Princess Ivy's princessly duties apparently include absolutely nothing, so she's bored. She wants a quest. Good thing she's in a fantasy novel that hands out quests readily, though it seems the quest she's chosen is the same one they've been trying to solve for three books now. Ho-hum.Ivy ends up getting sucked into Mundania through a computer program that's helping nerdy old Grey meet chicks. Somehow, even though the program seems pretty magical itself, Grey is absolutely dead set against believing in anything magical, and that includes Ivy herself. Even though she brings him to Xanth and shows him magic stuff, he makes up very silly reasons for why it's not magic. (This kind of portrayal of skeptics bugs me. They're not reality deniers. Though obviously the occasional person like Grey might exist.) But of course--of course!--the next thing Grey and Ivy have to do is fall in love, and the big wangst fest involves Ivy not being able to marry someone who has no magic. Actually, she can't marry someone who doesn't have MAGICIAN-CALIBER talent. (Seems a kind of stupid rule to me, considering Magician-caliber children aren't only born to Magicians. One would think being a royal would allow you to change stupid laws that only affect royals.) Good thing stories in Piers Anthony's work always find ways to make everything okay, and Grey is descended from powerful Magicians and has a magic talent he didn't know about after all. So now the seventeen-year-old girl who's found her true love in a matter of weeks can settle down and marry the Man from Mundania.
I read the Xanth books a lot when I was younger and really enjoyed them. I liked the puns, the magic, the world, etc. As the series got longer though, it lost some of its creativity and magic, and started to feel phoned in...or maybe I got older. This book, however, I really enjoyed, except for one major point. It's been many years since I read it, so my facts about characters and specifics is skewed, but one thing I remember the most from this book was a lack of continuity between it and the earlier books in the series. From what I remember, the man from Mundania ended up having powerful talents and you find out its because his parents were some banished powerful talented people. I may be getting stories confused though. Anyways, I remember back when I was young and reading this series religiously, that about this time, story continuity for older and early characters was skewed greatly. Major players who had died in the first 5 books, showed up as live parents or characters in the later books, and their story was different than it had actually happened a few books earlier. That annoyed me a lot. I only read the series for a few more books past this one before losing interest. The first 5 books were definitely worth reading. Same goes for Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, you have to read at least the first handful to get a good appreciation for the series.
What do You think about Man From Mundania (2000)?
I was leary of this book when I first started to read it, I was afraid Princess Ivy would spend much of the book in Mundania and that would kill my interest in the book. It turns out that they didn't stay in mundania and that Piers Anthony found a way to make Mundania magical for me too.The more I read Xanth novels the more I like them. I love they way he continues to flesh out each character and different generations. EAch time he goes back to a chracter I know I sink more into the series.That being said, I think Grey is my new favorite character and this is his first book. I love all his mundane disbelief, it some how inhances the magical aspect for me.
—Theresa
Another day, another Xanth book. This book focuses back on Ivy, who despite being a cute Princess with considerable magic talent, lacks a proper partner for life. She also wants to find the Good Magician, and succeed where others have failed. All this combines to see her using the Heaven Cent, and landing in drear Mundania!Here she meets and slowly falls for a mundane man named Grey, and takes him back to Xanth. Loads more happens, but you'll have to read it yourself to find out more!One of my favorite Xanth books, because it sees two favorite characters get together. Yep, you guessed it, five stars!
—Kirsti
A while back I purchased a group of books from the charity shop with a view to having a set of reads I could carry around and if I forgot them on the plain or buss excreta it wouldn’t matter. This and several other Xanth novels were part of that perches.tI was exposed to Xanth some thirty years ago and the books remain a source of amusement. To try and call them great art is, in my opinion, to miss the point. The mark they must be measured by is did the reader enjoy them.tIn the case of Man from Mundania I did. It is a simple, light read that can fill the hours one is trapped on a plain or in my case more likely reading in the car while one's wife shops. The conflicts remind us of a time when having a girlfriend was all important and we thrilled to the sight of a well filled bikini. A time before we were inundated with pornographic images. The innocence of the book appeals to me in a nostalgic way. It has the obligatory silly puns but as long as the reader takes it for the fun read it is they are a smile. The simple quest to find a good girl friend then finding out that no matter what you have to adapt to the person is very teenaged but relevant because for a time we all go through that stage. The interesting bit of depth that comes from a very brief discussion on the nature of evil actually lends the work a bit of eloquence.tIn short, if you want a brainless, time-filler read that will bring a smile go for it. I did and it was time well filled.
—Stephen Pearl
