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Summary: Erotic, disturbing, compelling, edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Review: This book kept me riveted from beginning to end, and then made me want to turn back to the first page and start all over again. A thrilling, sometimes disturbing, horror novel that also touches on child sexual abuse and domestic violence. The characters are heartbreakingly realistic and well developed, and the story is like nothing I've ever read before. Anthony has crafted an amazingly good story that is both touching and horrifying at the same time. Not recommended for anyone who is easily offended, due to the strong sexual content
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Summary: This is the best book I have ever read; sad it's not availab
Review: This book was one of those books that you just could not put down. I don't know how many people borrowed it from me to read it. This is why I am so upset, because it is an unavailable print. This is by far Piers Anthony's best book.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange and Provocative
Review: This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. The basic premise was intriguing, some monster or being is attacking first animals then humans leaving nothing but film-covered bones. It seems to be able to get into locked rooms, and the victims are anesthetized by the use of powerful pheromones. The pheromones incite an orgasmic reaction rendering the victims helpless. The creature is nicknamed "firefly," as its digestive methods mimic that of the insect.Except for the beginning and the rap-up at the end, Piers seems to forget about the firefly and concentrates on the four protagonists. The characters are interesting and unique but the dialogue is so unbelievably wooden. It's as if someone unfamiliar with the language wrote it. There is a noticeable lack of contractions at times. Also..., answers do just seem to fall into the character's laps. One of the them, Oenone (Ee-no-nee), is a storyteller and much of the book gives over to her various tales. Actually the whole book reads like a modern day fairytale. I can't say that I thoroughly enjoyed it or actively disliked it, but it would serve as an excellent conversation piece if read in a book club. There are many controversial issues explored such as domestic abuse and pedophilia.
Rating:
Summary: Strange and Provocative
Review: This is one of the strangest books I've ever read. The basic premise was intriguing, some monster or being is attacking first animals then humans leaving nothing but film-covered bones. It seems to be able to get into locked rooms, and the victims are anesthetized by the use of powerful pheromones. The pheromones incite an orgasmic reaction rendering the victims helpless. The creature is nicknamed "firefly," as its digestive methods mimic that of the insect. Except for the beginning and the rap-up at the end, Piers seems to forget about the firefly and concentrates on the four protagonists. The characters are interesting and unique but the dialogue is so unbelievably wooden. It's as if someone unfamiliar with the language wrote it. There is a noticeable lack of contractions at times. Also..., answers do just seem to fall into the character's laps. One of the them, Oenone (Ee-no-nee), is a storyteller and much of the book gives over to her various tales. Actually the whole book reads like a modern day fairytale. I can't say that I thoroughly enjoyed it or actively disliked it, but it would serve as an excellent conversation piece if read in a book club. There are many controversial issues explored such as domestic abuse and pedophilia. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title
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Summary: Great horror book
Review: this is the first novel of Piers Anthony's I've read. I liked the way the characters all came together. Its about "something" going around killing people, leaving only the bones and skin shell. With pheromones the creatures renders the victims helpless(horny) and death soon follows. About losers coming together. About sexual and physical abuse and the consequences of the abuse afterward. Plenty of Sex! In the afterward Piers Anthony states that the book was banned by bookstores (they would not sell it) because of the content.
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Summary: Vile
Review: This is the work of a man who has clearly given up on life. Of course since the old routine wasnt working for him and he needed that summer house in Colorado, trust me he really did NEED it. He did what any self respecting egotist would do he published filth.
What will he do for act two? Promote bestiality in a pristine woodland setting with faeries? One can only hope that a runaway 18 wheeler dashes any possibility of that ever happening.
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Summary: Firefly
Review: This one book -- of all I've ever read -- is the most inticing, erotic novel ever written. Anthony goes out of his "usual" style to write this one precious gem. Firefly is not just your average "horror story" or "erotica". It moves carefully, intermingling both to create a book that is extremely provocative without being dirty. I suggest this book to every reader I know.
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Summary: Excellent book! I've read it five times!
Review: This superbly written novel deals with the truths of life, death, sex and love. I loved the depth of the characters and how they all fit into the puzzle, as well as the symbolism portrayed throughout. My life is strangely portrayed in this book, as I can relate to the main character. But, as many of these reviews note, this book is not for young audiences, as I myself felt certain scenes where unneccesarily sexual. So, if you love great writing and don't mind the sexual side, this is a great book by Piers Anthony.
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Summary: Thought-provoking, intriguing,erotic, suspenseful, scary
Review: Those are only some of the words that can be used to describe Piers Anthony's Firefly, which has perhaps the most sexual content I have ever read in a book. It must have stirred quite the controversy at the time of its release but it's actually a well-written tale full of meaningful messages and themes. It's a story of love, hate, compassion, friendship, and also sex. The setting of Firefly is around the forest ares of Florida. A police Lt. named Frank Tishner has been discovering the skeletal remains of many animals lately and most recently, of a man. A journalist named May Flowers gets involved in the case because the land upon which the remains were found belonged to her employer, a mysterious rich man named Middleberry. The caretaker of the land, Geode, is also an employee of Mid. He's the first person to discover the bones of the man. Geode strikes May as an odd man and when she has him lead her to the site where he hid the bones, she steps close and a strong smell invades her thoughts. It makes her think only of sex and when she questions Geode he says he has the same reaction desptite the fact he is impotent. Another woman named Jade (who likes to be called Enone) gets involved when her son is killed the same way, as she finds only the remains. With the help of Tishner and another employee of Mid named Cyrano, they begin to believe there is a creature out in the woods that subdues its victims with pheromones and then dissolves and gestates their flesh. It is also during the period of hunting the creature (they discover it feeds every three days) that Geode and Enone begin to develop a relationship while Frank and May also begin to develop feelings toward each other. Firefly is mainly a story that is rich because of its characters. I could sympathize with each of them in their own way. May was perhaps my favorite character. She's a tough woman who has survived many years of torture with her abusive husband, who is still after her (and encounters her in one of the book's most disturbing scenes). Enone is also another interesting character. Throughout the book, she tells Geode many stories, each one of them with hidden meanings dealing with her own confused and tragic past. The male characters are also developed strongly with Frank as a very likeable person. Yes, this novel is filled with many countless sexually explicit scenes, a lot of which are erotic and a few of which are intentionally pretentious. Firefly is far from being the "trash" novel some seem to think it is. It's more than well worth reading if you can find it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not So Great
Review: Unfortunately, this is not a great book. One would expect better from Piers Anthony but, with Firefly, Anthony does not deliver. Everything is too easy in this book. The characters leap to conclusions with no real logical means of doing so. Things seem to simply be presented to them. The characters don't really have to work very hard to find the answers to their questions. Everything just falls in their laps. I was monumentally disappointed in this book. Piers Anthony has written some wonderful books in the past but this is not one of them. Perhaps he has spent too much time in Xanth where things are expected to come easy and he has forgotten how to write a grown up novel. Too bad.
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