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A Spell for Chameleon (Magic of Xanth)

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And I don't deny that some of his conclusions, even though they are wrapped up inside a lighthearted fantasy story, are a bit chauvinistic, but that isn't the point. Looking up Piers Anthony, I found his preoccupation with teenage or younger and the intellectually challenged being molested was a big thing with him. From ages five and up, with the child being the 'instigator'.

Despite its apparent flaws, there are some genuinely touching moments, however fleeting. Perhaps, at its heart this is just a love story, perhaps not, but the essence of the book is really captured by the following line: Because his talent cannot be discovered, Bink is exiled to Mundania, the land of no magic. While there, he is captured by the Evil Magician Trent, who was exiled 20 years ago for attempting to overthrow the current king. Trent is trying to invade Xanth with his Mundane army to usurp the throne but has been consistently prevented from entering by the magic barrier which surrounds Xanth. He believes that Bink can help him get into Xanth by providing information on the location of the source of the magical barrier, and attempts to coerce Bink into giving him this information. Trent has prepared a special elixir that can temporarily nullify magic and has a special catapult that can hurl this elixir into the land of Xanth. All that Trent needs now are the exact coordinates of the shield-stone. Bink refuses to cooperate and is thrown into a pit with a woman from Xanth that has followed him there named Fanchon. Bink and Fanchon escape to sea but are pursued by Trent's forces. Eventually, Bink, Trent, and Fanchon are all swept into Xanth via a whirlpool but Trent's forces are left behind. 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. 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 is an enchanted land where magic rules, a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks where every citizen has a unique spell to call their own. For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth is no fairy tale. He alone has no magic. And unless he gets some—and fast!—he will be exiled. Forever.This realization continued to percolate through Bink’s emotion. The chameleon was harmless—but most of untamed Xanth was not. Was this some twisted omen, a small suggestion of a dire fate awaiting him? Omens were serious business; they always came true, but usually were misinterpreted until too late. Was Bink fated to die brutally—or was some enemy of his? Then there’s the curious case of the village rape trial that Bink stumbles across for no real imaginable reason, other than to give the reader a chance to read the word “rape” multiple times in a lighthearted setting. There’s Trent, the dashing magician-in-exile who will intrepidly lead his army into Xanth to save the land from under population (says one of Trent’s soldiers, “He’ll encourage the local gals to marry us, so we can have families.”). And there’s Crombie, one of Bink’s comrades, who just comes right and announces things like, “Women are the curse of mankind.” When challenged—okay, not even really challenged, just curiously questioned—about these utterances by Bink, it comes to light that Crombie “rejected all women because he felt they rejected him.” Bink’s final analysis of his buddy’s reason for loathing all women? “Well, it was a good enough rationale.”

A Spell for Chameleon is a very basic and easily readable fantasy story. As many popular fantasy series are made up of hefty tomes that are full of excessive descriptions and questing, this book and series (from my first impressions of skimming descriptions of other books in this series) is not quite so daunting. It might be a good place for someone to start if they want to try out the fantasy genre, but are not ready for a huge commitment. But that's not the worst moment. No. The worst thing about this book is that Anthony has, for no visible plot-related purpose, inserted a fake rape trial into his book so he can dismiss the idea of date rape. As the judge explains the "not guilty" verdict:the Sorceress Iris seemed beautiful, but I met others who weren't. Once they get old or married, they--" [...:]"'Women don't have to get ugly when they marry,' Fanchon said. [...:] 'Some start out that way.'" Got that? Married = ugly (applies to women only, of course). Wow. Perhaps it was that faith that had first attracted him to her. Certainly she was beautiful and intelligent and talented, a prize by any definition. But she could have been much less in all categories and still been his— The book starts with the main character, Bink, in his home village. He must discover his magical talent before he comes of age, or be exiled to Mundania. While on his way to see the Good Magician Humfrey about whether he has a magic talent, Bink runs into three different women, Wynne, Dee, and Iris, as well as Chester and Cherie Centaur, and Crombie the soldier. He finds out from Good Magician Humfrey that he has Magician-caliber magic but that it can't be identified. 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. s British Fantasy Award-winning ASpell for Chameleon is the first volume in Piers Anthony’s seemingly endless Xanthseries.

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