Rating: 
Summary: Xanths Magic
Review: A Review by MaxBink, the chief explorer for King Trent and Castile Rogan, lives in the magical world of Xanth. Cut off from any mundania "normal" people. Xanth relies on magic for means of survival. Everyone in Xanth has their own special magic talent. While attending a party, King Trent decides to give Bink the very difficult quest of finding the source of Xanths magic. Aided by a mighty centaur named Chester, a great warrior transformed into a griffin, Cromby, a powerful magician, Humfrey and a golem that can translate any language, called Grundy. They set off on this great adventure knowing not what lies ahead. I thought this book had a very good plot line and almost every detail in it related somehow with the climax. In the end everything comes together and the author reveals everything. This book has every aspect I enjoy in a novel; comedy, action, mystery, and romance. The fighting scenes become very intense and with the detail Mr. Anthony gives you are put right into the middle of it. The only problem I see with the book is that it gets a little dull and confusing at times. I would recommend "The Source Of Magic" to anyone who remotely likes fantasy novels and/or action adventure novels. But if anyone thinks they would like to read this book then I suggest that they read "A Spell For Chameleon" first, which is the first in the series of Xanth novels, while "The Source Of Magic" is the second.
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: An extremely readable book. Good lighthearted atmosphere. If you want to spend some time reading a nice lighthearted story, this is the book for you.
Bink is a magician, one of the most powerful beings in the world of Xanth, but his power is devious. If the range of a power is known, then someone might find ways to circumvent it. So it conceals itself from discovery and manifests only when Bink is in danger. Bink goes on a quest to discover the source of magic and enemies try to prevent him. The scrapes Bink gets into and the ways in which his power helps him without revealing itself is hilarious. Accidents happens. The accidents always favour Bink. Nice book. If you are in search for some light entertainment read this.
Rating: 
Summary: Bink continues
Review: Another magical pun filled book. Bink is back, with even more adventure. Bink quest: To find the source of magic. This is not as good as the first book, but you still have dragons and Murphy. Book ends with Dor starting a quest.
Rating:
Summary: Very tight, well-plotted and well-detailed fantasy-adventure
Review: As you are probably aware, "The Source of Magic" is the second book in the Xanth series. A co-worker turned me on to the series by lending me the sixth book ("Night Mare"), which led me pick up the first 16 books through an ebay auction. I have heard that, after a while, the Xanth books get repetitive or dull, but "The Source of Magic" is near the beginning of the series, and everything is fresh and tight. What do I mean by tight? Well, the laws of magic in Xanth are well-formed and internally consistent. Lots of fantasy movies, in particular, do not adhere to internally consistent rules, and as a result, they get annoying. A prime example is Michael Crichton's "Timeline," where he babbles on about quantum theory in an effort to demonstrate that his book is not about time travel; yet, a major plot point could only work if in fact a person traveled back in time. That's annoying. "The Source of Magic" (and "A Spell for Chameleon," the first Xanth book) are not like that. They follow the rules, and once you understand the secret about Bink (the main character), you marvel at how well everything fits together. Anyway, this is a classic "quest" type of story: a group of adventurers -- Bink, a human with a special magical talent; Crombie, a human soldier transformed into a griffin (part-eagle, part-lion); Humfrey, a human Magician; Grundy, a golem; and Chester, a centaur -- go on a mission to find the source of magic in the land of Xanth. Along the way, they meet a dragon, an ogre, a village of women, a siren and a gorgon (kind of like Medusa), and all sorts of other creatures. Once they find the source of magic, Bink has to make an awfully difficult ethical and moral choice. Later Xanth books get more and more pun-filled; you see some of them here, such as the desert known as "eye scream," made from the eyes of scream birds -- not to be confused with "eye smilk." But apart from the puns, this book is often quite funny, especially since the griffin and the centaur are constantly squabbling against each other.
Rating:
Summary: Very tight, well-plotted and well-detailed fantasy-adventure
Review: As you are probably aware, "The Source of Magic" is the second book in the Xanth series. A co-worker turned me on to the series by lending me the sixth book ("Night Mare"), which led me pick up the first 16 books through an ebay auction. I have heard that, after a while, the Xanth books get repetitive or dull, but "The Source of Magic" is near the beginning of the series, and everything is fresh and tight. What do I mean by tight? Well, the laws of magic in Xanth are well-formed and internally consistent. Lots of fantasy movies, in particular, do not adhere to internally consistent rules, and as a result, they get annoying. A prime example is Michael Crichton's "Timeline," where he babbles on about quantum theory in an effort to demonstrate that his book is not about time travel; yet, a major plot point could only work if in fact a person traveled back in time. That's annoying. "The Source of Magic" (and "A Spell for Chameleon," the first Xanth book) are not like that. They follow the rules, and once you understand the secret about Bink (the main character), you marvel at how well everything fits together. Anyway, this is a classic "quest" type of story: a group of adventurers -- Bink, a human with a special magical talent; Crombie, a human soldier transformed into a griffin (part-eagle, part-lion); Humfrey, a human Magician; Grundy, a golem; and Chester, a centaur -- go on a mission to find the source of magic in the land of Xanth. Along the way, they meet a dragon, an ogre, a village of women, a siren and a gorgon (kind of like Medusa), and all sorts of other creatures. Once they find the source of magic, Bink has to make an awfully difficult ethical and moral choice. Later Xanth books get more and more pun-filled; you see some of them here, such as the desert known as "eye scream," made from the eyes of scream birds -- not to be confused with "eye smilk." But apart from the puns, this book is often quite funny, especially since the griffin and the centaur are constantly squabbling against each other.
Rating: 
Summary: AMAZING!
Review: BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ! I WOULD SUGGEST IT TO ANYONE
Rating:
Summary: Magic and mystery
Review: Having completed the quest for his magic talent (told in "A Spell for Chameleon"), Bink embarks on another adventure. His mission: to find the source of all magic in the land of Xanth. Accompanied by his friend Chester Centaur, Grundy the universal translator and the wise Good Magician Humfrey, he sets off on this ambitious quest. But what he discovers in the course of his travels could extinguish magic and change the land of Xanth forever... "The Source of Magic" is only the second volume in the Xanth series, and many of the more extensive magical ideas in the later books are still non-existent or undeveloped. Even so, Piers Anthony succeeds in creating a convincing story. The characters are amusing, if lacking somewhat in depth- this is most definitely light fantasy- and still face some halfway serious moral dilemmas as the story proceeds. If you have read later Xanth novels, this book is a must-read: take a look at the origins of Xanth, and marvel at its evolution since then. For new readers, this is a good place to start: the world of Xanth is a more rounded and interesting place than it was in "A Spell for Chameleon", and it continues to develop over the course of the next several books.
Rating:
Summary: Magic and mystery
Review: Having completed the quest for his magic talent (told in "A Spell for Chameleon"), Bink embarks on another adventure. His mission: to find the source of all magic in the land of Xanth. Accompanied by his friend Chester Centaur, Grundy the universal translator and the wise Good Magician Humfrey, he sets off on this ambitious quest. But what he discovers in the course of his travels could extinguish magic and change the land of Xanth forever... "The Source of Magic" is only the second volume in the Xanth series, and many of the more extensive magical ideas in the later books are still non-existent or undeveloped. Even so, Piers Anthony succeeds in creating a convincing story. The characters are amusing, if lacking somewhat in depth- this is most definitely light fantasy- and still face some halfway serious moral dilemmas as the story proceeds. If you have read later Xanth novels, this book is a must-read: take a look at the origins of Xanth, and marvel at its evolution since then. For new readers, this is a good place to start: the world of Xanth is a more rounded and interesting place than it was in "A Spell for Chameleon", and it continues to develop over the course of the next several books.
Rating:
Summary: Magic and mystery
Review: Having completed the quest for his magic talent (told in "A Spell for Chameleon"), Bink embarks on another adventure. His mission: to find the source of all magic in the land of Xanth. Accompanied by his friend Chester Centaur, Grundy the universal translator and the wise Good Magician Humfrey, he sets off on this ambitious quest. But what he discovers in the course of his travels could extinguish magic and change the land of Xanth forever... "The Source of Magic" is only the second volume in the Xanth series, and many of the more extensive magical ideas in the later books are still non-existent or undeveloped. Even so, Piers Anthony succeeds in creating a convincing story. The characters are amusing, if lacking somewhat in depth- this is most definitely light fantasy- and still face some halfway serious moral dilemmas as the story proceeds. If you have read later Xanth novels, this book is a must-read: take a look at the origins of Xanth, and marvel at its evolution since then. For new readers, this is a good place to start: the world of Xanth is a more rounded and interesting place than it was in "A Spell for Chameleon", and it continues to develop over the course of the next several books.
Rating:
Summary: Magic, Dragons, Wizards, You Name It!
Review: He does it again! Bink is back, with even more adventure. A few dragons here and there, magicians, (Especially old grumpy ones who don't like to let people into their castle) centuars, you name it. But this time Bink does something nobody expects. His quest: To find the source of magic. His decision: Well, I'll leave that up to you.......
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