A Spell for Chameleon

Piers Anthony

Mar 2002 · Xanth Book 1 · Sold by Del Rey

About this ebook

BEST NOVEL OF THE YEAR, BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY • Discover the magical beginning of Piers Anthony’s enthralling Xanth series

Xanth was the enchanted land where magic ruled—where every citizen had a special spell only he could cast. It was a land of centaurs and dragons and basilisks.

For Bink of North Village, however, Xanth was no fairy tale. He alone had no magic. And unless he got some—and got some fast!—he would be exiled. Forever. But the Good Magician Humfrey was convinced that Bink did indeed have magic. In fact, both Beauregard the genie and the magic wall chart insisted that Bink had magic. Magic as powerful as any possessed by the King or by Good Magician Humfrey—or even by the Evil Magician Trent.

Be that as it may, no one could fathom the nature of Bink’s very special magic. Bink was in despair. This was even worse than having no magic at all . . . and he would still be exiled!

Thus begins Piers Anthony’s enthralling Xanth series. . . .

Ratings and reviews

A decent read; the everyday puns and word play extensions are amusing and help sell the magical world of Xanth; e.g. spelling bee [a bee that spells], breadfruit tree [a tree that has bread as fruit]. The "woe is me" attitude of the main character and situation over-analysis gets old and bothersome by the end of the book. The ending seemed too abrupt. Altogether I've read this book before and I'll probably read it again at some point.

I'll admit the title threw me off until the end of the book. This was a fun romp through Xanth. Surprises at every turn. Comical at times, for example, "sowing wild oats." However, the emphasis on female beauty or ugliness and intelligence or stupidity was not, in my opinion, very pleasant. Blink was very immature for a 25 year old man. He acted more like 16. I suppose this may have been the author's intent as a fantasy published in 1977. Hopefully, there is more maturity in the other books in the series. Overall, good start.

The story is very well paced and finely written. Very nice. However, the cover art advertises "$3.99" while the book was closer to $8 and Trent is called "Treat" a few times as well as the "w" being deleted from "who" once and multiple other errors throughout. I was definitely disappointed by this as it immediately cast me out of the story. Please proof the books out up for sale!!

About the author

Piers Anthony, sometimes called Pier Xanthony, is the pseudonym of a Mundane character who was born in England in 1934, came to America in 1940, was naturalized in 1958, and moved to Xanth in 1977. His first story was published in 1963, and his first novel, Chthon, in 1967. His first Xanth novel, A Spell for Chameleon, won the August Derleth Fantasy Award as the best novel for 1977, and his fantasy novels began placing on the New York Times bestseller list with Ogre, Ogre. He shifted from writing in pencil to writing on the computer, and Golem in the Gears was his first novel created on the machine; naturally, the computer found its way into Xanth.