A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth, Band 1)
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Beschreibung
Beiträge
This was a reread of a book I quite enjoyed way back then when I was a young guy devouring everything fantasy that i could find in our local library. And stumbling about that Piers Anthony still releases new Xanth books (and also reading some of the less than positive reviews) made me curious enough to return to the world in which everything is magical and/or has magical skills. Unless you're a young man named Bink who seems to have no magical ability at all and is therefore being exiled from a land that has no tolerance for mundanity. Only to involuntarily return with an evil magician in tow hell-bent on conquering Xanth, forcing Bink to defend the land that expelled him against that wizard, all the time having to contemplate if that's even the right thing to do and if that magician really is evil. On his journey, he meets a girl that changes with the moon, from beautiful but dumb as hell, through average in every respect to highly intelligent but ugly. There are also centaurs and all other kinds of mythological creatures, an old castle inhabited by ghosts and protected by zombies, love springs, carnivorous plants, mermaids, invisible giants and even stranger things. In the end, Bink will have learned a lot about himself, including that he actually has a magician-kaliber kind of magical talent. And I'm happy to say that I still could enjoy the book for what it is, a satirical approach to fantasy with a lot of puns and even more ideas on how to make small things ooze magic. Is there sexism in this book first published in 1973? From a 2022 mindset, of course there is. Is it as bad as some reviewers make it out to be? Hardly, I've watched and read much worse things in globally successful movies and tv series in recent years and I'm also aware of the little fact, that this book was written in a time when sexism was the norm, not the exception and when judgments were made whom the often critizised rape trial in the book pales in comparison against. Also, we see the world through the eyes of a young man who, age notwithstanding, basically still is in puberty, and in a lot of respects still behaves in a much more mature way than you normally would give guys in that stage credit for. I'm not saying that parts of the book can't make readers with modern sensibilities feel uncomfortable, but throughout the book, our hero Bink doesn't act on his baser impulses and in the end has learned that true love depends on more than just a pretty face and a voluptuous body, so it's certainly not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be. And of course, it is also no great literature. In the end, it's a fun little romp into a new magical world, that doesn't take itself too seriously and still touches on some serious topics (What's the difference between good and evil? What is the worth of loyality? What is love?), only without hitting you with the proverbial hammer on your head to get the message across. I'm not sure if I want to read through the whole series (again), when there is so much fantasy out there I've never read. But as light-hearted, entertaining fantasy, it still works for me, so who knows if I won't give it another try.
Beschreibung
Beiträge
This was a reread of a book I quite enjoyed way back then when I was a young guy devouring everything fantasy that i could find in our local library. And stumbling about that Piers Anthony still releases new Xanth books (and also reading some of the less than positive reviews) made me curious enough to return to the world in which everything is magical and/or has magical skills. Unless you're a young man named Bink who seems to have no magical ability at all and is therefore being exiled from a land that has no tolerance for mundanity. Only to involuntarily return with an evil magician in tow hell-bent on conquering Xanth, forcing Bink to defend the land that expelled him against that wizard, all the time having to contemplate if that's even the right thing to do and if that magician really is evil. On his journey, he meets a girl that changes with the moon, from beautiful but dumb as hell, through average in every respect to highly intelligent but ugly. There are also centaurs and all other kinds of mythological creatures, an old castle inhabited by ghosts and protected by zombies, love springs, carnivorous plants, mermaids, invisible giants and even stranger things. In the end, Bink will have learned a lot about himself, including that he actually has a magician-kaliber kind of magical talent. And I'm happy to say that I still could enjoy the book for what it is, a satirical approach to fantasy with a lot of puns and even more ideas on how to make small things ooze magic. Is there sexism in this book first published in 1973? From a 2022 mindset, of course there is. Is it as bad as some reviewers make it out to be? Hardly, I've watched and read much worse things in globally successful movies and tv series in recent years and I'm also aware of the little fact, that this book was written in a time when sexism was the norm, not the exception and when judgments were made whom the often critizised rape trial in the book pales in comparison against. Also, we see the world through the eyes of a young man who, age notwithstanding, basically still is in puberty, and in a lot of respects still behaves in a much more mature way than you normally would give guys in that stage credit for. I'm not saying that parts of the book can't make readers with modern sensibilities feel uncomfortable, but throughout the book, our hero Bink doesn't act on his baser impulses and in the end has learned that true love depends on more than just a pretty face and a voluptuous body, so it's certainly not as bad as some reviewers make it out to be. And of course, it is also no great literature. In the end, it's a fun little romp into a new magical world, that doesn't take itself too seriously and still touches on some serious topics (What's the difference between good and evil? What is the worth of loyality? What is love?), only without hitting you with the proverbial hammer on your head to get the message across. I'm not sure if I want to read through the whole series (again), when there is so much fantasy out there I've never read. But as light-hearted, entertaining fantasy, it still works for me, so who knows if I won't give it another try.