There are afew corn kernels in this steaming pile: it turns out Xanth has such athing as redemptive arcs, and the hints about Bink’s talent (which is as much aworld-breaker as the Teela Brown gene, which as we all know made it nearly impossible to write more Known Space stories) are handled well enough. Those few details are inextricably entangled in some pretty dirematerial. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 2021-02-15 13:00:59 Boxid IA40060603 Camera Sony Alpha-A6300 (Control) Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

Then abruptly a silent moth hawk swooped down from the sky and caught the chameleon in its beak. There was a thin scream of anguish as the lizard convulsed; then it dangled limply as the hawk ascended. The chameleon, despite all its pretensions, was dead. Even while trying to threaten Bink, it had been destroyed by another agency. So, I liked the cover. Yeah, I know, it is not really part of the story, but hey, at least one thing in this book was ok, right? The cover was pretty cool, I guess. The title too. "A Spell for Chameleon". Ooh, such a "cool" title. I believe that in every book, there is at least ONE thing that I enjoy, no matter what the rating. So, I will start this review with the (few) things I enjoyed in this before bombarding the review with everything that has gone SO DARN WRONG. And for young guys to consider the themes here, even if they end up agreeing with som eof the author's rather wayward thinking, is a much healthier thing (at least they have the opportunity to disagree with him) than a young woman reading a sad 'one day my prince will come' piece of pseudo-erotica. Then I presume she would have fled him at the outset, had she disliked him--and that he would not have forced her if she trusted him.'"Poor Bink! Each human Xanth has their own unique magical gift. Bink appears to be one of the few exceptions, with no discernible magical talent. Not only does this place him at aconsiderable disadvantage to his fellow humans, but it will cost him his place in Xanth. Human law mandates exile for those withoutmagic. All throughout his life, Bink has been bullied and teased for being a "spell-less wonder", a freak who cannot perform magic in a society where every citizen has one magical talent, ranging anywhere from Magician-level magic such as storm-summoning to "spot on the wall" magic, which is the term for useless magical talents such as projecting a colorful spot on the wall. If Bink cannot demonstrate his talent soon, he will be exiled to Mundania, a land where there is no magic at all. Then take off," the bailiff said. "Remember--no talking outside, or we'll have a real trial, for contempt of court." a small lizard perched on a brown stone. Feeling threatened by the approach of human beings along the path, it metamorphosed into a stingray beetle, then into a stench-puffer, then into a fiery salamander. She’s a sorceress, a good one. She has powers you have not yet glimpsed. She requires a man she can respect—one who has stronger magic than she does.” —The Good Magician Humfrey on Iris.

Due to the combined power of the sexist parts, especially THAT scene, I just could not say that I liked this book. I really would have liked this book. It had so much fun stuff to offer, and I thought the story was delivered really well. But this was not to be. I'm just glad I didn't pay money for this book. At that point, there's just nothing left to say. I finished the damn book... and I doubt I'll read anything else by Anthony in the near future. All women are the same inside. They differ only in appearance and talent. They all use men.” —Spoken by Iris the stereotypically conniving sorceress, to which Bink replies, “Maybe so. I’m sure you know more about that sort of thing than I do.” Omigod, a truer word was never spoken. Given the current right-wing discussion of Critical Race Theory it seems particularly appropriate to take Anthony’s comment to heart and to remember that history, a living thing, is always written from the unique perspective of the people that are actually doing the writing. But I digress. Xanth. Where nothing is quite as it seems, and even inanimate objects can cast spells; where even puns aren’t so much puns, as something else…

Preview Book

Bink jerked his eyes away from the hand. That had been fifteen years ago. Suddenly a year seemed short indeed. One year of service—in exchange for a lifetime with Sabrina. It was a bargain. Not only does Bink manage to get the healing elixir, but he also manages to find out that the Storm King has died. All the officials of Xanth, including the Council of Elders (which includes Bink's father Roland), arrive on the scene. The Council captures Trent, heals Chameleon, and offers Trent the kingship if he will marry Iris. The Storm King was allowed to remain King well past his prime because there was no suitable successor and by forcing Trent to marry (and presumably produce magician-caliber offspring) the council hopes to prevent that state of affairs from occurring again. Trent's first act as King is to get rid of the magical barrier between Xanth and Mundania and grant Bink (and non-magical folk in general including mundanes) the right to stay in Xanth. Trent's forces, who consisted of mundanes who wished to immigrate to Xanth, begin to settle in various regions of the magical land. Bink and Chameleon are then married and Trent and Iris take up residence in Castle Roogna. Bink and Chameleon obtain a cottage just outside the Castle and Bink is given the title of Official Researcher of Xanth. Plots driven by draconian laws are of course hardly unique to Anthony. The Silver Age Legion of Superheroes revelled in them; the main difference between hero Element Lad and villain Cosmic King is that their common superpower was accepted on Element Lad’s home world and considered evil by default on Cosmic King’s. Iam so proud Iwasted brain cells remembering that. That said, it would be interesting to list all the parallels between The Point! and ASpell for Chameleon if Iwas not worried doing so might make me think less of The Point! Bad enough The Point!’s draconian laws aimed at avirtually non-existent population suggests past ethniccleansing. But, the overall summary is that A SPELL FOR CHAMELEON is a classic young adult fantasy that did not stand the scrutiny of a modern adult reading. Not recommended. Xanth is rich in magic and rich in magical creatures, plant and animal, happy to chow down on acareless, powerless human. Bink’s quest becomes that much more difficult when he encounters the beautiful but extraordinarily stupid Wynne, her propensity for wandering into danger compensated for only by her amazingtits.

The title character of A Spell for Chameleon, Chameleon, is a woman whose magic (everyone in Xanth is magic) is that she waxes and wanes in intelligence and beauty over the course of a monthly cycle. Intelligence and beauty are out of phase, so that when she is highly intelligent she is ugly, and when she is beautiful she is so stupid as to be barely capable of coherent speech. Our hero Bink, when he figures this out, describes her as the Perfect Woman, combining in one person the best that a woman can be. So, Piers Anthony is a pervert, a sexist pervert. That this particular book was written in 1977 is no excuse. You can probably tell from this that a) the book is aimed at young men, and b) women might find the question, never mind the answer, to be offensive. What also annoyed me was the constant rationalization. Characters talk all the time about their motives, fill the plot holes by ad hoc explanations, etc. Rule number 1, Piers: Show, Don't Tell. The ridiculousness of the book is its own reward. It’s (almost) impossible to take it seriously. This is particularly true for the first half of the story, but the tone changes somewhat in the second half. The latter sequences deal with themes like the nature of the magic of Xanth, its relation to the “real” (mundane) world and the Xanth gene pool. Also: redemption, haunted castles and zombie crocodiles.

Who stars in A Spell for Chameleon: Cast List

I have to credit this book as being the book that really introduced me to reading as a fun pastime. I originally read this in my early preteen years and I loved the way it awakened my imagination. I was able to immerse myself in the land of Xanth. I found it to be a good easy read that had colorful characters and an extremely well put together world of magic that I have never seen duplicated. As if she didn’t know. But as his mind formed the necessary words, his mouth balked. He knew what her answer had to be. No one could remain in Xanth after his twenty-fifth birthday unless he demonstrated a magic talent. Bink’s own critical birthday was barely a month away. He was no child now. How could she marry a man who was so soon to be exiled? He remembered the wild oats he had planted as an adolescent. Sea oats were restless, but their cousins the wild oats were hyperactive. They had fought him savagely, their stems slashing across his wrists as he tried to harvest a ripe ear. Mister Ewing comes close to resorting to “funny voices” to differentiate the characters, but since some of them are non-human (harpies and other monsters are common in Xanth) that is not entirely out of character for them. The only voice I did not like was that of Fanchon who sounded like an old woman and not one of Bink’s age (Twenty-five, I think). Even there he had to make her voice unpleasant for reasons that become apparent while reading the book.