Frustrating though imaginative, mean-spirited and misogynistic, an example of how not to portray women in fiction. It saddens me to say that this will be the last Xanth novel I read for the forseeable future. Once I slogged through Night Mare I no longer wanted to spend time with this writer, and it’s for the strangest reason: This book, featuring a female protagonist destined to save her kingdom from ultimate destruction, is just a diatribe against women.Imbri is a former Night Mare, a horse that brings bad dreams to all the people in Xanth. After the events of Ogre, Ogre she is no longer able to do her job properly, and so she’s fired and sent to help stave off the next major invasion threatening Xanth. Not only is a barbaric army cutting a swath down through Xanth toward the seat of power, someone is also magically taking out the kings of the nation, and no one can figure out why.Where Ogre, Ogre represents the best of Piers Anthony, the next book in the series manages to be his worst. Imbri and her companions are constantly demeaned, and usually it’s the women themselves that are constantly talking about the weaknesses of their gender. Over and over again the women in this book opine that they don’t really want to be valued members of society, they just want to be longed for by their men, that their intelligence is the ugliest trait, and that they should use their bodies as bait for the enemy. This misogyny culminates in a climax scene where a character must conquer her own weak feminine biology in order to prevail against her enemy. I wish I could recommend skipping this book, but Fantasy readers tend to be completionists, and that requires reading even the horrible entries in a series. For me, it’s going to take a long time before I will be able to get back to Xanth. Let’s just say, I’ll need to spend some time away from the Gap Chasm in order to forget it.
A nightmare is actually a mythological creature30 December 2011tWell, at this point in the Xanth series we are starting to move away from the main characters from the previous books to single books, set in Xanth, evolving around a new character. In this novel we meet Mare Imbrium, a Night Mare. Nightmares are given the task of carrying bad dreams to the people of Xanth. However Imbrium's problem is that she has obtained half a soul (which she got from the previous book) and this has affected her ability to carry out her task.ttPiers Anthony does like playing with words, but then he was not the first person to connect nightmares with horses. I have seen this a while back in the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons, where nightmares are from the nether regions, and are dark demonic horses that travel on paths of fire. However Anthony's nightmare is a little tamer than the nastier creatures that appear in Dungeons of Dragons. However, a little research has revealed that nightmares have been connected with horses long before the development of Dungeons and Dragons, and in fact are demonic creatures in German folklore (as is evident by this painting, so it seems that Anthony's pun has backfired):tThe other thing that I immediately noticed after reading the outline of the book, and that is the name of the nightmare. Mare Imbrium: that is the name of a region of the lunar surface which, for some strange reason, are called seas (even though there is no water in them – Mare is a Latin word that refers to a large body of water). I would have never picked that up when I originally read the book, however it has since jumped out at me from my computer screen upon noticing it this time.
What do You think about Night Mare (1997)?
Imbrium is a Night Mare who, like many in her land, gets charmed by the Horseman while investigating the rash of kidnapped Xanthian kings. As more and more of Xanth's royalty are getting transported to a hypnotic state, the next successor must take the throne, and it may be up to Imbrium to break the chain.This was the only Xanth book that I liked as much as the first one. Mostly because the ideas in the "gourd" world invention were pretty fresh and unique. What I didn't like so much was (again) how ladies were handled here. Imbrium is the author's first female protagonist, though she is a horse. Her big downfall is that she cannot resist the sexiness of a male horse and her weakness overcomes her. And also, though having Magician-class magic is the only requirement of a Xanth King, they apparently have never considered crowning a woman before (unless it's through marriage to a male king), so having to use female kings in a pinch when they ran out of men was pitched as clever. I thought it should have been obvious.
—Julie Decker
I know a lot of people end their Xanth experiences with this book, but it is honestly one of my favorites. I'm not sure if that's just because I love Imbri, or that loads of my favorite characters get scenes in this one, or just the plain unique angle you get of Xanth from this one, but I know I love it.Beware the Horseman! the message has been delivered, but the full force of the statement doesn't become clear until the end. Will Xanth fall, or can the night mare save them all?Another great book, and another five stars ;)
—Kirsti
Update: figured out what happened to my review. Definitely shouldn't try to do this when I'm sick because I hit the wrong button, lost my window and ended up starting a completely new review with a different edition without realizing it. All better now.This book was my introduction to the world of Piers Anthony. To be brief, I've never looked back. Eventually, I'll write a more in depth review, but the short version is if you do not like puns, you won't enjoy any of the Xanth novels. If you want to laugh, sit back an enjoy the ride.Re-reading this for the I-don't-know-how-many-th time. Beware the Horseman!Finished it last night. I was left with such a smile and I almost want to read it again right away, but i've been unpacking books this past week, so who knows what will be next!
—Carole
