Customer Reviews

Stork Naked (Xanth, No. 30)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've got all of the Xanth books. Since, there are around 30 Xanth books, you can see that I'm a fairly serious fan of the series. This is similar to most of the Xanth books: lots of puns, Demon-ly manipulation, discoveries of potential mates, hints of sex, etc.

I liked the occasionally leading role that the children (Ted, Monica, and Woe Betide) and the Peeve had in the story. However, the adults (Surprise, Stymy, Pyra, and Che) tended to be charactors that you couldn't really care about.

The biggest problem that I had was the number of plot holes and disconnected events. I frequently found myself paging back and forth, trying to figure out how a person joined or left the company. Sometimes, I couldn't figure it out. One partial explanation for confusion might be that this book is structured differently from most of the books, in that there are many more break-aways from the central charactor (Surprise) to first-person naratives of the other charactors.

Also, while Demon bets are the basis for the events that drive the story, the resolution of those bets isn't completely clear, nor do we meet the Demons. Additionally, there is another whole plot element involving the Simurgh which is hardly explored or resolved at all.

In general this feels like a first draft of a book, that still needs a lot of editing.

It has been years since I've read one of the Xanth novels and it was my fond memories of what it was like to discover the magical land of Xanth rather than the description on the back that made me buy the book. Babies are just so not my thing: having them, not having them, losing them, finding them, dealing with them. I'll leave that to others and I should have left this book to others, too.
Enter Surprise Golem who must go on a quest to find her baby whom the stork refused to deliver to her. I had hoped that the puns and other Xanthian perks and quirks would let me enjoy the book even though I could care less about the story line but it wasn't so. Were all the puns explained in such detail in the old books or was the reader's mind more called on to work things out on their own?

I was unable to finish the book because I had things to do that were fun. So sorry, Piers Anthony, but thank you for all the wonderful hours I was allowed to spend in Xanth years ago.

I found this book to drag on and on and rely heavily on the two main characters wanting to sleep with each other. That's a pretty weak story line. I mean, what happened to Surprise's ability to reverse the love spring's effects? I felt fairly lost in this book and at the end, when they (poorly) decide which home to go back to, I'd definitely had more than enough. I love the Xanth series and have read (at least) the first 25 books twice, and everything since, once. Hopefully this is the only strong exception to a great series. The last books have unfortunately gotten a bit weak and the story lines have become quite a stretch.

Xanth #30: Stork Naked, by Piers Anthony

Surprise Golem gets the shock of her life when her baby is delivered, but the stork flies off with the baby because of a technicality. She immediately decides to see the Good Magician, to find out how to get her baby back. He tries to dissuade her from her quest, but Surprise is a good girl with morals, and already loves her baby, so she sets off on a mission to attempt to rescue the infant.

But what Surprise doesn't know is that she is part of a Demon bet. Two of the characters that join her quest, Stymy Stork and Pyra, are the agents of the Demons. Each has a reason for wanting Surprise to succeed or fail, because then they will get their heart's desire.

Surprise and Che Centaur, who is on a mission of his own trying to find the Simurgh, adventure through the alternate realities of Xanth. Not content with the endless possibilities offered by the moons of Ida (explored in previous books), Anthony introduces an alternate reality concept, and Surprise and Che visit 6 realities out of an infinite number of realities.

I didn't really enjoy this Xanth novel; I think a large portion of it, especially around the middle, could have been cut out and that would have improved the book quite a bit. "Stork Naked" feels quite fractured, probably because the viewpoint switches often, from Surprise, to Che, to Stymy, and so on; at one point, each character has their own chapter. Things jumped around too much and at some points I had to look back because I was confused on how the characters got from A to B. At times the puns were too overwhelming, and it seemed as if Anthony was just trying to clear his backlog of readers' suggestions. A few parts were interesting, but they weren't enough to overcome the rest of the book's faults.

2/5.

Great reading and a lot more explinations that were very helpful in understanding Xanth, but about a quarter of it could have been edited. This one I think Mr. Jacobs allowed his fans to run the book for a goodly portion. Where suggestions fit, use them, but don't drag the story on just to use them up. Still and all, great escapism. I am disabled, so can finish a book in one to three days and I still hunger for more. Thank you Mr. Anthony

I like the Xanth books overall, but the series has been a bit uneven at times. Some of the stories are downright brilliant, and others - like this one - are mediocre at best. The author's notes at the end mention 4 hurricanes and a week-long power outage during the writing of this novel. It shows. I really felt like the author just phoned this one in.

From the beginning, I had a hard time with this story. I just kept finding myself not really caring that much about the characters or the resolution of the story. I finally rushed through it, skipping the abundance of pun-ishment (One or two puns at a time are amusing, but page after endless page of wordplay gets tiring.)

There were moments of brilliance, don't get me wrong, but I felt like much of the novel was just filler, giving us peeks in to the "could have beens" of alternate Xanths without really giving us much reason to care about them.

On the whole, I'd say that if you're a die-hard Xanth fan, this one is worth putting on the bookshelf, but I think I'd wait for it to hit the bargain bin first.

Stork Naked (2006) is the thirtieth Fantasy novel in the Xanth series, following Pet Peeve. In the previous volume, Gwenny Goblin introduced the pet peeve to Surprise Golem, who soon brought her whole family to meet the bird. After Grundy exchanged insults with the bird, to their mutual enjoyment, the Golem family took it home with them. Then Goody Goblin only had to worry about his upcoming marriage.

In this novel, Surprise and Umlaut are expecting, so Surprise is not too upset when the stork appears with her baby. But she is very upset when the stork decides that she is too young and takes away the baby for another couple. She just stands there in shock and stares as the stork flies away.

The peeve is astounded at her lack of response. So are the young demons Ted and Monica, whom Surprise is babysitting. They all decide to ask the Good Magician for advice. Surprise composes a spell to apport them all to Humfrey's castle.

There Surprise faces her three challenges and gains admittance, but Humfrey refuses to accept her as a querent. He explains that there is more going on than she knows. He does advise her to take her complaint to the Stork Works.

Humfrey offers the services of Che Centaur for the trip. Che has come to the Good Magician to find the missing Simurgh and Humfrey thinks that her disappearance is connected in some way with Surprise's missing baby. The Good Magician also adds Woe Betide to the group, placing her in a stasis spell so she cannot revert to D. Metria, Ted's mother.

At the Stork Works, the searchers determine that the delivering stork was Stymy, who has a bad reputation for mishaps. Apparently he had taken the baby to an alternate reality after leaving Surprise. They use the Reality Mask to reduced the number of possibilities to four, but Surprise and company still have to check out each of these situations. The Chief Stork adds Stymy to their party as a sort of probationary retribution.

In this story, we gradually learn that major Demons Xanth and Fornax have made another bet on Surprise's reaction to this situation. They ensure that Surprise and Che are splashed with Love Elixir. Then they present Surprise with bad choices. The Demons also place agents in the group and declare that everybody loses if Surprise finds out about the bet.

At first Che and Surprise are quite composed, but soon the elixir begins to bother them. Surprise is told that the only way to remove the tension is to surrender to their impulses. Then she is faced with several opportunities to make love with Che. The attraction only increases after they find Surprise's baby.

This issue of the Xanth saga has lots of puns, but doesn't seem as fully packed as the previous volumes. Indeed, the plot appears to be more important in this novel. Nonetheless, the author promises that the next installment -- Air Apparent -- will have another slew of reader suggested puns and word plays.

Highly recommended for Anthony fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of fantastic geography, exotic fauna/flora and atrocious puns.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Piers Anthony's Xanth series continues to entertain like no other fantasy/comedy books in existence. Following Surpirse Golem through many alternate realities on her search for her mis-delivered baby, the puns abound in another hilarious story out of the magic land of Xanth. The best part? Finally find out what Che Centaur will do to change the History of Xanth!

Piers Anthony takes us into another adventure in the punny world of Xanth. As usual, a visit to the Good Magician leads the main characters on the quest for an answer. This time, it is not just Xanth main that Surprise and her fellow travellers visit. This time they must access alternate realities in order to complete their quest. But, as usual there is a bit of a twist. Forces are working against the group, trying to make them fail. Some new characters and new worlds create a different venture for Xanth fans.

This was exactly what I was seeking in a fantasy adventure book in the Xanth series.