Customer Reviews

A Spell for Chameleon

5 star:		(128)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have read all 22 Xanth novels. Six of them really stand out as good stories: Good, moral, heroic main characters, cool talents and magical abilities, good storyline. They get pretty serious, and it almost seems that Piers is trying to teach young readers through the good, moral, honorable, heroic characters, how to act in real life. But most of them get so congested with puns that there's really nothing going on, and it just gets corny. The six good ones are A Spell for Chameleon#1 Castle Roogna#3 Ogre, Ogre#5 Crewel Lye: A Caustic Yarn#8 Heaven Cent#11 and Question Quest#14. Faun & Games#21 had an OK character named Atilla the Pun. The puns get on my nerves. I like puns, I just don't like Piers Anthony's puns. When he started this series he wrote for young men. Now he writes for troublesome adolescents, it seems. He can't go a book without mentioning breasts and panties. Yes, there is a romance in virtually every Xanth book, but still, the sexual inuendos don't fit; they're out of context. I guess Piers just ran out of cool magic talents for his characters. Because let's face it: that's what made the series. When it had magicians with interesting talents that one could base an entire story on the ramifications of them, it was a good series. It isn't anymore. Read the first 14 and then stop.

This is not only the first of many pun filled books, but the best of the series. The others are fun filled and contain some very good writting. But this book has a well developed plot that is worth reading. Be careful though, for the series seems never ending.

Xanth is a marvellous place to visit, espically if you are familiar with Florida. Everybody has a magical talent of lesser or greater degree, but our hero seems to lack one, and heads for exile and adventure.

It is worth your time to pick up this book and follow our heros' adventure.

I recently stumbled across a free pile of paperbacks from Piers Anthony's Xanth series. Being the optimist that I am ("Sure, I have space for fourteen books as well as time to read them"), I gathered them in my arms and took them home with me. I'd read most of them before, when I was in middle school, and I had fond, if hokey, memories.

Xanth is a land of magic where every person has one unique talent, ranging from the useful--converting lead into gold--to the less than--creating the odor of soured milk. Magical creatures are inspired by shameless puns, such as night mares, horses that deliver bad dreams, and nickelpedes, dimepedes and quarterpedes that dwarf the centipedes we're familiar with. A sort of lazy quest is at the heart of each book, serving mostly as an excuse for meeting interesting people and prompting silly jokes. In short, they Xanth novels are nice, mindless reading, and I was looking forward to indulging.

Re-reading the first three chapters of the initial book, A Spell for Chameleon, it became clear that all was not as I'd remembered. Sure, the writing was a bit labored, with clunky phrasing and overdone narration, but that was to be expected. Thirteen-year-old me had more pressing concerns than literary naturalism.

What really surprised me about the book was how casually misogynistic it was. Each of Anthony's female characters is ogled as she's introduced. Sabrina, the narrator Bink's girlfriend, is presented with, "Bink looked at the girl beside him as she stepped through a slanting sunbeam. He was no plant, but he too had needs, and even the most casual inspection of her made him aware of this."

Later, a female centaur--a women's torso on a horse's body!--is objectified after rescuing the narrator. Her "plush pillows" provide a cushion for him to rest on after an attack; later, as she jumps a ravine with him on her back, he's forced to grab her breasts to avoid falling.

Upon arriving in a new village, Bink is thrust into the midst of a rape hearing, where a judge seemingly plucked from a Lifetime movie declares, "I presume she would have fled him at the outset, had she disliked him--and that he would not have forced her if she trusted him. In a small community like this, people get to know each other very well, and there are few actual surprises. This is not conclusive, but it strongly suggests she had no strong aversion to contact with him, and may have tempted him with consequence she later regretted. I would probably, were this case to come up in formal court, find the man not guilty of the charge, by virtue of reasonable doubt."

Afterward, Bink is guided out of town by "the most voluptuous, striking black-haired beauty he had ever seen, a diamond in the mud of this region." Wary of false accusations after the trial, he wonders about the wisdom of traveling alone with her, but the bailiff reassures him by saying, "Don't worry about it, son. Wynne don't lie, and she doesn't change her mind. You behave yourself, difficult as that may be, and there'll be no trouble." This comes immediately after he jokes about not being able to blame Bink if he did want to rape her--wink wink, nod nod.

They set out on their journey, but the objectification continues. "She could have made some farmer a marvelous showpiece," Bink observes. "There seemed to be no part of her body that wasn't perfectly molded." Later, her tells her, "'The Magician [an Oz-like figure she looks to for help] charges a year's service. You--would not want to pay.' The Good Magician was male, and Wynne had only one obvious coin. No one would be interested in her mind."

And, that's where I stopped reading.

What's most disturbing about the attitudes being transmitted (well, beyond the Equus redux) is that this is a series designed to appeal to children. As I remember, the books are slightly bawdy, but never graphic; the language is clean, the violence moderate. You can find the Xanth series in the juvenile section of any public library. And while the books once seemed to speak of the joys of unfettered imagination, they now serve (at least the first) as relics testifying to the denigration of women that once sat unquestioned in our public discourse. That's an awkward legacy, and, sadly for those who once enjoyed the books, it's one that doesn't age well.

I passed by these books everytime I went to the book store. I didn't think I would enjoy these novels, they looked too childish. I finally ran out of other fiction to read, so I picked the first book up in a used book store. Boy was I surprised. I enjoyed it so much I decided to buy the whole series. This series definitely has a quirky side to it. However it is a very enjoyable fantasy series. Full of excellent imagery, characters and storylines. Mr. Anthony is constantly coming up with interesting new stories for this series. The puns don't destroy the fantasy element. They add an enjoyable sidenote. These novels took me through a variety of emotions (most of which either had me chuckling or laughing outloud). "Question Quest" (book #14) is the last book in the series that I have read so far. I definitely plan on reading the rest though.

I have read more than 450 fantasy novels in the past 15+ years, so I am always trying to find something a little new and entertaining. Xanth definitely fills this requirement. I highly recommend these novels for a quick light read.

This is the book that first got me reading fantasy novels. I read this for the first time when I was in 8th grade, I believe (now 23 years old). At the time I found it to be a simple, fun to read novel that got me interested in the world Piers Anthony created. It also got me interested in other fantasy novels, and I moved along from Anthony to Eddings, Brooks, McCaffrey, Feist, Jordan, and Martin. Anthony's Xanth series is what got me started, however.

I think I've read about half of the Xanth series, and it is apparent that the novels are becoming less and less serious. The books become filled with puns, and everything magic is punned. A Spell for Chameleon is the first Xanth novel, however, and there is very little of the punning that the series is known for (and may be the downfall of the series). This first novel sets up the series and defines what Xanth is and what kind of land this is. Xanth is shaped like Florida, but is not actually connected to the United States. It is a separate world filled with magic. Anthony teases that all of the magical creatures in Earth's legends actually were real (dragons, centaur, harpy, sphinx, etc), but they came from Xanth by mistake. Xanth is a magic land is somehow connected to our world, but not in any fixed location. The human population of Xanth was settled by Mundanes (our world is called Mundania) in a series of waves of Invasion, as the Mundanes (from various parts of the world) discovered passages to Xanth. While humans don't naturally have magic when they arrive, any children born in Xanth do in fact possess magic.

When this novel begins, we know there is a Shield blocking any more Waves of invasion from Mundania (prior waves had been mostly violent). The king is an old man with failing health and he has decreed that any citizen who has reached his 25th birthday must be able to demonstrate his magical talent (everyone has just one) or be exiled to Mundania (beyond the Shield). Bink is a young man nearing his 25th birthday and he has not yet discovered his talent. He is journeying to the Good Magician Humphrey to discover his talent. As Bink travels, we learn more about what type of land Xanth is, and discover some of the most prominent features of the land. Humphrey knows that Bink has a Magician level talent, but is unable figure out what the talent is. Bink is still to be exiled.

While I feel that the novel has lost something over the years, it was still a very enjoyable read and it is fun to revisit the world of Xanth.

You tend to see polarized reactions to Xanth. People either love it, or hate it. I think thats because the Xanth series has a limited appeal (mainly to boys between the ages of 11 and 14).

You see, I have been in both positions. In my pre and early teens I read just about every Xanth book there was, by my late teens I wouldn't get near any of Anthony's work. At the grand old age of 22 I can look back and see why I enjoyed it when I enjoyed it.

Anthony does the entire sword and sorcery thing and adroitly mixes in lots of sexual tension and innuendo. The later is what makes it so appealing to teenage boys. Young guys swimming with hormones just eat it up. However, once you get out of the initial stages of adolesence, Xanth, with its puns and predictable plot line, becomes very boring.

You'll gobble this book up, as well as its subsequent sequels, if you're in the aforementioned demographic, but probably won't like it if you aren't (although I have talked to a few women in their 20's and early 30's who like it). When it comes down to it Xanth is like one of those teeny-bopper rock groups, you really dig it for a short time, and then throw it away with disgust.

This is one of the greatest books for people to read in the fantasy genre. I first read this book when I was 13 years old. At first it took me a while to get through it, I couldn't understand why. I finally sat down one day and forced myself to start reading it and I have been thankful for that everyday since.

This book sends you deep into the wonderfully created world of Xanth, a seemingly alternate fantasy universe of Florida strangely enough. The characters in the book are all extreamly colorful and delightful. The main character, Bink, is the classic bumbling hero treading through life trying to find a magic talent before he is kicked out of Xanth forever and sent into the dreaded Mundania. He faces many trials by magic and pure thought and somehow is able to escape most situations without even a scratch, strangely enough..

If you like a story with fun situations and exciting adventures, then this is for you. If you like puns and humor, then this is for you. If you like fantasy, then this is for you. Grumps, people searching for the worst in everything and those without imagination need not apply for this is the wrong book for you. Enjoy a classic at its finest.

The Xanth books are based on a world that is juxtaposed to our current world, but is separated by a curtain of magic. Xanth is a world of magic and most human residents have a single magical talent, except for the protagonist of the story, Bink, who has yet to find out what his is or if he even has one. The book is his quest to discover this talent.

I have read that the Xanth books are now almost entirely based on puns and everything is taken literally (ie, a slipper tree that bears slippers as fruit). I did not notice many puns at all in this first book so it didn't bother me. What I did notice was that this book was much more exciting the first time I read it, 15 years ago when I was a 12 year old boy. I have read Piers Anthony's "Blue Adept" series and it follows much of the same themes. His books, including this one, read very fast, and all follow the same pattern: hard luck teenager strives to be something more, goes on a quest, meets several half-naked beautiful women, has sex with them, becomes the most powerful person in the realm.

"Spell for a Chameleon" is a fun book and I enjoyed it, but I would not recommend it for anyone over the age of 18. Anthony's writing is a bit amateurish (you should never need a dictionary while reading his stories). The books seem to be marketed to horny yong adolescent boys, given the amount of sex and nudity that every one of his books I've read has. I don't mind that in a book, but I don't think too many adults will find the stories that interesting. You can only have so many griffin/dragon fights and meet so many half-naked female centaurs/mermaids before it gets old. It is a very quick read though, however if you are an adult I would advise you quit the Xanth series after book 4, and well before book 15, "The Color of her Panties."

This book is the opening novel in a series that once kept my teenaged mind occupied for a trying couple of weeks when I really needed that. It's a good kind of tale for distancing yourself from reality. It's never heavy and never silly. What it lacks in depth (a la Lord of the Rings) it makes up for in imaginative charm.

This is a fantasy genre book, as in magic and spells and Medieval-ish setting and all that. Xanth is a Florida-shaped land in another dimension wherein everyone has a magic "talent". Some people have minor talents, others have talents so major they rate as a wizard or a sourceress. Some talents are technically useless, others can kill. The law of magic-based Xanth also states that anyone who does not eventually demonstrate that they possess some form of magic talent, is to be exiled forever from the borders of this magic realm, into a frighteningly awful place called "Mundania" (aka our world).

The main character, Bink, is nearing the age of exile and in all his life he's never shown any inkling of owning claim to a magical ability of any sort. Fearing exile, which in many cases in a world full of dragons, bloodthirsty tangle trees and goblins, is as good as a death sentence, Bink makes a pilgrimage to the castle of a venerable wizard famed for his talent of providing an answer to any question asked of him. The catch is that in return for the answer, the person visiting the wizard must provide one year of unpaid slave labor. Bink consults with the wizard and is told that while he certainly does possess a talent--and apparently a mighty one--the wizard cannot fathom what that talent is.

Even the word of a wizard is not good enough in the eyes of the law, and lacking the ability to publicly demonstrate his magical aptitude, Bink is exiled to Mundania, a hideously boring place full of people so daft they think magic is the stuff of fairy stories. And THERE is where this transporting little tale really takes off...

This gentle, sometimes innuendo-heavy fantasy story is pleasantly remembered by me and I think almost anyone will agree it's an enjoyable investment of a handful of hours.

I read this ten years ago and with a rereading I still enjoy the characters and the introduction to the imaginative world of Xanth. Maybe I am more politically correct these days, but Bink comes across as shallow and sexist. He is an interesting character, but his attitude toward women leaves something to be desired. I'm not sure what the author's trying to say--Bink decides he can't settle down with just one woman, but a woman like Dee will do because she never looks the same way twice. Besides that, I thoroughly enjoyed this tale and am looking forward to reading other books from this series--again.