Stork Naked (Xanth) (Hardcover)

by Piers Anthony (Author)
Key Phrases: ench ants, tsoda pop, forget whorl, Woe Betide, Adult Conspiracy, Surprise Golem (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
At the start of Anthony's routine 30th Xanth novel, Stymy Stork refuses to deliver Surprise Golem's baby, because Surprise is too young, per the dictates of the Adult Conspiracy. After the stork flies off with his bundle, Surprise, the two bratty children she's babysitting and the pet peeve (the obnoxious bird of 2005's Pet Peeve) resolve to bring the baby back. Their meandering quest takes them through various alternate Xanths, including Lion Mountain, complete with Mountain Lion, and the Punderground. Hardcore Xanth fans will enjoy the pun-filled journey, but other readers may raise their eyebrows at how often the Adult Conspiracy fails to protect teenage girls from sexual activity. In the end, Surprise and her baby reach home—but is this the home and husband they left? At least the book closes with a tantalizing question to set up the sequel. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
In the thirtieth absurd, pun-laden tale of Xanth, Surprise Golem is expecting. But Stymy Stork refuses to deliver and flies off through a hole in the fabric of reality. To track down her baby, Surprise embarks, with the brats she babysits and the obnoxious pet peeve in tow, on a quest through several alternate Xanths. While seeking the baby, the odd lot has trouble keeping track of each other. Eventually, mom finds babe and returns to . . . Is this the home she left? Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (October 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765304090
• ISBN-13: 978-0765304094
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #657,819 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 30 in The Xanth Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to standard for Xanth, December 31, 2006

By	mark sutter (Peoria, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars My Stork Naked Truth, December 25, 2007

By	Birgit Arentsen (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stork Naked (Xanth) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars Drop 1/4 from the middle, April 4, 2009

By	Eric R. Foy "ithekid" (Blue Eye, MO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Stork Naked (Xanth) (Mass Market Paperback)

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