The Magic of Xanth

I first read this book when I was 11 (a number of decades ago). I fell in love with Piers Anthony and quickly read as many of his novels as I could get my grubby little hands on. I outgrew him over time, graduating to more adult, more sophisticated, more mature writers as I got older, to my college years where I majored in English Literature and today enjoy reading a wide variety of books and authors. I stumbled upon a cassette tape audio set of Spell for Chameleon recently, and decided to give it a listen, for old times' sake. I probably read this book a dozen times as a kid. The story came back to me (even some of the actual lines) as I listened to the tapes. My more sensitive palate can, today, pick up on nuances that I didn't notice show more as an 11-year-old: archaic female stereotypes, chauvinistic predilections, far too many sexual entendres for an 11-year-old to be reading (come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that's why I liked Piers Anthony so much). This isn't a great book, by any stretch. It's barely a good book. And probably not one I would give to my 11-year-old hypothetical son to read, nor would I recommend it to anyone else (despite their age). But what it did for me (and what Piers did for me) was to lead me to bigger and better, more and most, fuller and richer literature. Call him a gateway drug for an adolescent reading enthusiast in training. And as such, my re-read (rather: listen) today, a number of decades later, was joyful, even as I cringed at parts that were just bad. I give this three stars for what it was to me, not necessarily for what it actually is. show less

Been reading this with my 12-year old. It's one of the first fantasy novels I ever read (probably around 9). I can't believe what a pervert Piers Anthony is. I wonder if I got all of that when I was reading it at 9. It's hard to believe it got published at all for the audience it was intended for. At some point Kelmy said, "But what was he trying to enslave the wood nymph for?" I just smiled and he said "OHHHHHHH" with a huge grin on his face. We're about half way through and I think he likes it. I'm wondering if he's going to want to read the other 27,000 books in the series.

Finished this finally. Overall it was a hell of a lot better when I was 9. Of course I'm sure the centaur boobs thing made me want to read more books in this show more series. The ending is rather abrupt and almost seems like the second book should just merged with it.

I thought I remembered the main mystery of the story and it seemed not to fit with what was happening so it bugged me the whole way through. But then at the end it was fully explained and thing made sense. This book is wierd in that it seems written for kids but then there's the sexual stuff and also some pretty heavy theoretical stuff about the evolution of magical creatures and Xanth's interactions with the outside world. My 12-year old was totally lost in much of it and he's pretty bright so I wonder how I handled it when I was 9.

Source of Magic (book 2)
My 12 year-old really liked -A Spell for Chameleon- so now we're on to the next book (can't say I'm all that excited).

So my reaction to this book is the same as my reaction to the re-read of [book:A Spell for Chameleon|76664]. Too much sexual innuendo for kids. Too much "theory" for kids. Not serious enough for adults. Not funny enough for adults. Every woman is defined by her looks and made to be either a sexual object or basically "not a woman".

So again I ask who are these books written for? If I at age 41 (1000's of books later) was having trouble interpreting the the ethical debate about whether to set the demon free then it can't be for kids right? Then add in the comments about sex, temptation, the descriptions of the women and you think this must be for adults. But the story itself is "lite" and filled with silly puns, the kind of stuff you find in kids books.

Anyway my boy's 13 now and he liked it (I'm assuming because of the sex references). He says he wants to read more and I remember [book:Castle Roogna|96977] being my favorite of the first 3 books so I guess we'll move on to that one and hopefully like it more. show less

These are the books that put Piers Anthony on the map, so to speak. Liked these alot, but I stopped reading the series sometime after #8 or #10...not sure...I lost count.

The first six are the best of the Xanth novels.