Jordan went on a quest to escort a girl to her marriage; Jordan found out the girl didn't WANT to be married to her intended (and she expressed this by trying to kill Jordan); Jordan rebounded from this only to fall in love with the girl. (That's what girls are for in fantasy. Unless they're ugly.) Anyway, old Threnody is eventually shown to supposedly betray Jordan by burying all the pieces of his body too far apart from each other for him to regenerate. That's what has him hanging around. But of course little Princess Ivy hears the story and figures out how to help.Don't you wish you had a precocious five-year-old on the solving team for every four-hundred-year-old mystery?But here's something about the book that really bothered me. At one point, because of an exchange spell, Jordan the Barbarian ends up accidentally switching bodies with Threnody. Two big problems popped up for me because of it.One: Jordan gets a taste of being a hot woman. And Piers Anthony basically writes a lot of the feminine experience as if it automatically comes with the body. For instance, at one point he gets a compliment and he's mentally pissed off about it, but his body just can't help but flush with "feminine" pleasure. So chicks are hard-wired to physically react in appreciation of compliments? Okay, Piers. No. And I know as a Barbarian he's sort of supposed to be something of a lout, but . . . he only starts feeling sort of sympathetic to Threnody's situation--where she's being forced to marry against her will--when he's worried it might be him? 'Kay. Anthony has Jordan narrating how women are forced to take "mincing" steps because their pelvises aren't formed correctly for "full-size" steps, and how the weak arms and "ungainly" shape of a woman--which is, of course (and I quote) a "more-decorative-than-functional body"--was surely such a liability that it was "no wonder women tended to be jealous of men!" Really? REALLY? The rest of Jordan's time in Threnody's body is peppered with references to him being forced to use--and I quote--"subversive wiles" like batting eyelashes, "feminine touch," singing, and false praise to trick men. Because women have no other defenses. Yep. I understand that Jordan is a Barbarian and he is supposed to be kind of a lunkhead, and he might very well think some of these things about the female form when forced to live in it, but considering the way women are described and treated in the rest of this series before and after this book, I see no evidence that this is an isolated attitude.Two: The exchanged consciousnesses also result in exchanged magical powers. Threnody's power is to transform any part of her body or her whole body however she wants, but the transformation takes exactly one full hour. And while Jordan is in her body, HE figures out how to use her talent so it won't take a full hour; for instance, if he wants his arm to become four feet long, he can AIM for it to become multiple times that length, but just stop when it gets to his desired length. Threnody, despite a lifetime of using her talent, just plain never thought of that. It seems ludicrous, honestly. Especially since magical talents are discovered, not handed down written out with their limitations spelled out. Surely she, or someone else around her, might have figured this out before someone else had to steal her body to teach it to her.
Why did I keep reading these books?30 December 2011tI guess I might be getting to a point where I am confusing the Goodreads Database. By putting in all of the Xanth books the algorithim is probably starting to think that I read a lot of pre-teen fantasy novels. While it is true that I have done so in the past, it is not necessarily something that I am doing at the moment. Okay, I do have a number of such books on my self which I will get around to reading someday (which includes Game of Thrones, but that is hardly a pre-teen fantasy novel).tI guess the other thing is that I keep on giving the Xanth novels one and two stars, which suggests that I did not like them, yet I am writing up comments on the thirteen that I have read, so I suspect that this suggests that I may be some sort of sucker for punishment. Most normal people who give such books such low scores are unlikely to continue reading the series. Don't get me wrong, when I was reading the Xanth novels I did enjoy them, but as times have changed, and I have expanded my reading scope, my interest in pre-teen fantasy has diminished.tAnyway, this book is slightly different. It stars Ivy, the hero of the previous book, and it is set entirely in Castle Roogna. She is talking to a ghost and wanting to know his story, and she uses the magic tapestry to actually watch the story unfold, in much the same way that we watch television. Now, there is mention of the Adult Conspiracy in this book, and while this rings a bell, it is not clear as to what it is - yet. People have suggested that there are further hints as to where he is going with the series, and it is interesting how he does it. Anthony really likes using puns, and this is something that is constant throughout the series. However, there does get to a point where we simply stop reading the series because it has stalled and our interests are directed elsewhere. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't with this book.
What do You think about Crewel Lye (1987)?
This was even better than I remembered. It's a love story told to a 5-year-old audience with sex, betrayal and bitter regret! 'Nuff said.I would like to point out a quote from Mr. Anthony in the "Author's Note" at the end:"You see, I have many young readers, who write me in much greater numbers than the older ones do, but they are really not the largest audience for Xanth. Despite appearances, Xanth is intended mostly for adults, which may be why the kids like it."So. I did not name my son after a yount-adult fiction writer after all! And I can remain confident of my maturity/emotional development when I read books I first read when I was twelve. That's a load off.
—Spencer Morris
Eighth in the Xanth Series and not quite up to the standards of the first seven. This tale is mostly told in the first person and the narrator has a completely nebulous mission (to have an adventure) until a third of the way through the book. Later on Anthony introduces a strong female character, and through her he seems to bend over backwards to counter reviewer's criticism that the series is sexist. He fails. He really doesn't get it. Books 5, 6, and 7 of Xanth made it to the New York Times best seller list. This one began the slow steady slide back to mediocrity.
—P.J. Wetzel
This book is likely the best of the Xanth novels, in my opinion, as it spends the most time in that position. Though, depending on day, I've been known to favour A Spell for Chameleon.A lot of series are difficult to decide a reading order for. That isn't true of Xanth as the published order IS the chronological order. That couldn't be more apparent with Crewel Lye. This book answers a question which many readers posed after reading Book 3, Castle Roogna. In that book, the plot centers around Dor using magic to bring Millie the Ghost back to life. But there are other ghosts of Castle Roogna which nobody has bothered to bring back to life. Apparently the reason why is that nobody cared to bother.But here, a couple of the Xanth kids decide to employ magic to bring back Jordan, and while they are waiting for the magic to work he tells them the story of his life. This is why the book occurs between books 7 and 9 when most of the plot place it well before book 1. Although I commended Book 5 for changing up the formula by having a non-human protagonist, I am also going to commend book 8, here, of having the typical fantasy hero. This is because, like in Book 1 with Bink, Jordan is exactly what you would expect of a fantasy hero - strong, handsome, charismatic. He'd be the captain of the football team in high school, yet he is a misfit in Xanth. Unlike standard sword swinging fantasy heroes, Jordan always gets his ass handed to him. This is because, although he is a dashing hero in every sense, he has a purely defensive magical talent. Like Wolverine in the X-men comics, his talent is to heal. As such, he is constantly being defeated and even killed, but then heals from it - waking up a while later rather embarrassed. Which begs the question which is the central mystery of this tale. How is it that the man who can't be killed is a ghost? As well as who did it and why? The answers to those questions as well as the romance plot (or rather anti-romance plot?) make this the best of the Xanth novels.
—J Austill
