Rating: Summary: A tome of history Review: At last, "Question Quest" is the long-untold life story of Good Magician Humfrey- and his five-and-a-half wives. "What?" say Xanth fans. "I thought he only had one wife." You'll have to read the book to find out...Intriguing as this might sound, "Question Quest" is not among my top-rated Xanth novels. The Good Magician's story is of some interest, and (since he is ancient in the extreme) provides an alternate perspective on several aspects of Xanth history. The Xanth timeline included in the book will also be an invaluable resource for die-hard Xanth scholars. However, the story meanders along from one point to another with a disappointing lack of drive. One gets the feeling that this was a story that merely needed to be written for the sake of biographical detail (as so many biographies are). Piers Anthony's writing makes for easy reading as usual, but this book didn't inspire me to the same level as others in the series. One for the Xanth enthusiasts only. 5.5 stars out of 10
Rating: Summary: A tome of history Review: At last, "Question Quest" is the long-untold life story of Good Magician Humfrey- and his five-and-a-half wives. "What?" say Xanth fans. "I thought he only had one wife." You'll have to read the book to find out... Intriguing as this might sound, "Question Quest" is not among my top-rated Xanth novels. The Good Magician's story is of some interest, and (since he is ancient in the extreme) provides an alternate perspective on several aspects of Xanth history. The Xanth timeline included in the book will also be an invaluable resource for die-hard Xanth scholars. However, the story meanders along from one point to another with a disappointing lack of drive. One gets the feeling that this was a story that merely needed to be written for the sake of biographical detail (as so many biographies are). Piers Anthony's writing makes for easy reading as usual, but this book didn't inspire me to the same level as others in the series. One for the Xanth enthusiasts only. 5.5 stars out of 10
Rating: Summary: Horrible, horrible, horrible Review: I had been a fan of Piers' stuff up to this point. The story reads like one big flashback of the previous four or five books and goes almost nowhere. Save your money, skip it and read the next book in the series.
Rating: Summary: Classis Xanth Review: I just finished reading Question Quest, and as a Xanth fan myself, it has everything a fan would expect. However, much of what endears Xanth to the reader has been overdone and overused. It is interesting, however, to see the land from the point of view of Xanth's grumpiest Magician, and much of the history of Xanth is explained, including the origins of a bit character or two. Unfortunately, the thought process of the main character is painfully similar to the thought processes of every other main character in the other Xanth novels. Expect the same emotions, fears, and thoughts as you've seen from Dor, Bink, or any of the others. Not bad, but not unique, another addition to the 'trilogies' of Xanth.
Rating: Summary: A good overview Review: I love the Xanth Series, though to begin with I read several of them out of order. While each one is a fine stand alone novel, the more you know the better, and this book helped until I got all caught up. Again, lots of puns and fun stuff, but the best part of this book for regular Xanth readers is the Answer of who the Good Magician is and where he came from. Appearing in every book (i think) he is the director of quests, the all-knowing Oz to whom everyone turns for Answers, and this book give you the when, who and how of his life. Why does he charge a years' service, what's with the challenges, where did the Big Book come from - these are all answered in this fun book, as Humfrey recounts where he's been in order to get where he is going. A great Xanth novel!
Rating: Summary: A good overview Review: I love the Xanth Series, though to begin with I read several of them out of order. While each one is a fine stand alone novel, the more you know the better, and this book helped until I got all caught up. Again, lots of puns and fun stuff, but the best part of this book for regular Xanth readers is the Answer of who the Good Magician is and where he came from. Appearing in every book (i think) he is the director of quests, the all-knowing Oz to whom everyone turns for Answers, and this book give you the when, who and how of his life. Why does he charge a years' service, what's with the challenges, where did the Big Book come from - these are all answered in this fun book, as Humfrey recounts where he's been in order to get where he is going. A great Xanth novel!
Rating: Summary: Odd Book Review: I read this book because I'm a die-hard fan of Piers Anthony's, and he's right when he says not to write to him. In the author's note he said he had an especially hard time writing this book because of all the letters he recieved...And it shows. This book reviews the life of the Magician Humphrey and moves over the entire history of Xanth adding tidbits of information to the past stories. The reason it had problems was it's inconsistancy... The chapters were tedious and drawn out at times.
Rating: Summary: Decent Review: I thought that this book was decent, but it was also extremely tedious. It was nice to hear Humphrey's side of the story, but the book went on for way too long. I really wouldn't reccommend it too strongly.
Rating: Summary: Great Introductory book Review: Never read a Xanth book before? This might be a good place to start. This book give a good history for all the major characters leading up to this book. Although it does give away the ends of previous books, it doesn't reveal the plots (and puns) in the other books. And, let's be honest, the puns themselves are the great reason for reading about Xanth.
Rating: Summary: Great Introductory book Review: Never read a Xanth book before? This might be a good place to start. This book give a good history for all the major characters leading up to this book. Although it does give away the ends of previous books, it doesn't reveal the plots (and puns) in the other books. And, let's be honest, the puns themselves are the great reason for reading about Xanth.
|