Piers Anthony isn’t just the next book on my shelf; he’s the next shelf by himself. I find him funny, smart, and poignant. He both leans into stereotypes and defies them. I know he won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Not everyone enjoys puns as much as I do. But I love his humor and I love the relationship he’s built with his fans. I love that he takes pun suggestions from fans and then puts credits for them in a big block in the back of the book. I love that he also publishes voluminous sections about his process and what’s going on with his life and his writing. Are his books formulaic? Sure. But I like the formula, so it doesn’t bother me.
I heard someone online talking about him recently, calling him a misogynist among other things. However, they were talking about his first Xanth book, A Spell for Chameleon, which was published in 1977. Frankly, not his best work. Does it treat its female characters well? Not particularly. But it was, as I said, released in 1977. How many works really treated their female characters well at that point? I would argue not many. And if you narrow it to fantasy and sci-fi, I think you’d find it was better than many in the genre.
Now personally, when recommending Xanth, I usually suggest that readers skip the first three in the series. The Source of Magic is, if anything, worse than A Spell for Chameleon, and Castle Roogna is very much male-centric. However, by Centaur Aisle, released in 1982, the series started to come into its own. Sure, Queen Iris is presented as controlling and overbearing, but she’s also powerful. She bows to no one except the King. Her daughter, Princess Irene, is a headstrong flirt, but she’s also brave and caring and powerful in her own right. From this point on, in fact, the female characters are often presented as the smart and capable ones, while the male characters bumble around obliviously. By the time the sixth book, Night Mare, came out (also in 1982, because the man is a writing fiend), Piers Anthony had progressed to having female Kings of Xanth for the first time in the land’s history.
I love these books to bits. I first found them in a box in my dad’s basement, having been left there by my sister when she went off to college. I was too young for half of the jokes, but I loved them anyway. I would hide myself away in that basement and escape into a world of magic where cryptically answered questions always led to a happily ever after. If you’re looking for a light-hearted escape, then I heartily recommend them…starting with book #4.
Leave a Reply