The Secret of Spring [Mass Market Paperback]

Piers Anthony (Author), Jo Anne Taeusch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2001

Herb Moss is a nice young man. He's a Vegan. It's a good life, really; he's engaged to his childhood sweetheart Lily, has a job with his father's firm, and can look forward to a solid if unexciting future. And if he's bored and wistful every time he thinks about it--well, that's normal, isn't it? Surely, thinks Herb, a little romantic correspondence on the side can do no harm. Especially if Lily doesn't find out.

Meanwhile, on a planet far away, a nice young woman named Spring only wishes she were bored. Spring'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. But the evil wizard Zygote has learned of the existence of those secrets. And he'll do anything to get them, including the obvious.

When Gabriel is killed, Spring takes refuge with the austere Order of Companions. There, grieving and lonely, she places a personal ad, looking for a pen pal who can discuss botany. Little does she know that she's actually placed a personal ad in Play Plant magazine, and that her new pen pal Herb thinks she's interested in romance.

When Zygote closes in on her, Spring flees to the only friend she can think of: her buddy Herb. Trouble ensues--with Zygote following close behind it!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Best known for his pun-filled, long-running Xanth light fantasy series, Anthony pairs here with a fan and first-time author for a stand-alone novel of improbable plot and lackluster characters. Vegan Herb Moss, a member of a race of genetically engineered plant-humans on a distant planet, is bored by his nice but dull girlfriend, Lily. When he answers a personal ad in Play Plant magazine, however, Herb gets more than he bargained for: beautiful Spring, daughter of a dead sorcerer who magically sealed the secret to extended life inside his child, to be revealed when she mates with her one true love. Spring is hunted by her father's enemy, the evil mage Zygote, and Herb and his friends are her only hope for evading the villain who seeks her maidenhead. The authors' mix of science and fantasy is awkward at best, and the characters never rise above stereotype, from the reluctant hero Herb with his antiquated philosophy about moody, troublemaking women to spunky-yet-understanding Spring, to Lily with her belief that "the love of a good woman" can bring out the good in any man, even the evil Zygote. While Anthony's author's note proclaims he found "cute cleverness" in Taeusche's original manuscript, it's doubtful that even die-hard Xanth fans will discover much here to hold their attention. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Anthony's latest collaboration (after Dream a Little Dream, 1999, with Julie Brady, etc.) with one of his more persistent admirers features the standard combination of cute witches, evil wizards, lovable quasi-humans, and jocularly lascivious romancing (puns and lovers) in a reasonably inventive, Anthony-fantasy setting where hero Herb, heroine Spring, and villain Zygote have lots of neat stuff to do. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy; 1st edition (July 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812564871
• ISBN-13: 978-0812564877
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,965,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors, and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. His Xanth novels have been read and loved by millions of readers around the world, and he daily receives hundreds of letters from his devoted fans.In addition to the Xanth series, Anthony is the author of many other best-selling works. Piers Anthony lives in Inverness, Florida.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good, lightweight story., October 10, 2000

By 

Kurt A. Johnson (North-Central Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret of Spring (Hardcover)

Spring is the daughter of Gabriel, a wizard who has discovered the secret of ultimate power, but he has an unscrupulous enemy named Zygote. To keep this secret from Zygote, he implants it in Spring and sends her away. To keep a step ahead of Zygote, Spring journeys to the home world of her pen pal Herb Moss, a part human/part plant man. However, even on Herb's world of Paradise #23, Zygote's henchmen aren't far behind.

This book is quite charming with a romantic (and at times racy) storyline. There is a good deal of humor of the punning sort for which Piers Anthony is famous, and the mixture of magic and science fiction is quite interesting. However, the story is lightweight, and is easy to pick up and put down. It's a good story, but far from a great one. I'm glad I read it, but I'll never re-read this one.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cleaver and Funny., April 5, 2000

By 

K. Condit (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret of Spring (Hardcover)

The Secret of Spring is very cleaverly written with puns peppered throughout the story. The characters are funny and imaginative. The unusual ending is quite a surprise. A fun book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cute and irrespressable, June 25, 2000

By 

Amanda N. Murray (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret of Spring (Hardcover)

When I found this book in my local library, I didn't go for it at first because, frankly, the spine looked bad. Awfully shallow of me, I know, but I finally did pick it up and read the inside cover, and I slipped it into my pile of books, including louisa may allcott and tamora pierce. I was honest with myself, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't read it, but I ended up doing so, and I was just as cute and funny as I hoped it would be. I recommend this book, but not as a profound and heart-stirring read, but more as a late-night grooving in the bathtub thing.