I seem to need a fix of pun-ishment every once in a while, and for that I need look no further than an Xanth novel by Piers Anthony.Can you believe this is number 23 in his long running series? And yes, I am a sucker for puns and light stories housing heavy themes.This particular Xanth outing deals with prejudice and environmental issues - and if you have a problem with books that are kinda preachy about issues, I would suggest avoiding Pier’s stuff. It is pretty obvious and in your face (in an Xanthian fun way) , but the message is valid and what Piers has to tell us is pretty spot on. Still, it can annoy some though it doesn’t really bother me.And yes, his Xanth novels are always brimming with ample panty flashes, full cleavage, nubile young female bodies and adult conspiracy theories. Some have a problem with this too. Again, if you do, don’t read it.So, is this book worth reading? Hmm. I have been reading Xanth novels since "Ogre Ogre" was published - yeah that long. I like them, I really do but the series is not for all and maybe getting a little stale for some. Still, I find them light (except for the underlying themes, which are more on the surface) and entertaining.In this one we learn more about the demon Xanth and spend some time looking at Mundania through visiting Xanthian’s eyes, and visa versa. All in all a good romp if a little less structured than some previous novels of in the series.We get all the regular fun - a trip to Good Magician’s Humphrey’s castle and it’s impediments plus recurring characters when they are appropriate. To be honest, there are so many now I kind of lose track of them, but it’s only because I don’t read them one after the other. That way would lead to severe pun-ishment, and while I like them - I am not that crazy.Yes, I will return to the Xanth novels as many times as Piers wants to write them.To me they are just plain clean, naughty fun - a heck of a lot better than day to day Mundania.
Somehow I missed this Xanth book when it came out in 1999. It's very Xanthy, for all that a lot of it is set in Mundania. There were lots of reminders that even though Mundania is a lot like Earth, it isn't quite the same. Lots and lots, like calling Triple-B instead of Triple-A when a car (a Neptune, not a Mercury or Saturn) gets flooded. And lumbering onto the mesh instead of logging into the net. I love puns/wordplay and enjoy Xanth, but it really got tedious at times. Add to that some typos (getting character's name wrong at one point) that I hope got corrected when the transition to paperback was made and that knocked the book down to three stars. Found it interesting, though, that a major plot point concerned climate change caused (in Xanth) by the Demon CoTwo (CO2).
What do You think about Xone Of Contention (2000)?
If you are an avid reader of fantasy fiction, then I highly recommend the first book of the Xanth series, A Spell for Chameleon. It is entirely worthy of its award of the 1977 British Fantasy Society Award (British August Derleth Fantasy Award) for the best novel of the year. The following 3-4 books in the series are also very engaging fantasy novels and I thoroughly enjoyed them as well. But then as the series continued the books began to sink into less than steller range, then merely OK and finally to what we now have as represented by this 23rd book in the series. Xanth has long been about light fantasy and puns. The series seems to have deteriorated into one long excuse to include as many puns as possible, most having been suggested by readers, and it really gets annoying. The plot exists...somewhere, but the massively thick layer of puns does a great job of camouflaging it.
—Benjamin Thomas
