The Secret of Spring
by Piers Anthony, Jo Anne Taeusch
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A romantic tale of wizardry and botany! He is a sentient plant. Herb Moss is a nice young man. He's a Vegan: a member of a genetically engineered species, part human and part plant, living on the planet New World. It's a good life, really: Herb's engaged to be married to his childhood sweetheart, Lily; has a job with his father's firm; and can look forward to a solid if unexciting future. And as everyone keeps telling him, it's time to put down roots. If he happens to be bored every show more time he thinks about it--well, that's a normal part of growing up, isn't it? But still, Herb's bored. Surely, he thinks, a little romantic correspondence on the side can do no harm . . . She's a magician's daughter . . . Meanwhile, far away on the planet New Land, a nice young woman named Spring is feeling anything but bored. She just wishes she were. She's been living with her widowed father, Gabriel, a practicing sorcerer, keeping house and helping out with the business. It's been a good life . . . . . . with a big secret. But Gabriel has discovered hitherto-unknown magical secrets that can bring their possessor great riches, absolute power, and forbidden knowledge. To keep them safe, he's sorcerously locked them deep within his daughter's mind, where only her own true love--or, failing that, someone she likes a lot--can access them . . . so to speak. Trouble ensues. When Gabriel is killed under suspicious circumstances, Spring flees to the austere Order of Companions. There, grieving and lonely, she places a personal ad, looking for a pen pal with whom she can discuss botany. Little does she know that she's actually placed an ad in Play Plant magazine, and that her new pen pal, Herb, thinks she's interested in romance. Meanwhile, an ambitious wizard has learned of the existence of Spring's secrets. And he'll do anything to get them . . . including the obvious. show lessTags
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To me, this reads as less of a serious novel (Incarnations of Immortality, for example) and more of a light, enjoyable read. It seems that Mr. Anthony and Ms. Treusch got together and decided to have fun. I get the feeling that they just wanted to relax and play around a bit, and it does seem like they had fun. There's a lot of plant puns here. Magazines become 'magazinnias', prostitutes are 'passionflowers' and the like. I smiled at some of the puns. If the author's objectives was to have fun and make a amusing story, they definitely accomplished that.
However, the ending felt weird to me. The 'secret' of Spring... well, it's not much of a secret. I was happy for what happened with Zygote at the end, but at the same time, it felt show more cliched to me. This book had a lot of potential, especially for the ending. I'm not saying that this is a bad book at all, but if you do decide to read it, just don't expect a great read. show less
However, the ending felt weird to me. The 'secret' of Spring... well, it's not much of a secret. I was happy for what happened with Zygote at the end, but at the same time, it felt show more cliched to me. This book had a lot of potential, especially for the ending. I'm not saying that this is a bad book at all, but if you do decide to read it, just don't expect a great read. show less
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370+ Works 144,852 Members
Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob was born in August, 1934, in Oxford, England. He graduated from Goddard College in Vermont in 1956. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen while serving in the United States Army in 1958. He served in the U.S. Army from 1957-1959. In 1977, he received a British Fantasy Award for A Spell for a Chameleon. Anthony's show more family emigrated to the United States from Britain when he was six. Highly popular because of his science fiction and fantasy works, Anthony is also known for the Jason Striker series and martial arts novels co-written with Roberto Fuentes. A highly prolific author, Anthony's other works include Bio of a Space Tyrant, Cluster, and the Omnivore series. Anthony makes his home in Tampa, Florida. He also writes under the pseudonym Robert Piers. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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