Zombie Lover (Xanth, No. 22) [Hardcover]

Piers Anthony (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1998

Piers Anthony's tales of the magical land of Xanth are among the most popular fantasies ever written, with more than 20 titles on the New York Times bestseller list and millions of devoted fans around the world.

Zombie Lover, Anthony's newest Xanth adventure, is the thrilling tale of Brianna, a beautiful, brassy young black girl with a distressing dilemma. She has unwittingly attracted the affections of King Xeth, ruler of Xanth's Zombies, who yearns to make her Queen of the Undead!

Her quest to preserve her innocence -- and escape a fate that is literally worse than death -- leads from the regions of Madness to the evanescent Isle of Women, which is ruled by voracious vamps, and on to Xanth's myriad "worlds of maybe" orbiting Queen Ida's head. And it brings the return of many familiar Xanth characters, including King Dor, Prince Dolph, Bink and Chameleon, and Justin Tree, who becomes her spirit guide on this oddest of odysseys.

Packed with perils, puzzles and piles of puns, Zombie Lover provides much macabre merriment for Xanth's many fans.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A brassy 15-year-old, Breanna, stars in this cheeky new installment in Anthony's popular series about Xanth (Faun & Games, 1997, etc.), a quirky magical realm where everything is taken literally. Since she spent most of her life in Mundania, Breanna knows all about stork-summoning, but she needs help to escape the unwelcome attentions of King Xeth of the Zombies, who stirs up his grisly minions to try to make her his queen. Anthony combines Breanna's tale with a sweeter one, that of Jenny Elf's love for handsome werewolf Prince Jeremy. He also revives several engaging characters from earlier novels to spice up the girls' adventures. His punny goings-on, liberally salted with reader-submitted howlers like a barrister/bare aster flower, zip and zoom around his traditional themes: be considerate of other people's feelings, apologize for temper tantrums, learn how to be tolerant even of zombies who shed gobbets of decaying flesh. Xanth devotees should be delighted; others may scratch their heads.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

There are so many books in Anthony's most durable creation, the Xanth series, that one can justifiably call this the umpteenth novel of Xanth. A gorgeous black girl named Brianna finds herself lusted after by Xeth, king of the Zombies. Being inclined, even grimly determined, to decline his attentions, she thereupon must flee to the Isle of Women, then onward, past many Xanth landmarks and through meetings with a good many characters whom dedicated Xanthropologists will recognize, from King Dor on down. Anthony's guided-tour-of-Xanth approach in this and other recent books in the series makes them much more entertaining for Xanth newcomers. Meanwhile, newcomers and old-timers alike will enjoy Anthony's latest collection of truly mind-boggling puns. Every so often, most readers get a craving for a book like this; be grateful to Anthony for continuing to satisfy it. Roland Green

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (September 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312866909
• ISBN-13: 978-0312866907
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #849,776 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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Zombie Lover, January 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Zombie Lover (Xanth, No. 22) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed the book itself, the writing always captures and maintains my interest. I usually read these books in one or two days. I have been pleased with Xanth books from the beginning and have not missed a volume. The reason that this book only received three stars from me is the cover art. The story depicts Breanna as a very dark skinned young woman. The cover depicts her as a pale faced girl with dirty or hairy arms and legs. A little more consistancy between the artist and the illustrator would appropriate and appreciated.

I am amazed to find that what seems like such a minor detail is so incremental in causing this book to lose two stars from my vote.

Piers and publishers, you cannot present a wonderfully diverse setting if the marketing on the front tries to appeal to only one group, by making the black character look almost white.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Ambivalence, June 30, 2001

By 

Anthrophile (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zombie Lover (Xanth, No. 22) (Hardcover)

In the past twelve years, I've gone to being a rabid, enthusiastic and proselytizing Anthony fan to being... well... sorta lukewarm. (My first Xanth book -- and thus my favorite of the series for a long time, just for sheer exuberant silliness -- was "Crewel Lye.") To compare the style and scope of "Zombie Lover" to, say, "A Spell for Chameleon" or other earlier books is just begging to be depressed. The series has gone from being always gripping, often moving and consistently hilarious to merely amusing. (I've been noticing a constant, half-hearted resurrection of older characters from the series' "glory days," before Ivy's adolescence and before the Adult Conspiracy became such an annoyingly inescapable plot point.) And like many of today's mainstream authors, Anthony means well, but his interpretation of, for example, racial prejudice (in this book at least) is superficial and clueless. (I would be interested to guess the number of black women fans (yes they do exist) who, not having green eyes and straight, rump-length hair, might be more than a little hurt by his interpretation of black "beauty." Black Barbie, indeed. No offense meant to the Halle Berrys of the world who actually look like that.)

I was sad to realize that this will probably be my last Xanth book. Mild amusement has its place, but if you want a *real* taste of Anthony, let Xanth die a quiet death already and go directly to the "Incarnations of Immortality" series, or the first two "Geodyssey" books.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good bookif you haven't read the others in the series., December 21, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Zombie Lover (Xanth, No. 22) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed this book, and even bought it instead of borrowing from the library. But for a faithful Xanth fan, it is a little disappointing. The earlier books were gems. The middle ones were fun. But lately the quality of the plot (not the writing) has gone down. There is still hope for Xanth, though; I read a few Tamora Pierce books like Wolf Speaker and The Woman Who Rides Like A Man which didn't live up to my expectations of her, then WHAM! she retaliates with Emperor Mage and Lioness Rampant. Don't despair, friends: Xanth is not lost forever! In the meantime, check out Tamora Pierce and Gath Nix.